American - Journalist | March 3, 1959 -
I'm just not very funny.
Ira Glass
FunnyJustVery
I started out doing production work on promos, stuff like that. I didn't think it was cool to be working for NPR. I didn't need anything to be cool. I just wanted something to do that would be interesting. It was fun. I didn't think of it as anything else but fun.
WorkFunCoolThinkInterestingOut
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.
TimeBeginningMeLongLong Time
I think stories get better the more people try to amuse themselves.
PeopleThinkBetterTryMoreGet
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.'
DayJobMeIdeasLookingTreat
I've read the poker books, but at this point, everybody who's playing has read the poker books. I feel like I'm knowledgeable enough to understand what's going on in the game, and I understand why I suck. And I'm not sure if I'll ever rise beyond that to the level where I don't suck.
GameFeelEnoughRiseUnderstand
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.
SmilePowerSimplePeopleImportant
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.
DanceI AmStoryYouWantMovement
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.
SayingSpeakYouSituationSayMean
I've never so appreciated what actors do and how strange it is.
StrangeNeverAppreciatedHow
When you're learning, especially to write, unless you're some incredibly gifted writer, a young Malcom Gladwell, say, you need to be imitating people. You need to be imitating how they make their work, how they structure it, how they design the pieces. It gives you chops; it gives you moves.
WorkLearningPeopleDesignYouSay
When I was a bad writer, I would consciously imitate other NPR writers who I thought were wonderful. I suppose that everyone's artistic practice is different. But I collaborate and sometimes don't agree at all with my collaborators' opinions. It forces you to understand why you don't agree with something: what's the fight you're picking.
FightPracticeThoughtOpinionsYou
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