A while back when my favorite favorite favorite radio show in the whole world, This American Life announced they were doing another live show which would then be beamed to movie theatres across the country, I immediately got tickets. Two tickets. One for me and … one for someone else. I decided I wasn’t going to ask a fellow fan to go see the show with me – mostly because the real fans would buy their own tickets. No, I wanted to give my ticket to someone who knew nothing about the show and would never in a million years spend $20 on a show they knew nothing about.

My plan was to show someone else something I loved with all my heart and hopefully, they’d fall in love too.

I can’t explain my love for this show, the stories, the contributors, the cleverness, the Mr. Ira Glassness… from the moment I first heard the show … YEARS ago I was hooked. Hooked to the point where I went archive diving and have listened to or downloaded EVERY SHOW EVER RECORDED. A huge chunk of my iPod space is dedicated to Podcasts, and most of that space is This American Life.

I know I wouldn’t turn someone into THAT kind of fan, but I just wanted someone else to “get” it.

It took me a few days to figure out who that person would be. In the end I chose Andrew – not because we spend a ton of time together – but because he’d never heard of the show. He’d never experienced the hilarious, clever, funny, witty stories from Dan Savage or Starlee Kine. He’d never heard THAT VOICE that is Ira Glass. (*swoon*.) Best of all .. I don’t think he really cared to take the time to listen to the show.

But a free ticket is a free ticket, so Andrew accompanied my like a good sport to the theatre. We got there about an hour early because I assured him not only would it be sold out, but we’d probably have a problem getting good seats. He looked at me like I was crazy and admitted he thought the theatre would be completely empty but the two of us.

HA. I know my show. I know how much people love it. And I was totally right. (IN YO FACE ANDREW). There was not an empty seat in the house.

Halfway through the live taping, they “cut” (for radio purposes), but where it was live, Ira obviously kept talking. He asked people in each theatre to applaud if they had never heard of him, of the show – if they had “been dragged there” by someone else. He basically asked if those people were here with people who got really excited when he announced Starlee and they were like “who the eff is that and why should I care?”

This was especially funny to me because I WAS THAT PERSON. “So let’s bring out Mike Birbiglia …” “OHMYGODILOVEHIMHESSOFUNNY!” “Jenny. Shut. Up.”

At the end of this whole story Ira said “Well I hope if you got dragged here, you’ll at least get something out of it. Sex or something!”

To which Andrew and I could not contain ourselves and BURST OUT LAUGHING. Because. Please. Have you seen him? (No offense Andrew, but there is no way you are ever engaging in relations with a woman.)

The show was amazing. The opening credits were gorgeous. The stories were funny and touching (and god damn you Dan Savage for making me cry). It was perfect.

But what made it even more perfect? My plan worked.

If you’ve never heard of the show, I urge you to go to the site and read more about it, go to iTunes subscribe to the podcast (it’s FREE!), and if you’re interested in seeing the show I saw last night they are doing a second showing in movie theatres May 7th. It was incredible and worth every penny.