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On The Gist, an appreciation of the man who invented Pong.
Barbara Lipska’s career as a neuroscientist did not prepare her to identify the dark effects of her own brain tumors diagnosed in 2015. There’s studying a damaged brain, and then there’s having one. Lipska is the author of The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery.
In the Spiel, let’s hear it for the ancillary news.
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On The Gist, Samantha Bee said it first, so let us meditate on the C-word.
In defense of Googling your own name: Kirsten Pflomm is a white woman from Connecticut who did an online search 15 years ago and discovered she was the descendant of Iceland’s famous first black citizen, Hans Jonathan, who escaped slavery and became a war hero.
In the Spiel, the Nobel Peace Prize? All President Trump wants are apologies and thank-you’s.
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On The Gist, have you heard the one about the journalist who faked his own death to dodge Russian assassins?
It’s boom times for female buddy comedies. Mike talks to director Alex Richanbach and screenwriter Lauryn Kahn about their new Netflix comedy, Ibiza. Who said men have to star in all the movies about hedonistic sprees?
In the Spiel, does anyone believe we have a coherent trade policy right now?
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On Tuesday’s Gist, Roseanne gets run out on a rail.
Comedian Chris Gethard reflects on how things have changed for his madcap live show, starting from its days on a public access channel to its current home on TruTV. “It’s more a TV show than it’s ever been, the larger platforms that we get to,” says Gethard. “But … it’s me, it’s really me and I’m letting my guard down.” The season finale of The Chris Gethard Show airs Tuesday on TruTV.
In the Spiel, the mysterious name of a famous Russian painting.
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On The Gist, we here at Slate take GDPR compliance very seriously … just not in this monologue.
Before SNL, David Wain says, the countercultural comedy torch belonged to National Lampoon. The laugh magazine was created by Harvard graduates and became a creative laboratory for movies like Animal House and Caddyshack. Chief among them was Doug Kenney, the subject of Netflix biopic A Futile and Stupid Gesture, which Wain directs.
In the Spiel, the nostalgia we feel around meals and dishes is overrated. It’s not about the food; it’s about the feels.
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On Thursday’s Gist, tips for avoiding fake news? Thanks but no thanks, Facebook.
There’s a new documentary out about the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case, and it got us thinking about the flaws in the public’s perception of that saga. Reporter Derek John explains how the dominant narrative of the case was warped by an amateur crime blogger and a protective football team, despite the efforts of local prosecutors. John and Anders Kelto reported the story for Gamebreaker[NP1], a podcast by Audible.
In the Spiel, the NFL’s fans are way more liberal than its team owners. So how’s the kneeling ban supposed to restore its ratings dip?
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On The Gist, the NFL can’t give a decent explanation for its kneeling ban.
Philip Roth’s novels about Jewish life earned him every accolade short of, famously, the Nobel Prize. Mark Oppenheimer, the host of the podcast on all things Jewish (Unorthodox), argues that Roth’s “radical candor” was sharply original before becoming a model to imitate.
In the Spiel, there are a lot of “peripheral rogues” in Trump’s orbit (how about those “taxi king” headlines?), but their public reckonings don’t necessarily spell trouble for the president himself.
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On today’s Gist, whatever happens in the governor’s primary in Georgia Tuesday night, it will be a big step forward for women named Stacey.
Neuroscientist and education researcher Sara Brownell explains what she found studying how gender affects students’ perceptions of their own intelligence. Brownell is an assistant professor at Arizona State University.
In the Spiel, consider the “no shit” factor in Trumpian news cycles these days.
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On The Gist, Hawaii’s “laze” is some seriously bad branding.
In the interview, our two-party system may seem inevitable, but political scientist Sam Rosenfeld digs into its engineered history, including the 1950 government report that pushed the country “Toward a More Responsible Two-Party System.” Before then, what you thought about health care, guns, or abortion had little to do with where your vote went. Rosenfeld is the author of The Polarizers: Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era.
In the Spiel, the latest school shooter didn’t raise any red flags or wield an AR-15. But gun control is still what we need.
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On The Gist, our attempt to track the new scoops that affected the Mueller investigation.
We’re not playing “Is That Bulls--t” on the show today, but if we were, comedy writer Nell Scovell would probably say, “Yes.” Yes, the dearth of women in late-night writers’ rooms is bulls--t. Yes, men’s explanations are bulls--t. And, yes, sometimes women themselves willingly succumb to the bulls--t because, as Scovell says, “Look, this s--t is deep.” Her new book is Just the Funny Parts.
In the Spiel, denigrating the top 80 books sold on Amazon.
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