In 1996, there were 40 original This American Life episodes; the first nine were broadcast under the original name of the program Your Radio Playhouse.
Air Date: 1996-01-03
Description: Stories that reflect back on 1995
Air Date: 1996-01-10
Description: When comedian Julia Sweeney and her brother both got cancer, she decided to tell the story the best way she knew how: in a comedy club. It might seem like a strange choice, but what resulted is halfway between standup comedy and true-life diary entries. Prologue Act 1: Julia's Brother Gets Cancer – Julia Sweeney Act 2: Julia Gets Cancer – Julia Sweeney The Kinks, Complicated Life Willie Nelson, These Are Difficult Times
Air Date: 1996-01-17
Description: Susan Bergman's father was a family man, head of the church choir, and, secretly, having sex with men. He died before his children had a chance to really talk to him about what they should make of his hidden life. When Bergman wrote a book about her family's experience, other gay men tried to explain her father's actions to her. That, and other stories of parents deceiving their children.
Air Date: 1996-01-24
Description: A story of a friendship between two adolescent boys that was destroyed through the manipulative acts of one of them. Act 1: Dave's Love Act 2: Dave's Hate Act 3: Dave Today Act 4: Another Dave – David Sedaris
Air Date: 1996-01-31
Description: Stories about the animalness of animals, the irreducible ways in which they are not human. Prologue Act 1: Food Chain in a New York Apartment – Paul Tough Shonen Knife, Insect Collector Act 2: More Animals Eating Other Animals Kathleen on the Carpet, a radio play by David Sedaris, performed by the Pinetree Gang Lena Horne, Rocky Raccoon Act 3: The Moment Humans Stopped Being Animals – Scott Carrier Louis Prima, I Wanna Be Like You, from Disney's The Jungle Book
Air Date: 1996-02-07
Description: Explorations of the dream of true love ... and the difficulties with achieving and maintaining that dream. Prologue Al Green, Love and Happiness Act 1: Yearning Act 2: Sex Madonna, Forbidden Love Act 3: A Wedding Ready, an original song performed by kids at Daniel J. Nellum Youth Services in Chicago
Air Date: 1996-02-21
Description: Stories made from old tapes found in various places, including a "letter on tape" found in a Salvation Army thrift store. Host Ira Glass with tapes of his father on the radio, circa 1956. And radio producer Nora Moreno with tapes of her father, a Spanish broadcasting pioneer in America. Her mother fell in love with him over the radio, with tragic results. Prologue Act 1: Berrian Springs Michigan, Circa 1967 – Davis family tapes James Brown, It's a Man's World Act 2: Baltimore, Circa 1956 – Ira Glass plays tapes of his father, Barry Glass, as a radio deejay in the 1950s Nat King Cole, Personal Possession Act 3: Chicago, in the 1960s – Nora Moreno José Alfredo Jiménez, El Rey
Air Date: 1996-02-28
Description: Writer Jack Hitt goes on a search for a mysterious neighbor from his childhood in Charleston, South Carolina, and stumbles onto an epic story of the Old South, the New South, gender confusion, Chihuahuas, and changing values in American journalism. Prologue Digital Underground, ? Act 1: Dawn – Jack Hitt tells the story of Gordon Langley Hall, a.k.a. Dawn Langley Hall Simmons Marlene Dietrich, ? Act 2 – from the 1998 rebroadcast of this episode, Jack Hitt discusses his new conclusions two-and-a-half years after his first report of the story
Air Date: 1996-03-14
Description: Stories of politics, the economy, and the big picture.
Air Date: 1996-03-21
Description: First show as This American Life.
Air Date: 1996-03-28
Description: April first is the one day of the year when we're allowed to enjoy deceiving others. But April Fools' Day is for amateur deceivers. The real pros are the people who can't control their lying, who lie without even knowing what the truth is. Everyone's known someone like this, but it's a topic that's only rarely studied or discussed publicly. Journalist and TAL contributing editor Margy Rochlin co-hosts.
Air Date: 1996-04-12
Description: Men who had comfortable decent lives, yet decided to do something wild and eccentric with their lives instead.
Air Date: 1996-04-19
Description: Stories of hero worship, of people admiring someone from afar, and trying to get closer to them.