Culture Gabfest

This week, Julia and Steve welcome guest host Sam Adams to deconstruct the aggravating, yet strangely charming, table tennis phenom on the make that is Marty Supreme. Played with “BDE off-the-charts” (Steve’s words) by Timothée Chalamet, the unceasingly shameless hustler may just be an avatar for our age. Speaking of avatars, we can’t avoid discussing Avatar: Fire and Ash, the latest installment of James Cameron’s immersive mega-franchise. Once again, the big blue folks peopling Pandora drew boku bucks at the box office… but do the Avatar films have any “cultural impact”? And what does “cultural impact” even mean? New Yorker staff writer Michael Schulman steps into the cultural cage match to debate this long-simmering internet argument. On this week’s bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, the hosts take up a listener question about “cultural bran muffins,” the bits of culture you know would be good for you if only you could get them down. The hosts confess their bran secrets. Endorsements Steve: The essay "Two Pins and a Lollipop" about Judy Garland by Bee Wilson in the London Review of Books. Sam: The album Penthouse by the band Luna, particularly the song  "Chinatown." Julia: Slate's beloved annual tradition Movie Club which for its 2025 edition gathers film critics Bilge Ebiri, Alison Wilmore, Justin Chang, and our very own Dana Stevens for a rollicking exchange about the year in film. --- Email us your thoughts at [email protected].  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the waning moments of 2025, Julia, Dana, and Steve say goodbye to the year that was with a beloved annual end-of-year tradition… our listener call-in show! And you delivered some great queries, dear listeners.  The hosts tackle questions about everything ranging from under-dramatized historical eras to Wuthering Heights to wedding registry etiquette. They also zoom out to grapple with a fundamental philosophical question underlying this whole show’s existence and take a cue from Las Culturistas Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers for some Schimpfen und Toben. No endorsements this week. But for listeners in the New York area, don’t miss Steve when he joins Booker Prize-finalist Ben Markovitz for a conversation about his new novel The Rest of Our Lives on January 5, 2026 at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble. For Slate Plus subscribers, the hosts delight in answering an additional listener question in an exclusive bonus episode. They share their ideal cultural outings with their co-hosts. --- Email us your thoughts at [email protected].  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After thinking it was lost to the sands of internet time, our team uncovered a 2013 gem from the archives. In the “The Abstract Noun Edition,”  your favorite Gabfesters talk about how we talk. Steve, Dana, and Julia discuss the elements of language: vocabulary, conversation, and voice. In paroxysms of polysyllables, they invoke their favorite writers—and their least favorite linguistic tics—to probe the best and worst of the English language. Why should you eschew the word “eschew”? What does “shibboleth” really mean? And where is the line between a strong voice and self-parody? Speaking of self-parody, check out these very on-brand 2013 Endorsements: Dana: The Sounding Joy, a CD collection of folk carols, collected by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and performed by Elizabeth Mitchell. (Now available on streaming.) Julia: Creating an iTunes playlist of all songs you’ve played more than 10 times and then shuffling them. You’ll rediscover old gems like “The Size of Our Love” by Sleater Kinney. Steve: The mind-bending “Monty Hall problem,” as originally described by Marilyn vos Savant in Parade Magazine. If you’re in New York on January 5, don’t miss some real life vocabulary, conversation, and voice when Steve joins Booker Prize-finalist Ben Markcovits for a conversation about The Rest of Our Lives — details here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show, Dana and Steve are joined by guest host Rebecca Onion for a Gabfest first: a segment about something from the sprawling Taylor Sheridan television universe. They strap on their cowboy boots and hop in the pickup for a conversation on season 2 of Landman which stars a rangy and world-weary Billy Bob Thornton as an oil industry fixer. Next, they turn north of the border for some good, old fashioned, Canadian gay hockey romance. They discuss HBO’s surprise—and surprisingly graphic—hit Heated Rivalry. The series sure is steamy, but does it feature enough hockey?  Finally, they mourn the passing of legendary filmmaker and Hollywood omnipresence Rob Reiner. They share their favorite moments from his films. Given those films include Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, The Princess Bride, and many more indelible classics, there’s much to share. Endorsements Rebecca: The podcast Posting Through It featuring hosts Jared Holt and Michael Edison Hayden discussing the ins and outs of rightwing infighting and the recipe Holiday Rocky Road by Sohla el-Waylly in New York Times Cooking. Steve: For more melancholic Christmas music, Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite. Also, the Booker Prize short-listed novel The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits, who Steve will be in conversation with at an event on January 5, 2026 at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble— details here. Dana: The Rob Reiner-directed documentary Defending My Life about his childhood friend Albert Brooks and this brilliant clip of Rob Reiner at his 2000 Friar's Club Roast reading from Roger Ebert's legendary pan of Reiner's film North . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode, Gabfest old friends Steve, Julia, and June Thomas convene on two showbiz works of midlife retrospection and regret: the new film Jay Kelly and Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. The former, directed by Noah Baumbach, stars George Clooney as the titular movie star looking back on his life while on a European train picaresque. The latter was a legendary flop for Sondheim, had a triumphant Broadway revival starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez, and now has arrived at movie theaters. In our third segment, the panel turns to another showbiz saga full of bitter regret: the fight to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery. Joined by writer and Hollywood watcher Mark Harris, they untangle the fight between Netflix and Paramount to outbid each other for the legacy film studio—and what it all has to do with Trump and the future of movie-going itself.  In an exclusive bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, it’s back to join the Joined in our recap discussion of Pluribus episode 7 “The Gap.”  Act now, there’s still time to leave us a voicemail with your burning cultural queries for our annual call-in show by calling us at 347-201-2397. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices