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Pop Rocket

Pop culture discussion with Guy Branum, Wynter Mitchell, Margaret Wappler and Karen Tongson
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Pop Rocket
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Now displaying: January, 2019

A high-octane weekly discussion of the pop culture we all love to love.

Join host Guy Branum and panelists Wynter Mitchell, Karen Tongson and Margaret Wappler for smart, funny, sometimes sweary chat about everything great in entertainment.

Combining comic, journalistic, academic and digital media expertise, the Pop Rocket team will keep you up-to-date on what's most exciting in pop culture this week.

MaximumFun.org

Jan 26, 2019

This week's show is a double dose of schadenfreude!

The gang compares the dueling documentaries Hulu's "Fyre Fraud" and Netflix's "Fyre," which tell different versions of the tropical shit show that landed its mastermind Billy McFarland behind bars.

All Abouts

Wynter is all about Crashing and True Detective.

Margaret is all about the memoir Love and Trouble: A Midlife Reckoning by Claire Dederer, who you may recognize from her article in the Paris Review What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men.

Karen is all about CATWALK: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit on Netflix, and the rivalry between a “well-muscled” Turkish Angora named Bobby, and a voluminous Red Persian named Oh La La
.

Guy is all about Sex Education on Netflix.

That's My Jam

Wynter: Phil Collins - I'm Not Moving (Idjut Boys remix)

Karen: Queen - Play the Game

Margaret: ROSALÍA - MALAMENTE

Guy: Mark Ronson (feat. Miley Cyrus - Nothing Breaks Like a Heart

With Guy BranumKaren TongsonMargaret WapplerWynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh

Did you know that you can now call and leave voicemails for the show? You can! If you want to comment on an episode, give us any feedback or just call to get advice from a panel member, the number is: (530) 237-4108.

You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.

If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.

Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.

Jan 19, 2019

Once again we’re firing on all cylinders this week! It’s an ultra-packed show covering everything from The Masked Singer, Surviving R. Kelly,
MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. and the need to move beyond moralistic posturing in critiquing comedy.

The panel get into a lively discussion of Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up on Netflix show. One panelist loves it, one panelist thinks it’s “sinister”, and a panelist named Guy is so obsessed with one of the families featured on the show he couldn’t stop talking about them.

All Abouts
Margaret shares her thoughts on the heartbreaking and disturbing six-part series Surviving R. Kelly

Guy is all about the 1998 film The Opposite of Sex, and explains how Terry Gross’ recent conversation with Kevin Hart made him appreciate it more.

Wynter is all about the M.I.A. documentary.

And Karen loves the new reality singing competition show The Masked Singer.

Jan 12, 2019

The ENTIRE PANEL is back together for a jam-packed episode! They talk Golden Globes, Bandersnatch and react to some of the commercial jingles you beautiful listeners sang to us on the Pop Rocket voicemail line.

All Abouts

Wynter, fresh off a romantic holiday trip to Paris, is all about the Louis Vuitton Foundation's Basquiat exhibition

Guy is all about Can You Ever Forgive Me

Margaret is all about Regina King's Golden Globes speech

Karen thinks everyone should check out the new Aussie show Instant Hotel on Netflix

That's My Jam

Margaret: Sleater Kinney - Oh!

Guy: Lizzo - Juice

Karen: Mitski - Nobody

Wynter: Listener Temple’s rendition of Attorney Hal Cook’s commercial jingle from Little Rock, Arkansas

With Guy BranumKaren TongsonMargaret WapplerWynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh
Did you know that you can now call and leave voicemails for the show? You can! If you want to comment on an episode, give us any feedback or just call to get advice from a panel member, the number is: (530) 237-4108

You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.

If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.

Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.

Jan 4, 2019

Guy Branum is back for our first episode of 2019! Sadly, Margaret couldn’t join us because #health and Wynter was busy being a jet setter.

This week, the panelists share their pop culture resolutions for 2019, and own up to resolution fails from the past year.

Writer and comedian Tara Jepsen joins us in studio and Guy is awed by the combined power of her and Karen’s “lesbian efficiency.”

If you're curious about what Guy has been up to these past couple months, he catches us up. Spoiler alert (though not really): He consumed a lot of theater. In particular, he saw Matthew Lopez’s seven-hour, two-night play The Inheritance, and had LOTS of opinions about it.

From “learn more commercial jingles” to “master a new recipe a month,” the panel reveals an ambitious list of resolutions they may or may not be able to stick with for an entire year.

All Abouts

Karen is all about Bird Box the new Netflix thriller starring Sandra Bullocks.

Tara is all about hating a bootleg recording of a recent standup set by disgraced comedian Louis C.K..

Guy is all about The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez, which is loosely based on Howard's End.

Call to Action
Inspired by one panelist’s resolution to learn more commercial jingles, we are asking Rocketeers to call in and sing their favorite jingles on the Pop Rocket voicemail. We want to hear those jingles that will forever be lodged in your brain.

That's My Jam

Guy: Janet Jackson -Together Again

Tara: Hey Jellie - Going Back

Karen: Labi Siffre - Watch Me

With Guy BranumKaren Tongson, and Tara Jepsen.

Did you know that you can now call and leave voicemails for the show? You can! If you want to comment on an episode, give us any feedback or just call to get advice from a panel member, the number is: (530) 237-4108

You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.

If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.

Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.

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