Ira Glass and team recorded Invisible Made Visible earlier this year at the NYU’s Skirball Center, and beamed the event live to theaters all over the country. The idea of the show was to involve many things not possible on the radio, including pictures, video and live acting on stage.

This American Life also used the show to experiment with interactivity: A live performance of OK Go incorporated the audience, which was able to influence the music through a special mobile music app. Fans who access the Invisible Made Visible video on VHX will be able to experience some of this with an interactive video player that allows them to play along with the OK Go performance.

VHX.tv originally launched as a video discovery platform, but has been refocusing on its distribution capabilities in recent months, helping Aziz Ansari and Indie Game: The Movie to distribute their videos to an audience willing to pay.

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The This American Life–Live! line-up included regular TAL contributors Dan Savage, Starlee Kine and Mike Birbiglia telling stories aloud accompanied by clips from the TAL TV show and other visuals and illustrations. I don’t see any reports of attendance numbers but many showings were sold out. One reviewer attests that nearly everyone who showed up to the actual live show at the Skirball Center at NYU was wearing glasses and was primed to love TAL host and hipster hero Ira Glass.

As a special bonus for the show, Joss Whedon, in his first-ever big live musical performance, played an alternate version of Heart, Broken from the musical commentary for Dr. Horrible. Could that be too esoteric even for This American Life‘s obsession with lovingly expressed oddity? Alternate lyrics for a song about the making of a musical parody that was only released online? Nah — It’s Joss Whedon; it’ll find its sliver of passionate audience. A bootleg video of Whedon’s performance is embedded above.

Fathom Events is the same company that live-broadcasts shows from the Metropolitan Opera (as well as other cultural touchstones, like Dr. Laura) to audiences in theaters nationwide.

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