Help me remember a radio story I heard on NPR

February 6, 2014 12:09 PM

There was a story/performance I heard on some (probably NPR) radio show within the last 10 years. It was a man and a woman meeting at a party, and instead of saying things to each other they described what they would say to each other, kind of a meta-conversation.

It went sort of like

He: "Casual greeting"
She: "Disinterested response"
He: "Vague comment"
She: "Even less interested response"

.
.
.

He: "Slightly smutty joke"
She: "Declaration of offense combined with increasing interest"
He: "Statement of contrition"


and so on.

I don't think it was on This American Life or The Moth, but it's in the same neighborhood. I also think it wasn't a published story but something prepared for radio or a sketch comedy show.

posted by benito.strauss to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

I can't pinpoint the episode at the moment, but I know I heard a story fitting that description on Wiretap with Jonathan Goldstein.
posted by ludwig_van at 12:26 PM on February 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I'm pretty sure this was on This American Life, as the last act of a show. Tough to search for, though.
posted by mattbucher at 12:37 PM on February 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Could you be thinking of act 11 of this episode of TAL?
posted by reren at 12:46 PM on February 6, 2014 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Bang! Well done MetaFilter. 37 minutes.

And here's the audio.
posted by benito.strauss at 12:48 PM on February 6, 2014

Response by poster: (By the way, the question came from my sister, who is now very impressed with y'all and is forwarding the heck out of this.)
posted by benito.strauss at 12:58 PM on February 6, 2014

There's also this scene from Schizopolis
posted by ringu0 at 1:23 PM on February 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

Incidentally, if you're ever in Chicago, the Neo-Futurists, who did this skit, are incredibly fun to see live.
posted by newrambler at 1:43 PM on February 6, 2014 [2 favorites]