This American Life

Episode 866: Watch Out for That Tree

Release Date: September 7, 2025
Host: Ira Glass
Producers: WBEZ Chicago

Episode Overview

This episode, "Watch Out for That Tree," explores the universal experience of having carefully laid plans upended by unpredictable, sometimes chaotic forces. Through a set of deeply personal stories, Ira Glass and a handful of guests trace how we respond to the unexpected—from a family vacation struck by lightning, to a Palestinian student whose life is derailed by politics, to a teenage prank that spirals into a multimillion-dollar soccer transfer. The episode weaves humor, suspense, and emotion to capture how people confront randomness, guilt, and fate.

Act 1: Forces Outside Our Control

The Story of Mahmoud and Noor

Setting the Stage (09:21–16:21)

• Noor and Mahmoud, a married couple, are looking forward to a new stage of their lives: he's finished grad school, she's expecting a baby, he's starting a new job. Their partnership dynamic: Noor is "the warrior, the organized one", Mahmoud "the calm one, the procrastinator".
  • Notable quote: “She’s the warrior, he’s the calm one, she’s the organized one. And he’s nonchalant, as he puts it.” — Angela (16:04)
• Flashback: Mahmoud’s humorous procrastination in previous years, showing the comfortable, teasing rapport between the couple.
  • Notable moment: Noor busting him for missing a job deadline, but it working out anyway (16:21–17:28).

Shocking Disruption: Detention and Political Storm (11:29–20:17)

• Mahmoud, a legal U.S. resident, is suddenly detained and threatened with deportation under the Trump administration for his involvement in student protests. Video of his arrest goes viral, drawing national media attention.
  • Notable quote: “It felt like a kidnapping.” — Ira Glass (12:31, paraphrasing Mahmoud)
• The shocking element: Mahmoud is not the typical “target”—married to a U.S. citizen, has a green card, baby on the way.
• Mahmoud’s optimism and resilience, rooted in a childhood in a Syrian refugee camp where stakes were much higher—"It's not a healthy resilience." (20:17)

The Life Interrupted (20:32–27:23)

• Mahmoud loses his dream job at Oxfam due to the government’s stance and growing notoriety. Noor faces childbirth alone, with Mahmoud supporting her by phone during labor due to denied emergency furlough.
  • Notable quote (Noor): “He was on the phone giving, like, moral support as much as he could. I put headphones in...” (22:47)
  • The emotional significance of Mahmoud singing the adhan to his newborn son over the phone (25:01–25:34).
  • Noor describes bringing the baby home in silence and the stark absence of Mahmoud—instantly transforming joy to grief (26:22–27:23).

Legal, Emotional, and Political Fallout (27:23–38:27)

• The government’s justification: that Mahmoud’s protest activity undermined U.S. foreign policy, rooted in an old anti-communist law. Yet, evidence against him remains vague.
  • Notable quote: “The administration argued... it should not have to make any kind of argument or explanation or present any evidence at all...” — Ira Glass (29:40)
• Mahmoud’s eventual release after a federal judge rules the law is unconstitutionally vague and likely targets his free speech—but his case is still uncertain, with deportation still on the table.
• Mahmoud returns to fame and public scrutiny rather than his planned, private life. Fame brings threats and safety concerns to his family.
  • Notable quote: “His fame kind of annoys me, to be honest. It's just a reminder of how absurd the whole situation is. Like, he shouldn't be famous.” — Jasmine (34:45)
  • “The job at Oxfam, being there for Dean’s birth and not being famous, over the life he’s ended up in.” — Mahmoud (37:00)
• Mahmoud debates whether they should stay in the U.S. or if he should leave alone to keep his family safe.

Act 2: The Engineer (A Prank Gone Wild)

Kieran’s Teenage Pranks Spiral Into Global Myth

Innocent Beginnings (41:58–43:59)

• Kieran Morris, as a teen in England, starts with pranks like photobombing TV news during soccer transfer season.
• He and his friend escalate: planting a rumor about a French player, William Gallas, joining a mediocre team—they nearly fool the national news.

“The Honduran Maradona” (44:24–49:58)

• Kieran’s ambitions grow: chooses an obscure Honduran player (Alexander Lopez) from the Olympics to transform into a rising star by doctoring his Wikipedia page with extravagant stats and the nickname “the Honduran Maradona.”
  • Notable quote: “He is known to Olympia fans as the Honduran Maradona.” — Kieran (47:07)
• Kieran poses as a freelance journalist and feeds the rumor to sports journalists in the UK, who repeat it.
• Eventually, Houston Dynamo in the U.S. buy Lopez for a million dollars, quoting the fake stats and nickname in press releases.
  • Notable quote: “His record of 18 goals and 34 assists… testifies to his creative and goal-scoring potential.” — Pablo Torre (49:58)

The Prank’s Consequences and Confession (52:14–65:43)

• For years, Kieran boasts about the prank as his signature story—even referencing it in job interviews and on dates (“She [my fiancée] hates every beat... she has heard me pull that routine hundreds of times…” (52:19)).
• As he gets older, he wonders: Did he accidentally hurt Alexander Lopez’s career, setting him up for unrealistic expectations and pressure?
• Reporting trip: Kieran interviews Dynamo staff and Lopez himself. Management confirms they did their own due diligence, and the nickname had little impact.
  • Notable quote: “Nicknames don’t matter to us in the professional soccer industry.” — Nick Kalba (58:33)
• Kieran finally confesses to Lopez in Costa Rica that he invented the nickname and the legend. Lopez laughs, tells him he thought it was just silly fan stuff.
• Lopez has a new, more fitting nickname—“the Engineer”—which his family and fans embrace.
  • Notable quote: “It wasn’t randomly made up by a child.” — Kieran (65:09)
  • “This entire time, Alexander Lopez had been engineering Alexander Lopez’s trajectory because, of course, he was.” — Pablo Torre (65:43)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Mahmoud’s Story

• “It's not that the police would come and arrest you. It's that the police would come and kill you.” — Mahmoud Khalil (19:24)
• “It just felt, like, very cruel that this happened to us, like, to have this moment stolen.” — Mahmoud Khalil (25:38)
• “His fame infected everything about their lives.” — Angela (35:26)

Kieran’s Story

• “Never once did I think, what has happened to him, what really has happened to him, to his family? And that bit by bit, as I got older, that became a bigger thing in my mind.” — Kieran (53:10)
• “There’s only one Maradona. But he’s got a better nickname now. He’s the Engineer.” — Kieran (65:09)
• “The legend that Kieran had most invented was his own.” — Pablo Torre (65:43)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment Description | Timestamp | |:----------------------------------------------:|:-----------:| | Tom's vacation lightning story | 00:00–07:09 | | Mahmoud’s arrest and Noor’s perspective | 09:21–16:21 | | Mahmoud’s detention, legal limbo, birth drama | 20:32–27:23 | | Legal, political, and emotional fallout | 27:23–39:10 | | Kieran’s pranks and fake sports legend | 41:58–65:43 |

Episode Themes & Tone

• Recurring Theme: Meticulous plans broken by “forces outside our control.”
• Tone: Intrinsically “This American Life”—mixing humor, shock, intimacy, and broader social resonance.
• Broad Reflection: We can try so hard to predict and control our own futures, but randomness and external powers can always upend them. Sometimes, the story we tell ourselves about our agency turns out to be just that—a story.

Summary

This episode moves seamlessly from the minute risks of family travel to the seismic impact of immigration policy and media manipulation. Each segment illustrates the vulnerability of human plans against chaos—whether it’s a “10% chance of thunderstorms,” being caught in a political crackdown, or a teenage joke echoing across continents. Through vulnerability, wit, and riveting real-world drama, “Watch Out for That Tree” invites listeners to empathize with those on the receiving end of fortune’s unpredictable swings.