Terrific Ira Glass interview and animated short

Ira Glass is a man on a mission. Even as the Showtime version of his fabulous radio series This American Life has been scaled back from 6 episodes to just a few, he’s carrying the TAL torch around the country through a series of lectures and live specials at auditoriums and music halls.

This weekend Glass is scheduled to speak in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so the daily paper there interviewed him and put together an awesome animated short based on the conversation. Here are a few excerpts. You can get the whole shebang on the Tulsa World Web site.

What have you learned about the differences between telling stories on the radio, and telling stories on television?
It’s funny, because in each one, you can take everyday life and raise it to feel like a fable. But on television, I think that’s harder, because you’re always dealing with the specifics of the actual people, and the way they look and the space in which it happens, which it tends to ground the thing very completely on Earth. Whereas on the radio, from the get-go, you’re kind of creating this weird dream that’s in peoples’ heads.

What have you learned from being a celebrity?
You know, the kind of a celebrity I am is where if I’m in a room full of people who have listened to public radio, and have come out to see me in the four walls of that room, I’m famous. But as soon as I walk down the street to pick up a slice of pizza after the show, they have no idea who I am. So, I guess, the thing I’ve learned is right now there are a lot of different ways to be famous. I have to say, I think the level I’m at is the level I desire. I think being more famous seems a little more intrusive.

Glass isn’t the only This American Life contributor who’s on the road right now. Visit the TAL site for a schedule of tour dates for him, David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell.

Illustration: Courtesy of the Tulsa World