699: Fiasco!

699: Fiasco!

Update: 2024-12-29138
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Description

We leave the normal realm of human error and enter the territory of huge breakdowns.

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  • Prologue:
    Jack Hitt tells the story of a small-town production of Peter Pan in which all the usual boundaries between the audience and actors dissolve entirely. (6 minutes)
  • Act One: Jack Hitt's Peter Pan story continues. (18 minutes)
  • Act Two: The first day on the job inevitably means mistakes, mishaps, and sometimes, fiascos. A true story, told by a former rookie cop. (13 minutes)
  • Act Three: Comedian Mike Birbiglia talks about the time he ruined a cancer charity event by giving the worst performance of his life. Here's a hint: He improvised. About cancer. (10 minutes)
  • Act Four: Journalist Margy Rochlin on her first big assignment to do a celebrity interview: Moon Unit Zappa in 1982. Midway through the interview: fiasco! (7 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org

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Comments (5)

Toro Seduto

First story is great. Second one just pisses me off. Nothing funny about an innocent animal being killed because of some idiot incompetent thinking with his ding dong.

Apr 19th
Reply (1)

Albert H

Thank you so much, you have no idea how much I needed this. It was sooo funny!

Apr 9th
Reply

BC

I laughed so hard I choked

Apr 8th
Reply

yaara gerchman

This was SO FUNNY!!! Thank You!!!

Apr 8th
Reply
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699: Fiasco!

699: Fiasco!

This American Life