Ira Glass

Episode notes

(Photo: Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

This American Life has been on public radio airwaves for almost thirty years. It has won nine Peabodies, an Edward R. Murrow Award and a Pulitzer. It was a TV show on Showtime and has millions of podcast listeners. Its spinoff, Serial, basically made podcasts a thing. 

This year, This American Life passed eight hundred episodes. And probably the most amazing thing is that the show is still really, really great.

For all the reasons it always has been – it’s engrossing, funny, moving. And new ones, too. As its resources have grown, so have its ambitions, and these days it’s often the show telling the most compelling stories about the most important issues in our world.

Behind all that, all this time has been Ira Glass. He created the show way back when, and he’s still steering the ship at 64. There’s a brilliant staff, of course, but the buck still stops with Ira.

We talk with the public radio legend himself to celebrate This American Life hitting eight hundred episodes. Plus, we learn just how many anagrams one can make with Ira Glass’ name.