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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The latest take on the live musical format premiered Sunday night on Fox with a production of Rent, but a cast member injury forced Fox to air a taped dress rehearsal instead.
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Corruption is kind of a big news story these days and it's one of Hollywood's favorite subjects. NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour takes a look at how corruption is presented in TV and movies.
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Wallace the Brave is a new daily comic strip, which is getting attention, award recognition and increasing readership. It's about a boy who's less depressed than Peanuts character Charlie Brown and kinder than Calvin & Hobbes.
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A four-minute fake movie trailer created by the Trump administration for Kim Jong Un is decidedly odd. Culture critic Glen Weldon asks National Security Correspondent David Welna what it all means.
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Movie trailers are a thing unto themselves, but can you really trust them? Linda Holmes and Glen Weldon of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour explain how manipulative and sneaky movie trailers can be.
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The culture of comedy is one in which women have had little recourse to address sexual misconduct. The now-public allegations facing Louis C.K. suggest this may be changing.
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TV and movie producers are looking to the shelves for inspiration: a number of popular shows and films this year started as books.
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The first Harry Potter book came out 20 years ago today. One year later, in 1998, was the first time we mentioned the book, on All Things Considered. Here's Margot Adler's piece in its entirety. -
Forget the gold bikini: In interviews, in her one-woman show and — especially — in her prose, the actress projected a knowing, sardonic quality that made you want to hang out with her. -
The actor and writer who brought his signature manic energy to comedy classics died at his home in Stamford, Conn., of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 83.
