638: Rom-Com
This American Life
This American Life
4.6 • 88.8K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2025
⏱️ 63 minutes
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Summary
The one thing you know for sure when you're watching a romantic comedy is that it's going to turn out okay in the end. When you're living one? Not so much.
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- Prologue: Romantic comedies usually don’t get much respect. Producer Neil Drumming explains what’s so great about them. (5 minutes)
- Act One: Actor Daniel Radcliffe reads a short piece of fiction, “The Present,” from Simon Rich’s book of short stories, “The Last Girlfriend on Earth.” (10 minutes)
- Act Two: Elna Baker interviews comedian Michelle Buteau about one of her first big romantic challenges. (14 minutes)
- Act Three: David Kestenbaum retraces the steps of Steve Snyder, a man who found himself running for love. (9 minutes)
- Act Four: Comedian Jillian Welsh tells Diane Wu about one of the most romantic—and stressful—nights of her life, a night that paralleled the plot of a rom-com in several ways. (16 minutes)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In a bonus episode just for our This American Life partners... |
| 0:03.5 | Ladies and gentlemen, Ira Glass! |
| 0:06.6 | We found a recording of Ira's first and only stand-up comedy set. |
| 0:11.5 | Did we travel back in time? |
| 0:14.3 | And honestly, it's great. |
| 0:16.4 | They do not advertise hiking properly at all. |
| 0:20.1 | To hear the whole thing and all the other bonus episodes we've been releasing every two weeks, |
| 0:24.8 | and more than anything, help us continue to make the show. |
| 0:28.2 | Subscribe at thisamericanlife.org slash life partners. |
| 0:32.2 | That link is also in the show notes. |
| 0:33.7 | Thank you all so much for having to hear. |
| 0:40.3 | A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbeaped in today's episode of the show. |
| 0:44.8 | If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org. |
| 0:51.1 | It's This American Life from WBEZ Chicago. I'm Ira Glass. |
| 0:54.5 | And here at our radio show, we were talking about romantic comedies |
| 0:57.3 | and how they don't get a lot of respect. |
| 0:59.9 | I think it's maybe because of the bad ones. |
| 1:02.2 | Every part of them just feels too obvious, you know? |
| 1:05.2 | A couple meets, but they hate each other at first. |
| 1:07.9 | They go through some things that make them, you know, |
| 1:10.3 | learn some important lesson about |
| 1:12.1 | themselves. You know from the very beginning they're going to end up together, and then no surprise, |
... |
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