So we went and saw Ira Glass speak at the Congregation B’nai Emunah Synagogue on Sunday.
I have to say that it was one of the most interesting nights I've had in a long time. It was part of a new lecture series being put on by the Synagogue called: Talking Heads: Conversations with Interesting People. And the series is aptly named. If I were to make a list of the most interesting people in the world right now, Ira Glass would be in the top 5. He was there to talk about his radio show, and how it is made. But what his talk was really about was how to tell a good story.
Ira was introduced by the Rabbi, who offered a brief biography and some very kind words. Ira came out to thunderous applause from the thousand or so people who turned up to see him. It was a large room, and given that it was this particular speaker in this particular venue, the collective IQ of that room must have been off the charts. He started off by telling that he hadn't spoken in front of a crowd at a Synagogue since his Bar Mitzvah, and that since then, this was the Jeweyist thing he'd ever done. Then he told us that the last time he'd worn that suit was when he'd accepted the Peabody Award on behalf of This American Life, and that he still had a little chocolate version of the medal in his pocket.
On to the show. Armed with his wit and a bank of CD players, he provided for us, live, what can only be described as if This American Life dedicated an entire episode to the inner workings of This American Life, this would be what they would have done. The point of the whole thing was that TAL works because of a certain type of storytelling they employ, which, as Ira told was the result of years and years of experimentation and trial and error. Armed with this new knowledge, he and his staff embarked to spread the word and tell interesting stories that people might just learn something from. A while later, he found himself home for the holidays, sitting in a Synagogue with his family, and as the sermon was being read, he unconsciously began analyzing the structure of the sermon. To his horror, it was the exact same structure that he had come up with on his own, and the same structure that had been in the employ from every pulpit in every religion for 5,000 years. I guess he should have gone to church more.
Ira Glass has become one of the nerd Gods in recent years, and proved his street cred several times over, first by describing a tenacious young girl from one story as "very Buffy, season 3" then again by going on a little rant about how launching Kirk out of the ship and onto an ice planet full of deadly creatures made no sense what so ever. "The Enterprise has jail cells. They used them in almost every episode of the show!" he said.
All in all a great time and the fact that I was in the company of adults who don't need their diaper changed, or their hand held in the parking lot made it all the more enjoyable.
-Powers out.
I have to say that it was one of the most interesting nights I've had in a long time. It was part of a new lecture series being put on by the Synagogue called: Talking Heads: Conversations with Interesting People. And the series is aptly named. If I were to make a list of the most interesting people in the world right now, Ira Glass would be in the top 5. He was there to talk about his radio show, and how it is made. But what his talk was really about was how to tell a good story.
Ira was introduced by the Rabbi, who offered a brief biography and some very kind words. Ira came out to thunderous applause from the thousand or so people who turned up to see him. It was a large room, and given that it was this particular speaker in this particular venue, the collective IQ of that room must have been off the charts. He started off by telling that he hadn't spoken in front of a crowd at a Synagogue since his Bar Mitzvah, and that since then, this was the Jeweyist thing he'd ever done. Then he told us that the last time he'd worn that suit was when he'd accepted the Peabody Award on behalf of This American Life, and that he still had a little chocolate version of the medal in his pocket.
On to the show. Armed with his wit and a bank of CD players, he provided for us, live, what can only be described as if This American Life dedicated an entire episode to the inner workings of This American Life, this would be what they would have done. The point of the whole thing was that TAL works because of a certain type of storytelling they employ, which, as Ira told was the result of years and years of experimentation and trial and error. Armed with this new knowledge, he and his staff embarked to spread the word and tell interesting stories that people might just learn something from. A while later, he found himself home for the holidays, sitting in a Synagogue with his family, and as the sermon was being read, he unconsciously began analyzing the structure of the sermon. To his horror, it was the exact same structure that he had come up with on his own, and the same structure that had been in the employ from every pulpit in every religion for 5,000 years. I guess he should have gone to church more.
Ira Glass has become one of the nerd Gods in recent years, and proved his street cred several times over, first by describing a tenacious young girl from one story as "very Buffy, season 3" then again by going on a little rant about how launching Kirk out of the ship and onto an ice planet full of deadly creatures made no sense what so ever. "The Enterprise has jail cells. They used them in almost every episode of the show!" he said.
All in all a great time and the fact that I was in the company of adults who don't need their diaper changed, or their hand held in the parking lot made it all the more enjoyable.
-Powers out.
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1 comment:
Super-fun. You are so lucky - TAL is one of my favorite things I've heard Glass is hilarious.
BUT. Kirk would've totally busted out of the jail cell.
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