This last Thursday saw the third wide release of a live showing of This American Life to movie theaters across America and Canada. Normally a radio show hosted by the legend Ira Glass, This American Life has been perfecting its trademark style for almost two decades now. Mixing news, current events, humor and touching human interest pieces, This American Life has always set its sights wide. When given the opportunity, however, Glass and company will pull out the stops and do something extraordinary and unique. I was able to see the live show that premiered in 2009 where the curtain was pulled back a little, shoing how the show actually worked...sort of. Three years later, we get another one, and it is bigger and better then ever before.
I love This American Life more than almost any other form of entertainment in my life. I once fell in love with a girl I think because she told me that she too loved This American Life. It didn't work out and I learned that even This American Life isn't big enough to base a relationship on. Needless to say, it's at the top of my "list of favorite things". Many people have a private affection for specific things. We enjoy them by ourselves, at our own terms. It's on rare occasions that you get to share this enjoyment with others who feel the same way. Walking into the theater, I got that feeling. These people are the faces of public radio, I said to myself. They are true fans of This American Life, the ones willing to shell out a hefty amount for a ticket to this thing. These are my people.
I'll get it out of the way right now, the show was incredible. More than incredible, stupendous. More than stupendous, monumental. Yes, it was quite good. It was different than last time. For one, gone was Ira Glass's classic desk, covered in radio equipment; Glass monitoring switches, queuing samples and all the rest that a radio host must do. Glass this time around played the part of a sleek MC, doing all that he did last time from an iPad. Some of the samples didn't respond in time and he make the remark, "As you all know, I don't have the best relationship to Apple Products," to great laughs (recently, proving there is a first time for everything, TAL had to completely remove an episode from its archive and air basically a 60 minute apology after discovering that the primary contributor for that episode falsified many of his claims).
The theme was "Making the Invisible Visible" and dealt with stories involving loss of sight, being forgotten, ignored and other things that you just can't do on the radio. It started out on the bright side of things, feeling more like a stand up comedy special rather than a public ratio production. The first two stores were from author Ryan Knighton and comedian Tig Nataro. Knighton told stories about his blindness and the challenges of being a blind father. Nataro had quite possibly the funniest routine of the evening. She told a story of meeting her music idol, Taylor Dayne on repeated occasions and the different outcomes that occurred. By the end of it I was in tears from laughing so hard. We were then surprised by an actual performance by Taylor Dayne herself. I believe that even Tig Nataro, herself, was surprised because it was written all over her face during the song. She looked touchingly awkward on stage as Dayne sung. She looked like she just didn't know what to do and even, in a last ditch effort, pulled out a Michael Jackson dance move a couple of times.
This wasn't the only music of the evening. There were some dace numbers from the Monica Bill Barnes Company and a performance by the band OK Go. The later was very impressive and innovative. The band, in conjunction with This American Life, developed a phone app just for this event. The app has three large buttons with different shapes on them that plays bell-sounding tones when pressed. When opened, the app appears in a random color, corresponding to different notes. The goal was to get the audience to play with the band as they played a song of theirs on hand bells. There was a Guitar Hero-esque staff off to the side that scrolled down. The audience was to pay attention to their color and play the notes that appeared. Even the non smart phone toting members (or smart phone toting members that didn't download the app) were included. They provided the percussion with stomps and finger snaps. It was a great idea, unfortunately I don't think the audience that I was apart of was very enthusiastic about the whole thing.
We were treated to a short film written and directed by comedian, author and This American Life alum, Mike Birbiglia. It stared himself and Fresh Air host, Terri Gross. While Birbiglia starred himself, Gross played a spoofed version of herself, one that is always seems to be "on the air," asking those classic questions of hers whether she's behind the mike or not. It was very entertaining and worth the watch. You too can watch it here.
The evening soon started to feel more like This American Life with the inclusion of some more introspective stories. Glynn Washington, host of the NPR show Snap Judgement told an experience of when he was young and spent the night with his family praying against the unseen power of the Devil after "witching a well." Another was a story about an all but forgotten photographer, Vivian Maier and John Maloof, the man who discovered the thousands of brilliant negatives that had never been seen by anyone other than Maier. Her photographs were arresting, showing an unparalleled intimacy and deep, innate understanding of the medium. She was reclusive and impersonal but took her camera everywhere she went, snapping quick photos of life around her. Because she was so private, her photos were never shown, the quality never known. When she died they might have been lost forever had they not made their way to an auction where Maloof bought them for about $400.
The story asked the question, should an artist's wish of having their work be kept from public knowledge be honored even after death? The comparison was made to Emily Dickinson, who made the request to her sister to burn her poems when she died. I understand the sentiment of ownership, but where would we be without "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died."?
The last of these thoughtful stories came from a This American Life favorite, David Rakoff. Viewers could notice how Rakoff came onstage, using only his right hand while his left was stuffed in his pocket. He told about a recent surgery where the doctors had to sever a nerve in his arm. The surgery freed him from tremendous pain but left him without the use of the arm for the remainder of his life. His story was classic Rakoff, bitingly sardonic and yet it had enough heart to make you grin in commiseration. He recalled his younger days as a dancer. He wasn't good enough to make a career from it, but it was a part of his life for a long time. When he go older, it was one of those things that had to be let go. You could tell that he longed for his younger days as he described how a piece of music could induce a kind of trance where your body could be lost to the rhythms. He pretended to become overcome with emotion as he excused himself to quickly leave the stage. Suddenly music started and he stopped and then proceeded to preform a dance number. Was it clumsy? Yes, but was it touching and heartfelt? Absolutely.
To close the evening was another fan favorite, David Sedaris. To fulfill the requirement of "things you can't do on the radio," Sedaris came onstage completely covered in clown makeup and wearing a cartoonish top hat. If you were already a fan of Sedaris, or at least familiar with his work then you knew what you were in store for. A sarcastic and hilariously dry tale of being ignored in line at a coffee cart while the couple ahead of you are shamelessly oblivious to how annoying they are at taking their time. It was short, but truly, truly sweet.
And that was it. In 2009 I didn't think that I would have ever seen one of these again but here I am, raving just as much as I did last time. I think I may be expecting these ever few years now, though I honestly don't know how Glass & Company can top this performance. It really had everything that you could ever ask for.
For those of you that are reading this before May 15th, 2012, you're in luck 'cause there will be an encore showing at many of the same theaters that showed it Thursday. Click here to get tickets.
