The Culture Show Podcast

Author Gish Jen discusses her novel, “Bad Bad Girl.” In this witty and deeply personal work, Jen blends fiction and autobiography to imagine her mother’s life and explore the distance between them — uncovering how storytelling can bridge what family history leaves unsaid.  From there we’re joined by Sam Kissajukian. In 2021 the Aussie comedian quit stand-up, rented an abandoned cake factory, and b...

Pulitzer Prize–winning author Stephen Greenblatt joins The Culture Show , to talk about his latest book, “ Dark Renaissance:The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival .”  It traces the meteoric rise and violent end of Christopher Marlowe—playwright, poet, spy, and heretic—whose genius endures today.   From there, Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore ...

Robert Reich served  in three presidential administrations, including as Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. As a professor he has been the ultimate explainer about rising inequality. As a public intellectual he pulls no punches–calling out the bullies:  anyone and any institution that threatens democracy and human decency.  It’s a life’s work on which he reflects in his book “Coming...

Christopher Castellani’s new novel “Last Seen” follows four young men who vanish on separate winter nights and find one another in the afterlife. The book blends elements of mystery with a meditation on identity, longing, and visibility, told through four distinct voices. Castellani joins The Culture Show to discuss why he chose to tell the story from the afterlife, and what these characters revea...

Today we’re putting on our warmest winter gear and bundling up for our Wednesday Watch Party — the show where we revisit the movies that shaped us, and ask if they still hold up. This month Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Joyce Kulhawik enter a snow globe of crime, manners, and very bad decisions by way of the Coen Brother’s 1996  “Fargo.”  A snow-covered noir where decency and depravity share th...

Joyce Linehan joins “The Culture Show” to reflect on the legacy of documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. As Chief of Policy for Mayor Marty Walsh she was key to Wiseman’s documentary “City Hall,” which is  an expansive exploration of how Boston runs. Dell M. Hamilton, interim director of the Alain Locke Gallery of African & African American Art , joins us to discuss Renaissance, Race, and R...

After more than a decade as Executive Director and CEO of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, Katherine Tallman is stepping down. She reflects on expanding the Brookline art house, elevating its national profile, and guiding it through the shifts of streaming and the pandemic — reshaping what independents can be. To keep on top of all of Coolidge's programming go here . Ceramic artist Roberto Lugo blends...

On this edition of The Culture Show , Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley, and Lisa Simmons, go over the week’s top arts and culture headlines. First up, the Winter Olympics delivered medals — and meltdowns. Norway’s biathlon star Sturla Holm Lægreid hijacked headlines with a tearful on-air confession about cheating on his girlfriend, while ski jumping faced a surreal scandal dubbed “Penis-gate,” with al...

Actor Alan Cumming returns to the show fresh off receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Tony, Emmy, BAFTA, and Olivier Award winner talks about being a buck naked vegan, the runaway success of his reality series “The Traitors,” now the most-watched unscripted streaming program, and who he thinks is a traitor to American values. British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg joins us with his n...

Last spring, the Louvre looked untouchable, with a couture exhibition and a grand renovation plan led by director Laurence des Cars. Then came a cascade of crises, including a brazen jewel heist that stole $100 million in French Crown Jewels, along with strikes and a damning security audit. Journalist Elaine Sciolino joins us to discuss the turmoil. Elaine Sciolino is the former Paris bureau chief...

The MFA recently announced layoffs and voluntary buyouts to close a projected $13-million budget gap. Pierre Terjanian, the Ann and Graham Gund Director and CEO of the Museum of Fine Arts, joins us on what drove the cuts and what they mean for the museum’s next chapter. Filmmaker and novelist John Sayles is back with “Crucible,” a new historical novel set in Henry Ford’s early-20th-century Detroit...

Filmmaker Harry Lighton joins us to discuss his debut feature Pillion , a darkly funny and tender look at a relationship shaped by power, trust, and BDSM. The film premiered at Cannes, where it won Best Screenplay, and stars Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling. Lighton will appear in person tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner Theatre for a screening, Q&A and to receive the Coolidge B...

On this edition of The Culture Show , Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley, and Lisa Simmons, go over the week’s top arts and culture headlines. First up, In an era of bloated blockbusters, YouTuber Markiplier bypassed Hollywood entirely, writing, financing, and releasing his sci-fi horror film Iron Lung on his own — and turning a $3 million budget into more than $17 million at the box office. And, the bo...

Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston and a co-chair of Everyone 250 join us for our recurring segment “AI: Actual Intelligence.” This month we focus on his recent piece on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., and if the Super Bowl can and should be non political. Composer Kevin Day and cellist Leo Eguchi, co founding artistic director of Sheffield Chamber Players, join us to...

Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com, joins us to talk about how the job search has changed — again. When Monster launched in 1994, it moved job listings out of newspaper classifieds and onto the internet. Now Taylor is back with a new platform, Boomband, and discusses job hunting in the age of bots, when software increasingly decides what gets seen and what doesn’t. Mary Grant, president of Massac...

Playwright Joshua Harmon joins us to talk about his new play, “We Had a World.” The work turns inward, following a playwright asked by his grandmother to write about their family — a request that opens up a fraught history of love, resentment, humor, and truth-telling across three generations. “We Had a World” is onstage at the Huntington Theatre Company from February 12 through March 15. Ball in...

What do MBTA service alerts sound like as show tunes? “T: An MBTA Musical” turns the daily frustrations of riding Boston’s transit system — delays, shuttle buses, and all — into a two-act musical that’s equal parts satire and love letter to riders. Composer and lyricist Mel Carubia and Cassandra West , Executive Producer of Infinite Rotary Productions join us to talk about the show’s return, now o...

On this edition of The Culture Show , Jared Bowen, Lisa Simmons, and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the week’s top arts and culture headlines. First up, Catherine O’Hara, the Emmy and Golden Globe winning actress who starred in films including Home Alone, Beetlejuice and numerous collaborations with Christopher Guest, has passed at age 71. Then, protest music and cultural backlash. Bruce Springsteen...

Donald Nally, founder and conductor of The Crossing , a Grammy-winning ensemble dedicated almost entirely to new music, joins The Culture Show ahead of their performance at Symphony Hall. The Crossing is joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra for a program exploring sacred music in the 21st century. The concert pairs David Lang’s “poor hymnal” with the Boston premiere of Carlos Simon’s “Good News M...

Today we’re hitting the snooze button for our Wednesday Watch Party — the show where we revisit the movies that shaped us, and ask if they still hold up. This month Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III are stuck in a time loop with “Groundhog Day.” Released in 1993, the Bill Murray comedy starts as a small-town farce and turns into something stranger and deeper: a romantic comedy...

Noelle Trent, President and CEO of the Museum of African American History in Boston and Nantucket, joins us as Black History Month marks its centennial—100 years since Carter G. Woodson launched Negro History Week. She joins us to discuss why this milestone matters now and to give an overview of the museum’s Black History Month programming. To learn more go here .   Bass-baritone Davóne Tines join...

After the White House ordered a sweeping review of exhibitions and interpretive text at the Smithsonian Institution, historians launched an unprecedented public documentation effort. Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian recruits volunteers to photograph artifacts, wall labels, and explanatory text across museums—creating a time-stamped, independent archive they call a “Crowd to Cloud” record. Co...

On this edition of The Culture Show , Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review. First up, awards season. The Oscar race is underway, with “Sinners” leading with 16 nominations and major snubs including “Wicked: For Good” and stars Paul Mescal and George Clooney. The Razzies roasted flops like “Sn...

Actress Claire Foy joins The Culture Show to talk about her latest film, “H Is for Hawk”, adapted from Helen Macdonald’s bestselling memoir. Known for performances defined by restraint and emotional precision, Foy reflects on inhabiting grief, solitude, and endurance in a story that unfolds through the training of a goshawk. “H is for Hawk ” opens in Boston area theaters this Friday.  Stephanie Th...

Culture Show contributor Joyce Kulhawik joins us for Stage and Screen , with her latest picks for what to see in theaters and cinemas right now. An Emmy Award–winning arts and entertainment reporter and President of the Boston Theatre Critics Association, you can read  Kulhawik’s reviews here . We continue our Michelin Guide series with Tracy Chang, chef and owner of PAGU in Central Square. Known...