In her smart and funny comedy special Get On Your Knees, performer Jacqueline Novak delivers a kind of Ted Talk on the subject of oral sex. It's also a passionate and thoughtful coming-of-age tale delivered in language that's been finely honed to accomplish its very funny purpose. Directed by Natasha Lyonne, the Netflix special began as an off-Broadway show.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Barbie was the biggest movie of last year. We saw the memes, we heard the songs, and it was 2023's highest grossing movie. It recently racked up eight Oscar nominations, including best picture. Today in this encore episode, we revisit our conversation about Barbie.

Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

This year's Oscar nominations were announced today and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer leads the field with 13 nominations. Other leading nominees include Poor Things, Killers Of The Flower Moon, and Barbie. We run down the nominees in the major categories and talk about some of the surprising snubs.

Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

In The Zone of Interest, a German couple and their family live a bucolic life, but over the garden wall lies the Auschwitz concentration camp. The father is one of the chief architects of the Holocaust, and over the course of the film, he and his wife attempt to preserve their compartmentalized lives. But the horrors taking place outside refuse to be held at bay. Directed by Jonathan Glazer, the film is favored to pick up a best picture nomination at the Oscars.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Origin is the story of a writer who faces personal loss at the same time she works on a book based on her unified theory about systems of oppression. Written and directed by Ava DuVernay, the film is adapted from Isabel Wilkerson's best-selling book, Caste: The Origins Of Our Discontents, and dramatizes the book's ideas and the way it comes together. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor stars as Wilkerson, and also features Jon Bernthal and Niecy Nash-Betts.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The new Marvel series Echo spotlights Maya Lopez (played by Alaqua Cox), whom we first met as the stoic badass enforcer for the criminal Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio). She's now on the run, fleeing to her tiny Oklahoma hometown determined to nurse her wounds and make plans to take over Fisk's criminal empire. But her friends and family – including generations of her Choctaw ancestors – may have other plans. It's streaming on Disney + and Hulu.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The TV cartoon Bluey is a hit with young children. But it's also found a devoted following among their parents, who've embraced the show's emotional depth – as well as its messages about creativity, collaboration, and learning through play. Bluey just returned with a batch of new episodes on Disney+, so today we're revisiting our conversation about the series.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The 75th annual Emmy Awards are over, and it was a big night for The Bear, Beef, and Succession. Plus Elton John earned his EGOT, and Jennifer Coolidge and Niecy Nash Betts gave memorable speeches.

Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

In the new Netflix action-comedy-heist movie Lift, Kevin Hart plays an experienced thief and con man whose crew is backed into a corner and forced to work for the government. Their next theft will be their greatest, and it's all to avert an enormous disaster. They'll have to fly planes, use disguises, sneak around, beat the bad guys, and look great doing it.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Mean Girls is a film adaptation of the Broadway adaptation of the beloved Lindsay Lohan and Tina Fey comedy. The songs are there, the dances are there, and the nasty, nasty high school drama is there. But does the retelling capture the energy, the style, and the jokes of the original? The new cast includes Reneé Rapp, Auliʻi Cravalho, and Angourie Rice.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy