Episode #1117

Gervais, Lit Therapy, Textbook War

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Friday, April 23, 2010

Kurt talks to Ricky Gervais about making audiences laugh wherever he goes: on TV, on stage and in a podcast. The Miami Poetry Collective takes poetry to the streets. Literature students want to put characters from the classics on psychotropic medication. And hear how a 1970s West Virginia battle over textbooks changed them forever.

Studio 360 Episode 1117, Gervais, Lit Therapy, Textbook War Ricky Gervais (Ray Burmiston)

Ricky Gervais

He's the British comic who created the original version of "The Office" and captured hilariously the alienation of 9-to-5ers everywhere. Now he's podcasting and performing stand-up, and no matter what he touches, he makes us laugh. Gervais tells Kurt how his early failure as ...

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Bonus Track: More from Gervais

Gervais declares his love for Karl Pilkington, the "secret" behind both the podcast and the new HBO show. Plus Gervais does a pitch-perfect impression of Anthony Hopkins from "The Elephant Man."

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Diagnosing Literature

Was Bartleby the Scrivener depressed? Did Clarissa Dalloway need lithium? Today's English lit students seem to want to medicate away the problems of classic literary characters. Studio 360's Eric Molinsky explores this phenomenon with help from NYU professor Elayne Tobin and novelist Michael ...

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Medicated Holden

What would Holden Caulfield be like if he took antidepressants? Actor Brian Vincent plays Holden in Eric Molinsky's satire.

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The Great Textbook War

In 1974, during the most turbulent schoolbook boycott in U.S. history, schools were bombed and buses hit with sniper fire in Kanawha County, West Virginia because local community members objected to works by authors like Eldridge Cleaver and Allen Ginsberg. Studio 360's Trey Kay looks into the ...

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Miami Poem Depot

In Miami, poets create on-demand verses for passers-by on manual typewriters. The project is called the "Poem Depot," and it's the brainchild of the Miami Poetry Collective. Produced by Alicia Zuckerman.

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