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62: Something for Nothing
May 2, 1997

Act Two: Guinea Pig Zero

Ira interviews Bob Helms, creator of the zine Guinea Pig Zero, which is about people who make their living by donating their bodies to science for medical experiments. Bob says he wouldn't do spinal tap studies or psychoactive drugs (he calls the people who do the latter "brain sluts").

Act Three

Claudia Perez talks about how her 21-year-old brother was shot and the family thought he'd die.
42: Get Over It!
Nov. 15, 1996

Act Three: Finding Amnesia

Who among us has not wanted amnesia to help get over someone or something? But the problem with amnesia is that it happens a lot more in TV shows and movies and novels than it does in real life. We send reporter Scott Carrier to find someone who really has had amnesia.
9: Julia Sweeney
Jan. 10, 1996

Prologue

Ira talks about the adage "Comedy equals tragedy plus time." Usually it's true, he says, though today's show is devoted to someone who decided to go on stage the same week she was experiencing some horrible things — and talk about those things.

Act Two: Julia Gets Cancer

In the second half of the show, she talks about her own cancer — cervical cancer that was diagnosed six months after her brother got sick. Julia eventually turned some of these vignettes into a one-woman show called God Said, Ha!, which Quentin Tarantino made into a movie and Julia released as a book.
1: New Beginnings
Nov. 17, 1995

Act Three

When filmmaker and performance artist Lawrence Steger found out he was HIV positive, he was just about to go out on across country road trip with a friend of his.