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This week on Slate Plus, Stephen, Dana, and Julia discuss the state of comedy and whether we’ll ever laugh again after the election.
On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, the critics discuss their initial reactions to the election and how they’ve dealt with it in the week since. Next, the critics are joined by Slate associate editor Bryan Lowder and Slate’s chief political correspondent Jamelle Bouie to discuss the art and culture we sought for solace after the election, including the mournful liberation of drag and the transcendent comfort of poetry. Last, the critics talk with Explaining Hitler author and Slate contributor Ron Rosenbaum about the comparisons being made between Germany in the 1930s and our country’s situation today.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week:
- John Oliver’s reaction to the election on Last Week Tonight
- Bryan Lowder’s piece about Pulse in Slate
- François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres
- The music of Bessie Smith
- “To the Words” by poet W.S. Merwin
- September 1, 1939 by poet W.H. Auden
Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil by Ron Rosenbaum - “An American Tragedy” by David Remnick in the New Yorker
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Endorsements
Lizzie: The Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and its blues legacy.
Dana: François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres, and Virginia Heffernan’s piece about Hillary Clinton on Lenny.
Julia: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Stephen: Achieving Our Country by Richard Rorty, and support of liberal and civic institutions like Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and your local newspaper.
Outro: “Troisième Leçon de Ténèbres Pour Le Mercredi Saint à Deux Voix: IV Mem”
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Benjamin Frisch. Our interns are Lizzie Fison and Daniel Schroeder.
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