Mr. Oswalt (Photo: Wikipedia)

“This American Life” is a radio show so beloved–and so unfailingly pretentious–that even its biggest fans have to concede that it’s mostly a portrait of the spoiled upper middle class. Today comedian Patton Oswalt took to Twitter to playfully mock the show, first tweeting “A small, local post office #ThisAmericanLifeStories” and following that up with “Hats #ThisAmericanLifeStories.”

Of course, the hashtag tore off like Ira Glass in an artisanal cheese shop: soon it was trending, and our Twitter feed was filling up with hilarious suggestions for upcoming show topics, like “Alfalfa farmers who also read The New Yorker#ThisAmericanLifeStories,” as a user named Henning Fog tweeted.

Eventually, even “This American Life’s” Twitter account jumped into the fray: “Why did #ThisAmericanLifeStories suddenly start trending?” they tweeted. They then failed to humorously deflect the hashtag’s rise by offering an alternative: “Two can play at this game: #pattonoswaltroles.”

Below are some of our favorite #ThisAmericanLifeStories tweets.

Jessica Roy is a reporter for Betabeat and the New York Observer. Follow Jessica on Twitter or via RSS. jroy@observer.com