“You and the Little Mermaid can go…”

I truly love This American Life. It is the most entertaining show in any format currently in production. I can remember multiple instances of pulling up to our house and circling the block waiting for a TAL segment to end.  I drove over 600 miles this weekend and podcasts (downloaded from iTunes) of past episodes of TAL made the drive seem too short. I haven’t seen the Showtime show yet and am not sure I want to: I am somehow afraid that converting the show to TV is just not a good idea.

I particularly liked a segment from the “Reruns” episode that focused on a side of marriage–or any long-term relationship–that no one ever seems to talk about: the rerunning of stories. I have known my wife for ten years and she started complaining about six months in that she had heard all of my stories already. She also points out that I tell them over and over again. (She does the same, but Shhh!) Well, as it turns out, we are far from alone.

My favorite piece was one couple where the man said he had told his wife a story to his wife maybe six times and she said she had heard it at least fifty. The best part was when Ira Glass interviewed the wife she had most of the details completely wrong. It turns out the wife stopped listening after the first or second time she heard the story. I wonder if the same would be true with my wife.

Also, as I listened I truly identified with the story but I could not remember any of the stories that L. tells me I tell over and over again. Regardless, I am sure they are hilarious.

(BTW the title of this post refers to one of the funniest pieces I have ever heard from an episode called “Recordings” I think. Check it out.)