So I met Ira Glass tonight…
Truly, he’s just a normal guy. Ira’s fun, easy to talk to, and dry wit as you could probably imagine. I have to say that my years meeting people of fame, some of those being of the utmost, personal respect, I don’t really get hyped up about the situation other than just being able to shake the hand of some one I have absolute respect for. It makes me happy to do that. I don’t like to bother them with a lot of questions or try to act all suave to what’s going on. He has a heart, liver, and digestive system just like I do. We just have vastly different jobs and lives.
During his lecture, I had moments of where I was looking into a mirror. So many ideas and theories that I have about radio were echoed by the bullet points he went across. The major difference is that Ira is out there doing all the things that are constantly floating around in my head about the theatre we both work in. What he is doing today with This American Life isn’t perfect, even after the years put into the project, but that’s what makes it so incredibly wonderful. The fact is that there are all sorts of things being applied to his product. They are either new, unique, or simple. It’s different. It’s the art of storytelling.
There was a point where he asked the crowd to clap if they were aspiring journalists. The next question for those who wanted to progress on to a career of working in radio. The third question was for those who were happy with what they were doing with their life. I might not be there one hundred percent, but I couldn’t help but make my contribution to the applause on the third request. There used to be a time where I would have done that for the second, but I’m doing that now. Embarrassingly, I almost did anyway.