Culture Gabfest20 Aug 2025

Alien is Back Now With More Aliens Edition

This week’s episode journeys to dystopian corporate hellscapes present and future as Julia, Dana, and Steve dissect the horror and philosophical underpinnings of Alien: Earth, Noah Hawley’s new series adapting the Ridley Scott sci-fi masterpiece.

Next, they set their course to Arlen, Texas where they’ll assess the return of Hank, Peggy, and Bobby in Mike Judge’s rebooted King of the Hill. Finally, they venture to Hollywood and greet its “new face” and the medical specialists who reconstructed it in their discussion of the Hollywood Reporter’s special issue on cosmetic surgery.

In an exclusive Slate Plus bonus episode, it’s time for lunch as they chat about Lauren Collins’s recent New Yorker piece “The Case for Lunch.”

Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.

Endorsements:

Dana: A request seeking a good book about the cultural impact of Napoleon.

Steve: The poem “Empathy and New Year” by James Schuyler.
Julia: Crate diving into your own ancestry and visiting places significant to your family's history—Ancestry proves to be a useful tool to track down public records.

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.

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Episoder(869)

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 depic...

20 Mai 55min

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 myste...

13 Mai 59min

Somehow, Miranda Priestly Returned Edition

This week, Julia Turner and Dana Stevens are joined by Slate’s own Rebecca Onion to discuss The Devil Wears Prada 2, BEEF season 2, and the NYT’s best living songwriters package with Slate’s music cri...

6 Mai 57min

Michael Jackson Moonwalks the Box Office Edition

This week, Dana, Steve, and Nadira Goffe assess if we as a culture can ever really escape Neverland— namely, the gigantic and fraught legacy of Michael Jackson. They unpack the biopic Michael. Directe...

29 Apr 58min

Mother Troubles Edition

Steve, Dana, and Julia convene once more for a rousing Gabfest. First up, it’s Mother Mary. David Lowery’s strange psychodrama centers on a pop star, played by Anne Hathaway, reuniting with her estran...

22 Apr 1h 2min

Richard Pryor: The Truth Teller Who Changed Comedy Forever | From Big Lives

Richard Pryor redefined comedy by telling the truth, even when it scorched him.Today, we’re sharing a preview of a new podcast, Big Lives, and a special episode about Pryor.Every week, hosts Kai Wrigh...

17 Apr 43min

There Are No Small Parts Only Miniature Wives Edition

On this week’s show, Dana, Steve, and Dan Kois get into cultural topics of various scales. First, they examine The Christophers, the latest film from Steven Soderbergh. The small scale two-hander star...

15 Apr 57min

The Drama Surrounding The Drama Edition

What’s the worst thing Steve, Dana, and Julia have ever done? And would you still love them if you knew the answer to that question? That’s not a subject for today’s episode, but these three do get in...

8 Apr 1h 2min