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Tuesday

Monday

Neil Innes, Monty Python Collaborator And Rutles Member, Dead At 75

From left to right: John Cleese, Neil Innes, Michael Palin and Eric Idle dressed as Arthurian knights on the set of Monty Python and the Holy Grail in 1974. John Downing/Getty Images hide caption

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John Downing/Getty Images

Music News

Neil Innes, Monty Python Collaborator And Rutles Member, Dead At 75

The singer and writer performed in The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and later formed the Beatles pastiche, The Rutles, with Eric Idle.

Saturday

Ilana Glazer Strikes Out On Her Own In New Stand-Up Special

Comedian and actor Ilana Glazer strikes out solo in her new hour-long special, The Planet Is Burning, set to release on Amazon Prime Video in January. Emily V. Aragones/Amazon Studios, Prime Video hide caption

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Emily V. Aragones/Amazon Studios, Prime Video

Ilana Glazer Strikes Out On Her Own In New Stand-Up Special

After shedding her beloved, free-wheeling Broad City character, the real Ilana is coming out of dormancy. "I have this fire in me," she says. It shows in her new comedy special, The Planet is Burning.

Ilana Glazer Strikes Out On Her Own In New Stand-Up Special

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Friday

Theater

'Fresh Air' Favorites: 'Book Of Mormon' Creators Trey Parker And Matt Stone

Fresh Air

This week, we're listening back to some favorite Fresh Air interviews from the past decade. In 2011, Terry Gross spoke to the creators of South Park about their Broadway hit.

'Fresh Air' Favorites: 'Book Of Mormon' Creators Trey Parker And Matt Stone

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Monday

A Critic Returns To The Books, TV, Music And Movies He Didn't Get To In 2019

Merritt Wever and Toni Collette play two detectives investigating a series of sexual assaults in the Netflix show Unbelievable. Beth Dubber/Netflix hide caption

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Beth Dubber/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture

A Critic Returns To The Books, TV, Music And Movies He Didn't Get To In 2019

Fresh Air

Few things haunt a critic more than loving something and not being able to share it. This year, Fresh Air critic John Powers circles back to Unbelievable, Atlantics, Where the Light Falls and more.

A Critic Returns To The Books, TV, Music And Movies He Didn't Get To In 2019

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Sunday

Saturday

'The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show' Revives A Classic Holiday Tradition

"It was important for me to stay away from [religious themes with] this special, because I think there's a lot of other things that a lot of different people could enjoy about the holidays," Musgraves says. Anne Marie Fox/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Anne Marie Fox/Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

'The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show' Revives A Classic Holiday Tradition

The country star thought it "would be a fun way to bring my old Christmas album back in the form of those old Christmas specials that we love."

'The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show' Revives A Classic Holiday Tradition

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Friday

Comedian Margaret Cho: 'I Invented The Cancellation'

Comedian Margaret Cho is currently on a stand-up tour called Fresh Off the Bloat. Albert Sanchez hide caption

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Albert Sanchez

She's Funny

Comedian Margaret Cho: 'I Invented The Cancellation'

Loud and unapologetic, and a trailblazer on race and sexuality, the stand-up comic discussed "cancel culture," Asian American comedy and her short-lived sitcom All-American Girl.

Comedian Margaret Cho: 'I Invented The Cancellation'

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Wednesday

Nothing Beats 'The Good Place': David Bianculli Picks The Best TV Of 2019

Dan Stevens plays a young man who's haunted by the voices in his head in Legion. Kristen Bell explores what it means to be a good person on The Good Place. FX, NBC hide caption

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FX, NBC

Review

TV Reviews

Nothing Beats 'The Good Place': David Bianculli Picks The Best TV Of 2019

Fresh Air

There were a lot of great shows to watch on television this year — many of them on streaming services. At the top of the list is NBC's comedy about life after death.

Nothing Beats 'The Good Place': David Bianculli Picks The Best TV Of 2019

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Our 15 Favorite Things Of 2019

It was undeniably the year of Lizzo. Bill McCay/Getty Images for iHeartMedia hide caption

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Bill McCay/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Our 15 Favorite Things Of 2019

We loved a lot of things in 2019. And now, as the year comes to a close, it's time to give you just a taste of some of our favorite things of the year. We've got movies, music, television, and theater. (Support your local station at donate.npr.org/happy)

Our 15 Favorite Things Of 2019

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Sunday

Friday

In 'Work In Progress,' A Darkly Funny Coming-Of-Middle-Age

Abby McEnany plays a version of herself in Work in Progress, a dark comedy series based on her own life. Showtime hide caption

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Showtime

In 'Work In Progress,' A Darkly Funny Coming-Of-Middle-Age

Abby McEnany plays a version of herself — a mid-40s, queer, gender non-conforming woman — in a new Showtime comedy series. It's the first TV project for the Chicago improv stalwart.

In 'Work In Progress,' A Darkly Funny Coming-Of-Middle-Age

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Wanda Sykes Loves Stand-Up: That's Where 'I Can Be Free,' She Says

Fresh Air

Before Sykes became a comic, she worked at the NSA and had top security clearance. Now she takes on the president in her Emmy-nominated Netflix special Not Normal. Originally broadcast Aug. 1, 2019.

Wanda Sykes Loves Stand-Up: That's Where 'I Can Be Free,' She Says

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NPR's Favorite TV Shows Of 2019

Clockwise: Watchmen, Russian Doll, Los Espookys, The Crown, When They See Us and Documentary Now! made NPR critics' list of the best television of 2019. Mark Hill/HBO, Netflix, HBO, Sophie Mutevelian/Netflix, Atsushi Nishijima/Netflix, Rhys Thomas/IFC hide caption

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Mark Hill/HBO, Netflix, HBO, Sophie Mutevelian/Netflix, Atsushi Nishijima/Netflix, Rhys Thomas/IFC

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

NPR's Favorite TV Shows Of 2019

Series such as Fleabag, Watchmen and Succession highlight our pop culture critics' list of the 19 best television and serial streaming programs of 2019.

Baby Yoda... That's The Episode

Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian Courtesy of Disney + hide caption

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Courtesy of Disney +

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Baby Yoda... That's The Episode

The Mandalorian is the highest profile and most expensive original series to debut on the Disney+ streaming service. Set in the Star Wars universe soon after the fall of the Galactic Empire, it follows a be-helmeted, be-armored bounty hunter played by Pedro Pascal. He goes rogue to protect the most memeable thing to hit the Star Wars universe since Han shot first.

Baby Yoda... That's The Episode

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