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Pop Culture Happy Hour Get obsessed with us. Five days a week, Pop Culture Happy Hour serves you recommendations and commentary on the buzziest movies, TV, music, books, videogames and more. Join arts journalists Linda Holmes, Glen Weldon, Stephen Thompson, and Aisha Harris - plus a rotating cast of guest pop culture aficionados. The Happy Hour team leaves room at the table for exploring a range of reactions and opinions on every bit of the pop universe. From lowbrow to highbrow to the stuff in between, they take it all with a shot of cheer.

Make your happy hour even happier with Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus! Your subscription supports the podcast and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/happyhour
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Pop Culture Happy Hour

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Get obsessed with us. Five days a week, Pop Culture Happy Hour serves you recommendations and commentary on the buzziest movies, TV, music, books, videogames and more. Join arts journalists Linda Holmes, Glen Weldon, Stephen Thompson, and Aisha Harris - plus a rotating cast of guest pop culture aficionados. The Happy Hour team leaves room at the table for exploring a range of reactions and opinions on every bit of the pop universe. From lowbrow to highbrow to the stuff in between, they take it all with a shot of cheer.

Make your happy hour even happier with Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus! Your subscription supports the podcast and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/happyhour

Most Recent Episodes

'MaXXXine' closes a grisly trilogy in style

Mia Goth and Halsey in MaXXXine. Justin Lubin/A24 hide caption

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Justin Lubin/A24

'MaXXXine' closes a grisly trilogy in style

The new movie MaXXXine stars Mia Goth as an adult-film actress who gets her big break in Hollywood, only to be revisited by horrors from her past. Set in 1985 Los Angeles, it's the final film in director Ti West's beloved horror trilogy that began with the movie X. MaXXXine also features performances from Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Debicki, and Giancarlo Esposito.

'MaXXXine' closes a grisly trilogy in style

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Bowen Yang thinks being present is overrated

Bowen Yang on Wild Card. Mike Coppola/Getty hide caption

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Mike Coppola/Getty

Bowen Yang thinks being present is overrated

The Pop Culture Happy Hour team is off today, so we're bringing you an episode of the NPR podcast Wild Card with Rachel Martin. This episode is an interview with Bowen Yang. He is the first Chinese American cast member on SNL, the co-host the podcast Las Culturistas, and he starred in the rom-com Fire Island. He talks to Rachel about living too much in the present, hard truths from Tina Fey, and why the afterlife should have a rollercoaster.

Bowen Yang thinks being present is overrated

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Megan Thee Stallion sheds her skin on 'Megan'

Megan Thee Stallion performs during the 2022 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival. Rich Fury/Getty Images hide caption

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Rich Fury/Getty Images

Megan Thee Stallion sheds her skin on 'Megan'

A lot has happened to rapper Megan Thee Stallion over the last couple of years including a highly publicized trial after being shot by a former friend, a messy breakup, and a feud with artist Nicki Minaj. She confronts all of that and more on her boastful and vulnerable new album Megan. But she also has fun on playful tracks like 'Down Stairs DJ' and 'Otaku Hot Girl' that are odes to self-pleasure and her anime nerddom.

Megan Thee Stallion sheds her skin on 'Megan'

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Yes, chef: 'The Bear' has a lot going on in its third season

Jeremy Allen White in The Bear. FX/Hulu hide caption

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FX/Hulu

Yes, chef: 'The Bear' has a lot going on in its third season

The Bear just returned for its third season and it's still one of the most stressful and most interesting shows on TV. Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) are launching their new fine dining restaurant, but he's estranged from some of the people who are closest to him just as he sneaks up on a new level of success. The series is streaming now on Hulu.

Yes, chef: 'The Bear' has a lot going on in its third season

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In 'A Quiet Place: Day One', Lupita Nyong'o makes silence golden

Lupita Nyong'o in A Quiet Place: Day One. Gareth Gatrell/Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Gareth Gatrell/Paramount Pictures

In 'A Quiet Place: Day One', Lupita Nyong'o makes silence golden

In the post-apocalyptic world of A Quiet Place, aliens kill anyone who makes a sound, forcing humans into a near-silent existence. The new movie A Quiet Place: Day One takes us back to the beginning, but this time through the eyes of a terminally ill cancer patient played by the excellent Lupita Nyong'o.

In 'A Quiet Place: Day One', Lupita Nyong'o makes silence golden

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In 'Kinds of Kindness,' the cruelty is the point

Emma Stone in Kinds of Kindness. Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures hide caption

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Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures

In 'Kinds of Kindness,' the cruelty is the point

Kinds of Kindness is a weird, dark, and bleak film. It's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and it re-teams him with Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, along with Jesse Plemons. Each actor plays different characters in three different stories — which all involve someone going to extreme measures to regain something they've lost.

In 'Kinds of Kindness,' the cruelty is the point

Listen · 23:25
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Lily Gladstone's 'Fancy Dance' is a road trip worth taking

Lilly Gladstone in Fancy Dance. Apple TV+ hide caption

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Apple TV+

Lily Gladstone's 'Fancy Dance' is a road trip worth taking

The new film Fancy Dance offers something all-too-rare on screen: contemporary Indigenous perspectives, front and center. Lily Gladstone plays a woman trying to keep it together under stressful circumstances. Her sister's gone missing, and she steps in to look after her young niece (Isabel Deroy-Olson). The pair take what turns out to be a rocky road trip and a unique bonding experience.

Lily Gladstone's 'Fancy Dance' is a road trip worth taking

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Will they or won't they? Unpacking TV's eternal question

Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White in season two of The Bear. Chuck Hodes/FX hide caption

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Chuck Hodes/FX

Will they or won't they? Unpacking TV's eternal question

Jim and Pam. Mulder and Scully. Janine and Gregory. Carmy and Sydney. Meredith and McDreamy. You know how it goes: two television characters with obvious chemistry who fight or look at each other longingly. You know that there's only one question: will they, or won't they? Today, we break down the different types of will-they-won't-they couples and discuss some of the best and worst couples in television, including Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Cheers, Grey's Anatomy, Dawson's Creek, and more.

Will they or won't they? Unpacking TV's eternal question

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Is 'The Acolyte' a Star Wars Force to be reckoned with?

Amandla Stenberg as Mae in The Acolyte. Lucasfilm Ltd./Disney+ hide caption

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Lucasfilm Ltd./Disney+

Is 'The Acolyte' a Star Wars Force to be reckoned with?

The new Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte is a murder mystery. Someone is killing great Jedi masters, and while we learn the killer's identity early on, the real mystery driving the series is why they're doing it. It stars Amandla Stenberg as Force-sensitive twins Osha and Mae, and Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae as Osha's former Jedi master. By the time it's finished its eight-episode run, The Acolyte may shed new light on the nature of the Force, and the hidden history of the Jedi.

Is 'The Acolyte' a Star Wars Force to be reckoned with?

Listen · 23:18
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June Squibb's 'Thelma' is the wrong grandma to mess with

June Squibb and Fred Hechinger in Thelma. Magnolia Pictures hide caption

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Magnolia Pictures

June Squibb's 'Thelma' is the wrong grandma to mess with

Financial scams are an unfortunate phenomenon, but what happens when a fraudster messes with the wrong grandma? The very fun action-comedy Thelma imagines exactly this scenario. The movie stars June Squibb as a woman scammed by someone pretending to be her grandson. She then enlists her old friend (the late Richard Roundtree) to help get her money back.

June Squibb's 'Thelma' is the wrong grandma to mess with

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