Pop Culture

Kathy Griffin, onstage for her Like a Boss Tour.

Arts

Shooting Barbs At The Stars: Kathy Griffin On Comedy And Intolerance

11:02am June 14, 2015

by NPR Staff

The comedian says she doesn't hold back in her biting humor, but she does try to evolve with the times. She isn't calling herself an "F-word hag" these days — but she will joke about Caitlyn Jenner.

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Zach Woods, T.J. Miller, Thomas Middleditch, Kumail Nanjiani, and Martin Starr.

Arts

How 'Silicon Valley' Tells Broad Truths From An Insular World

4:12pm June 12, 2015

by Linda Holmes

HBO's sophomore (and occasionally sophomoric) comedy ends on a strong note Sunday night — with plenty of suspense.

Eddie Marsan plays the reclusive magician Gilbert Norrell in a new TV adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell.

Arts

Strange Magic Bubbles Up In New 'Mr Norrell' Adaptation

3:05pm June 12, 2015

by NPR Staff

Susanna Clarke's best-selling fantasy debut, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, envisioned a mismatched pair of wizards caught up in the Napoleonic Wars. It's now been made into a seven-part TV series.

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Melissa McCarthy gets a star-vehicle movie of her own in Spy.

Arts

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Spy' And Other Director-Actor Pairings

10:21am June 12, 2015

by Linda Holmes

We talk Spy, Melissa McCarthy, Paul Feig, cheap jokes, Alfred Hitchcock, superheroes, Weavers, and lots more on this week's episode.

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Taylor Schilling, left, with costar Laura Prepon on Netflix's Orange is the New Black.

Arts

A Good But Not Great New Season For Netflix's 'Orange Is The New Black'

7:33am June 12, 2015

by Eric Deggans

Netflix debuts 14 new episodes of prison dramedy Orange Is the New Black. NPR TV Critic Eric Deggans says the show remains compelling, despite the loss of a powerful character from last season.

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Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) on Game of Thrones.

Arts

Do Critics Of Violence And Sex In HBO's 'Game Of Thrones' Miss The Point?

6:12am June 12, 2015

by Eric Deggans

As HBO's Game of Thrones airs its fifth season finale Sunday, NPR TV Critic Eric Deggans asks if some critics of the show's violence and sexuality should reconsider past criticisms.

Nathan J. Marcisz of Marion, Ind., focuses intently as he spells a word during the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

What's A Thamakau? Spelling Bee Is More About Entertainment Than English

1:37pm June 11, 2015

by Geoff Nunberg

Linguist Geoff Nunberg says it's fitting that the Scripps National Spelling Bee is broadcast by ESPN. (And, by the way, a thamakau is a kind of canoe used in Fiji.)

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Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Nanjiani moved to the U.S. for college and stayed to pursue his comedy career. He stars in the HBO series Silicon Valley, now ending its second season. The new season of his Comedy Central show, The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumai

Arts

For Comedian Kumail Nanjiani, Getting Personal Is Complicated

4:02pm June 10, 2015

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Nanjiani moved to the U.S. for college. "I have a very conflicted relationship to where I'm from ..." he says. "It's still a struggle to negotiate some of it."

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More than half of the top 10 box-office hits this year have centered on female characters, says NPR film critic Bob Mondello. But only a few — like Pitch Perfect 2 — were written or directed by women.

Arts

This Year, Women (And Girls) Rule The Big Screen

8:35am June 10, 2015

by Bob Mondello

NPR film critic Bob Mondello notes that this year's most popular movies are surprisingly womancentric. That's more than at any other time in at least three decades.

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Arts

Pop Culture Happy Hour Small Batch: 'Sense8'

2:03pm June 09, 2015

by Glen Weldon

Glen Weldon and Audie Cornish sit down to chat about the new Netflix series Sense8.

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