This week, Lilah talks to Liana Finck, a graphic novelist and New Yorker cartoonist with a fan base on Instagram that’s half a million strong. Liana is known for her funny and astute explorations of what it means to be human. She talks about how to free yourself up to be creative in quarantine, where confidence comes from, the most interesting human expressions to draw and what it’s like to have Ariana Grande slide into your DMs. We also share some of your Netflix recommendations, which we are s...
May 29, 2020•48 min
This week, Gris talks to the brilliant 30-year-old playwright Jeremy O Harris about his Broadway sensation Slave Play and his autobiographical "Daddy" . This is an interview that will stick with you for a long time. They discuss how black art is re-packaged by white institutions, how black and white audiences respond differently to his work, and how to make theatre more accessible — both for quarantine and for younger audiences (Harris is also an executive producer on...
May 15, 2020•59 min
This week, we've dusted off a little gem from our archives. Gris spoke to the writer Sally Rooney in 2018, just before her bestselling novel Normal People was published in the UK. It went on to win tremendous acclaim, prizes and the hearts of many readers. Fast-forward eighteen months, and Rooney's tale of passionate young love has been turned into a gripping 12-part TV series on the BBC and Hulu. It's all we can talk about: Marianne, Connell — and Connell's neck chain. But...
May 06, 2020•30 min
This week, we discuss the future of movies with FT film critic Danny Leigh. Will we see a wave of apocalypse dramas once this is over? Are mid-budget films under threat? And what little-known films should we be watching? In the second half of the show, Gris and Lilah take stock of how culture has been adapting to a new virtual reality, from online exhibitions to gigs on Instagram Live. What's working in URL vs IRL culture — and what isn't? Will the lockdown democratize the arts? We’d love t...
May 01, 2020•48 min
This week, we turn to Esther Perel, psychotherapist and host of the hit podcast Where Should We Begin? , to help put our fears and emotions around coronavirus in context. She also gives us useful strategies for living in lockdown. There are insights in this episode that we think will help listeners in any circumstance, so we've decided to drop it early. We hope you enjoy the episode, and would love to hear your thoughts. Email us at [email protected] or tweet us at @FT...
Apr 22, 2020•38 min
We can't stop thinking about food: how to cook it, where to buy it, how many meals are too many meals and why everyone's making bread. This week, Lilah talks to Samin Nosrat, of bestselling cookbook and Netflix hit Salt Fat Acid Heat , about tips for cooking in a pandemic, the meaning of comfort food, her next cookbook — and the long-term effects of coronavirus on the restaurant industry. We’d love to hear what you're turning to these days. What are you watching, reading, li...
Apr 16, 2020•58 min
Lilah chats with Ira Glass, the host of This American Life , the long running, seminal and wildly popular radio show that launched a genre of podcasting. But what does its name really mean? And what does American life look like today? They discuss reporting during a pandemic, whether the show has spurred or stifled creativity in audio, how having a more diverse staff has changed their stories — and why Ira is so often name-checked on online dating sites. We’d love to hear what's keeping y...
Apr 02, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Gris and Lilah here, coming to you between episodes to find out how you're holding up. As we live through this surreal pandemic together (and apart), we want to know what's going through your mind. What are you noticing around you? How have you seen culture already begin to adapt to this new reality? And what have you been watching, reading, listening to, crafting, cooking, etc to get through? This is our Culture Call Out. We want to hear from you. Let's put our observations, epiphanies and cult...
Mar 27, 2020•6 min
This week has been dominated by the spread of coronavirus. The situation is changing so fast that we decided to publish a couple of days early. In the first half of this episode, Gris and Lilah discuss how coronavirus is already changing daily life — and how it might impact culture in the longer term. Will we lose our fear of missing out? What will the 'experience economy' look like? And can the thrill of a live performance be replicated online? The second half of the episode is an escape from a...
Mar 17, 2020•52 min
To mark International Women's Day on March 8, and following Harvey Weinstein's recent conviction in New York, we're doing something a bit different. In this episode, Gris speaks to three of today's most compelling writers and campaigners about feminism now. They touch on everything from changing beauty standards to teens and social media to modern motherhood. Prepare to be surprised. Or as Lilah put it: "whatever I thought I was going to hear, that is not what I heard." (A warning if you're list...
Mar 05, 2020•57 min
Award-winning podcaster Kaitlin Prest (of The Heart and Mermaid Palace) is one of the most innovative people making audio today. She chats with Lilah about sex, power and the grey areas around consent—as well as how her collective of queer anarchist outsiders climbed to the top of the audio world. Plus: trend forecaster Emily Segal, known for coining the term 'normcore', stops by to share her top five alternate takeaways from fashion month (including that trends may be entirely over!). As a...
Feb 20, 2020•59 min
We're back with a brand new season! In our pre-Oscars special, Gris talks to Noah Baumbach, director of the nominated film Marriage Story , about love, divorce — and how Netflix is changing film. Plus: the FT's film critic Danny Leigh drops into the studio ahead of the Academy Awards. Who's going to win? Who really should win? And do the Oscars — for which no female directors and just one actor of colour were nominated — still matter in 2020? As always, we'd love to hear from you. Say hi o...
Feb 06, 2020•59 min
The season kicks off this Thursday, February 6! Join Gris and Lilah as they dig into the trends shaping life in the 2020s, interview the people breaking new ground and bring you behind the scenes of the Financial Times' Life & Arts journalism. In episode one, Gris speaks with director of Marriage Story Noah Baumbach, and our film critic stops by to chat about this year’s nominees. We also have an exciting line up of guests this season, including podcaster Kaitlin Prest and novelist Eimear Mc...
Feb 04, 2020•3 min
From Lizzo and Fleabag to Greta Thunberg and the Impossible Burger, Lilah and Gris look back at the biggest themes, people and moments of the year. How did we go from talking about 'global warming' to the 'climate crisis'? How has technology opened up the generational divide? And how is culture reflecting the changing conversation around gender, race and representation? Plus: we asked our FT colleagues for their stand-out moments of 2019! Melissa Ingabire takes on the surprising asce...
Dec 19, 2019•58 min
You may have noticed the revival of astrology in recent years: meme accounts are accruing millions of followers, horoscope apps are raising millions of dollars in venture funding, and Americans are spending more and more on 'mystical services' (it's currently a $2.2b market). Lilah and Gris explore what this growing trend says about our culture, digging into the renaissance of birth charts and moon signs with help from Culture Call listeners. Plus: one of New York's most prominent astrologers, R...
Dec 05, 2019•41 min
Ben Lerner is one of the most acclaimed American writers working today. Gris meets him to discuss good parenting, male rage and why "autofiction" (fiction infused with autobiography) isn't narcissistic, despite what people think. One of the biggest books of 2019, Lerner's new novel The Topeka School is arguably his most ambitious to date. Set partly in Kansas in the 1990s, it tells the story of one family -- and of the US at large. Can it help us understand how we got here? Get...
Nov 21, 2019•49 min
Psychotherapist Esther Perel shot to fame with her TED talks and podcast on sex, infidelity, and the secret to long-term relationships. Lilah meets her in New York to learn about her latest podcast – How's Work? – which puts a microphone in her therapy sessions between co-founders. They discuss how the same dynamics that exist in our romantic relationships also exist in our professional lives – and how best to navigate them. Gris and Lilah also dissect how therapy has been depicted in cultu...
Nov 07, 2019•51 min
Award-winning chef Danny Bowien has never fully fit in. Adopted from Korea, Bowien was raised by a white, Christian family in Oklahoma, in "the buckle of the Bible Belt." In 2010, as a young chef in San Francisco, he started the first pop up restaurant ever as an experiment – it became wildly popular for turning Szechuan Chinese food upside down. He now runs two successful Mission Chinese restaurants in New York. Bowien is known in the food world for subverting not just Chinese cu...
Oct 24, 2019•42 min
At almost seven foot tall, Mark Bradford is one of the most towering figures in the art world, in every sense. Gris asks him how it felt — as a gay, black artist — to represent the US at the Venice Biennale in the era of Trump. Mark also discusses growing up in his mother's beauty salon in Los Angeles, his new exhibition in London, and how his foundation makes art accessible to everyone — not just privileged communities. Later in the episode, Lilah speaks to the FT's US media correspondent Anna ...
Oct 10, 2019•54 min
How does evolutionary biology shape our attitudes towards desire? Is it always possible to confront your own prejudice? Gris talks to Sara Pascoe about making jokes in the age of woke speak, the highs and lows of life as a comedian, and her new book Sex Power Money . We love hearing from you. Come chat with us @FTCultureCall on Twitter, and tell us about your favourite cultural trends at [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 24, 2019•35 min
As The New Yorker magazine's go-to millennial, Jia Tolentino writes cultural criticism about the internet and how it affects us. She recently published Trick Mirror , a wildly popular collection of essays that explores contemporary culture. On this episode, Jia speaks with Gris about how the internet is moulding us in its image ("and it's important to remember that we are very mouldable!"). She also considers how it feels to find professional success on Twitter, a platform that can be ulti...
Sep 10, 2019•46 min
He opened the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with a love poem. His series Have You Heard George's Podcast? won multiple awards for its commentary on black inner city culture in the UK and beyond. George the Poet tells Gris about why he gave up rapping, and the privilege — and emotional toll — of representing his community. Later on, we discuss the latest mind-blowing discoveries in science, from our early ancestors to extraterrestrial life. Talk to us on Twitter! We're at @FTc...
Aug 27, 2019•53 min
Gris and Lilah return with a revamped show: welcome to Culture Call! Lilah visits New York Times feature writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner at home in suburban New Jersey to talk about how she constructs her viral celebrity profiles (think Gwyneth Paltrow and Nicki Minaj). We also discuss her first novel, Fleishman is in Trouble . Good news: you can now find us on Twitter! It’s @FTculturecall . As always, feel free to email us with the cultural trends you can’t get out of your head at ...
Aug 13, 2019•47 min
We're changing our name to Culture Call! We'll be bringing you everything that was great about Everything Else, plus an added emphasis on conversations with people who are shifting culture — writers, musicians, chefs, comedians and more. For regular listeners, there's no need to re-subscribe: we'll be back in your feeds on August 13! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Aug 02, 2019•4 min
Three Women is one of the most talked-about books of the summer: a true story of female desire that took eight years to write. Lilah talks to its author, Lisa Taddeo, about what it was like to report on real women's sex lives — and why Woody Allen was wrong: there is such a thing as a bad orgasm. Plus: Lilah and James Fontanella-Khan, FT corporate deals editor, discuss their investigation into workplace stress and burnout. Why is it getting worse? And what can we do? Read ...
Jul 12, 2019•48 min
Our big summer books episode! Plus, Simon Schama Looking for a book that will give you an existential crisis on holiday? Gris and Lilah talk with Innovation Editor John Thornhill about what this summer’s best tech books say about our cultural psyche. (John sees a future in which a machine can write about its experience being a machine.) Plus, a conversation with resident genius Simon Schama, who defends the value of wordy writing Listen, subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcas...
Jun 28, 2019•38 min
FT film critic Raphael Abraham brings us behind the scenes at Cannes — and recommends the best movies to see this summer. Plus: to welcome season two of HBO's Big Little Lies , Gris and Lilah unpack the changing role of the housewife, and what the new internet sensation 'the wife guy' is doing for modern feminism. Listen, subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jun 14, 2019•42 min
Gris meets Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, the pair behind Black Mirror , the hit Netflix show that explores the darker side of our relationship to technology; its latest season begins next week. Plus: FT fashion editor Jo Ellison tells us what it was like to interview Rihanna in Paris. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 31, 2019•43 min
Gris meets the author and podcaster Jon Ronson ( The Butterfly Effect , The Psychopath Test , So You've Been Publicly Shamed ) to ask him why he’s drawn to secretive subcultures — from sites like 4chan to the Ku Klux Klan — and to discuss his latest podcast, The Last Days of August , and the ethics of reporting on the death of a young porn performer. Listen, subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 17, 2019•34 min
Gris meets the activist, podcaster and author of On the Other Side of Freedom to discuss rising police violence against African Americans, what he learnt from meeting Obama, what Extinction Rebellion can learn from Black Lives Matter, and the role of social media (DeRay has over 1m followers on Twitter, including Beyoncé). Plus: the FT's Alec Russell and India Ross discuss Game of Thrones . India recently wrote a blockbuster essay on the series for the FT; Alec, meanwhile, having never watched i...
May 03, 2019•32 min
