This American Life

Stories of people who find themselves stuck in small spaces—an elevator, an attic, an orchestra pit—trying to make sense of their new surroundings.

View episode details

Next week preview

Recently Aired

View archive

720

Oct. 16, 2020

The Moment After This Moment

Stories about people who are worried — or not worried enough! — about what's hurtling unstoppably towards them.

668

Oct. 9, 2020

The Long Fuse

People tossing words out into the world impulsively, to ignite and burn over decades.

719

Oct. 2, 2020

Trust Me I’m a Doctor

The not-often-talked-about realm of licensing boards, and the disturbing decisions they sometimes make.

“When I’m trying to explain our program to someone who doesn’t know it, I stammer a bunch of words like ‘entertaining,’ ‘funny,’ ‘surprising plot twists,’ ‘true stories but not boring I swear’ … and then I just give them this list.” — Ira Glass

View this list