This American Life

New This American Life Episodes

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  This American Life • Jun 4th692: The Show of Delights

  In these dark, combative times, we attempt the most radical counterprogramming we could imagine: a show made up entirely of stories about delight. Prologue: Ira Glass talks to Bim Adewunmi about her understanding of delight through American pop culture and the summer she spent in the US as a 19-year-old. Ira...

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  This American Life • May 28th800: Jane Doe

  Five years after the #MeToo explosion, what’s happened in the lives of the women who stepped forward and went public with their stories? We tell the story of a teenager who spoke out against one of the most powerful people in her state, and what happened next. Prologue: Some powerful and...

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  This American Life • May 21st508: Superpowers

  We answer the following questions about superpowers: Can superheroes be real people? (No.) Can real people become superheroes? (Maybe.) And which is better: flight or invisibility? (Depends who you ask.)  Host Ira Glass talks to comic artist Chris Ware, who thought about superheroes a lot of the time as a kid....

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  This American Life • May 14th799: The Lives of Others

  Looping thoughts about people you barely know, or don't know at all.  Prologue: We get a tip that an entire town is consumed by a huge, elementary-school-style crush on a local veterinarian. Guest host Lilly Sullivan goes to Utah to investigate the mystery of the hot vet. (8 minutes)Act One: We do...

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  This American Life • May 7th798: Leaving the Fold

  A week after Jerry Springer’s death, we go back to a story we first broadcast years ago, about a side of Springer most people don’t know and can’t imagine: his years as an idealistic politician in the mold of Bobby Kennedy. Plus other stories of people who try to leave...

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  This American Life • Apr 23rd797: What I Was Thinking As We Were Sinking

  It's funny the things that go through your head during a disaster. Prologue: Host Ira Glass has fallen off his bike a number of times at this point. He reflects on what goes through his head as he’s going down. (2 minutes)Act One: Producer Ike Sriskandarajah revisits a maritime disaster that left...

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  This American Life • Apr 16th796: What Lies Beneath

  Summoning up stuff that’s usually hidden down deep. Prologue: A beloved drawing goes missing from Mr. Ablao’s third grade classroom. The class holds a funeral for the drawing, which accidentally unleashes a much bigger feeling than anyone anticipated. (13  minutes)Act One: The musicians in the orchestra for Phantom of the Opera...

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  This American Life • Apr 9th795: Nine Months Later

  It’s been nine months since Roe v. Wade was overturned. We talk to people who wanted abortions right when the laws were changing in their states. They had to wait for appointments, for money to travel or abortion pills. And during that waiting, a lot of interesting things happened. We...

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  This American Life • Mar 26th794: So Close and Yet So Far

  People ​so close to each other, ​in ​extremely intimate situations​,​ who are also a million miles apart. Prologue: Valerie Kipnis tells Ira about riding the subway, shoulder-to-shoulder with someone she knows quite well, pretending she doesn’t see him. (8 minutes)Act One: How much can you trust whether somebody who you think is close to...

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  This American Life • Mar 12th793: The Problem with Ghosts

  The ghosts that visit us, the ghosts that never do, and the ghosts that walk among us. Prologue: Chaunte Vaughn’s mother recently died of Parkinsons. Even though Chaunte doesn't believe in ghosts, she is visited by her mom's ghost multiple times. And, to Chaunte’s disappointment, everything her mother's ghost has to...