Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 308 with Dana Stevens, John Swansburg, and Julia Turner with the audio player below:

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This week Slate Plus listeners will hear the gabbers’ take on another question from our Facebook page, this time on the movies that inspired them as youths. Who fully intended to become Annie Hall, and who asked for nothing more than to be in Sneakers? Go to slate.com/cultureplus to learn more about Slate Plus and join today.

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On this week’s episode, Julia, Dana, and Slate deputy editor John Swansburg talk about the glorious career of Robin Williams, who died this week. They each discuss some favorite moments from Williams’ oeuvre and celebrate the work of a truly remarkable man. Next, in Steven Soderbergh’s new medical drama, The Knick, Clive Owen plays Dr. John Thackeray, a racist, cocaine-addicted surgeon in 1900s New York. Rich with detail about surgical history, will the show steer period television in a thoughtful new direction, or is this just a moustachioed ER? Finally, weather: Is it interesting? The gabbers don their etiquette Sou’westers to decide once and for all whether you can bring your meteorological observations to a cocktail party.

Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:

• Dahlia Lithwick shares her recollections of a day with Robin Williams on Slate
• Forrest Wickman celebrates Williams’ Disney Genie on Slate
• Marc Maron has reposted his 2010 interview with Williams, with a moving new introduction
• A.O. Scott pays tribute to Williams’ fireworks in the New York Times
• A few days ago, mental illness and comedy was the subject of “The Gist” on Slate
• Robin Williams’ brilliant guest spot on Louie, recapped on Slate
• Chris Wade on Williams inspiring him on Slate
• Willa Paskin reviews The Knick on Slate
• The Knick on Cinemax
• Troy Patterson advises party guests on how far to take weather talk on Slate
• Eric Holthaus’ weather writing for Slate
• Tom Scocca’s Weather Reviews on The Awl
• John Swansburg’s feature on the Weather Channel for New York magazine
• Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
• A reminder that the Instagram hashtag is #gabfestweather

Endorsements:

Julia: Following up on Dana’s endorsement from last week, Julia suggests two other musical portraits of the ’70s: the soundtracks to Dick and Dazed and Confused.

John: Tom Wolfe’s classic of autosports writing, “The Last American Hero Is Junior Johnson. Yes!” in 1965 Esquire.

Dana: Paul Mazursky’s 1984 movie Moscow on the Hudson, a lovely film about immigration starring Robin Williams.

Outro: Elliott Smith, “No Name #3”

This podcast was produced by Ann Heppermann. Our intern is Josephine Livingstone.

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com. Follow us on Twitter. And please “like” the Culture Gabfest on Facebook.