465 episodes

New York Times critic Dwight Garner says “The Slate Culture Gabfest is one of the highlights of my week.” The award-winning Culturefest features critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner debating the week in culture, from highbrow to pop. For more of Slate’s culture podcasts, check out the Slate Culture feed.

Culture Gabfest Slate Podcasts

    • News
    • 4.5 • 371 Ratings

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New York Times critic Dwight Garner says “The Slate Culture Gabfest is one of the highlights of my week.” The award-winning Culturefest features critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner debating the week in culture, from highbrow to pop. For more of Slate’s culture podcasts, check out the Slate Culture feed.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Jon Stewart Returns

    Jon Stewart Returns

    On this week's show, Slate’s Dan Kois (author of Vintage Contemporaries, How to Be a Family, The World Only Spins Forward, and Facing Future) sits in for Julia Turner. The panel first begins with a reboot: In 1999, when Jon Stewart took over, rather indifferently, the helm of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, he changed the media landscape with his comedic chops, serious outrage, and penchant for pointing out politicians' hypocrisies. He’s since left and returned back to the show (which he hosts once a week), but how effective are he and his trademark bag of tricks in 2024? We discuss. Then, the three dive into Problemista, writer-director-star Julio Torres’ first feature film that can only be described as “a lot.” Torres (Los Espookys, My Favorite Shapes, Saturday Night Live) plays Alejandro, a sweet but naive aspiring Salvadoran toymaker who must navigate the Kafka-esque purgatory known as the U.S. immigration system. He meets Elizabeth, played by Tilda Swinton, a nightmare boss with fuschia-colored hair and a looming presence that often overwhelms the film… but perhaps that’s exactly what it needs? Finally, the trio is joined by The Sporkful host Dan Pashman to discuss his cookbook, Anything’s Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People. In 2021, Pashman created the cascatelli, a new pasta shape that went viral, with Time calling it “one of the best inventions of the year.” Anything’s Pastable aims to revolutionize our concept of what pasta sauces can be, with recipes for unique and non-traditional dishes like “Kimchi Carbonara” and “Cacio e Pepe e Chili Crisp.” 
    In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel explores Dana’s book review, “Rejecting the Binary” for Slate. She reviews American philosopher and theorist Judith Butler’s latest book–the first of theirs published with a nonacademic press–Who’s Afraid of Gender. Butler served as Dana’s dissertation adviser at the University of California in the late 1990s. 
    Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 
    Outro music: “Funny Jam” by Gloria Tells.
    Endorsements:
    Dana: A feat of artistry and interpretation, nineteen-year-old American Ilia Malinin’s free skate to the Succession theme (composed, of course, by Nicholas Britell). Malinin scored a record 227.79, winning his first world title and executed the best collection of jumps in one program in figure skating history. 

    Dan: The Big Ears Festival held in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

    Stephen: Falling into a Cat Stevens rabbit hole. He recommends starting with “The First Cut is the Deepest” and Stevens’ 2014 Tiny Desk performance. 

    Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 
     
    Hosts
    Dana Stephens, Dan Kois, Stephen Metcalf
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 1 hr 3 min
    Kristen Stewart Pumps Iron

    Kristen Stewart Pumps Iron

    On this week’s show, Slate culture writers Nadira Goffe and Dan Kois fill in for Julia and Stephen. First up, the panel dissects Love Lies Bleeding with What’s Next producer Madeline Ducharme. Writer-director Rose Glass’ second feature stars Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian as beefed up, star-crossed lovers, in a twisted and gory love story about two unhealthily enmeshed women. (You can read Madeline Ducharme and Christina Cauterucci’s detailed review of the sex scenes in Love Lies Bleeding here!) Then, the trio explores The Regime, a weird and tonally bizarre Max limited series by showrunner Will Tracy (The Menu, Succession), in which Kate Winslet–in a commanding performance–plays the fictional dictator of an unnamed European country. Finally, can a book published posthumously do more harm than good? The panel discusses renowned author Gabríel Garcia Márquez’s latest novella, Until August, which was published ten years after his death–and without his consent. 
    In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Nadira, Dan, and Dana chew over the rise and fall of food trends, inspired by Kim Severson’s piece for The New York Times, “The Coolest Menu Item at the Moment Is… Cabbage?” 
    Recipes mentioned by Dan: 


    Gilgeori Toast (Korean Street Toast with Cabbage and Egg) by Darun Kwak for The New York Times. 


    Vegan Bunny Chow by Meera Sodha for The Guardian. 


    Somen Salad by Sheldon Simeon.



    Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 
    Outro music: "Funk Wife Punk Life" by L. M. Styles
    Endorsements:
    Dana: Extreme Friend of the Pod (EFOP) Isaac Butler’s Substack, Complete Works. Specifically, his most recent post: “It Ain’t Me, Babe: Complicity and consequences, from sitcoms to Gaza.” 
    Nadira: Two albums – World Wide Whack by Philadelphia rapper, Tierra Whack, and Brittany Howard’s What Now.
    Dan: Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring by Brad Gooch. A beautiful chronicle of the artist’s life. 
    Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 
    Hosts
    Dana Stephens, Nadira Goffe, Dan Kois
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 57 min
    The Oscars Are Back, Baby!

    The Oscars Are Back, Baby!

    On this week’s show, the panel is first joined by Mark Harris, cultural historian and the author of Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, to discuss the 96th Academy Awards: a fun, glitzy return to form filled with surprisingly political moments. Then, the three review FX’s Shōgun, a massive epic set in 17th century Japan that many are calling “the new Game of Thrones.” But does it live up to the hype? Finally, the trio examines “Behind F1’s Velvet Curtain,” Kate Wagner’s spellbinding 5,000-word piece about the world of Formula 1 racing that Road & Track published then promptly yanked from the internet without explanation. Although Wagner’s piece is no longer live on Road & Track, you can still read it on Wayback Machine’s internet archive.
    In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Mark Harris returns to talk about his New York Times essay, “How Bad Can It Get for Hollywood?” which details what we can expect from movies in 2024 (spoiler alert: it’s not looking good). 
    Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 
    Outro music: “8-Bit Hop” by Ash Sculptures
    Endorsements:
    Dana: HINT.FM’s Wind Map, which illustrates “the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US.” 
    Julia: Tejal Rao’s recipe for Kale Sauce Pasta, adapted from Joshua McFadden.   
    Steve: “What Physicists Have Been Missing” by theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder. 
    Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 1 hr
    Timothée Chalamet Rides the Worm

    Timothée Chalamet Rides the Worm

    On this week’s show, the panel returns to Arrakis! First up, the trio reviews Dune: Part Two, the (as the title suggests) second part of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction epic. In it, Timothée Chalamet plays Paul Atreides, the supposed “messiah” of Arrakis, a hostile desert planet rich in spice, in a fantastic feat of world building and worm-riding. Then, they examine God Save Texas, a three-part docu-series streaming on Max that follows three Texan filmmakers (Richard Linklakter, Alex Stapleton, and Iliana Sosa) as they return to their respective hometowns and chronicle the state’s complex history with the prison system, oil business, and border laws. Finally, the panel is joined by Paul Schnee, an acclaimed casting director whose credits include Spotlight, Winter’s Bone, and The Help, to discuss the Academy Awards’ most recent addition: an Oscar for Casting. 
    In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel answers a listener question from Eliot: What are some pieces of culture that your children have introduced to you? 
    Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 
    Outro music: “Last Sunday” by OTE
    Endorsements:
    Dana: Werner Herzog’s 2011 documentary, Into the Abyss. The film examines America’s capital punishment system. 
    Julia: The Lady and the Tramp, which is still great and bizarre, and somehow, makes the dogs… hot? 
    Steve: Australian novelist Helen Garner’s 2014 non-fiction book The House of Grief, which follows a man and his broken life, a community wracked by tragedy, and the long and torturous road to closure. 
    Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 
    Hosts
    Dana Stephens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 58 min
    J.Lo’s This Is… What Now?

    J.Lo’s This Is… What Now?

    On this week’s show, the panel is first joined by Wesley Morris, New York Times’ critic at large, to dissect This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, Jennifer Lopez’s bizarre, nutty, yet utterly delicious self-funded vanity project that cost the singer $20 million to produce. (Wesley wrote a brilliant piece about it for the Times.) Then, the three explore 20 Days in Mariupol, the Oscar-nominated documentary by Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov that depicts the atrocities of the Russia-Ukraine war through on-the-ground footage and harrowing accounts of civilians. Finally, in a new oral history of the Village Voice, entitled The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture, author Tricia Romano tells the iconic alt-weekly newspaper’s history through 200 interviews with its legendary writers, editors, and photographers. We discuss.
    In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, we share an impromptu conversation between the hosts and Wesley Morris.
    Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 
    Outro music: "Zero Gravity" by ELFL
    Endorsements:
    Cameron: Longtime Culture Gabfest producer, Cameron Drews, is moving onto his next project but came on one last time to endorse! He endorses movie theater subscriptions and is a big fan of Alamo Drafthouse’s season pass. 
    Dana: The Criterion Channel’s new “Gothic Noir” series. 
    Julia: An algorithm-recommended bop, UNTZ UNTZ by Inji. 
    Steve: The Milk Carton Kids’ cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and a performance of their song, “All of the Time in the World to Kill,” featuring some lovely on-stage banter. 
    Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 
    Hosts
    Dana Stephens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 1 hr 3 min
    Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Remarried

    Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Remarried

    On this week’s show, the panel begins by dissecting Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the episodic remake of Brangelina’s 2005 espionage film. The Prime Video series stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as the titular Smiths, spies who become “married” as a part of the job, and explores partnership in the gig economy in a quieter, smaller, and less glamorous version of the original. Then, they review The Color Purple, a movie-musical adapted from Alice Walker’s seminal novel. The film stars Fantasia Barrino and Taraji P. Henson, as well as Danielle Brooks, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Sofia. Finally, it’s the viral scam that rocked the internet: “The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger” is a first-hand account written by The Cut’s financial-advice columnist, Charlotte Cowles, about the time she fell for an Amazon scam call. Our panel reviews the piece and explores its ethics. 
    In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Julia discusses her big life changes, including a new fellowship at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. 
    Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 
    Outro music: “Pull Me Out” by Mike Stringer
    Endorsements:
    Dana: Dance Life on Prime Video, a five-episode series that follows the students at Brent Street Academy, the southern hemisphere’s most prestigious dance academy. 
    Julia: The Hobonichi Techo Planner Book, a planner that’s descended from the heavens. The book uses thin and light yet durable paper and employs the same thread-stitch binding as a dictionary, allowing it to lay flat open for glorious, comfortable writing. 
    Steve: A two-part endorsement: Listen to his playlist of cover songs, Let’s Dance, while making hand-made pasta with a Marcato hand-crank machine. 
    Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 
    Hosts
    Dana Stephens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 55 min

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
371 Ratings

371 Ratings

BACNE SPEARS ,

Highlight of my week

BIG Dana Stevens fan here. The other two are pretty cool too😎. Thoughtful, funny analysis from fellow culture junkies. This podcast is a treat.

somakv ,

Favorite podcast

Consistently one of my favorite podcasts. I look forward to listening to it weekly.

Slate and Bob Garfield fan ,

A listener since the beginning

It’s still essential listening, every week. I rely on this show for cultural nourishment and challenging thought and for the frequent giggles.

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