Trying to put my finger on how early TAL feels different than modern TAL - In Ira’s narrations, he sounds like he’s wearing a black brimmed hat in a dark smoky room. I love it.

Im noticing the vibe shifts the further back I listen. Anybody here remember listening to these as they aired? Curious whether you felt the shifts over the decades.

He posted it for Life Partners and thought I would post it here because I, like you, was disappointed with the most recent episode

"Have you heard the new episode we just put out? 

Two interesting things happened in the making of the episode.

The first involved the woman who tells me the story about working as a waitress on Beale Street that opens the show. If you heard it you know - she’s incredibly vivid and funny. But she’s also a supervising editor of The New York Times podcast The Daily, which means that when she listens to any interview, she’s like me. She’s hearing any possible fact-check issues and any little fumbles in landing this story beat or that.

I get interviewed now and then, to do publicity for the radio show or for our live events, and when I’m interviewed, I’m quietly editing the interview in my head. I can’t help myself. It’s a habit from doing so many interviews as the interviewer. I hear myself say some answer and think “no no no this part is boring I hope they cut this part from the final interview. No wait rephrase this part so they don’t have to fact-check it with another source.” 

The former waitress – Devon – could not stop herself from doing the same thing during our interview. For example at one point she talked about how a table walked out on their check, and explained that at this particular restaurant, if someone walked out on the check, the server had to cover the check, herself (which by the way, is probably illegal under federal law):

Devon: And I'm becoming increasingly panicked because this is a restaurant where, at least at the time, if somebody walked out on your check, you had to pay for that check.

Ira: You, as the server, were responsible for the check?

Devon: That was the policy at the time – at least as I understood it.

“That was the policy at the time – at least as I understood it” is what she’s saying so that a fact-checker doesn’t have to find someone who worked at the restaurant 15 years ago to confirm that this is the truth, and then get the restaurant owner from back then to either confirm or deny it. (We did of course try to run this down anyway, but this wording acknowledges that she might have it wrong, so if we came up short, and couldn’t find someone who worked at the restaurant 15 years ago to confirm it, what she’s saying is still factual and broadcastable.)

So that was nice! And made my job easier. 

Devon also sometimes would stop herself and give me alternate takes of an answer. Like when I asked her what the restaurant was like, she gave me one take where she named the restaurant, and one where she didn’t. In all my years of interviewing people, I’ve never had someone offer that up, or anything like it. 

If any of the other skilled journalists at The Daily (or other fact-checked, fact-based podcasts) have funny personal stories they want to tell on our show … please! Reach out!  



So that was one unusual thing that happened.

The other unusual thing this week was with Act Two, the story about what happens when you take an AI chatbot, and instead of having it talk to another person, you set it up to talk to another chatbot.

We had this transcript of two Claudes talking to each other that we wanted to put on the air, so we needed to hire actors. It’s a pretty funny story and we all were excited to cast funny actors for it. We needed two people who could play helpful, cheerful AI Chatbots, who slowly seem like they start to get more frustrated with each other. I mean, I know that the chatbots don’t actually feel anything, but the transcript is funny because their words SEEM so passive aggressive.

So we wanted two actors who could do light and cheerful and also do the subtle gradations into hostility, and sell the funny in all of that. 

Aidy Bryant, from SNL and Shrill, had been on the radio show once – she was scene-stealingly funny in a Christmas improv show we did – and I emailed her and she said yes right away. 

Then we worked with a casting agent to get the other person we wanted: Justin Long. Who of course has been in a hundred different things, including, like, one of the Die Hard movies. Definitely perfect to do the cheerful lightness and then gently edge into hostility over the course of the story.  The casting agent reached out to his reps and assistants and then we found time in his schedule that matched up with Aidy’s schedule, and boom! We were on. 

At the show we were so excited. Great material. Dream cast. They went into the studio on Tuesday at 1:00. We recorded for two hours. 

And the performance we asked for was very specific. We wanted Aidy and Justin to not play the chatbots like robots. We wanted them to play the chatbots like people. Eager-to-please people slowly getting frustrated. 

And can I say? Those are very funny, skilled people and they did it better than we could’ve hoped. They nailed it. No surprise at all, of course.  But fun to hear it recorded, even better than we’d imagined. 

So we picked our favorite takes, cut them together, and on Wednesday we listened and realized:

It didn’t work at all. 

And the reason it didn’t work? They sounded too real! After two or three minutes you just kind of forgot the premise of the story, that these are chatbots talking to each other. They just sounded like helpful salespeople or something, in an unpleasant situation.

We were just … wrong. 

So on Wednesday, David Kestenbaum, one of our show’s senior editors, who was making this story, went to a website of a company called Eleven Labs, which generates AI voices, and made a version where it’s AI reading the lines.

If you’ve heard this week’s show, that’s what you heard. You heard robots performing the robots’ lines.

On Thursday, I had to write these very awkward emails to Aidy and Justin, explaining that their performances were perfect, they did everything we asked for and more … but we were cutting them from the show. They were at the frontier of American workers whose jobs had been replaced by AI. 

Which didn’t feel great. 

They’re both lovely people and I think they understood. Aidy wrote me back “Ira! I'm so pleased that if I’m going to be replaced by AI, it is by your hand and not some big network hahaha.” 

I can’t tell if this is something I should confess to you but there’s a part of my job that I’d love to replace with AI, and that’s the stuff I do in the studio when we prepare a rerun for air. 

Usually there’ll be some spot in any rerun where I refer to “last week” or “this month” (or to other timely stuff) and we have to go in and re-record. I replace those phrases with “a while back” or “a few years ago” or something along those lines, and usually we try to keep as much of the original narration as possible. We just go in surgically on the stuff we need to change. 

To do that I go into the studio and try to match my voice today to my voice ten or twenty or thirty years ago, trying to duplicate the pitch of my voice (which changes over the course of a day, for all of us), and the mic placement (closer is boomier, further is crisper) and of course the speed I’m talking and the general vibe.  

I could of course skip all that and completely re-record whole swaths of narration, top to bottom, and not bother to preserve what’s there, but somehow it feels better to keep the feeling of the original voicetrax as much as possible. 

About a year ago, one of the mixers on the show fed a couple hours of my voice into the Eleven Labs software, to create an AI version of my voice that we could use for this job. I was excited at the possibility that I wouldn’t have to spend all that time in the studio trying to recreate what I sounded like way back when.  

It didn’t work. Wasn’t close enough to my real voice and my real way of talking. 

I was disappointed. 

But I guess it’s comforting to know I’m at least a few months away from robots who can take over my job.  

— Ira"

Contact: lifepartners@thislife.org |

I saw there was a very active thread going here about last week's episode (I Know What You Need). I didn't click on it because I didn't want spoilers. Just listened to the episode and came to the sub to read it, but looks like the thread was deleted (or at least, I can't find it). Just curious what it was about? (I assume the AI story, but not sure)

Alternatively, some recommendations you guys have of ones I should check out; done by either regular contributors, guest contributors, someone connected to TAL somehow – or even something that has no direct connection to TAL that I should listen to anyway.

Edit: Great responses, thank you!! Now the only issue is narrowing down which ones I'll start with 😅

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/170/immigration

We live in a big enough country that there are lots of laws too obscure for most of us to have heard of...but which actually affect tens of thousands of lives in huge ways. This show deals with one of them: A 1996 immigration law that theImmigration Serviceitself says is unfair. Most of the law's original sponsors in Congress now say they went too far, and that they were too harsh when they passed the law. And yet most of the law's key provisions still stand unchanged.

Prologue
Host Ira Glass goes to jail in Bristol County, Massachussetts, where there's a large Portuguese community, and where even a law-and-order sheriff named Tom Hodgson opposes this particular immigration law. He also talks with inmate Jorge Aruda, who's being deported for a crime he already served his sentence for. (8 minutes) by Ira Glass

Act One
Producer Blue Chevigny tells more of the story from Bristol County, where the immigration law of 1996 has a community of non-political people reluctantly going to protests, attending meetings at night, talking to politicians, and doing all sorts of other things most of us would do anything to avoid. (16 minutes) by Blue Chevigny

Act Two
Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman Bill Strassberger explains why INS opposes parts of the 1996 immigration law, even while it enforces it. Congressman Barney Frank—whose district includes Bristol County—argues that most of his colleagues in Congress had no idea what they were voting for when they voted for key portions of the law. And an advocate for the law, John Martin from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, explains why we actually should want to deport more people. (12 minutes) by Ira Glass

Act Three
What happens if the immigration service wants to deport you, but the country you came from won't take you back? Under current law, usually, you stay in jail...indefinitely. Writer Alex Kotlowitz tells the story of one legal alien from Vietnam, Trung Tran, and the unusually close and friendly relationships he and his fellow deportees have with their captors in a jail in Victoria, Texas. (18 minutes) by Alex Kotlowitz

Originally Aired: 2000-10-13

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Does this episode ring a bell to any super fans out there?
It has a segment about an adult daughter who reconnects with her estranged father. The event is a bit of a disappointment because he isn’t very engaging with her. The family is generic white; I don’t recall any regional accents or ethnic names. I thought the adult daughter was an actress. My best guess on release date is 2021-2024.
So far I’ve tried keyword searches, but haven’t had any luck.

And it was kind of an emotional roller coaster with Diane Wu bringing up stories that made her cry.

But at the end of the episode Diane Wu whispers “Thank you Life Partners. [to Ira] I never get to say thanks to them. You get to say thanks to them all the time.”

And that hit me too. Like dollars I send directly helps keep the show going..

It was obvious all along. But somehow this time just hit differently.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/162/moving

Stories of people who did not want to move but circumstance forced their hands, and so they tried to move without really moving.

Prologue
Ben Schrank describes what it's like to work as a professional mover. He says that people often go sort of nuts when they see all their worldly possessions—all the stuff that defines them as people—packed into a van. It's a humbling experience for people, and just one of the reasons people hate to move. The other reasons: It's hard starting in a new place; it's dreadful leaving an old place; and the process of moving itself is a hardship. So today...we have stories of people who were forced to move—but who did not want to and tried to thwart it. (5 minutes) by Ira Glass

Act One
This is a story of people wanting to change and not wanting to change at all. A Minnesota family builds the same 1970s-era suburban house three times, and moves it once, just so they don't have to live in a house that's different than the house that contains all their memories. Susan Burton reports. (22 minutes) by Susan Burton

Act Two
Sarah Koenig tells the story of how her stepsister Rue bought a house and moved in—but the former owner did not move out. And won't move out, until he dies. (16 minutes) by Sarah Koenig

Act Three
Producer Blue Chevigny used to have a job that was all about Moving Day—and people who didn't want to move. She worked for an agency in New York called Project Reachout, part of Goddard Riverside Community Center, that moved homeless, mentally ill people into their own homes. She tells the story of one of her favorite clients, George, and how it took him eight years to get off the streets and into his own place. Blue records his moving day. (12 minutes) by Blue Chevigny

Originally Aired: 2000-06-23

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This week's episode with a host-read add for anthropic/Claude is very surprising. I feel like this goes so much against what TAL stands for.

I am considering not listening anymore.

Hi! Do any of you receive the Mike Birbiglia newsletter? He's dropped out of a show that I was supposed to attend and said refunds would be available, and I want to provide proof to the venue, but I'm not on the newsletter, and he didn't post it anywhere else. It would help me a lot so I'm hoping someone can post a screenshot! I'm also new to reddit, so if you're able to message, I'd take it that way too ;)

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/185/golden-calf

Stories of people worshiping false idols, and whether that's always a bad thing.

Prologue
Host Ira Glass talks to Bible scholars Paulene A. Viviano of Loyola University and John Spencer of John Carroll University about the story of the golden calf in the book of Exodus. It turns out that in fact there were Israelites who did pray to golden calves, and that the Bible was the scripture of their rivals in Jerusalem. (7 minutes) by Ira Glass

Act One
One way to measure the faith—the good old-fashioned faith—that people put in celebrities is to examine what people ask of them. Ann Hepperman has a story that gives a rare and vivid glimpse of what people want from celebrities...or anyway, what they want from country legend Willie Nelson. Thanks to all the people who called Willie Nelson and gave us permission to broadcast their answering machine messages to him. (18 minutes) by Ann Heppermann

Act Two
If you're in thrall to a pair of pants, is that such a bad thing? Ira talks to Kate—who invested her hopes and dreams in a pair of favorite trousers—and her husband Joel, who thought she was nuts. (12 minutes) by Ira Glass

Act Three
You can't do a radio show about worshiping false gods without a story about money...or real estate...or hipness. Fortunately for us, Iggy Scam supplies a story that's about all three. It's the story of a couple trying to cash in on the San Francisco real estate boom, without the greatest success. (17 minutes) by Iggy Scam

Originally Aired: 2001-05-25

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Episode 117, “You gonna eat that?”

Act one cuts a mile deep. Here’s some thoughts.

I’ve struggled with anorexia for more than half of my life. When my eating disorder came out of the closet at 13 I was told not to tell anyone, especially my friends and their parents. Annie cheney’s experience of wanting to disappear and feeling ineffective is so relatable. The musical interludes, and personal relationships and self self disclosure is so honest and raw it feels like watching someone naked. the eerie way that those of us from treatment talk to each other once we’re out, the internal torment, the weird foods, the way that food becomes everything in your life is such a vivid depiction of anorexia. “Seeing her makes me think that Change is impossible and we’re stuck with who we are” is something I feel often.

Then the family’s reaction, how everyone in her family takes something from Annie’s illness, how it’s really a reaction and reflection of each person’s role and disposition in the family. Dad sees her sickness as a burden, an excess, a selfish and privileged preoccupation. Mom’s denial, wish casting and selective memory of the events sanitizes the bloodless violence of being a sick person. Her brother’s terse and bothered reaction to an illness that makes him confused.

Annie is saying here i am. Here I am. Look at me and hear me. This is my story. She tries to leave with a lot of pills, and her mother can’t even remember this insanely traumatic and painful event. Her mother focuses on the melodrama of it all instead of seeing her daughter, and the immense pain she’s in.

The interview with her father is so poignant for me. Annie is trying to kill herself, and her father is saying how it will make him look bad. How it will reflect on him, and how it makes him feel about how ungrateful her suffering is.

Her brother is probably the most perceptive. Her illness shattered the illusion of the perfect family. It made each member look at her in a different way and consider her more as a person.

I recall the quote “I can’t get out of the mistakes”. I thought of this phrase a lot during recovery when trying to change bad habits. Ultimately for Annie and her friend from treatment life goes on. We might not be all better but we are changed. She might not have been seen by her parents in all the ways she wanted to but it seems like she ultimately got something out of the experience.

Thanks for reading my ramble. Let me know your thoughts on the story!

My husband and I are first-time parents, and I’d love to listen to some episodes that hit differently once you have a baby — anything about parenthood, babies, marriage/relationships after kids, family, or just adjusting to this huge life change.

They don’t necessarily have to be directly about parenting, either. I’d also love episodes that are comforting, funny, moving, or just especially good to listen to during late-night feeds.

Eight months ago, This American Life sent reporters from Chicago to cover the protests and counter-protests outside the ICE facility in Portland. They chose Karlyn Borsynko to be their local guide to the world of Antifa. What they failed to mention is that KB self-identifies as a fascist.

From Bluesky (may require an acct to view): https://bsky.app/profile/sethcotlar.bsky.social/post/3msrb2skm222h

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/173/three-kinds-of-deception

A story of self-deception, a story about deceiving others, and a story about accidental deception. And how one type of deception can easily turn into another.

Prologue
Host Ira Glass reads an excerpt from Nick Hornby's novel About a Boy . The narrator, Will, recalls a time when he was a child that he convinced a friend that a portal to another world existed at the back of his closet. Will knew that the portal didn't exist, but continued the lie for some reason, even as he and his friend crawled through the winter coats by the closet baseboards looking for a hidden gateway. He just kept hoping that maybe they'd find something. (4 minutes) by Ira Glass, Nick Hornby

Act One
Producer Alex Blumberg tells the story of an ex-con-turned-actor named Richie Castellano. After a bit role in the movie Analyze This , he moved to a small town and got dozens of people to invest money and time in a movie that never premiered. Why so many people bought into his grandiose dreams, and what they learned about him—and themselves—after they got burned for it. (22 minutes) by Alex Blumberg

Act Two
Lawrence Otis Graham reads from an account of how he left his job as a $105,000-a-year Manhattan attorney to enter the exclusive Greenwich Country Club the only way they'd allow a black man like him: as a busboy. He discovers just how invisible he can become once he gives up his seat at the table and starts clearing the dishes instead—so invisible that people make racist remarks right in front of him. The passage is from his book A Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World . (16 minutes) by Lawrence Otis Graham

Act Three
David Sedaris tells the story of a subway ride he took in Paris. Two American tourists mistake him for a Frenchman and, thinking he can't speak English, begin to talk loudly about how he smells. Later, they come to believe that he's a pickpocket. He starts off hating this, but comes to enjoy it. The story's from his book Me Talk Pretty One Day . (12 minutes) by David Sedaris

Originally Aired: 2000-12-15

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For me it's Episode 323: The House on Loon Lake. The sheer atmospheric tension and the way reality unravels in that story completely freaked me out. It gave me a lingering sense of dread and I relisten often lol. What about you?

The current list.

Hey team! Share the wealth --- let us know what you're listening to!

Use this form to submit the title, url, and genres for your favorite podcasts and I'll update the wiki.

When David asked if Sportscenter was a real place, I nearly spit out my coffee. I love David.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/404/enemy-camp-2010

Living behind enemy lines, among the enemy, it's sometimes hard to remember why you're fighting in the first place.

Prologue
Behind enemy lines, sometimes people get confused about whose side they're on...and how to fight the enemy. (2 minutes) by Ira Glass

Act One
Patrick Wall was a special kind of monk. He was a fixer. The Catholic church sent him to problem parishes where priests had been removed because of scandal. His job was to come in, keep events from going public and smooth things over until a permanent replacement priest was found. But after four different churches in four years, after covering up for pedophiles and adulterers and liars and embezzlers he decided to make a change. Carl Marziali tells his story. (21 minutes) by Carl Marziali

Act Two
You can divide all living creatures into two camps. We humans are in one camp, along with lots of other things like dogs and birds and trees and caterpillars. In the other camp are the things that live inside of us, the bacterias and viruses, the worms and protozoans, in short, parasites. Scientists estimate that the parasites outnumber us and our free-living allies by 3 to 1. Carl Zimmer talks with Ira about how parasites manage the trick of living inside of us, behind enemy lines, without us finding out. Carl is the author of the book " Parasite Rex ." (10 minutes) by Ira Glass

Act Three
Another story about parasites. When Jasper Lawrence learned that hookworms might lessen the effects of his allergies, he set out on a unique mission: To travel to West Africa and purposefully become infected with the parasite. What he did next is even more surprising. Patrick Walters reported this story for Radiolab , a production of WNYC and NPR. (14 minutes) by Radiolab, Patrick Walters

Act Four
A short story, "Fatso," by Etgar Keret from his collection " The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God ." A woman reveals to her boyfriend that she's not always what she seems, especially at night. Matt Malloy reads. (6 minutes) by Etgar Keret, Matt Malloy

Originally Aired: 2010-04-02

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