Not sure if this should go elsewhere, but the Cafe seemed best to me, if not, feel free to move.
I only started listening to This American Life about two years ago but I love the show. Problem is it’s never on locally for me at a convenient time, so I try to remember to play them from the web site.
Anyhoo, I’ve got a new computer game I’m playing a lot where the game sound is unimportant and I’m listening to TAL in the background. I’m just wondering if anybody has any favorite episodes I should listen to.
That said, I had an EXTREMELY boring computer task at a job a couple of years ago that took a lot of time, but very little brain power. I think I listened to 3 years of episodes from the series (they’re available via RealPlayer from the website for free.) Not all of them are really gripping, but most are highly entertaining. The David Sedaris clips are almost always worth listening to, as is just about anything by Sarah Vowell.
Froggy Went a Courtin’, which was Act 1 of of episode 288, was on one Saturday afternoon last May when my fiance and I were out shopping. We got in the car near the beginning of the story, and it was about halfway done by the time we got home. So we sat in the car parked on the street for over 15 minutes listening to the end. We had to hear how it ended.
I liked the piece with the mail-order song-poets. (That was TAL, was it not? It may have been Weekend Edition.) And the guy whose old man was a dj and did local commercials back in the 60s. I like Sarah Vowell (I thought her name was “Valle” for a year or so, the way Ira pronounced it) and David Sedaris, of course. I kinda liked dishwasher Pete from Portland too. Does he still come on?
Now to what I don’t like. I think the show very quickly became mannered and stereotyped. That flat, blasé, oh-so-tolerant delivery Ira perfected. That yeah-whatever singsong drone that comes from somewhere between your adenoids and your nasal cavity. The way everybody sounds on the whole damn show. You know what I’m talking about? Do they coach people in that way of speaking before they can the show? Or is it, you know, just sort of a shared esthetic?
the one about the woman whose father pursued his dream of an all-puppy cable channel. Nothin’ but puppies frolicking, 24/7.
The woman reading from her diary from when she was 13 as performance art to great tragicomic effect. “Tonight I smoked crack. Do you think that was bad?”
I can’t cite the exact shows (sorry) but I recommend the one where they spend the entire show on the aircraft carrier and interview the personnel there (it was late 2001, early 2002), and the one discussing Bush-Gore election debacle (fall 2000, obviously).
Ooo, I second “Froggy Went A’Courtin” ! The episode name is “Not What I Meant”, 288
Also, the woman reading from her 13 year old diary was from a wonderful episode called “My Experimental Phase” 268 which also included the rock’n roll career of a Hasidic Jew.
The “Detectives” program is great. Ira rides with a private detective and Sedaris tells one of his best stories. http://207.70.82.73/ra/28.ram
“My Big Break” with Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill talking about their Ed Sullivan debut was outstanding. They couldn’t believe that many people came to see Frank Gorshin. Act II is even better. http://207.70.82.73/ra/281.ram
There is a great one where people reflect on their teenage years, when they used to call this old guy who would always answer the phone and talk/listen.
I alos recommend “Super Powers” and the Jonathan Goldstein (I think) short stories about super heroes. One is about the guy who dates Lois after she breaks up with Superman and the other is about the Penguin and Mary Poppins meeting at a dinner party.
Should I Stay or Should I Go: The first act is a gem in the same vein ase Teenage Embed. This time it’s a Pakistani college student who visits his home country and struggles, in real time, with the most monumentous decision of his life.
24 hours at the Golden Apple: a 24-hour slice-of-life from a Chicago diner. It seems like it should be boring, but it’s not.
Godless America: Julia Sweeney talks about her struggle with faith in the second act and it’s nothing short of brilliant.
There are too many more outstanding episodes to list. Pick a title that sounds interesting. Or pick one at random. You’ll rarely be disappointed.
It’s less a coherent aesthetic than a very strong emphasis of substance at the expense of style. What you’re describing is the sound of people deliberately avoiding the cliched radio voice (sometimes to comical extremes). TAL is an attempt at radio verite – it’s deliberately unpolished. Even if the rough edges are partially contrived, it’s still an effective means of emphasizing the verisimilitude of the material. Think of it as the reality show phenomenon filtering into radio.
Ira will never sound good – even if he could, he’d probably scoff at the idea.
I’m looking forward to listening to these, if anybody else has any favorites, let me know.
carlotta I heard the one that told the rock 'n roll story of the Hasdic Jew. That was excellent.
Another one that I personally liked was episode 178 where a guy asked people if they could have one super power, invisibility or flight, which would it be.
I bought the Rhino Compilation CD’s. Great stuff to listen to on long road trips. My favorites:
"Get Over It" – funny scene in a dressing room. #42 "Peter Pan"– the disastrous highschool play. #61 "The Greatest Phone Message of All Time"– 3 words: The Little Mermaid. #203 "Everyone Speaks Elton John" – Band members recruited from the classifieds. (for some reason it doesn’t seem to be listed on their website)
And there’s one that’s not on the CD’s, that I’ll always remember: “Tornado Prom”–a tragic but compelling story. #186
I’ll second “Fiasco” and also recommend “Numbers,” stories of what happens when you quantify things that shouldn’t be quantified. Worth it just for the clip of the statistically-generated “worst possible song.”
I couldn’t disagree more. Except for the comment of them NOT doing typical radio voice… but that’s not unique to TAL. Its NPR.
TAL has cultivated a distinct style and tone. It’s the opposite of nonpolished. Obviously field recordings are rough but the commentators and readers all have the same soft mostly sardonic tone.
