This American Life

Instead of the usual "each week we choose a theme, and bring you 3 or 4 stories on that theme" business, we throw all that away and bring you 20 stories—yes, 20—in 60 minutes.

• Ira Glass introduces the idea of doing 20 stories in one hour.
• Act One: Contributor Starlee Kine talks to actor Tate Donovan about the day he felt he was being exactly the kind of celebrity he'd wanted to be: when suddenly, he was approached by a kid with a camera.
• Act Two: Writer and producer Scott Carrier recognizes a woman he sees in a restaurant.
• Act Three: Susan Drury talks about "Swap and Shop," a local radio classifieds show that has become a low-tech, personable sort of Ebay.
• Act Four: From Patty Martin: a one minute, four second vacation on Nantucket Island, involving a lot of waving.
• Act Five: From Vicki Merrick, Eric Kipp, and Jay Allison at Transom: scallops on Martha's Vineyard.
• Act Six: From Blunt Youth Radio: a story of a possibly bad "food situation" at the cafeteria in juvenile detention.
• Act Seven: Jonathan Goldstein, host of Wiretap, brings us this story about The Penguin as a young man.
• Act Eight: Two brothers, ages 12 and 13, have very different ideas for their dog's name.
• Act Nine: Elaine Boehm overhears a couple in her pet shop, trying to choose a dog collar.
• Act Ten: A two minute play called “Title,” written and performed by Greg Allen and Heather Riordan of the Chicago group, The Neo-Futurists. It’s part of their long-running show "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes."
• Act Eleven: Author David Sedaris on cell phone usage in restrooms.
• Act Twelve: Brent Runyon reports from the kids' section at the public library.
• Act Thirteen: Catherine and John, two college undergrads, do a babysitting gig together. After the kids are asleep and the two of them get hungry, John doesn't think they should eat any of the food in the house; they settle on a compromise.
• Act Fourteen: Mystery and missing flavor at the hot dog plant.
• Act Fifteen: Author David Rakoff worked at an advertising agency, and could see exactly where its technology was going.
• Act Sixteen: Someone sits next to the printer. You see him forty times a day. What's his name? What does he do?
• Act Seventeen: Richard Kerry has an impressive ability: he can recreate the sound of a whole swamp.
• Act Eighteen: Author Chuck Klosterman and his friends make a party game out of comparing television shows to rock bands. They call it "Monkees Equals Monkees."
• Act Nineteen: Every year 1,200 new army cadets arrive at West Point. Once they say a single sentence correctly, they can go to their barracks. But not until then. David Lipsky reports. He's the author of Absolutely American.
• Act Twenty: Teenage girls from a detention center perform a song for their parents.

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org