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Each week, guests and hosts on NPR's <em>Pop Culture Happy Hour </em>share what's bringing them joy. This week: Ariana Grande hosting <em>SNL</em>, Jimmy Buffett’s album<em> A1A</em> and the movie <em>Wicked Little Letters.</em>

A new concept album from the creator of <em>Hamilton</em> sets a cult classic film to a starry hiphop, rock and Broadway soundtrack.

The horror movie <em>Smile </em>was a massive hit. Its flashy new sequel <em>Smile 2</em> finds the franchise's terrifying entity infecting a new host: a pop star (Naomi Scott) who's about to head out on tour after experiencing a trauma. And the movie has a <em>lot</em> to say about the horrors of pop stardom.

Extreme weather is becoming more frequent. Now some towns that were touted as "safe" are seeing hurricanes, floods or heat waves. This week, host Brittany Luse is joined by NPR climate solutions reporter <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/1119646476/julia-simon">Julia Simon </a>and NPR culture reporter <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/1113762078/chloe-veltman">Chloe Veltman</a> to understand misconceptions around "climate havens" and what it means to preserve culture in the face of the climate crisis.<br><br>Then, Brittany continues her Trilogy of Terror series with an unexpected horror trope: scary service workers. She invites Bowdoin College English professor <a href="https://www.bowdoin.edu/profiles/faculty/abriefel/index.html">Aviva Briefel</a> and Slate writer <a href="https://slate.com/author/joshua-rivera">Joshua Rivera </a>to break down how the maids, murderers, and motel workers in horror reveal different cultural anxieties about eating the rich.

Two people meet, they fall in love, and someone gets sick. The new film <em>We Live In Time </em>tries to bring something new to that familiar story of the preciousness of life. Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield laugh and cry as a couple trying to make the most of their time together. Director John Crowley (<em>Brooklyn</em>) utilizes an unconventional structure that jumps around from their first meeting to their later crisis and several key points in between.<br><br><a href="https://plus.npr.org/happy">Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour</a>

A lot of us are about to have the experience of opening our front doors to find witches, goblins, ghosts, and Moo Deng standing on our porches. Why? Because it's almost Halloween. In this encore episode, we talk about what kinds of entertainment scared us when we were kids, and whether they still scare us now.

Sasha Colby is your favorite drag queen's favorite drag queen. That's because she's one of the most decorated and influential drag queens working today - she's Chappell Roan's inspiration, a Miss Continental winner and a RuPaul's Drag Race winner.<br><br>Sasha Colby joins Brittany following her 'STRIPPED' world tour to dish about her career, the mainstreaming of drag, and what it takes to persevere through drag's rhinestone trenches.

After weathering a series of controversies, the lingerie company's first official show since 2018 featured iconic Angels like Adriana Lima and Tyra Banks, plus debuts by Ashley Graham and Kate Moss.

In the powerful new Apple TV+ drama <em>Disclaimer</em>, Cate Blanchett plays a woman who's terrified after she's sent a novel that's based on a chapter of her past that she's desperate to keep secret. From Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuarón, the series was also stars Kevin Kline, as a man who's also consumed by the events recounted in the book.<br><br><a href="https://plus.npr.org/happy">Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour</a>

Apple TV+’s seven-part series written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón stars Cate Blanchett as a successful documentarian faced with a secret about her past.

In anticipation of more pro-Palestinian protests, many college administrators rolled out new rules this fall that include getting pre-approval for posting flyers or hosting demonstrations. Brittany is joined by UC Irvine sociology professor <a href="https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=4654">David S. Meyer</a>, who studies social movements and public policy, and Chronicle of Higher Education reporter <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/author/kate-hidalgo-bellows">Kate Hidalgo Bellows</a>. They discuss the changes on campuses and how they tie into debates over free speech. <br><br>Then, Brittany kicks off a new series exploring horror tropes. It's called <em>The Trilogy of Terror</em>. First up: Beelzebub. Brittany invites <a href="https://www.diocal.org/staff-bios/#TravisStevens">Travis Stevens</a> and <a href="https://www.vassar.edu/faculty/kyoder">Klaus Yoder</a>, historians and co-hosts of the podcast <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1Pn2Iig3KQ0k6Et5PtGUtQ"><em>Seven Heads, Ten Horns: The History of the Devil</em></a>, to talk about the symbology of the devil and how representations of him in horror movies have changed over time.

The new film <em>Saturday Night </em>attempts to capture the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the very first broadcast of<em> Saturday Night Live</em>. Untried producer Lorne Michaels (played by Gabriel LaBelle) and his cast of complete unknowns prepare to make television history. At the same time, network suits breathe down their necks, and just about everything that can go wrong does.

More from KCRW

Critics review the latest film releases: “Smile 2,” “Anora,” “Woman of the Hour,” and “Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party.”

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Lawrence Kramer and Carolyn Korsmeyer take us on a philosophical and sensual journey exploring sound, taste, and touch.

from Life Examined

How can a country so rich in resources and farm production have people who still go to bed hungry?

from Second Opinion

The Latest

Ilana Glazer shares some feelings on the impersonal nature of stand-up as they prepare to drop their new special “Human Magic.”

Ilana Glazer speaks on their stand-up influences ahead of new special ‘Human Magic’

Ilana Glazer shares some feelings on the impersonal nature of stand-up as they prepare to drop their new special “Human Magic.”

from The Treatment

Filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer and legendary political firebrand James Carville fill us in on their new documentary “Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid.”

James Carville and filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer explain ‘Winning is Everything, Stupid’

Filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer and legendary political firebrand James Carville fill us in on their new documentary “Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid.”

from The Treatment

Matt Tyrnauer and James Carville speak on their new Carville documentary, Ilana Glazer fills us in on their stand-up special “Human Magic,” and René Redzepi has The Treat.

James Carville and Matt Tyrnauer, Ilana Glazer, and René Redzepi on The Treat

Matt Tyrnauer and James Carville speak on their new Carville documentary, Ilana Glazer fills us in on their stand-up special “Human Magic,” and René Redzepi has The Treat.

from The Treatment

Acclaimed chef René Redzepi discusses how, to him, hiking is a spiritual experience.

Hiking helps remind Chef René Redzepi that life is beautiful

Acclaimed chef René Redzepi discusses how, to him, hiking is a spiritual experience.

from The Treatment

In part two of our chat with “Apprentice” writer Gabriel Sherman and distributor Tom Ortenberg, we hear about unlikely sources of funding and navigating death threats.

‘The Apprentice’ writer Gabriel Sherman + distributor Tom Ortenberg: Part 2

In part two of our chat with “Apprentice” writer Gabriel Sherman and distributor Tom Ortenberg, we hear about unlikely sources of funding and navigating death threats.

from The Business

As David Ellison’s Skydance merger with Paramount begins, studio executives have been given some serious incentives to stick around through the transition process.

Game planning for Paramount; The accidental ‘Apprentice’ financier

As David Ellison’s Skydance merger with Paramount begins, studio executives have been given some serious incentives to stick around through the transition process.

from The Business

Rowan Jacobsen travels deep into the Bolivian Amazon to uncover the chocolate's origins.

Making a modern chocolate bar from rare cacao grown deep in the Amazon is even harder than it sounds

Rowan Jacobsen travels deep into the Bolivian Amazon to uncover the chocolate's origins.

from Good Food

Essayist and poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil explains the laborious process of cultivating vanilla and the fragile state of its existence.

Vanilla's existence is precarious. Is the global obsession with it making it worse?

Essayist and poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil explains the laborious process of cultivating vanilla and the fragile state of its existence.

from Good Food