Selected Shorts: “On the Couch”

Date: January 29, 2026
Host: Meg Wolitzer, featuring Gary Gulman
Readers: Troy Iwata, BD Wong

Episode Overview

This episode of Selected Shorts explores the allure, awkwardness, and deep emotional terrain of therapy and therapists, drawing connections between the confessional nature of therapy and the intimate storytelling of fiction. The stories performed—J. Robert Lennon’s “Therapy” and Charles Yu’s “Fable”—use playful and serious tones to delve into the messy, circular, and occasionally transformative experience of sharing your struggles with another person. The show was recorded live at Symphony Space, with Gary Gulman hosting the evening.

Introduction & Framing (01:07–06:17)

• Meg Wolitzer (Host) introduces the theme, observing how psychological concepts and therapy “speak” have saturated everyday conversation and naturally become tropes in fiction.

  “To me, therapy has some things in common with fiction. In both cases, an intimacy develops between two people... and in both cases, a story gets told.” (02:12)

• She highlights that while therapy as a subject could be dull, the best stories go beyond the couch and delve into unexpected territory, mirroring how meaning emerges from winding, persistent conversation.

• Gary Gulman opens the live evening with humor and a personal touch, noting:

  • His own positive, life-saving experience with therapy since 1989.

  • The parallels between short fiction and therapeutic journeys.

    “The other aspect of this show is another thing that I've fallen in love with over the years, which is therapy, talk therapy. I first started going in 1989, so therapy is something that saved my life...” (05:36)

    • He sets the scene for two stories exploring patient-therapist dynamics.

Story #1: "Therapy" by J. Robert Lennon

Reader: Troy Iwata
(Starts at 06:59)

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• The story, written in the second person, follows someone unsure whether to continue therapy after two years.

  • Their original problems are resolved; now, therapy brings up new layers—prompting the very meta-question: “Is doubting therapy itself a therapy topic?”
  • The narrator is fixated on whether their efforts to amuse their therapist are appropriate and if these behaviors themselves merit examination.

• Details of Therapy Setting:

  • Waiting room vs. consulting room: The narrator prefers the anonymity and comfort of the waiting area.
  • Awkward encounters with other patients provoke rumination and imagined scenarios.

• Therapist Relationship:

  • There’s a longing to be friends with the therapist—“it might be preferable to, and would certainly be cheaper than, your present arrangement.”
  • The narrator’s habit of confessional intimacy with friends is seen as either narcissistic or healthy self-disclosure—another point to mull over in therapy.

• Circularity:

  • The opening and closing lines are the same, emphasizing the circular, self-referential nature of therapy and personal rumination.

Notable Quotes and Moments

• Troy Iwata's Reading (06:59–13:49):

  "You’ve been in and out of therapy for two years and not sure if you’re supposed to be in therapy... Perhaps this is another topic worthy examining. In therapy." (06:59–13:46)

• Backstage Interview

  • Meg Wolitzer and Troy Iwata discuss the humor and relatability of the story’s anxiety spiral:

    Iwata: “I read it as a really relatable piece about the sort of ironic anxiousness that can arise when you start going to therapy and then you start overthinking everything in your life, which is kind of the opposite of what therapy is supposed to do.” (13:58)

    “It literally is a circle, because the first and last sentence are the exact same.” (14:24)

• Iwata on performance:

  “Performing in front of a live audience, there’s really nothing like it.” (15:01)

• Host commentary ties Lennon’s “you” narration to “the way our inner monologues actually sound inside our heads” and the universality of self-absorption in therapy.

Story #2: "Fable" by Charles Yu

Reader: BD Wong
(Story begins at 19:16; performance until 58:57)

Key Discussion Points & Story Arc

• Premise:

  • In therapy, a man’s therapist suggests he narrate his struggles through a story. The tale unfolds, at first mocking the exercise, then dropping into earnest and fantastical self-exploration.

• Allegorical Life Summary:

  • The man narrates his journey in fairy tale terms: a mediocre hero afraid of dragons, educated as a lawyer instead of a knight, marries the candlemaker’s “plain” (but magical) daughter.
  • They face the inability to have children, experience magical hope, high-risk pregnancy, and eventual joy at the birth of a son, all rendered in the language of fantasy.
  • The son, however, is “not of this world”—developmentally different, possibly autistic or disabled. Their family life is defined by struggle, hope, routine, and pain.

• Progression of Self-Understanding:

  • The story grows ever more meta and confessional: the man’s fantasy cliches fall away, replaced with the raw relaying of marital strain, exhaustion, resentment, and persistent love.

• Emotional Climax:

  • The narrator, exhausted, desperate, finds himself at a broken bridge in the forest—on one side, himself; on the other, his unreachable son. He tries, through fantastical and direct language, to express both responsibility and heartbreak.

• Acceptance:

  • In the final movement, the man recognizes the reality: he is not a fairy tale hero, but an ordinary person living an imperfect, ongoing story—one of daily acts of devotion, care, and kindness.

    “He knew that he would wipe the boy’s nose and ass and anything else for as long as he needed to. Because that’s what blacksmiths do. That’s what fairy tale heroes do. They become government lawyers. They buy groceries. They shave their son three times a week and feed him pudding and sing to him once in a while. This was not a dream, not a fairy tale. This was all there was, all there would be.” (57:13)

• Session's End:

  • As the story winds down, the therapist declares, “Time’s up. It’s a start.” The subtle encouragement: storytelling is process, not miracle.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• The man’s story-within-a-story is improvisational, funny, and heartbreaking—mixing fantasy language and real-world pain:

  “Once upon a time, there was a therapist who wasn’t going to do any good and cost too much. And it’s not like the man was made of money. He did all right, but this was not exactly in the budget.” (45:04)

  “A grown-up man now, still a boy. A lovable boy trapped inside a smelly man. And he knew that he would wipe the boy's nose and ass and anything else for as long as he needed to. Because that's what blacksmiths do. That's what fairy tale heroes do. They become government lawyers. They buy groceries.” (57:11)

• The story’s final message is quietly powerful:

  “If this is where your story starts, so be it.” (58:57)

• BD Wong’s reading received a standing ovation.

Host Reflections (58:57–end)

• Meg Wolitzer highlights how the episode invites listeners to see parallels between the process of storytelling and the journey of therapy.

  • She underscores the sneaky emotional power of stories that lull us with familiar tropes, only to reveal aching truths.

    “Fairy tales use reassuringly familiar tropes to lull us, and then, like all good art and often like life, they sneak up on us with their powerful, aching revelations.” (59:13)

Timestamps of Key Segments

• 01:07 – Wolitzer’s episode overview and setting the therapeutic/fictional scene
• 04:15 – Gary Gulman’s live introduction, personal connection to therapy
• 06:17 – Introduction of “Therapy” by J. Robert Lennon
• 06:59–13:49 – “Therapy” performed by Troy Iwata
• 13:58–15:10 – Backstage interview with Iwata and Wolitzer
• 19:16 – “Fable” by Charles Yu begins, performed by BD Wong
• 45:04–58:57 – “Fable”’s emotional journey and conclusion
• 58:57 – Host’s recap, concluding thoughts and audience reaction

Tone and Style

• The episode skillfully blends humor, literary analysis, meta-commentary, and wrenching emotional honesty. Both stories experiment with point of view, blending fiction and personal confession to illuminate the messy, nonlinear paths of healing and acceptance.

Summary Takeaway

On the Couch demonstrates how storytelling and therapy both serve as arenas for meaning-making, circular questioning, painful reckoning, and, sometimes, a quiet step toward hope. The episode’s two stories invite empathy—for those who overthink and self-doubt, and for those quietly weathering life’s deepest heartbreaks. Through memorable lines, comic asides, and stirring performances, the episode is, as promised, both “playful and serious”—like therapy, like life, like great fiction.