Ira Glass on Storytelling

One of my favorite radio programs and podcasts is This American Life. The quality of the story telling is legendary and it consistently brings belly laughs, tears, thoughts and introspection. Episodes touch everyone differently, but some of my favorites:

A benchpressing snowman. Molly and I reference Ira Glass' "Whhhhaaaaat?" constantly!

Police officers coming to clear a squirrel from an attic. I had to pause it the first time because I was laughing so hard.

Fiasco - the segment on Peter Pan gets better and better. It puts things in perspective.

81 words - a trip through the classification of homosexuality by the APA. A story that twists and turns throughout the course of the episode. The introduction, comparing the pen that signs a bill by a president to the course that it takes to make and pass the bill is outstanding!

O'Reilly Radar posted a wonderful video on Ira speaking about story telling. As so many people are not posting content, video and audio, that try to tell stories, I think it hits home to some very important concepts. Test the story and then throw it away -- bad content is getting in the way of great story telling! This video is a must watch!

Via: Ira Glass on Storytelling