Description
Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny moments, big feelings, and surprising plot twists. Newsy stories that try to capture what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or podcast. Hosted by Ira Glass and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.
Episodes
- 2024 / 12 / 15849: The NarratorBanias is an 8-year-old kid living in Gaza. And she has a story to tell — many stories, in fact. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: While on the phone...
- 2024 / 11 / 24848: The Official Unofficial RecordHow do you count almost 12 million votes if you’re not the government? This week, we bring you the extraordinary story of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who created the only verifiable public record of...
- 2024 / 11 / 10846: This Is the Cake We BakedWith Donald Trump’s victory this week, many people looked at the election results and thought, yeah, this is the country I thought it was. For some people, that was a hopeful thing. For others, kind of the...
- 2024 / 10 / 16A Big AnnouncementIra Glass has news to share about some things happening here at This American Life. To sign up as a Life Partner, visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners.
- 2024 / 10 / 13843: A Little Bit of PowerSo much of the fight for the presidency is coming down to battles for small slices of voters who can help throw swing states to one candidate or another. Abbas Alawieh, a leader in the Uncommitted movement,...
- 2024 / 10 / 6842: 51 DaysChen Almog-Goldstein was kidnapped by Hamas along with her three youngest children on October 7, 2023. This week, she tells the story of their life as hostages in Gaza. Prologue: The 251 hostages taken by...
- 2024 / 9 / 22841: My Senior YearOne kid comes to America as an exchange student and commits herself to the senior year experience. Prologue: We talk to high school seniors in Salt Lake City who are trying to have the perfect year. (5...
- 2024 / 9 / 15840: How Are You Not Seeing This?People trying and struggling to see what another person sees. Prologue: Guest-host Tobin Low talks to comedian Tig Notaro about a jarring ride to school with her son. (6 minutes)Act One: Producer Aviva...
- 2024 / 6 / 2832: That Other GuyPeople tethered to one particular other person, whether they want to be or not. Prologue: Guest host Emmanuel Dzotsi talks to Leroy Smith about how one high school basketball tryout forever changed Leroy’s...
- 2024 / 3 / 24827: All the King's HorsesThe things we break and the ones we can't fix. Prologue: Ira tells the stories of three things that broke–two of them in his own family. (8 minutes)Act One: A teenage whiz kid invents a new toy for...
- 2024 / 3 / 17826: Unprepared for What Has Already HappenedPeople waking up to the fact that the world has suddenly changed. Prologue: Jackson Landers tells the story of a very strange decision he made one summer day. (6 minutes)Act One: Elena Kostyuchenko tells the...
- 2024 / 3 / 3825: YousefA series of phone calls to a man in Gaza named Yousef Hammash, between early December and now. He talks about what he and his family are experiencing, sometimes as they are experiencing it. Act One: Over the...
- 2024 / 2 / 25824: Family MeetingYour mother and I have something we want to talk with you about. A family sits down to discuss one thing. But then the true purpose of the meeting emerges. (9 ½ minutes)Act 1: For one kibbutz-dwelling family...
- 2024 / 1 / 28822: The Words to Say ItWhat it means to have words—and to lose them. Prologue: Sometimes we don’t want to say what’s going on because putting it into words would make it real. At other times, words don’t seem to capture the weight...
- 2024 / 1 / 21821: Embrace the SuckPeople finding themselves in situations that are worse than they thought and deciding to really go with it. Prologue: A Boston woman takes her dog for a walk and suddenly finds herself in a terrible situation...
- 2023 / 12 / 24820: It Wouldn’t Be Make-Believe If You’d Believe In MeA major political party in a major swing state bets on a new leader: a total political outsider. How does that work out for them? Prologue: In 2022, Michigan Republicans ran anti-establishment candidates who...
- 2023 / 12 / 22819: Special Bonus Podcast — Yousef’s WeekOne of our producers, Chana Joffe-Walt, had a series of conversations with a man in Gaza over the course of one week. They're so immediate – and particular to this moment in the war in Gaza – that...
- 2023 / 12 / 17818: Stand Clear of the Closing DoorsIn the last year and a half, New York City has scrambled to try and provide shelter and services to over 150,000 migrants. We take a look at how that’s going. Prologue: In the middle of the night, host Ira...
- 2023 / 12 / 3817: The Cavalry Is Not ComingWhen you realize that help is not on the way, what do you do next? Prologue: Saddam Sayyaleh’s job right now is trying to get trucks filled with aid into Gaza and he knows it’s nowhere close to what’s...
- 2023 / 11 / 26816: Poultry SlamDuring the highest turkey consumption period of the year, we bring you a This American Life tradition: stories of turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, fowl of all kinds—real and imagined—and their mysterious hold...
- 2023 / 11 / 19815: How I Learned to ShaveThings our dads taught us, whether they intended to or not. Prologue: Ira talks about the time his dad taught him to shave, and how unusual that was. (5 minutes)Act One: When Jackie read the obits for the man...
- 2023 / 11 / 12814: 814: Parents Are PeopleWhat happens when you realize the people in charge don’t have the answers. Prologue: Guest Host Chana Joffe-Walt asks her kids when they first encountered adult fallibility. (8 minutes)Act One: A middle...
- 2023 / 11 / 5813: Is That What I Look Like?You've been seeing yourself, getting to know what you look like, your whole life. So why does it often take an outsider to see things about you that are obvious, and set you straight? Prologue: Guest...
- 2023 / 10 / 22812: The Bear at the End of the TunnelPeople who have a good, long time to think about what they’re doing, look hard at what’s ahead of them, and decide to keep moving forward anyway. Prologue: Brothers Wes and Jeff spent a winter tagging black...
- 2023 / 10 / 1811: The One Place I Can’t GoSpots we’re avoiding in our private maps of the world. Prologue: Guest host Bim Adewunmi talks to her cousin Kamyl about a funny thing Kamyl did when she was small, regarding a dog named Foxy. (4 minutes)Act...
- 2023 / 9 / 17810: Say It to My FaceFriends and ex-friends finally talk about the one thing between them they've been avoiding. Prologue: Host Ira Glass tells a story he’s never told anyone before, about something someone said to him. (4...
- 2023 / 9 / 10809: The CallOne call to a very unusual hotline, and everything that followed. Prologue: Ira talks about a priest who set up what may have been the first hotline in the United States. It was just him, answering a phone,...
- 2023 / 8 / 20808: The Rest of the StoryLegendary radio broadcaster Paul Harvey had a popular show called “The Rest of the Story.” Today on our show, we do just that. We hear from people who, whether they want to or not, find themselves...
- 2023 / 8 / 6807: Eight FightsNadia's family is split between Russia and Ukraine, which is pretty common. And when Russia invaded Ukraine, it didn’t just start fighting on the battlefield. It sparked family conflict, too. An intimate...
- 2023 / 7 / 30806: I Can't Quit You, BabyPeople on the verge of a big change, not wanting to let go. And the people who give them the final push. Prologue: Guest Host Sean Cole gets some scary news about his health, and decides to quit smoking. (5...
- 2023 / 7 / 16805: The Florida ExperimentGovernor Ron DeSantis is running for president on the argument that he'll do for America what he's done for Florida. So what's it like in Florida? Prologue: Florida is now the fastest growing...
- 2023 / 6 / 25803: Greetings, People Of EarthHumans encounter non-human intelligences of various kinds and try to make sense of them. Prologue: Ira has some thoughts about our country’s long history of alien invasion movies. (2 minutes)Act One: In this...
- 2023 / 5 / 14799: The Lives of OthersLooping 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...
- 2023 / 5 / 7798: Leaving the FoldA 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...
- 2023 / 4 / 30352: The Ghost of Bobby DunbarIn 1912 a four-year-old boy named Bobby Dunbar went missing in a swamp in Louisiana. Eight months later, he was found in the hands of a wandering handyman in Mississippi. In 2004, Bobby Dunbar's...
- 2023 / 4 / 23797: What I Was Thinking As We Were SinkingIt's funny the things that go through your head during a disaster.
- 2023 / 4 / 16796: What Lies BeneathSummoning up stuff that’s usually hidden down deep.
- 2023 / 4 / 9795: Nine Months LaterIt’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...
- 2023 / 4 / 2765: Off CourseThree people, and one animal, who know the path their lives will take until, suddenly, they don’t.
- 2023 / 3 / 26794: So Close and Yet So FarPeople ​so close to each other, ​in ​extremely intimate situations​,​ who are also a million miles apart.
- 2023 / 3 / 19654: The Feather HeistA flute player breaks into a British museum and makes off with a million dollars worth of dead birds.
- 2023 / 3 / 12793: The Problem with GhostsThe ghosts that visit us, the ghosts that never do, and the ghosts that walk among us.
- 2023 / 3 / 5792: When to LeavePeople staring down that hardest of questions: Is now the time? To leave?
- 2023 / 2 / 26639: In Dog We TrustExactly how much are the animals that live in our homes caught up in our everyday family dynamics?
- 2023 / 2 / 19556: Same Bed, Different DreamsPeople who are tied together, but imagine radically different futures.
- 2023 / 2 / 12791: Math or Magic?When it comes to finding love, there seems to be two schools of thought on the best way to go about it. One says, wait for that lightning-strike magic. The other says, make a calculation and choose the best...
- 2023 / 2 / 5542: Wait—Do You Have The Map?Feeling lost and trying to figure out how to move ahead.
- 2023 / 1 / 29790: You're ItSometimes you raise your hand. Other times you’re just the only one left.
- 2023 / 1 / 22789: The RunaroundPeople being dodged, delayed, and evaded—and what they do to put an end to it.
- 2023 / 1 / 15174: Birthdays, Anniversaries, and MilestonesThey mean something, whether we want them to or not.
- 2023 / 1 / 8788: Half-Baked Stories About My Dead MomWriter Etgar Keret tries to come up with the stories that capture his late mother, Orna Keret—but it’s hard, he says, because she’s like Maria in West Side Story and she’s also like Thanos from the Avengers....
- 2023 / 1 / 1598: My Undesirable TalentSan Francisco’s Spider-Man burglar was remarkable. He dropped into buildings from skylights, leapt 10 feet from one roof to another. But mostly, his talent got him into trouble. This week, his story, and...
- 2022 / 12 / 25787: Baby's First ChristmasPeople experiencing Christmas in brand new ways, giving the holiday even more meaning.
- 2022 / 12 / 18757: The Ghost in the MachinePeople use machines to find people they lost.
- 2022 / 12 / 11402: Save the DayStories about one person single-handedly taking charge of a situation gone wrong.
- 2022 / 12 / 4786: It's a Game Show!Something we’ve never done before: true stories told in the form of a game show.
- 2022 / 11 / 27785: Through the Looking GlassPeople trying to coax each other across the line, from one side to the other.
- 2022 / 11 / 20351: Return to ChildhoodPeople who try to revisit their childhoods—what they find and what they do not find.
- 2022 / 11 / 13732: SecretsWhy we tell them, and what happens after we do.
- 2022 / 11 / 6784: Mapmaker, Mapmaker, Make Me a MapNot long ago, Republicans in Ohio passed a constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering in the state. And then a funny thing happened. The same Ohio Republicans drew electoral maps that violated their own...
- 2022 / 10 / 30783: Kids These DaysWe hear from kids who are dealing with some of the country’s most contentious debates. Debates that are supposedly about them.
- 2022 / 10 / 16782: Family DigTwo people go on excavations of their families’ pasts. Including the first episode of the new podcast, “We Were Three,” hosted by our longtime producer, Nancy Updike, and from Serial Productions and The New...
- 2022 / 10 / 9781: Watching the WatchersPeople taking it upon themselves to keep an eye on those in charge.
- 2022 / 10 / 2780: Setting the Record StraightGetting to the facts can be difficult, but it’s always the right thing to do. Except when it isn’t.
- 2022 / 9 / 18779: Ends of the EarthAn exploration of the very upper limits of what you do for someone you love.
- 2022 / 8 / 28778: Me Minus MeWhen a fundamental part of yourself changes dramatically, are you still who you thought you were?
- 2022 / 8 / 14777: Name. Age. Detail.Ten people were killed at a grocery store in Buffalo, NY. Their stories, as you’ve never heard them.
- 2022 / 7 / 4774: The Pink House at the Center of the WorldThe Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade began with a lawsuit filed by a Mississippi abortion clinic. On the day Roe was overturned, we were there. Stories from the center of this moment of history,...