This American Life
Chicago Public Media
Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny moments, big feelings, and surprising plot twists. Newsy stories that try to capture what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or podcast. Hosted by Ira Glass and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.
Location:
Chicago, IL
Networks:
Chicago Public Media
Description:
Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny moments, big feelings, and surprising plot twists. Newsy stories that try to capture what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or podcast. Hosted by Ira Glass and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.
Twitter:
@thisamerlife
Language:
English
Website:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
Email:
web@thislife.org
Episodes
75: Kindness of Strangers
2/8/2026
An episode from our show's early days: Stories about what happens when strangers are kind — and when they're not.
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Duration:01:00:33
880: What Is Your Emergency?
2/1/2026
911 calls unlike any we’ve heard before, and other stories about immigration agents sweeping through America.
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Duration:00:59:16
879: A Christian and a Muslim Walk Into a Bar
1/18/2026
When a joke could get you killed, should you say it anyway? A group of Syrian comedians test the limits of their newfound freedom, a year after the fall of the brutal Assad regime.
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Duration:01:00:37
The Americans Outside My Window
1/12/2026
In this special mini-episode -- an extra episode this week! -- we hear from someone in Venezuela with a very specific take on last week's U.S. attack.
Duration:00:19:20
878: New Lore Drop
1/11/2026
People discovering information about their own lives that they did not know, and suddenly everything looks very different.
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Duration:01:00:08
Christmas and Commerce
12/24/2025
Stories about the intersection of Christmas and retail, originally broadcast in 1996 when our show was only a year old. Including David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries" about the seasons he spent working as an elf at Macy's.
Duration:01:02:04
877: The Making Of
12/21/2025
How one block in Portland, Oregon became a movie-set war zone that lots of people think is a real war zone.
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Duration:01:01:24
255: Our Holiday Gift-Giving Guide
12/14/2025
The vexing difficulty of finding the perfect gift.
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Duration:01:01:04
876: Bigger Than Me
12/7/2025
When history comes knocking, you have to figure out what to do.
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Duration:01:00:05
875: I Hate Mysteries
11/23/2025
What’s in the box? What’s in the $%&ing box?!?
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Duration:01:02:53
874: Under One Roof
11/16/2025
What’s great about living in a family is that everyone sees everything differently. Also, that’s what’s awful about living in a family. We go behind closed doors with two families.
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Duration:01:06:02
873: Got You Pegged
11/9/2025
Shalom Auslander goes on vacation with his family, and suspects the beloved, chatty old man in the room next door is an imposter—and sets out to prove it. This and other stories about the pitfalls of making snap judgments about others.
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Duration:01:02:29
872: Winners
11/2/2025
America loves winners—now more than ever. But how do you get to a win in 2025 America? We get up close and follow someone trying to build a big win for herself and thousands of others like her.
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Duration:00:58:46
871: The Thing About Things
10/26/2025
Three stories about the strange power inanimate objects can hold over us.
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Duration:01:02:46
An Update from Ira
10/16/2025
Ira Glass shares some news about This American Life
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Duration:00:05:18
870: My Other Self
10/12/2025
What happens when people create alternate versions of themselves and release them into the wild?
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Duration:01:01:46
869: Harold
10/5/2025
When Zohran Mamdani won the primary race for New York mayor, the Democratic establishment's lukewarm response echoed the treatment of another charismatic, unconventional candidate decades earlier. This week, we bring you the story of Harold Washington, the greatest politician you've probably never heard of, and the backlash that ensued when he became Chicago's first Black mayor.
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Duration:01:03:07
286: Mind Games
9/28/2025
Stories of people who try simple mind games on others, and then find themselves way in over their heads.
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Duration:00:02:30
868: The Hand That Rocks The Gavel
9/21/2025
A group of immigration judges, who almost never speak to the press, describes the dismantling of our immigration court system from the inside.
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Duration:01:00:35
867: College Disorientation
9/14/2025
Things are different on college campuses this year. We see inside the drama, with students and staff.
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Duration:01:01:35