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This American Life

December 2023

  • A youngish white man with a bushy dark beard, sunglasses, brimmed hat, blue checked shirt with the arms torn off, and tattooed arms stands in a level cemetery looking at a small, brownstone tombstone (out of frame).

    ‘It’s hell being famous’: second violent death of Serial podcast character raises ethics questions

    Tyler Goodson, 32, was killed by police in Woodstock, Alabama, after public radio mega-hit brought fame – but not much else

July 2023

  • James Cooper, Jamie Morton and Alice Levine, hosts of My Dad Wrote A Porno

    ‘Like nothing else you’ll ever hear’: the 20 best podcasts ever

    It’s hard to believe, but podcasts have just turned 20. To celebrate, we asked 20 top podcasting voices for their favourite ever show – and some of the greatest episodes

March 2022

  • Photo by Tolga Akmen. British model Adwoa Aboah poses on the red carpet upon arrival at the BAFTA British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Albert Hall.

    Weekend
    Adwoa Aboah, Marina Hyde on oligarchs, Ira Glass, ‘goblin mode’– podcast

  • Ira Glass.

    This American Life’s Ira Glass: ‘We do stories where we think: that seems messed up’

December 2020

  • Schools scandal … Chana Joffe-Walt making spinoff Nice White Parents.

    'The first week was mayhem' – how This American Life revolutionised radio

    It has spawned hit spinoffs, bagged a Pulitzer and its evocative, character-led reports now have 5 million fans. Has This American Life grown too big? As the show turns 25, founder Ira Glass reveals what keeps him up at night

May 2020

  • GERMANY-LITERATURE-FRANKFURT-FAIR<br>US author Colson Whitehead is pictured at the Frankfurt book fair 2019 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on October 19, 2019. (Photo by Daniel ROLAND / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL ROLAND/AFP via Getty Images)

    Colson Whitehead and This American Life among Pulitzer 2020 winners

    Author wins fiction prize for The Nickel Boys while the first ever prize for audio reporting goes to an episode of the hit podcast

March 2020

  • Rock on! ... Ed Gamble, host of Lifers and heavy metal fan.

    Best podcasts of the week
    Ed Gamble, Britain's most unlikely metalhead – podcasts of the week

    The polite comedian unleashes his passion for ‘the devils tunes’. Plus: absorbing tales in This American Life

April 2019

  • Cariad Lloyd

    The week in radio and podcasts: once heard, never forgotten

    From This American Life to Griefcast, our critic picks her favourite individual programmes that might stop you in your tracks

March 2018

  • This American Life presenter Chana Joffe-Walt.

    The week in radio and podcasts: This American Life; The Inquiry

    #MeToo brings epiphany for five women in a subtle podcast, while the BBC puts our plastics problem under scrutiny

October 2017

  • Podcasts

    Best podcasts of 2017 part 1: from the buzziest to politics and brain food

    Our experts pick the year’s best listening

April 2017

  • Gay Alcorn

    S-Town never justifies its voyeurism, and that makes it morally indefensible

    Gay Alcorn
    John B McLemore’s agonies are laid out for our entertainment, with scant reflection by the podcast’s reporter as to the ethics of what he’s doing. Journalism requires a purpose beyond telling a ‘good’ story
  • Brian Reed: ‘People’s minds will go to paranoid places very easily’.

    Observer New Review Q&A
    Brian Reed, maker of S-Town: ‘People’s minds go to paranoid places very easily’

    The US broadcaster on the inspirations behind his compelling new podcast, S-Town – and the extraordinary man at its centre
  • S-Town Brian Reed S-Town - 03 - credit Andrea Morales

    S-Town review – it’s hard to recall a more touching, devastating podcast

    The latest project from Serial and This American Life was announced as a true crime whodunnit. But the truth is far greater, richer and more life-affirming

March 2017

  • Producer Brian Reed in Bibb county, recording S-Town.

    Bittersweet home Alabama: S-Town, the next podcast from the makers of Serial

    What started as a rambling email turned into a real-life drama full of murder, grief and antique clocks. The producers of This American Life and Serial, Brian Reed and Julie Snyder, explain their latest long-form audio adventure
  • Run the Jewels<br>First use in the Guide please 07.01.17 Killer Mike and El-P photographed in Los Angeles

    Pod complex
    This American Life follows Tavi Gevinson's lead and asks a grownup

    Ira Glass’s legendary podcast borrows some of Rookie magazine’s guests – including Run the Jewels – to give ‘grown up’ advice to teenagers
  • Adnan Syed

    Alabama murder mystery could be the new Serial

    S-Town is the latest real-life podcast by the This American Life team

August 2016

  • ira glass portrait

    On my radar
    On my radar: Ira Glass’s cultural highlights

    The US radio journalist on a bold coming-of-age movie, Elle King’s singing, podcast Reply All and more

May 2016

  • Ira Glass

    Ira Glass: 'I feel like I’m actually sort of scared all the time'

    After two decades hosting influential radio show This American Life, Ira Glass reflects on what he’s learned about fear, marriage, politics and storytelling

February 2016

  • Cast Party Radiolab

    Charlie Lyne's home entertainment
    Cast Party: podcast giants take to the stage in excruciating style

    The likes of Radiolab inspire fanatical devotion for their superlative storytelling, but on screen artistic liberties and painfully awkward hosts steal the spotlight

December 2015

  • rob and helen the archers

    Observer critics' review of 2015
    Miranda Sawyer: the best radio of 2015

    The year podcasts went mainstream, the Archers went doolally and Radio 5 Live headed downhill fast
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