In 1995, there were seven new This American Life episodes; all were broadcast under the original name of the program Your Radio Playhouse.
- Episode 1 – "New Beginnings"
- Air Date: 1995-11-17
- Description: Our program's very first broadcast
- Prologue – Ira Glass seeks advice from long-time talk show host Joe Franklin. (6 minutes)
- Interlude: Dinah Washington – "Destination Moon"
- Act 1 – Kevin Kelly (23 minutes)
- Kevin Kelly has a sort of religious experience in Jerusalem and decides to live the next six months of his life to the fullest. This plot was revisited for episode 50 – Shoulda Been Dead
- Act 2 – Ira Glass (7 minutes)
- Ira calls his parents in for advice about broadcasting.
- Act 3 – Lawrence Steger (13 minutes)
- Steger recounts a road trip he and a friend took after hearing about Steger's HIV diagnosis.
- Interlude: The Treniers – "(Uh-Oh) Get Out of the Car"
- Act 4 – Ed Ryder, interviewed by Ira Glass and Nancy Updike (9 minutes)
- Ryder was wrongly imprisoned for twenty years and recently released, and he discusses dream of playing music. Ryder performs "God Bless the Child"—this performance was re-broadcast in episode 119 – Lock-Up.
- Interlude: Django Reinhardt – "I've Had My Moments"
- Episode 2 – "Small Scale Sin"
- Air Date: 1995-11-24
- Description: Small-scale stories on the nature of small-scale sin
- Prologue – Ira Glass visits the Hackers On Planet Earth conference and talks to three teenagers who committed credit card fraud tell their stories. (16 minutes)
- Act 1
- Playwright Jeff Dorchen writes a play about the previous act. (10 minutes)
- Act 2 – Ira Glass interviews Michael Warr
- Poet Warr discusses his childhood as a Jehovah's Witness. (8 minutes)
- Act 3
- Episode 3 – "Poultry Slam"
- Air Date: 1995-12-01
- Description: Stories decrying the wonders of turkeys, chickens, and other fowl
- Act 1
- Danielle explains why her family calls chicken "fish" at the dinner table. (20 minutes)
- Interlude: Louis Jordan – "Saturday Night Fish Fry"
- Act 2
- Julie discusses life on a turkey farm (8 minutes)
- Act 3 – Luis Rodriguez
- Rodriguez reads a poem about poultry. (4 minutes)
- Interlude: Cab Calloway – "A Chicken Ain't Nothing But a Bird"
- Act 4 – Verda Mae Cosgrove
- The hostess of NPR's Seasonings explains how to cook a chicken. (6 minutes)
- Interlude: Charles Mingus – "Eat That Bird"
- Act 5 – David Sedaris
- Sedaris buys a taxidermied turkey. (3 minutes)
- Act 6 – Ira Glass
- Glass presents the first new episode of the WCFL radio program "Chickenman" since 1969. (8 minutes)
- Episode 4 – "Vacations"
- Air Date: 1995-12-08
- Description: Stories about vacations gone awry—or perhaps vacations that never should have happened
- Prologue – Ira Glass
- Ira discusses his family photos from a trip to Hawaii. (9 minutes)
- Act 1 – Sandra Tsing Loh
- Loh reads a story about her family vacation in Ethiopia. (22 minutes)
- Act 2 – David Sedaris
- Sedaris discusses hitchhiking. (25 minutes)
- Interlude: Ozark Mountain Devils – "If You Wanna Get to Heaven"
- Episode 5 – "Anger & Forgiveness"
- Air Date: 1995-12-15
- Description: Stories that reveal the societal "trend" toward anger and away from genuine forgiveness
- Prologue – Ira Glass
- Glass reads a list of words that Newt Gingrich advised Republicans use when referring to Democrats. (7 minutes)
- Act 1 – Jack Hitt
- Hitt is confronted by someone who read an article he wrote about Susan Smith. (15 minutes)
- Act 2 – Iris Moore and Larry Steeger
- Moore and Steeger give monologues about forgiveness. (9 minutes)
- Interlude: Unknown artist – "I Blame God"
- Act 3 – Darrin Bowden
- Bowden explains the effects of harsh criminal sentences on minors. (6 minutes)
- Interlude: Johnny Cash – "The Wall"
- Act 4 – Ira Glass
- Glass interviews Glen Fitzgerald, a Christian missionary who works with gang members. (9 minutes)
- Interlude: Johnny Cash – "Folsom Prison Blues"
- Act 5 – Cheryl Trykv
- A story read before a live audience about someone who doesn't want forgiveness. (14 minutes)
- Episode 6 – "Christmas"
- Air Date: 1995-12-22
- Description: Several Christmas-themed performances
- Prologue – David Sedaris
- A Christmas radio play with Sedaris and the Pinetree Gang. (28 minutes)
- Act 1 – Beau O'Reilly
- A Christmas tree story. (14 minutes)
- Act 2 – Reginald Gibbons
- A story about Christmas at juvenile court. (10 minutes)
- Act 3 – Peter Clowney
- Christmas at the Faith Tabernacle Baptist Church, whose choir provides music for the entire episode. (9 minutes)
- Episode 7 – "Quitting"
- Air Date: 1995-12-29
- Description: Stories of people who quit everything in their lives that they hated—and what happened to them afterwards
- Prologue – Ira Glass
- Evan Harris starts the magazine Quitter Quarterly with Shelley Ross (22 minutes)
- Interlude: Ella Fitzgerald – "Don't Fence Me In"
- Act 1 – Sandra Tsing Loh
- Loh reads a story about quitting. (10 minutes)
- Interlude: Brave Combo – "Do Something Different (Disappear)"
- Act 2 – Ira Glass
- Glass plays excerpts from Shut Up, Little Man! (9 minutes)
- Act 3 – Lisa Buscani
- A story about being unable to quit. (13 minutes)
- Interlude: Robert Metrick – "The Calendar Song"
- Act 4 – Dwight Okita and Ira Glass
- Okita reads the poem "Farewell Samba" from his book Crossing with the Light and Glass reads Philip Larkin's "Poetry of Departures". (3 minutes)
External links
| This American Life | |
|---|---|
| Personalities |
|
| Episode lists | |
| Individual episodes | |
| Albums | |
| Adaptations | |
| Related articles | |
