This American Life

[Matt]

Hey Tom,

I owe you a debt of gratitude. Before I became a "Best Show" listener, my podcast of choice was, dare I say it, "This American Life" hosted by Mr. Vegetable Panini himself, Ira Glass.

In one of the first shows I heard (the Seth Galifianakis installment was my first), you described TAL as (I'm paraphrasing) "A bunch of eggheads each trying to sound smarter than the last".

Up until this point, I had been a loyal TAL listener. I thought maybe you didn't "get it" for some reason, and your putting down my favorite show bothered me.

Until, that is, the following Monday (when the TAL podcast updates). This time, I couldn't make it past the first three minutes. Just like the song, I once was blind, but now, I could see the show for what it really was. It was exactly as you depicted it.

So, seeing as I have room for only one podcast in my heart, I threw "This American Life" under the bus, and I haven't looked back. I owe you, friend.

Thanks,
Matt

P.S. Just so you don't think I'm a complete pushover, you have yet to dissuade me from liking Tom Waits and, to a much lesser extent, Steely Dan. Viva "The Boston Rag"!

[Richard_From_CHI]

Another soul saved.

[Putin]

i have to admit to listening to this american life, also. Aside from his incredibly annoying pacing when speaking, Ira Glass is usually not terribly interesting.

i still have to admit to listening to it once in a while--my job is boring. but tom is my #1 still.

[Laurie]

Hey, I listen to it. There's no shame in doing so.

[jed]

I like it when they feature spy stories (like the last one). I love spy stories.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I think that I always thought I liked it more than I actually do, sort of like McSweeney's.  Don't get me wrong, McSweeney's is pretty good, but I got a gift subscription and found a lot of it sort of a slog.  Same with TAL - I don't get to listen to the radio much, so when they started podcasting it (as opposed to selling episodes as audiobooks), I got really excited.  I listened to it fervently, but the more I got to know it, the more my enthusiasm faded - I found myself falling asleep on planes and long bus or train rides whenever I listened to it.  There are still some great recent episodes - I loved when Jack Hitt found out his incompetent former super was a Brazilian death squad leader, or the episode about the Iraqi teenager who was Saddam's ambassador to MTV and is now working for the US Military - but the usual fare puts me to sleep.  I want to like David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell, I really do, but it's not smart enough to be smart or funny enough to be funny...  I mentally defended the show against Tom's recent rant, but then realized that I wasn't all that into it anyway.

So I dunno.  I might re-subscrube once school starts up again, I might not.  If Tom keeps going, I almost definitely won't...

[scotttsss]

I want to like David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell, I really do, but it's not smart enough to be smart or funny enough to be funny...

---Exactly, and I agree, and well said, and I second that, sir.  I too don't despise them, but as you say, it's not worth the space in my brain I've given their writings over the years (that is to say, the few cumulative hours over the years of listening to This American Life).  Their style and observations would have put them right at the head of my creative writing class back in high school, but, sorry guys, if you're of a certain age those kitschy, self-aware life observations just don't ring as substantial as they're presented. 

I like to listen to This American Life for one reason:

Maybe once a year there's a truly gut wrenching, powerful story, which affects me as the producers of the show assume all of the shows should affect their audience (if we're smart enough).  There was a show a about a shy Irish guy who won an Irish version of  "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" which was a spot on effort, I thought.  Not heavy handed, not too much of that corny electronic music when we're expected to have tears welling up in our eyes...At the end of the segment, Ira Glass said, "that was so and so from Ireland who produced that segment, and we wanted to bring it to you..it won an award at the Third Coast Radio festival...we're sponsored by Volkswagen Jetta." or some such.

[John Junk]

Does anyone else here think David Sedaris is headed for a Pekar-esque old-age?

He'll just be sitting there like "Big NPR deadline.  What the hell do I write about?  I learned a new french word today.  Car got a flat!  I guess I could write about how I'm not good at changing a tire... Jesus, I can't believe it only took 15 years to run out of alcoholic mom anecdotes!  What am I supposed to do now??"

[Deric W. Haircare]

I love TAL unreservedly. Does it have weaknesses? Of course. The music is pretty annoying most of the time. Note to producers: there are more than four songs currently in existence. I totally zone out when Sedaris comes on. If his books are at all like his TAL appearances, I fail to understand his popularity. Ira Glass and Sarah Vowell can be kind of snotty and pretentious at times (the "Your Dream, My Nightmare" episode being a particularly obnoxious example). And (duh) not every episode or story is a winner. But I'd place it very proudly next to TBS on my Magical Championship Radio shelf (with Radiolab edging ever closer to Magical Champion-hood). It's provided some of the most amazing radio I've ever heard. Most of the criticisms that haters lob at the show indicate to me that they haven't listened to much of the show. Straw men! It's a buncha straw men!

And, c'mon: how much quality radio is out there, anyway? We need to stick together in these troubled times. There's room enough for everyone on the mountain.

I can recommend good episodes to tackle, for those willing to be converted. Until then, I will be standing firm in my resolve, shield raised to the inevitable blows of discontent.

[John Junk]

I don't really hate TAL, and I totally like Sedaris.  A lot of the time I love it when Tom disses these types of things because it's stuff that most people like, or profess to like, but that have flaws that no one is willing to acknowledge lest they be thought of as close-minded, stupid, or square.

[senorcorazon]

Great points -- I agree that the show has gone south slightly, but they've been doing it forever and the overall record stands pretty well. And, as Tom as said also about other things, it's free for god's sake. What else do you want?

If you haven't heard the Kasper Hauser knockoff (I like the second one), you should: http://www.kasperhauser.com/this_am_life2.html

[Deric W. Haircare]

Ha ha. That was a pretty spot-on parody.

I guess the secret to enjoying This American Life is to shut out all of the annoying tics and just take in the stories. Which are often great.

[Tdibble]

Ill throw my hat into the ring for Radiolab on WNYC, as an alternative to TAL. 

The quasi-scripted goofball banter gets on my nerves sometimes, but the show is relatively young so I'll forgive it, for now.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

[dave from knoxville]

I agree; I have been listening to the episode on mortality over and over, and the one before that (which I think was time, but at any rate included a long discussion on how the theory of relativity impacts the notion of freewill.) It's great. I've liked that Kralwich (spelling?)character on TV for a long time.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I want to like David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell, I really do, but it's not smart enough to be smart or funny enough to be funny...

---Exactly, and I agree, and well said, and I second that, sir. 

Why, thanks!  Like I said, it's OK - no radio show is perfect - but with the advent of podcasting I've found myself overwhelmed by the amount of quality radio there is out there, much of it on WFMU but also KEXP, KCRW, WNYC, and just the 'net itself.  Between that and Netflix and good TV shows all the good comics coming out these days and my magazine subscritions and blogging and email lists and message boards like this one and my obsessive book-buying habit, even the things I love are starting to feel like a chore.  I just wanna go into the woods with my Stanley Elkin book for three days.

But in the meantime, I love that Kaspar Hauser parody.  Really funny stuff.  Has anyone else read Skymaul?