Air American

Though Ira Glass scored an internship with NPR more than thirty years ago without ever having heard an on-air segment, he’s spent the last fifteen as host and producer of This American Life, more or less redefining audio storytelling. “I make a radio show first and foremost to amuse myself,” Glass admits. “When you’ve been on the air for fifteen years, like anything lasting fifteen years, the big challenge is to not do the standard thing that you’ve always done. Meeting that challenge is the greatest pleasure of the job.”

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• Ira Glass
• National Public Radio Inc.

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Tonight only, An Evening of Radio Stories and Other Stories brings Glass’s amusement and ingenuity to the stage. Part live re-creation/simulation, behind-the-scenes explanation and Q&A, the intimate performance combines This American Life greatest hits, outtakes and, “some material so old you’d have to be the most insane kind of super-fan to have heard it,” Glass says.

“I sense the sheer novelty of seeing me actually exist as a real person carries me — gives me a free ride — for a good three minutes,” Glass explains. And then? “Then they get tired of it. Then I have to sparkle like any other performer. And sparkle I do. “It’s fun to be on stage,” he adds, “and it’s fun to goof around with the audience. And, honestly, often the questions I get asked are so much more profound than any answer that I or anybody could give. I’m continually impressed and surprised.”

Radio Stories begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Place. Tickets range from $29 to $60 and are available from www.tickethorse.com or by calling 866-461-6556.
Sat., May 15, 7:30 p.m., 2010