Culture Gabfest - Thus Always to Tyrants Edition
Slate Culture Feed
Slate Podcasts
4.2 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 14 June 2017
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dana Stevens, Stephen Metcalf, and Isaac Butler discuss the HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest with journalist Michelle Dean, the Julius Caesar controversy at Shakespeare in the Park, and the philosophy storytelling podcast Hi-Phi Nation.
The Slate Culture Gabfest is brought to you by I’M DYING UP HERE on Showtime, the new drama series from Jim Carrey that centers around a group of young comedians hoping to make it big in the 1970s L.A. comedy scene. Don’t miss new episodes Sundays at 10/9 Central only on SHOWTIME. Download the SHOWTIME App now to start your free trial.
And by Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans. They give you confidence when it comes to refinancing your existing mortgage or buying a home. Go to RocketMortgage dot com/Culture to get started.
And by The Black Tux. For high-quality rental suits and tuxedos delivered right to your door, go to TheBlackTux.com/Culture and you’ll receive free shipping, plus 20 dollars off your purchase.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains explicit language. |
| 0:12.3 | I'm Stephen McCaff, and this is the Slate Culture Gap Fest, Thus Always to Tyrants edition. |
| 0:17.6 | It's Wednesday, June 14th, 2017. |
| 0:20.2 | On today's show, Mommy Dead and Dearest is an HBO |
| 0:22.4 | true crime documentary. It details the gruesomely fascinating case of Gypsy Blancher, the victim of |
| 0:28.1 | an epic act of abuse at the hands of a deranged mother. That mother, she eventually conspires |
| 0:33.4 | to kill. The documentary is an exploration of Munchausen by proxy syndrome. We discuss with |
| 0:38.1 | journalist Michelle Dean. And then we discussed the controversy surrounding the public theater's |
| 0:41.9 | staging of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. This production draws analogies to current events by making |
| 0:46.3 | Caesar into a Trump figure, leading prominent corporations to withdraw their sponsorship of the production. |
| 0:51.5 | And finally, Barry Lamb is a Vassar philosophy professor. He uses |
| 0:54.3 | storytelling techniques familiar to public radio listeners everywhere to eliminate philosophical ideas. |
| 0:59.8 | We discuss his podcast, Hi-Fi Nation. That's Phi with PHA. Very clever. Joining me today is |
| 1:05.9 | Isaac Butler. Isaac. Welcome to the show, man. You're filling some big shoes today. |
| 1:09.9 | I know. I know. Thank you for having me. I should say, Isaac is a frequent contributor and beloved contributor to Slate and a theater director. And you're working on a book with Dan Coys. That's right. That's right. Dan and I are probably, I probably have 50 emails from Dan awaiting me when we're done taping this. Yeah, Dan and I are working on the world only spins forward, which is based on in a major expansion of the oral history of angels in America that we wrote for the good people at slate.com. |
| 1:40.1 | Fantastic. Well, welcome to the show. And of course, we're joined by Dana Stevens Slate's film critic. Hey, Dana. |
| 1:44.3 | Hey, Stephen. Are we still in a like blurry, slurry, dreamy haze from our incredible experience in Australia? |
| 1:51.9 | Oh, yeah. I think my brain is still somewhere over Singapore. I'm way behind. |
| 1:57.5 | Have you had the experience since getting back, Stephen, that the light is too bright for your eyes? |
| 2:01.7 | I feel like I've become some undead creature who has to wear sunglasses even on cloudy days now. |
| 2:07.6 | The hideous jagged extrusion of American light. |
| 2:11.0 | It wounds my eyes. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.