Just saw This American Life Live a few hours ago. Ira Glass and friends did a looser version of their radio/TV show in New York City and broadcast the proceedings live to a bunch of theaters across the nation. It could have been compared to a more social variation of a webcast or a very intimate live TV show. The most memorable moments were when Glass acknowledged the medium he was using.
"According to this sheet, there are only two people who came to the showing in (Randomtown) California." He turns to the camera. "Hi. Maybe you two should go out and get a drink or something after this?"
Another bizarre moment came after he gave birthday greetings to a few viewers, when he gave a Peoria man's proposal via satellite.
The show itself was (as usual for TAL) consistently entertaining and interesting. It was about 20% radio (watching someone operate a soundboard is weird), 20% talk-show style chatter and 60% documentary-esque video segments that for some reason or another weren't broadcast on the This American Life TV series.
And of course, being live, there were a couple of mistakes here and there. This only added to the charm and "cool" factor of the event. The technical boo-boos weren't bad things - they were more like notes reminding me, "Wow. This is actually happening right now."