Cultural stagnation, Louis C.K., and the entertainers of the year on this week’s Culture Gabfest podcast.

Culture Gabfest: Cultural Stagnation, Louis C.K., and the Entertainers of the Year

Culture Gabfest: Cultural Stagnation, Louis C.K., and the Entertainers of the Year

Slate's weekly roundtable.
Dec. 14 2011 10:44 AM

The Culture Gabfest, “I’ve Been Wearing These Jeans for 20 Years” Edition

Listen to Slate's show about cultural stagnation, Louis C.K., and the entertainers of the year.

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Iillustration by Robert Neubecker.

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 169 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner by clicking the arrow on the audio player below or opening this player in another tab:

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In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner discuss Kurt Andersen’s new Vanity Fair article lamenting 20 years of cultural stagnation. Next, they take a look at comic Louis C.K.’s new stand-up special. For their final segment, Gabfesters consider Entertainment Weekly’s “Entertainers of the Year.”

Here are some links to the things we discussed this week:
Kurt Andersen’s Vanity Fair article, “You Say You Want a Devolution?
Francis Fukuyama’s seminal essay, “The End of History.
Kurt Andersen’s tweet celebrates the 30th anniversary of the yuppie.
Kurt Andersen’s official home page.
Slate
’s David Haglund on Louis C.K.’s new one-hour special.
Slate
’s Troy Patterson reviews Louis C.K.’s television series.
New York
’s Vulture reports that Louis C.K.’s special is earning “big bucks.”
Slate
’s interview with Louis C.K. earlier this year.
Louis C.K., Live at the Beacon Theater
’s official website.
Entertainment Weekly
’s “Entertainers of the Year.” ($)
Media Beat’s interview with EW’s executive editor Kristen Baldwin.
The Los Angeles Times
’ Culture Monster blog on the selection of Daniel Radcliffe as entertainer of the year.
Slate’s Mike Spies listens to Adele’s new album.

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The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Dana’s pick: The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley.
Julia’s pick: Kristen Wiig’s flirting consultant Rebecca LaRue and the acting chops of Katy Perry, on this week’s Saturday Night Live.
Steve’s pick: The song “A Minor Place” by Bonnie “Prince” Billy and the new pizza truck in Hudson, NY.


Outro: Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s “A Minor Place”


You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Jesse Baker. Our intern is Matt Sigl.

Follow us on the new Culturefest Twitter feed. And please Like the Culture Gabfest on Facebook.

Stephen Metcalf is Slate’s critic at large. He is working on a book about the 1980s.

Dana Stevens is Slate’s movie critic.

Julia Turner, the former editor in chief of Slate, is a regular on Slate’s Culture Gabfest podcast.