Earlier this week we interviewed Julian Joslin on his uncanny "This American Life" parody, in which Ira Glass makes a sex tape. At the time, we wondered what would happen when the video inevitably viralled its way to Ira Glass' office. Well, the inevitable has happened, and the answer, apparently, is sadness. A cloak spun of sadness issued from the mouth of Glass himself. Here he is telling the Village Voice why he had to turn the parody off after three minutes:
His imitation of my writing and delivery are so dead-on, it was hard to keep listening and I stopped. If I had to articulate why, I think it was because hearing his version of me, made what I do on the air seem kind of dumb. And the impersonation was so good, I couldn't really pick a fight with it. So I had to decide, do I want to see myself as kind of trite and dumb? Seemed better to stop. Maybe I'll go back sometime.
No, not trite, not dumb. Just the least likely person to draft a sex tape is all. From our vantage point, it's clear Joslin did what he did out of love, and surprising a showman like Glass wasn't able to see it. And yet, reading Glass' reaction...we feel sad, and like maybe, we learned something? Good episode of "This American Life," America.