Goldstein was born to Buzz and Dina Goldstein in Brooklyn, New York, where he spent the first four years of his life before the family moved back to his mother's home town of Montreal. The family settled just outside of Montreal in the suburb of Laval where Goldstein grew up before attending McGill University and later completing a master's program in creative writing at Concordia University . After graduation, Goldstein supported himself by working in the telemarketing industry for ten years, all the while continuing to write and attend readings. In 2000, Goldstein's nascent career got a boost after he was selected to work on Ira Glass' popular radio program This American Life and he relocated to Chicago to work as a producer on the show. In 2002, Goldstein moved back to Montreal and started work on several projects for CBC Radio One including his own show, WireTap, which debuted in 2004, and for it, he uses the same music as This American Life (The Cinematic Orchestra).

Goldstein is a member of the Public Radio Exchange editorial board.

Currently, Goldstein lives in Montreal.

Radio Work

Many of Goldstein's pieces have been featured on the PRI radio show This American Life where he is a contributing editor. From 2000 to 2002 he was also a producer of the show.

Currently, Goldstein hosts a show on CBC Radio One called WireTap, a program featuring stories told over the phone. He was also the host of the CBC summer radio program Road Dot Trip in 2000 and has contributed to shows like Dispatches and Outfront.

Written work

In 2001, Goldstein's debut novel, Lenny Bruce Is Dead, was published by Coach House Books. Goldstein also co-authored Schmelvis: In Search of Elvis Presley's Jewish Roots with Max Wallace, an account of a Hasidic Elvis impersonator and Rabbi's quest to trace the Jewish roots of Elvis Presley. His latest book, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bible! was published in April 2009 by Riverhead. Goldstein has also been published in The New York Times Magazine, Saturday Night, The New York Times, The Walrus, GQ, the Journey Prize Anthology and the National Post. He has also self-produced a number of small publications, most notably carwash the size of a peach.

Other work

In September 2007, WireTap producer Mira Burt-Wintonick released a short film featuring Goldstein and WireTap regular Gregor Ehrlich entitled Superstar of the Netherlands on YouTube. Another video was released shortly after entitled Wire Tap Holiday Special featuring Howard Chackowicz. In February 2008, Goldstein debuted the internet project CBC Web 3.0 which features the short The Future is Yesterday, a comedic take on the impersonal nature of the Internet.