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The 25-hour Moby Dick Marathon sails on in New Bedford
Every winter, thousands of fans descend on the New Bedford Whaling Museum to hear the novel out loud.
Listen to previous shows
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April 2, 2026 - David Duchovny, Edward Gorey, and Simon Curtis
Award-winning actor, director, singer-songwriter and bestselling author David Duchovny joins The Culture Show to discuss “About Time: Poems,” a collection that reflects on love, family, aging, and the shifting nature of time. From there Molly Schwartzburg joins The Culture Show to talk about Edward Gorey and how Harvard’s Houghton Library has acquired never before seen Gorey illustrations. These works reveal how his time at Harvard shaped his sensibility. Molly Schwartzburg is the Philip Hofer Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts.Finally acclaimed filmmaker Simon Curtis joins The Culture Show to talk about directing “Downton Abbey:The Grand Finale.” -
April 1, 2026 - Robert Pinsky, Chef Jason Santos, and Joyce's Choices
Poet Robert Pinsky joins The Culture Show to kick off National Poetry Month with a look at PoemJazz at Regattabar, where poetry and live music meet. The next edition, “Misrule Music,” is April 12 and shares its title with Pinsky’s new poem in the April issue of "The Atlantic."Chef Jason Santos discusses “Citrus & Salt,” his new cookbook inspired by the flavors of his Fort Point restaurant. He talks about translating the bright, high-impact world of coastal Mexican food and cocktails from the restaurant kitchen to the home cook. It’s Stage and Screen with Joyce Kulhawik, with reviews, previews, and recommendations on what to see now. This week’s roundup includes Ryan Gosling’s “Project Hail Mary” and “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous” at Lyric Stage. Joyce Kulhawik is a Culture Show contributor, an Emmy-award winning arts and entertainment reporter and President of the Boston Theatre Critics Association. You can find her reviews on Joyce’s Choices. -
March 31, 2026 - Ibram X. Kendi, Fmr. US Poet Laureate Billy Collins, and "Living in Pryde"
Ibram X. Kendi joins The Culture Show to discuss his latest book “Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age.” The National Book Award-winning author examines how replacement theory gained political force and how it has been used to justify fear, exclusion, and authoritarian power. Ibram X. Kendi is the Carter G. Woodson Endowed Chair in History at Howard University where he is also a professor of history. Tonight he’ll be at First Parish in Cambridge in conversation with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley at an event sponsored by Porter Square Books. To learn more go here.Billy Collins joins us to discuss “Dog Show,” his latest collection of poems. Featuring 25 poems with watercolor portraits by Pamela Sztybel, the book enters the canine consciousness — moving from the comic to the metaphysical. Collins is a “New York Times” bestselling author and former U.S. Poet Laureate.GBH’s documentary “Living in Pryde” takes us inside The Pryde in Hyde Park, New England’s first affordable LGBTQ+-welcoming senior housing community. Producer and editor Emily Judem and resident Eddie Whitman join us ahead of the film’s April 4 screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre as part of “Stories from Our Community.” To learn more about the screening go here. -
March 30, 2026 - Geoffrey Kelly on "Thirteen Perfect Fugitives," an Eddie Palmieri tribute, and a PAX East recap
Retired FBI agent Geoffrey Kelly joins The Culture Show to discuss “Thirteen Perfect Fugitives: The True Story of the Mob, Murder, and the World’s Largest Art Heist.” After 22 years chasing leads through Boston’s criminal underworld, Kelly reflects on the missing art, the long investigation, and the toll of living inside one of the city’s most enduring mysteries.We preview Berklee’s “Mambo Mania: A Tribute to Eddie Palmieri,” happening Wednesday, April 1 at 8 p.m. at the Berklee Performance Center. Berklee Professor Eguie Castrillo and Grammy-winning trumpeter Humberto Ramírez join us to discuss the tribute to Palmieri, the late pianist and bandleader whose La Perfecta helped redefine the sound of salsa and Latin jazz. To learn more go here.And GBH’s Senior Radio Producer Diego Lopez joins us with a recap of PAX East, which turned Boston into a hub of cosplay, tournaments, demos, and gaming fandom for one packed weekend. He shares the highlights from one of the East Coast’s biggest gaming gatherings. -
March 27, 2026 - Week in Review: Hannah Montana at 20, SNL's UK debut, and remembering Tracy Kidder
On this edition of The Culture Show, Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley, and James Parker, staff writer at The Atlantic, go over the week’s top arts and culture headlines:Twenty years after Hannah Montana premiered, Disney is marking the anniversary with a new special celebrating the show and the fandom that never let go. After 50 years of turning American politics and celebrity into live comedy, Saturday Night Live is heading to Britain. The new adaptation raises the question: can the SNL formula survive a culture with a different comic sensibility? Meta and Google have lost a major case over social media addiction, with a California jury finding Instagram and YouTube liable and awarding $6 million in damages. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Tracy Kidder has died at 80. In books like “The Soul of a New Machine” and “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” he brought narrative force and moral seriousness to stories about people under pressure and the systems that shaped them. Stephen Colbert is taking his Tolkien fandom to a new level: the late-night host is now co-writing a new “Lord of the Rings film.” His move from superfan to franchise writer has fans wondering what one of pop culture’s most devoted Tolkien obsessives will bring to Middle-earth. And we close the show with our week in preview. Jared recommends “Nixon in China” at Symphony Hall, James Parker offers “An Evening with Black Seed Writers” at Brookline Booksmith and Callie suggests the play “Lifted,” by Mfonisao Udofia onstage at Wellesley College Theatre.
