Kliph Nesteroff joins host Elamin Abdelmahmoud for a chat about his new book, Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars. The Canadian comic and comedy historian shares what the past can tell us about current tensions around free speech and cancel culture.

Culture critics and friends of the show Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Sarah-Tai Black and Rad Simonpillai join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss the biggest films that came out over the holidays, The Color Purple and Ferrari, and look ahead to the films they're excited to watch in 2024.

TV in 2023 had some clear highs, like The White Lotus and Succession, but the season took a turn when Hollywood's writers and actors went on strike. With the labour dispute now behind us, what does 2024 have in store for viewers? Culture critics Kathryn VanArendonk, Chris Murphy and Mel Woods join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to kick off the new year with a look at what's coming to the small screen.

In the world of arts and pop culture, who are the winners and losers of 2023? Culture thinkers Niko Stratis, Amil Niazi and Matt Hart join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud for a special edition of Commotion, recorded in front of a live audience in Toronto's Glenn Gould Studio as part of the CBC's annual food drive, Sounds of the Season.

Today on Commotion, we pay tribute to some of the big musical icons we lost in 2023 — Gordon Lightfoot, Tina Turner, Sinéad O'Connor and Robbie Robertson — by revisiting the conversations we had this year with the people who knew them, and devout fans who had their lives changed by their music.

Up next in Commotion's celebration of hip-hop's 50th anniversary is hip-hop’s growing influence in South Korea. Haekyung Um, a music professor at the University of Liverpool, takes us on a tour of rap history in the region with a special playlist featuring Suga, Yoon Mirae, Verbal Jint and more. Plus, journalist Deirdre Kelly talks about her book Fashioning The Beatles, and why The Fab Four’s sense of style was important to their success and influence as their music.

Wicked, the lauded musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz, celebrated its 20th anniversary on Broadway this year. To commemorate the occasion, Wicked experts Stacy Wolf, Quincy Brown and Kevin Bianchi join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about what makes this now-classic show so timeless, and how it changed the landscape of musical theatre for good.

For this edition of Commotion's Friday Group Chat, movie critics Radheyan Simonpillai and Teri Hart join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to look back at the year in film. The panelists share their favourites from the year, the biggest disappointments, the most underrated films and the most annoying trends.

Why does everything feel so….mid? Our pop culture, from the music we listen to, to what we watch or share online, has all become a bit bland. At a time when everyone is releasing their best-of-the-year lists, Elamin chats with culture critics Niko Stratis, Kyle Chayka and Bilge Ebiri about this “mid” feeling dogging pop culture — and why that might be exactly where industry execs want us.

Earlier this month, we lost Canadian filmmaker, producer and writer Charles Officer, whose award-winning work spanned features, documentary and television. Filmmakers Amanda Parris, Wendy 'Motion' Brathwaite and Randall ‘R.T.’ Thorne join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to look back on his life and legacy of centering Black voices and characters.