Full episode
14: Accidental Documentaries

Prologue

Host Ira Glass with some tape he recorded of a high school senior prom. Kids goof around in the car after the prom and get lost looking for a friend's house. This tape, Ira says, has all the qualities you look for as a documentary producer: everyone is acting the way they do when there's no tape recorder present. It's intimate and alive, and the kids reveal who they are. This is the quality of all the tape in this episode, though all of it is tape found in basements and attics and thrift stores. Ira calls these stories "accidental documentaries." (3 minutes)