Am I the only person of my acquaintance who doesn\’t like This American Life, the radio show? Do we really need it on tv? Isn\’t that the same as having a show compromised of the best of YouTube\’s bio-dramas? Wait… isn\’t it just a weekly biographical short film fest?
I\’m actually a big fan of storytelling, but TAL just gets on my tits. I think it\’s the host, Ira Glass, more than anything else. It\’s his dull, monotonous voice. It\’s a perfect radio voice, to be sure, but it offers no hint of actual tonal flavor. Even when reading a passage of excitement, the man drones.
His ex-girlfriend, cartoonist Lynda Barry, wrote the story \”Head Lice and My Worst Boyfriend\” about him, in her book One! Hundred! Demons!. The story can be viewed here, on Amazon\’s view the book. It kind of sums up that scratchy sort of feeling that I get about him, too.
