Culture Gabfest

For this week’s episode of Working Overtime, hosts Isaac Butler and June Thomas explore some painful memories of failing. Isaac recounts the nightmare of directing a play where almost everything went wrong, and June shares the struggles of trying to sell a first book. Through the hardships they both developed thicker skin, but also new tools for developing their creative careers. Do you have a question about creative work, or a seemingly insurmountable hurdle to jump? Call us and leave a message at (304) 933-9675 or email us at working@slate.com.    Podcast production by Kevin Bendis and Cameron Drews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re revisiting our episode from April 16, 2022 when we interviewed BYU’s Black Menaces. The Black Menaces are a group at Brigham Young University who have recently gained popularity on TikTok for their videos in which they ask their fellow students about political and social issues. On this episode, Rachelle Hampton and Madison Malone Kircher talk to Rachel Weaver and Nate Byrd, two members of the Black Menaces, about what it’s like to film these interviews, how they’ve been received on campus and online, and what it’s like to be a Black student at BYU. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder, Rachelle Hampton, and Madison Malone Kircher. Subscribe to Slate Plus at http://slate.com/icymiplus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we're taking a break from our usual programming to bring you a great episode of Slate's "Working" podcast. In it, host June Thomas talks to author Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who recently adapted her novel Fleishman is in Trouble into a limited series for Hulu. After the interview, June and co-host Isaac Butler discuss the faulty metric of character likeability in both fiction and nonfiction. They also chat about creative collaboration and tough career decisions.  In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Taffy tells a story about her upcoming novel, Long Island Compromise.  If you enjoy this episode, make sure to subscribe to Working wherever you get your podcasts. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin are joined by the Athletic’s Kalyn Kahler to discuss her story on Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ array of hand signals. They also discuss New York Mets owner Steve Cohen’s $800 million offseason spending spree and look back at 1972’s “Immaculate Reception” by Pittsburgh Steelers running back Franco Harris.   Rodgers (3:00): The Packers QB bristled over Kahler’s well-sourced story on why rookie receivers struggle in Green Bay.   Mets (26:33): Cohen’s lavish spending hit a speed bump after medical concerns over free agent Carlos Correa.   Immaculate Reception (45:08): Why it’s considered the greatest play in NFL history.   Afterball (1:01:42): Stefan on how the New York Cosmos wooed Pele in the 1970s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re really lucky to get a lot of listener emails, suggesting topics for the show. In this episode, we’re going to dig into a handful of the most fascinating ones that we’ve yet to tackle on the show. We’re taking on five listener questions that run the gamut—from kids menus to succulents to the chicken that crossed the road. It’s an eclectic assortment of subjects that come to us thanks to you. So let’s jump into our mailbag. Thank you to Mark Liberman and Susan Schulten. This podcast was written by Willa Paskin who produces the show with Katie Shepherd. This episode was also produced by Sam Kim. Derek John is Slate’s Executive Producer of Narrative Podcasts. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. If you haven’t please yet, subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends. If you’re a fan of the show and want to support us, consider signing up for Slate Plus.   Slate Plus members get to listen to Decoder Ring without any ads. Their s

This week, we revisit two of our favorite interviews from 2022. In the first one, Isaac Butler discusses his book The Method: How the 20th Century Learned to Act. After that, Karen Han reveals the process behind her book Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re revisiting our episode from March 9, 2022 on the Liver King, his philosophy, and his online presence. Brian Johnson, aka the Liver King, has amassed millions of followers with his bizarre yet addictive workout and raw-meat-diet videos. On this episode, Rachelle Hampton and Madison Malone Kircher comb through the king’s core tenets, his obsession with explosives, and of course his taste for liver with a side of maple syrup. Later in the show, science communicator Jonathan Jarry joins for a discussion of why we look to people like the Liver King, and why we can’t look away. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder, Derek John, Jasmine Ellis, and Kevin Bendis. Subscribe to Slate Plus at http://slate.com/icymiplus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Slate's Dana Stevens and Sam Adams spoil Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel to his 2009 film. Is it true that “the most dangerous thing on Pandora is that you’ll grow to love it too much?”  Note: As the title indicates, this podcast contains spoilers galore. Read Dana’s review here.  Read Sam’s advice on which version to catch here.   Email us at spoilers@slate.com. Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the holidays comes time to rest, recuperate, and unwind. What are this year’s best seasonal offerings to curl up in front of and watch with the family?  Guest: Rebecca Theodore-Vachon, essayist and pop culture critic. Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior supervising producer Daisy Rosario talks to comedian and activist Aida Rodriguez about the state of women in comedy. They dig into Aida’s background and what it was like to come up as a woman of color in comedy. They also unpack the sneaking suspicion that women of color are getting fewer and fewer chances these days, and how to turn trauma into comedy.  In Slate Plus, Aida and Daisy talk about whether it’s feminist to not stand up for yourself in a loud way. Catch Aida’s comedy Fighting Words on HBO Max.  Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re excited to share an episode from Slate’s Decoder Ring that we think you’re going to love. For this episode, a story from Slate senior producer Evan Chung about how Yanni, John Tesh and a number of other surprising acts made it big in the 1990s. It’s a throwback to a simpler time— when musicians struggled to find their big break, but discovered it was possible with a telephone, a television, and our undivided attention. This story originally aired in 2019 on Studio 360 from PRX. We hear from George Veras, Pat Callahan, and John Tesh. This episode was written and produced by Slate’s Evan Chung. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin and Katie Shepherd. Derek John is Slate’s Executive Producer of narrative podcasts. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Subscribe to Slate Plus at http://slate.com/icymiplus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Dana, Julia, and Stephen get started by discussing Avatar: The Way of Water. Then they discuss the new Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan. Finally, they finish by talking about the new Lensa AI art app and all the photos it’s generating online. In Slate Plus, the panel answers a listener question about which works of art they like to revisit again and again? Email us at culturefest@slate.com. Endorsements Dana: Spending an afternoon at the Aftel Archive of Curious Scents in Berkeley, California. Julia: The videos of Front Porch Dad on Instagram.  Stephen: The essay “Ol’ Blue Eyes,” by Simon Callow about Paul Newman in the New York Review of Books. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Yesica Balderrama. Outro music: "Lonely Calling" by Arc De Soleil. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do her

This month, hosts Christina Cauterucci, Jules Gill-Peterson, and Bryan Lowder reflect on the painful impact of anti-LGBTQ violence and dig into the new possibilities for trans storytelling and filmmaking. First, they talk through their complicated feelings about one of the responses to the shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs last month: Should queer people be organizing in self-defense, or even arming ourselves for protection? Then they are joined by actress Jen Richards who portrays Barbara in Framing Agnes, a new documentary, directed by Chase Joynt, which is centered on six trans people who were interviewed and treated at a UCLA gender clinic in the 1950s. The film combines reenactments of those interviews with contemporary conversations with trans actors reflecting on how the lives of the people they portray resonate with their own lives. Our own Jules Gill-Peterson has a central role in the movie as a historian and narrator. Items discussed in the show: Season 2 of The White Lotus Christina’s Slate

(This episode originally aired in March 2020.) The 1998 romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, is about the brutal fight between a beloved indie bookstore, the Shop Around the Corner, and Fox Books, an obvious Barnes & Noble stand-in. On this episode of Decoder Ring we revisit the real-life conflict that inspired the movie and displaced independent booksellers on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This conflict illustrates how, for a brief time, Barnes & Noble was a symbol of predatory capitalism, only to be usurped by the uniting force at the heart of the film: the internet. Some of the voices in this episode include Delia Ephron, the co-screenwriter of You’ve Got Mail, the illustrator Brian Selznick, Laura J. Miller, author of Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption, Joel Fram, founder of Eeyore’s Books for Children, and Boris Kachka, book editor for the Los Angeles Times. This podcast was written by Willa Paskin and produced by Benjamin Frisch and Cleo L

Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin are joined by Argentinian journalist Marcela Mora y Araujo to talk about Lionel Messi’s coronation on soccer’s biggest stage and then continue their conversation about the greatest World Cup final ever. They also discuss a bizarre weekend in the NFL and assess the life and career of college football coach Mike Leach.   World Cup final (3:36): What it means to Argentina and how it felt to watch it.   NFL (28:55): The Vikings came back from how far? The Patriots did what?   Leach (44:08): Why there will never be another coach like him.   Afterball (1:05:12): Joel on Brittney Griner, high school phenom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Food and Drug Administration gave an important thumbs up to lab-grown chicken, which means we could start seeing it in stores as soon as next year. While billions of dollars have been spent developing lab-grown meat, important questions remain: Is the production of it actually greener than raising livestock? Can it be made affordably? Is it healthy? And will anyone eat it? Guest: Chloe Sorvino, staff writer on food and agriculture at Forbes, and the author of Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat. Host: Lizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host June Thomas talks to author and repeat Working guest Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who recently adapted her novel Fleishman is in Trouble into a limited series for Hulu. In the interview, Taffy describes the biggest challenges she faced as both a showrunner and writer. She also explains what it was like to take a very personal project and turn it into a collaborative one, with creative input from actors, directors, and tons of other creative people.  After the interview, June and co-host Isaac Butler discuss the faulty metric of character likeability in both fiction and nonfiction. They also chat about creative collaboration and tough career decisions.  In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Taffy tells a story about her upcoming novel, Long Island Compromise.  Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members

Earlier this month, a group of nurses were fired after posting a TikTok where they shared their complaints or “icks” about their patients. On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by health and wellness journalist Julia Craven to talk about this recent news, the proliferation of “ick” content on TikTok, and why healthcare workers (and everybody else) should keep their work complaints in the group chat. This podcast is produced by Daniel Schroeder, Rachelle Hampton, Daisy Rosario, and Derek John. Subscribe to Slate Plus at http://slate.com/icymiplus Sponsored by Saks.com. Check out the Holiday Gift Guide on saks.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Dickerson talks with author Gautam Mukunda about his new book Picking Presidents: How to Make the Most Consequential Decision in the World. They talk about how Mukunda’s first book, Indispensable: When Leaders Really Matter laid the groundwork for Picking Presidents. Later, Dickerson and Mukunda dig into why ‘intellectual brilliance’ – which goes beyond IQ - is a strong predictor of presidential performance and how the human portion of the job of president is changing.  Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam the Sham over the Rolling Stones? The Knack over Donna Summer? Wilson Phillips over Mariah Carey? Glass Animals over Harry Styles? On Billboard’s year-end Hot 100, upsets are quite common. Songs that seemed to dominate the chart all year are defeated by stealthily ubiquitous earworms. Sometimes the obvious song takes the prize: “Hey Jude,” “Every Breath You Take” or “I Will Always Love You.” And then sometimes it’s a one-hit wonder: Domencio Mudugno, Daniel Powter, Gotye, Glass Animals—all won the year-end Hot 100 prize. Join Chris Molanphy as he explains the secrets behind having the hit of the year—and why it doesn’t always go to a superstar. Podcast production by Kevin Bendis. Sponsored by Saks.com. Check out the Holiday Gift Guide on saks.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices