Check it Out: Ira Glass on Three Decades of ‘This American Life’ Magic

Fail Better with David Duchovny

Grace Cohen-Chen

Society & Culture

4.6 • 534 Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2025

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hey, everyone. Today I wanted to share a special conversation from another Lemonada show: Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso. For those who aren’t already familiar with this great podcast, the show started all the way back in 2016 and airs every Sunday. The episode you’re about to hear is a recent one. It’s a great talk between Sam and the broadcast legend Ira Glass, from May 2025. Thirty years. Over 850 episodes. Nine Peabodys. One Pulitzer. And yet somehow, three decades in, This American Life (and its creator, Ira Glass) remains as innovative and timely as ever. We begin with a week in the life of Ira: a typical Monday at This American Life, the rigorous notes process, and how the team selects the stories it wants to tell that Sunday. Then, we unpack Trump’s ongoing threats to slash government funding for public media, Glass’ formative days as a teenage intern at NPR, and the radio mentors who shaped his ideas around narrative. On the back-half, we discuss how his taste and talent eventually converged, what makes a good interview, the guest he most identifies with, the episode he’s most proud of, and, naturally, the future of This American Life. To learn more about Talk Easy, visit talkeasypod.com and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Find Talk Easy on social: @talkeasypod and @samfragoso Follow David on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's morning in New York.
0:02.8	Oh, God.
0:06.2	Hey, everybody.
0:07.3	I'm Mandy Patinkin.
0:08.7	And I'm Catherine Grady.
0:09.8	And we have a new podcast.
0:11.7	It's called Don't Listen to Us.
0:14.1	Many of you've asked for our advice.
0:16.1	Tell me, what is wrong with you people?
0:19.2	Don't listen to us.
0:20.3	Our Take It or Leave a Advice show every Wednesday, out now. A Lemonada Media Original.
0:29.7	Hey everyone. Today I wanted to share a special conversation from another Lemonada show, Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso. For those who aren't already familiar with this great podcast, the show started all the way back in 2016 and airs every Sunday.
0:44.6	Whether Sam is speaking with performers like Pedro Piscal or Viola Davis, filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola or Stephen Soderberg, or authors like Margaret Adwood or David Sedaris, the conversations
0:56.0	unfold in a personal, unforgettable way. Every episode is a place where people truly sound like people.
1:02.8	The episodes you're about to hear is a recent one. It's a great talk between Sam and the broadcast
1:07.1	legend Ira Glass from May 2025.
1:15.4	They cover a lot of ground, including how Ira learned how to tell stories by failing at it,
1:18.1	which needless to say resonates over here.
1:22.2	You can find more episodes of the show at talk easypod.com, and we'll be back next week with more Fail Better.
1:25.6	For now, I hope you enjoy the conversation. So you are familiar with the show then?
1:51.8	I mean, when we first discussed me coming on, I did look up the show.
1:57.4	That was eight years ago.
	...

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