Glen Weldon
Glen Weldon is a host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. He reviews books, movies, comics and more for the NPR Arts Desk.
Over the course of his career, he has spent time as a theater critic, a science writer, an oral historian, a writing teacher, a bookstore clerk, a PR flack, a completely inept marine biologist and a slightly better-ept competitive swimmer.
Weldon is the author of two cultural histories: Superman: The Unauthorized Biography and The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Slate, McSweeney's and more; his fiction has appeared in several anthologies and other publications. He is the recipient of an NEA Arts Journalism Fellowship, an Amtrak Writers' Residency, a Ragdale Writing Fellowship and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts for Fiction.
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Have you ever been on a road trip that feels like it goes on forever and things started getting a bit existential? That’s the whole deal with the chewy new film It Ends. -
Tim Curry, who died on Tuesday at 80, is remembered as an actor who threw himself into things, whether as Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or Pennywise the Clown in "It."
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We spend the majority of our adult lives at work. We also see so many depictions of working life on TV. So where’s the fictional place we’d like to work? We’ll talk about Ted Lasso, Game of Thrones, The Muppet Show and The West Wing. -
There's plenty to love about summer: Summer music, summer road trips, summer movies. But to enjoy all those things, you have to sustain yourself with summer snacks. But what are the best summer treats of all? -
Can’t make it to Broadway? Hadestown: The Musical has you covered. The film adaptation of the Tony-winning hit captures the musical retelling of the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. -
Hot Ones is the YouTube show where famous people answer questions while eating increasingly hot chicken wings. Now host Sean Evans is bringing his wings to Netflix with a series of specials called Hot Ones: Extra Heat. -
The team at Cineplexity debate the current state of Hollywood epics with the release of Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey.'
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One of the most anticipated releases of the summer, Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" brings the epic to IMAX screens and beyond. Pop Culture Happy Hour's Glen Weldon has thoughts. -
The 2026 Emmy nominations are here. We’re unpacking the record-breaking nominations for Hacks, plus a big day for Widow’s Bay, The Pitt, and The Bear. We’ll also talk about the snubs and make some early predictions of who will win. -
America turns 250 this year. So for this special birthday, we discuss our picks for what pieces of pop culture best depict the American dream, including The Wire, Apollo 13, Grey Gardens, and the spiritual successor to Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car."
