Editing This American Life (section)

==Format==
{{further|Lists of This American Life episodes}}
Each week's show has a theme, explored in several "acts".  On occasion, an entire program will consist of a single act. Each act is produced by a combination of staff and freelance contributors. Programs usually begin with a short program identification by host [[Ira Glass]] who then introduces a prologue related to the theme which precedes act one. This prologue will then lead into the presentation of the theme for that week's show.  After the introduction of the theme, Glass then introduces the first act of the program.

Content varies widely by episode. Stories are often told as [[first-person narrative]]s. The mood of the show ranges from gloomy to ironic, from thought-provoking to humorous.<ref name=Krulwich >{{cite journal |last1=Krulwich |first1=Robert |title=The Trouble With Birthdays: Ira Glass :: Stop Smiling Magazine |website=www.stopsmilingonline.com |date=December 25, 2005 |url=http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/story_detail.php?id=476 |access-date=April 22, 2019}}</ref> The show often addresses current events, such as [[Hurricane Katrina]] in "After the Flood".<ref name=Krulwich/> Often ''This American Life'' features stories which explore aspects of human nature, such as "Kid Logic", which presented pieces on the reasoning of children.<ref name=Krulwich/> The majority of interviews with subjects never make it to the air, as many as 80 percent, because the team looks for interviewees who recount stories in a "particular way".<ref name="Rowe Moyer">{{cite web |last1=Rowe Moyer |first1=Shelby |title=Ira Glass to share 'Seven Things I've Learned' at Rialto in Tacoma |url=https://southsoundmag.com/ira-glass-rialto-theater/ |website=South Sound Magazine |access-date=April 22, 2019 |language=en |date=May 15, 2018}}</ref>

The end credits of each show are read by Glass, and include a sound clip extracted [[Quoting out of context|out of context]] from some portion of that show, which Glass humorously attributes to previous WBEZ general manager [[Torey Malatia]], who co-founded the show with Glass in 1995.

Glass has stated he is contractually obligated to mention station WBEZ (and previously, also former distributor PRI) three times in the course of the show.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/428/transcript|title=This American Life episode 428: "Oh You Shouldn't Have" transcript|work=This American Life| date=March 4, 2011 |access-date=April 11, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722210145/http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/428/transcript|archive-date=July 22, 2012}}</ref>