hola, isabel

When I go to a movie or a show I consciously pay attention to how I’m feeling about it right then. I like to make sure I’m getting my money’s worth.

For instance, when I saw Austin Powers: Goldmember at the theater I knew it wasn’t going to be all that impressive. There was a pretty jazzy opening that impressed and surprised me. I remember turning to The King and saying; no matter how this movie turns out, I’m happy with it right.this.second. I felt like, with the opening number, my $9.00 was well spent.

When The King and I saw Tony Bennett in concert a few years ago, I was alarmed at the price of tickets, especially since I’m not really what you’d call a fan of Mr. Bennett’s work. Looking at The King’s face during the show and seeing how happy he was, I knew that it didn’t matter what the tickets had cost us. The King was happy.

I admit to being slightly skeptical when recently paying close to $50 each for tickets to a live radio taping of the NPR show, This American Life. I’ve been in love with this specific radio program and the narrator Ira Glass for many years. My love grows deep and includes a spreadsheet. (Diana can vouch for this. It was sent to her along with a CD copy of my favorite episodes.)

Even the baby shows his love for Ira Glass but not his love for Mommy.

As much as I love the radio show, I’m not really sure how a live taping of a radio show works. First of all, it doesn’t sound that exciting. Seeing a radio show?! How does that work? I pictured people in the background making sound effects with wooden blocks and dried plants, maybe even banging a sheet of metal for some lightning effects.

Last Wednesday night we got a babysitter for Babboo and my friend May’s little girl and headed over to the show. I was still very confused as to how it was going to go. I wasn’t even sure what to wear. I mean, it was at the theater so I felt like I needed to dress up. But it’s an NPR show, so I also felt like I needed to dress down a little. I wore slacks, May wore a skirt and The King wore jeans. We were covered on every level.

As soon as I sat down in my seat and heard Ira Glass’ voice, I knew my $50 was worth it. I was not only hearing a voice I had grown to know and love, but I was seeing the person behind the voice.

Ira, how I love you so.

The way This American Life works is that each week they choose a theme and put together different kinds of stories on that theme. It sounds sort of boring, but there is nothing boring about it. The theme for the live show we saw? Television. Ahhhh. Two of my favorite things in one. Glorious, I know.

I’m sure they picked this theme because they have a new This American Life TV show on Showtime (go here to see trailers). What do radio people have to say about TV?

Well, they love it, just like I do. Ira Glass talked about his true and undying love of the recently canceled The O.C.. He talked about how Seth and Summer are the best couple on TV. And how Summer may be the best character on TV. (That’s a pretty broad statement, I know.) When someone from the audience yelled out to Ira; it was canceled!! Ira just scoffed and replied; as if there is anything about The O.C. that I don’t know about. It was comedy gold. The live band, Mates of State even played The O.C. theme song after this piece. On the piano. Awesome. I looked over at The King and saw him smiling. He is a huge O.C. fan and isn’t afraid to admit it. (Actually, he’s very afraid to admit it.)

Who else took part in the show besides the lovely Mr. Ira Glass? Well we saw Dan Savage tell about what TV show he won’t allow his 8 year old son to watch. Alexa Junge talked about her years writing for Friends. She also talked about poop, which is always fun. David Rakoff admitted to not liking a certain TV show (that I love). (David Rakoff, who is also one of my all time faves.)

As always, what is the point of this post?

This weekend’s episode of This American Life will be from their live show. So check your local NPR schedule and listen to it.

And if you hear a loud “I love you Ira” coming from the audience, it is not me. Someone else beat me to the punch, as I had been planning on yelling that out for weeks.