The 500th episode of TAL will air this weekend. Whoa.
Who on babble is a fan? What are your favourite episodes?
I'll go first:
Episode #355: The Giant Pool of Money
Episode #436: The Psychopath Test
And actually countless others. But this will do for a start.
Also, this is my favourite bit from TAL regular, Mike Birbiglia: "I know. I'm in the future also";
and David Rakoff: "Oh! The places you will not go!"
I love that show. I'm a radio junkie to start with (don't have a TV), but have followed TAL through its peregrinations across the CBC Radio schedule (often it has been on the CBC overnight feed or very late night on weekends).
Unfortunately I can't remember titles of specific episodes. I remember one about some kid who supposedly drowned in a swamp in Alabama or somewhere and may have actually been someone else (I hope I am making myself clear LOL:-) and the identity mixup with some other kid.... can't think of the title or even the year (not too long ago). I particularly like their oddball stories with unique twists to them. Of the ones Catchfire mentioned, I remember the psychopathy item -- a topic of great interest since I believe I worked for a psycopath once. They aren't all dangerous, just destructive. Bob Hare's book Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us is an excellent read and the abuse of the checklist reminds me of some of the misuses of standardized testing going on in public education.
I looked briefly for an online list of episodes with sufficient detail to identify them but didn't happen across one. I'll keep trying.
I'm a fan but rarely catch the overnight broadcast on CBC. Often Jonathan Goldstein of WireTap will air segments on his program. That's where I discovered the brilliant and sadly gone David Rakoff.
