Pop Culture

Arts

The Internet's 'Twerk' Effect Makes Dictionaries Less Complete

5:45pm September 12, 2013

by Geoff Nunberg

When dictionaries add trendy words like "twerk," they're prioritizing the fleeting language habits of the young, says Geoff Nunberg. And our fascination with novel words tends to eclipse subtle changes in the meanings of old ones — "which are often more consequential," he says.

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Fake 'Twerk Fail' Video Tricks Gullible TV News Networks

5:59pm September 11, 2013

by Sami Yenigun

Last week a video of a girl dancing, falling and catching on fire made its way onto cable and local news networks. This week, late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel came forward to reveal that the video was a hoax and that he staged the whole thing. It's not the first time the press has been duped by videos engineered to go viral.

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Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Rick (Andrew Lincoln), in between curses on AMC's The Walking Dead.

Arts

What The $@** Is Up On Cable These Days?

7:11pm September 10, 2013

by Neda Ulaby

NPR's Neda Ulaby looks into "soft-profanity creep" — and other dynamics informing the state of the, er, art — when it comes to drama series on basic cable.

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Arts

Seth Meyers' Prime-Time Political Parody

10:36am September 05, 2013

For Fresh Air's Late Night week, we listen back to a 2008 interview with Seth Meyers, head writer at Saturday Night Live, and the co-anchor of Weekend Update. Meyers will be taking over from Jimmy Fallon on Late Night, now that Fallon is moving to The Tonight Show. A longer version of this interview was originally broadcast on Oct. 29, 2008.

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Welcome to Night Vale is the number one most downloaded podcast on iTunes.

Arts

Welcome To 'Night Vale' — Watch Out For The Tarantulas

10:06am September 01, 2013

by NPR Staff

The popular Welcome to Night Vale podcast imagines a creepy desert town where conspiracies are real. From the hooded figures lurking in the closed-up dog park to the mysterious lights above the Arby's, Night Vale is a standard small American town that's just not quite right.

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Mark Malkoff makes a Skype call to Belgium.

Call Me, Haiti? One Man's Quest To Skype Around The World

11:59am August 31, 2013

by NPR Staff

Mark Malkoff has lived inside of an IKEA store, consumed beverages at 171 Starbucks in Manhattan in less than 24 hours and proved that his kid's Big Wheel bike could beat a New York City bus. Now, the comedian has video chatted with people in 162 different countries — including North Korea.

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Conan O'Brien interviews Bruce Willis in a 2005 episode of Late Night With Conan O'Brien.

Arts

Conan's 'Uphill Climb' To Late-Night Throne

1:57pm August 28, 2013

When O'Brien took over for David Letterman on NBC's Late Night, he had virtually no on-air experience. In a 2003 interview, O'Brien tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about his efforts to fill Letterman's shoes and how his Irish-Catholic repression fuels his comedy.

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Comedian Jimmy Kimmel interviews Mel Brooks on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Arts

Jimmy Kimmel: Making Late Night A Family Affair

12:04pm August 28, 2013

This month, the late-night talk-show host sets up camp in the 11:35 p.m. slot, which puts him head-to-head with Jay Leno and Kimmel's idol, David Letterman. Kimmel has put a personal mark on his show by bringing in his family to help him make it happen.

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Arts

Jay Leno: 'Tonight' Was About 'Trying To Get Johnny To Laugh'

1:53pm August 27, 2013

In a 1996 interview with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, Leno recalled his rocky Tonight Show debut: "I got heckled my first show ... but luckily I had worked a lot of clubs so I could deal with it, and Johnny [Carson] seemed to like that."

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Arts

Letterman And 'Tonight' Vet Go Behind The Scenes Of Late Night

10:43am August 27, 2013

Fresh Air kicks off its late night TV theme week with a 1981 David Letterman interview, in which the host describes how late night TV changed the comedy business, and a 1988 interview with one-time Tonight Show executive producer Fred de Cordova.

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