Culture Gabfest - Paul Is Not Dead Yet Edition
Slate Culture Feed
Slate Podcasts
4.2 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s monster mash, Steve, Dana, and Julia gather around the proverbial reanimation laboratory to take on the nutty, goth, and unbridled The Bride! Maggie Gyllenhaal’s feminist—or not, it’s up for debate—retelling of Frankenstein features a truly committed performance from Jessie Buckley. Do the disjointed pieces add to a coherent whole? They discuss.
Next, they take a look at Paul McCartney: Man on the Run, the Morgan Neville documentary about the moment when the legendary songwriter and rockstar stopped being a Beatle and had to become something else.
Finally, they wade through the morass of titles like How to Tame a Silver Fox and Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death to explore the exceedingly cheap and increasingly popular world of vertical micro-dramas via the app ReelShort.
In a bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, they tackle the question of when, in fact, one becomes an adult—inspired by a recent piece in The New Yorker by Shayla Love.
And if you’re watching the Oscars this week, don’t miss a chance for a special live pre-show with your fave Gabfest critics. Dana joins Isaac Butler, Nadira Goffe, and Sam Adams on Thursday, March 12, for an Oscars preview unlike any other. They’ll weigh in on the sinners and saints of this year’s award season.
Endorsements
Dana: The compilation of Kris Kristofferson songs The Essential Kris Kristofferson, especially the first disc.
Julia: The Helen Garner novel The Spare Room. Also her new LA-based news outlet, L.A. Material, launching next week.
Steve: Jean Guéhenno's account of life in Occupied France Diary of the Dark Years, 1940-1944.
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Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gap Fest, Paul's Not Dead Yet edition. |
| 0:15.8 | It's Wednesday, March 11, 2006. |
| 0:18.8 | On today's show, The Bride, with an exclamation point, is the new film from |
| 0:22.7 | director Maggie Gyllenha. It stars Jesse Buckley in a wildly gothic fantasia about the |
| 0:27.6 | bride of Frankenstein. Buckley, Dana, is it fair to say she is the current favorite for best |
| 0:34.8 | actress for her performance in Hamillian? Oh yeah, that's fair to say. I think it's one of the few locks at this year's Oscars that she is going to win that award. Be a big upset if she didn't. Agreed. Then Paul McCartney, Man on the Run, documents the musician's life after the Beatles, which it turns out was an extended period of both musical and existential crisis. The film comes courtesy of Morgan Neville, he who made 20 feet from |
| 0:55.5 | stardom in the highly regarded Mr. Rogers documentary. And finally, we discussed the exponentially |
| 1:00.1 | growing phenomenon known as vertical dramas. Joining us, of course, from L.A. is Julia Turner. |
| 1:06.8 | Julia, how to introduce you now. I know. |
| 1:11.4 | I'm a woman in transition. |
| 1:12.7 | I'm not quite a man on the run, but I'm something. |
| 1:17.1 | I, as we have discussed on this show, I'm launching a new news outlet for Los Angeles, and it launches next week. |
| 1:25.1 | And people can sign up now at laamaterial.com. |
| 1:29.2 | It's called L.A. Material. |
| 1:30.0 | It's going to be a digital magazine-style publication covering news, politics, culture, and everything |
| 1:34.7 | interesting in Los Angeles. |
| 1:36.6 | And we've assembled an incredible team of journalists, and I'm super excited about it. |
| 1:41.7 | So I hope our Angelino and Angelino curious listeners will sign right up at |
| 1:46.6 | LAMaterial.com and you'll be hearing from us very soon. So I think you can introduce me as the |
| 1:52.8 | editor-in-chief of L.A. Material. Are you a founder now? Do you go to Davos? I have a fleece vest. |
| 2:00.3 | I have so much crypto. |
| 2:03.2 | I try to get to Davos, but I always go to Sun Valley. |
... |
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