Ira Glass

Well, Dr. Glass, I'm afraid that this would be about all the time we have for this particular segment of our radio show.

All right.

Touché.

My mom, Shirley Glass, a therapist in Baltimore.

I have to say, I like that she gets the last word.

Okay, so that is the fourth time I had one of my parents on the show.

The reason I have to say that we had my parents on the air so much in the first year of the show was because it was such reliable material.

I had heard Howard Stern talking to his parents on the air, which, if you have ever heard that, it was some of the most enjoyable stuff he ever did.

It was just very...

like funny and very complicated emotionally.

Sometimes it would get genuinely tense between him and his parents.

Like the real relationship really happened on the air.

He was so good at that.

And there's just something inherently entertaining about hearing some radio host who supposedly is like the king of the show, right?

Like he's running the show, this adult running the show, and their parents just come on and they don't give a crap.

You know what I mean?

Like they really try to get the last word.

And so the staff, we just knew, like, oh, what can we fill this with?

Like, could you talk to your parents?

And it was just always good material.