Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 351 with Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens with the audio player below.

Subscribe in iTunes ∙ RSS feed ∙ Download ∙ Play in another tab

And join the lively conversation on the Culturefest Facebook page here:

Go to slate.com/cultureplus to learn more about Slate Plus and join today.

This week on Slate Plus, the critics interview Steve about the time Rose Byrne once gently touched his wrist.

On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, the gabbers discuss Spy, a new film by Melissa McCarthy and Paul Feig. Is it their best collaboration since Bridesmaids? Next up, Unreal is a new scripted drama on Lifetime that takes a dark look at the world of reality television. Is it a satisfying takedown of the genre? Finally, guest Dan Kois joins to talk about his recent visit to the ClickHole writers’ room and why he thinks the Onion spinoff is the best thing on the Internet.

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

• Freaks and Geeks
• Bridesmaids
• The Heat
• Dana’s review of Spy in Slate
• Dana and Forrest Wickman’s Spoiler Special of Spy in Slate
• Unreal on Lifetime
• Devious Maids on Lifetime
• The Bachelor
• The Bachelorette
• Dan Kois’ piece on ClickHole in Slate
• “The Time I Spent On a Commercial Whaling Ship Totally Changed My Perspective On The World” in ClickHole
• “We Need To Stop Teaching Our Kids That It’s Okay To Think Chris Webber Was A Complete Basketball Player” in ClickHole

This week the Culture Gabfest is sponsored by Tastebud: a new mobile app that lets you share and discover movies, music, books, TV shows, podcasts and apps. Get Tastebud now in the App Store or visit the website. The Gabfest is also sponsored Audible, which has more than 180,000 audiobooks and spoken-word audio products. Get a free audiobook of your choice here. Finally, we are sponsored this week by Birchbox Man. Use promo code CULTURE to get 100 Birchbox points with the purchase of your subscription.

Endorsements:

Dana: The Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama From the Golden Age of American Cinema by Anne Helen Petersen

Julia: Alec Guinness’s letter to Anne Kaufman on Letters of Note

Steve: “Going Way Too Deep Down the Rabbit Hole With Nicki Minaj’s Recent Bar Mitzvah Appearance” by Rembert Browne on Grantland

Outro: “Cavern” by Liquid Liquid

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Ann Heppermann. Our intern is Lindsey Albracht.

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