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Culture Gabfest

Slate Podcasts
  • 4.4 (439)
  • Entertainment News
  • Updated Weekly

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. Get more Culture Gabfest with Slate Plus! Join to unlock weekly bonus episodes—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or visit slate.com/cultureplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 10h ago

    Stuck in the Backrooms Edition

    This week Steve, Dana, and Julia convene once again—this time with some big news. Also, they make a classic Gabfest episode.  First up, it's the alienating fluorescent buzz, infinite carpeted sprawl, and liminal horror of Backrooms. The new release from A24 is directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons based on his YouTube series which itself was inspired by deep internet lore and a viral piece of creepypasta. Does the uncanny maze of Backrooms go anywhere? They step into the labyrinth to find out.  Next, they’re joined by Gabfest fave Leon Neyfakh to get into another parallel dimension: the world of OnlyFans. They discuss Leon’s new podcast about the ubiquitous platform OnlyFantasy—produced with comedian and OF creator Gracie Canaan. Finally, it’s a conversation that’s as lively as… well, that’s the question. They take up a recent piece of data journalism in The Pudding analyzing the most common similes. In a bonus episode, Carl Wilson joins the call (as well as a special endorsement segment) to talk taste. Specifically, they get into how discussions of taste have changed since Carl wrote authoritatively on it 18 years ago in his book Let’s Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Bad Taste. Endorsements Dana: The recent Zadie Smith essay in The New York Review of Books "Art for Our Sakes."  Carl: The live album Happy Today by Jeff Parker and ETA IVtet as well as the anthology of poetry On Occasion: Poems for the People, with a special Canadian shoutout to the poem "Oh Americans" by Gary Barwin. Julia: The tranquil, koi fish-rich, and very SoCal Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine. Also, L.A. listeners should join the folks of L.A Material, Punch List, and New York Review of Architecture on June 7 for the event LACMA Therapy Session to process all their complicated feelings about the new David Geffen Galleries. Steve: The band The Durutti Column as sampled in the Blood Orange song "The Field." Plus, Steve would love to know what listeners make of the author J.M. Coetzee, particularly his novel Disgrace. (Also, make sure to subscribe to Carl's fantastic newsletter Crritic!) -- Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 15m

  2. 13h ago ·  Bonus • Slate Plus Only

    A Question of Taste with Carl Wilson

    Why do we like what we like? Who says what’s good or bad art? These are the questions that have pervaded the Gabfest from the very start and frequently in mind has been Carl Wilson’s book Let’s Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Bad Taste. Carl joins this bonus episode to reflect on what’s changed since his book’s publication in 2007. They get into taste, music criticism, the streaming revolution, and why our collective hearts still go on for Celine Dion.

    24 min

  3. May 27

    I Love Boosters Heightens the Contradictions Edition

    This week, the OG three Steve, Dana, and Julia dig into the visually stuffed, Marxist smorgasbord that is Boots Riley’s latest film I Love Boosters. Starring Keke Palmer and Demi Moore, the candy-colored agitprop is about exploitation, the fashion world, shoplifting as class warfare, and— as they discuss—perhaps more than one movie can handle.  Next they turn from Marx to Freud and analyze the critically adored reality TV phenomenon Couples Therapy, now entering its fifth season. Is the office of Dr. Orna Guralnik a site of transcendent psychological revelation or panoptic exploitation? They unpack. Finally, they talk lingvo itself by way of a recent article in Harpers by Katie Thornton about the unlikely resurgence of interest in the artificial language Esperanto.  In a bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, they answer a listener question about what long-running pieces of culture they’ve stuck with over years. Ĝuu! Endorsements Dana: The book The Artificial Language Movement by Andrew Large about the centuries-long history of utopic language projects. Julia: Lena Dunham’s memoir Famesick and Dialed.gg, the internet’s latest color perception test. Steve: The music of the indie shoegaze band Slowdive—particularly the album Souvlaki—and the solo efforts of its frontman Neil Halstead—particularly the song “Witless or Wise” and the album Palindrome Hunches; check out Steve’s mega playlist for more. --- Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    59 min

  4. May 26 ·  Bonus • Slate Plus Only

    Long-Running Culture We Can’t Quit

    This week, Steve, Dana, and Julia respond to a listener question about long-running pieces of culture. Is there any program or creator that’s been producing new content over many years that they’ve stuck with? The long-running show hosts and creators reflect on the nature of long-duration culture and the parasocial relationships they inevitably engender. They also talk SNL, Bruce Springsteen, the Indigo Girls, Terry Gross, the author Michael Connelly, and Slate’s own Political Gabfest.

    18 min

  5. May 20

    You’re My Obsession Edition

    This week, we’ve got an all-guest-host panel with Gabfest faves Isaac Butler, Sam Adams, and June Thomas guiding the discourse… straight to hell. In this case, hell is the romantic relationships depicted in the buzzy indie horror Obsession. This rom-com/horror mashup—marking Curry Barker’s impressive feature directorial debut—deals with questions of codependency and consent. But the real question: is Obsession worth the online obsession?  Next, they turn their gaze to the spooky titular island of Widow’s Bay and discuss the new series starring Matthew Rhys in another horror/comedy genre experiment. Finally, they debate whether most kids’ books are “crud?” Or really, is the recent online furor over comments in children’s book creator Mac Barnett’s new book Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children merited? In a bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, the gang gather over the topic of book clubs. Endorsements June: Get In: The Inside Story of Labor Under Starmer by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, a detailed and readable analysis of Keir Starmer's unlikely rise to power. Sam: The latest film of indie, animated short auteur Don Hertzfeldt "Paper Trail."   Isaac: The novel The Oppermanns, a family saga by Lion Feuchtwanger written in real time during Hitler’s rise. (And, as a bonus peek into Feuchtwanger's post-war milieu, check out Salka Viertel’s autobiography The Kindness of Strangers.) -- Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    55 min

  6. May 20 • Slate Plus Only

    Are Book Clubs Actually Great?

    Hosts Sam Adams, Isaac Butler, and June Thomas share all their feelings about that equally maligned and celebrated literary institution that is the book club. Jumping off a recent Roxanne Gay essay in The Los Angeles Times, they share their histories, hesitations, and surprising successes with book clubs. Isaac reveals his secrets to organizing the perfect book club and June delightfully pronounces the word boook ever so many times.

    18 min

  7. May 13

    Lord of the Sheep Edition

    On this week’s show, our panel of Dana, Steve, and Sam Adams are on the case. The case: is the movie Sheep Detectives a real movie and is it any good? The answer: it’s a star-studded cozy murder mystery based on a best-selling book about ungulate sleuths… and yeah, it might just be the surprise word-of-mouth delight of the season.   Next, they take up the proverbial conch shell to assess Lord of Flies, the new Netflix limited series adaptation of William Golding’s classic novel from the creator of Adolescence. Finally, they’re joined by longtime Slate book reviewer Laura Miller who understandably has some thoughts and feelings about the recent piece by New York Times book critic Dwight Garner “Where Have All the Book Reviews Gone?” In an exclusive bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, Laura sticks around to report back from her viewing of the strange mess that is the new Animal Farm adaptation. Endorsements Laura: The new book by philosopher and polymath C. Thi Nguyen The Score: How To Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game.  Steve: The music of the Brazilian recording artist Sessa and the chamber music piece Quartet for the End of Time by Olivier Messiaen. Sam: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann. Dana: The audiobook Patrick Stewart Performs the Complete Sonnets of William Shakespeare.  -- Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    59 min

  8. May 13 ·  Bonus • Slate Plus Only

    The Animal Farm Abomination

    Conservative propaganda against communism? Yet another attack on capitalism from liberal Hollywood? A treacly children’s movie with talking animals and some very ill-advised source material? Laura Miller watched the new Animal Farm adaptation and shared her assessment so the rest of the panel is spared. Directed by Andy Serkis and released by the conservative distributor Angel Studios, Animal Farm is, according to Laura, a real hot mess.

    16 min
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About

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. Get more Culture Gabfest with Slate Plus! Join to unlock weekly bonus episodes—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or visit slate.com/cultureplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Channel
    Slate Podcasts
  • Creator
    Slate Podcasts
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    981
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © The Slate Group
  • Show Website
    Culture Gabfest
  • Provider
    The Slate Group LLC

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