241: 20 Acts in 60 Minutes

Instead of the usual "each week we choose a theme, and bring you 3 or 4 stories on that theme" business, we throw all that away and bring you 20 stories—yes, 20—in 60 minutes. Ira Glass introduces the idea of doing 20 stories in one hour. Act One: Contributor Starlee Kine talks to actor Tate Donovan about the day he felt he was being exactly the kind of celebrity he'd wanted to be: when suddenly, he was approached by a kid with a camera. Act Two: Writer and producer Scott Carrier recognizes a woman he sees in a restaurant. Act Three: Susan Drury talks about "Swap and Shop," a local radio classifieds show that has become a low-tech, personable sort of Ebay. Act Four: From Patty Martin: a one minute, four second vacation on Nantucket Island, involving a lot of waving. Act Five: From Vicki Merrick, Eric Kipp, and Jay Allison at Transom: scallops on Martha's Vineyard. Act Six: From Blunt Youth Radio: a story of a possibly bad "food situation" at the cafeteria in juvenile detention. Act Seven: Jonathan Goldstein, host of Wiretap, brings us this story about The Penguin as a young man. Act Eight: Two brothers, ages 12 and 13, have very different ideas for their dog's name. Act Nine: Elaine Boehm overhears a couple in her pet shop, trying to choose a dog collar. Act Ten: A two minute play called “Title,” written and performed by Greg Allen and Heather Riordan of the Chicago group, The Neo-Futurists. It’s part of their long-running show "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes." Act Eleven: Author David Sedaris on cell phone usage in restrooms. Act Twelve: Brent Runyon reports from the kids' section at the public library. Act Thirteen: Catherine and John, two college undergrads, do a babysitting gig together. After the kids are asleep and the two of them get hungry, John doesn't think they should eat any of the food in the house; they settle on a compromise. Act Fourteen: Mystery and missing flavor at the hot dog plant. Act Fifteen: Author David Rakoff worked at an advertising agency, and could see exactly where its technology was going. Act Sixteen: Someone sits next to the printer. You see him forty times a day. What's his name? What does he do? Act Seventeen: Richard Kerry has an impressive ability: he can recreate the sound of a whole swamp. Act Eighteen: Author Chuck Klosterman and his friends make a party game out of comparing television shows to rock bands. They call it "Monkees Equals Monkees." Act Nineteen: Every year 1,200 new army cadets arrive at West Point. Once they say a single sentence correctly, they can go to their barracks. But not until then. David Lipsky reports. He's the author of Absolutely American. Act Twenty: Teenage girls from a detention center perform a song for their parents.