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Ira Glass Quotes
Ira Glass Quotes
Ira Glass
American
Journalist
Born:
Mar 3
,
1959
Good
Me
People
Think
Time
You
Related authors:
Ambrose Bierce
Dave Barry
Erma Bombeck
Hunter S. Thompson
Mignon McLaughlin
Walter Cronkite
William F. Buckley, Jr.
William Lloyd Garrison
I was a temp secretary for a long time, and I went at it with a passion, and I tried to do a nice job in all my jobs.
Ira Glass
Time
Passion
Job
Long
Long Time
Nice
Secretary
Jobs
Tried
I eat the same breakfast and lunch every day, both at my desk. I employ no time-saving tricks at all.
Ira Glass
Day
Every Day
Breakfast
Every
Lunch
Tricks
Eat
Both
Employ
Same
Desk
When I started 'This American Life', one of the reactions I got was, 'When is the adult going to show up who will host the show?' At some point, people just got used to it.
Ira Glass
Life
People
Will
Some
Point
Adult
Host
Reactions
Got
Up
American
Going
Just
American Life
Used
Show
Who
Started
In general in New York, we all eat like kings. Insane quality, mind-blowing variety, at all price ranges.
Ira Glass
Quality
Mind-Blowing
Insane
Eat
Kings
General
Variety
Price
New
Like
York
New York
I didn't have any particular talent for fiction. I took a class in college.
Ira Glass
Class
College
Took
Talent
Particular
Any
Fiction
I don't know how to read. I get all my news from Jon Stewart every day.
Ira Glass
Day
News
Every Day
Every
Jon
Jon Stewart
Know
Read
How
Get
For me to do a story, something has to happen to someone. It's a story in the way you learn what a story is in third grade, where there is a person, and things happen to them, and then something big happens, and they realize something new.
Ira Glass
Me
You
Big
Way
Someone
Something
Something New
New
Learn
Person
Grade
Where
Happen
Happens
Story
Them
Realize
Then
Things
Things Happen
Third
I was a semiotics major at Brown, and there's this idea that stories are better, books are better, and movies are better if they cocked you off your axis and you were completely disoriented and you'd really have to rethink everything. Nobody has that experience, actually.
Ira Glass
You
Experience
Better
Everything
Books
Brown
Rethink
Idea
Nobody
Major
Were
Off
Stories
Movies
Really
Your
Disoriented
Actually
Axis
Radio is more powerful the closer we mimic the way we actually speak to each other. That's why Howard Stern is such a great radio talent. People on his show are actually speaking to each other. You might not like what they're saying, but they're real conversations.
Ira Glass
Saying
Great
You
People
Speak
Mimic
Other
Way
More
Powerful
Talent
Like
Stern
Real
Howard Stern
His
Closer
Conversations
Might
Show
Speaking
Radio
Each
Why
Actually
Radio is for driving.
Ira Glass
Driving
Radio
There is a kind of structure for a story that was peculiarly compelling for the radio. I thought I had invented it atom-by-atom sitting in an editing booth in Washington on M Street when I was in my 20s. Then I found out that it is one of the oldest forms of telling a story - it was the structure of a sermon.
Ira Glass
Editing
Thought
Booth
Out
Kind
Telling
Invented
Structure
Had
Sitting
Story
Forms
Then
Radio
Washington
Sermon
Found
Oldest
Street
Compelling
The flakier your mission, the fiercer you have to be on the business side.
Ira Glass
You
Business
Side
Mission
Your
Business Side
At some point, all comics have to go out and be retail salesmen doing door-to-door. And this idea of somebody who totally knows their craft having to get up for free in front of a crowd to work out some stuff they're thinking in their head, still, after as much success as you can get, is really interesting.
Ira Glass
Success
Work
You
Free
Somebody
Thinking
Out
Some
Totally
Having
Crowd
Point
Retail
Head
Idea
Stuff
Knows
Still
Comics
Doing
Go
Up
Get
Craft
Front
After
Interesting
Work Out
Much
Really
Who
Like most people in radio - and in magic - I'm not cool. I know people who are hip, and I can feel distance between them and me.
Ira Glass
Me
People
Distance
Magic
Feel
Between
Like
Know
Most
Hip
Them
Who
Cool
Radio
A lot of broadcasting, I think, is doing a tremendous amount of preparation and trying to act like, 'Oh, this thought is just occurring to me right now' - and speaking sincerely.
Ira Glass
Me
Thought
Preparation
Think
Tremendous
Tremendous Amount
Broadcasting
Sincerely
Like
Doing
Lot
Trying
Oh
Just
Act
Speaking
Now
Right
Amount
I remember that in Baltimore, where I grew up, we would drive by the radio station and tower of WBAL, and I would try to picture the people inside and what they did there.
Ira Glass
People
Remember
Try
Drive
Picture
Station
Would
Inside
Tower
Baltimore
Up
Did
Where
Grew
Radio
Radio Station
I'm just not very funny.
Ira Glass
Funny
Very
Just
In most daily journalism, you only fact-check something if it seems a little fishy.
Ira Glass
Daily
You
Seems
Something
Only
Journalism
Most
Fishy
Little
It took, for me, a long time to develop this idea of what to do on the radio. But from the beginning of my time in radio, I had pretty non-traditional tasks.
Ira Glass
Time
Me
Long
Long Time
Beginning
Took
Pretty
My Time
Develop
Had
Idea
Non-Traditional
Tasks
Radio
I think stories get better the more people try to amuse themselves.
Ira Glass
People
Better
Try
Think
More
More People
Get
Stories
Themselves
Amuse
I wish somebody had given me the news that ideas don't just fall on your head like fairy dust. You have to treat that like a job. You have to spend hours each day, where you're just like, 'This is the part of the day when I'm looking for an idea.'
Ira Glass
Day
News
Me
You
Treat
Job
Somebody
Wish
Looking
Fall
Dust
Spend
Given
Had
Part
Head
Idea
Like
Hours
Ideas
Fairy
Just
Where
Your
Each
Each Day
I never realized before this the emotional power of some really simple, corny tropes: people with top hats, people with batons, confetti going off, how important it is to smile.
Ira Glass
Smile
People
Simple
Power
Important
Before
Corny
Top
Some
Hats
Emotional
Never
How
Off
Going
Realized
Really
Honestly, I am so ignorant of how dance works that I can't even imagine a story that you would want to tell through movement.
Ira Glass
You
Dance
Honestly
Tell
Would
Through
How
Am
Movement
Want
Story
Ignorant
Works
Even
Imagine
Any story that I can consider worth telling is one that you could tell in words.
Ira Glass
You
Words
Worth
Consider
Tell
Telling
Could
Any
Story
You get into this situation, performing for T.V., where you have to speak with utter sincerity. It's just like the radio. You have to say it like you mean it, even though the thing you're saying is actually planned out.
Ira Glass
Saying
You
Speak
Situation
Say
Though
Out
Performing
Like
Sincerity
Get
Just
Where
Mean
Planned
Radio
Even
Utter
Actually
Thing
I've never so appreciated what actors do and how strange it is.
Ira Glass
Strange
Never
How
Actor
Appreciated
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