Ira Glass news stories on Newser

NPR Frets Over David Sedaris' 'Realish' Stories

Matt Cantor — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:12:15 CDT

The furor over Mike Daisey's semi-fabricated Foxconn story has NPR rethinking its content—even when it comes to comedy. Humorist David Sedaris' hugely popular stories are now in the spotlight for autobiographical material that he has described as "realish." Before the Daisey brouhaha, This American Life "just assumed the audience...

Mike Daisey's Really Sorry —for Real This Time

Polly Davis Doig — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:57:17 CDT

Mike Daisey, the writer/performer at the heart of a controversy over the Apple exposé that proved riddled with what he later termed "theater," is now contrite for his fabrications, reports the LA Times . The man behind the one-man-show The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, apologized on his blog,...

10 Ways Public Radio Gets You to Pay Up

Clay Dillow — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:53:00 CST

If you listen to public radio, you’ve come to dread it too, writes June Thomas in Slate; at least twice a year, the airwaves are dedicated to fundraising, with broadcasters plying listeners with New Yorker subscriptions and tote bags in exchange for a few bucks. Thomas studied the pleas from...

Choose Your Own Adventure, This American Life Style

Will McCahill — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:50:23 CDT

This American Life , providing "a valuable census of liberal America's cultural consciousness since 1996," comes in for a little ribbing from Walker Boyd in Radar . Boyd spoofs Ira Glass's radio and TV narratives with a Mad Libs-type story generator. Now "your dreams of Ira narrating some touching yet inoffensive slice...

Magic of 'This American Life' Returns to Small Screen

Kate Rockwood — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:57:03 CDT

The stories on the small-screen version of “This American Life” start out small—a husband’s protest over the oppressive American trend of lawn-mowing, a young man living with spinal muscular atrophy—and become something universal, both dark and light, even a little magical, writes Heather Havrilesky on Salon.com. On...

'Geeky Hip' New Billy Graham Grabs Next Generation

Marcia Greenwood — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:30:25 CST

Bible-thumper Rob Bell wears geeky-hip glasses, once aspired to be David Letterman, and was momentarily poised for rock stardom, reports Time magazine. And he may be "one of the most important 21st Century Christian leaders," according to one biblical scholar. Nine years ago, Bell founded a nontraditional church called Mars...

Sexiest Men: Salon Adds Steak to Sizzle

Zach Samalin — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:56:25 CST

With only the the briefest nod to that other Sexiest Men Alive list, Salon offers its second annual alternative compilation of hot guys—proving that it all depends on what the meaning of hot is. Jon Hamm, Ira Glass, Jacques Pepin, Judd Apatow, and 22 others make the cut. And...

'LIFE' GOES ON

NewsDude — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:43:30 CDT

Stevenson Swanson wonders how and weather Chicago Public Radio god Ira Glass can really do a television show and, even more daring, a show for the premium cable only network, Showtime.