My Top 10 Moments of Culture
Ding, dong! Las Culturistas calling!
Ding dong!
Hosted by best friends and comedians (who you’re probably already familiar with) Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, Las Culturistas is a weekly comedy podcast which dives deep into the heart of pop culture. My dear friend Ann turned me onto the podcast and I haven’t looked back since. My only regret is that I hadn’t listened sooner.
Important podcast segments include “I Don’t Think So Honey,” “Rules of Culture,” and “The Moment When You Decided Culture Was For You.” Below is the outline for each of these segments:
I Don’t Think So Honey - The moment towards the end of the episode where Matt, Bowen and guest have one minute to pontificate about something they are finding to be infuriating. Listen to an example here.
Rules of Culture - They are simply the rules, which range from such prolific realizations as “Celine Dion is an empath, honey, deal with it,” to “Be your own lawyer, represent yourself in court.” Find more rules here.
The Moment When You Decided Culture Was For You - The question that is asked to every guest on the show, where they consider the moment in their lives when they became invested in culture. This could be anything from a music video that impacted said guest as a child, to a fashion trend. I encourage you all to consider the moment in culture when you decided culture was for you (mine is featured below).
In the midst of the pandemic, I came across Las Culturistas’ Top 200 Moments in Culture History, which made me cackle immediately upon reading. Since first seeing it, I had been deciding upon my own top moments in my head. So inspired by their list, I humbly submit ten additional moments below. If you’d like to listen to Matt and Bowen read this list aloud, click here. Or you may read them all below, courtesy of the Las Culturistas Instagram, from #200 to #1.
In no particular order, below are my submissions for top 10 additional Top Moments in Culture, with a brief explanation as to why:
1.) Eileen Davidson saying “Beast!”
The Amsterdam dinner fight in season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills featured many important moments. But arguably the most important was Eileen Davison digging into her soap opera roots to deliver the line, “beast”.
2.) The finger wave Mariah Carey does while singing “who” in the “We Belong Together” music video.
The We Belong Together video is important for many reasons, but the finger wave seen at 1:22 is most important. Emancipation of Mimi indeed.
3.) Lady Gaga’s 2009 Paparazzi Performance
This is my moment when I decided culture was for me. If you listen closely ay 3:22, you can hear the audience gasping.
4.) Cynthia Erivo’s strut after singing “I’m Here” in The Color Purple
Whilst this entire performance is sure to provoke chills, go to 4:55 for this exact moment.
5.) Nelly Furtado and Timbaland
Was anyone more powerful than Nelly Furtado and Timbaland in the 2000s? *Promiscuous voice* - “Didn’t think so.” I will be doing a deep dive post into Nelly Furtado soon, stay tuned.
6.) Slap dilly oso aka Quack diddly oso aka Stella Ella Ola
The clapping game that brought together and tore apart friendships. It’s worth noting that every person I’ve ever talked to about this game has a different variation.
7.) The background lines in “The Princess Diaries”
These lines include:
My dad says I’M a princess
Get off the grass!
It’s between France and Spain, that was a question on Jeopardy last night.
Honorable mention is Lilly Moscovitz saying “Voltaire, hair.”
8.) When Nick Jonas sang “Red Dress” in Burnin’ Up.
If you know, you know. Go to 1:16.
9.) Michael Maguire as Enjolras in the Tenth Anniversary Les Miserables Dream Cast.
Arguably my s*xual awakening.
10.) When One Direction covered Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus
Honorable mention: The way Anne Hathaway says “David” on SNL
This is perhaps more of any inside joke amongst friends. It’s still important nonetheless.
And there you have it - my 10 submissions for Top Moments in Culture. This will be an ongoing list, so expect more in the future.
What would you submit as a moment of culture for you? I simply need to know. Leave a comment or DM me.
Not gonna lie I read all 200 of those and was (almost) very disappointed as I approached the last page with still NO mention of Spiceworld, to find it at #3. I would argue to my death that it deserves the #1 spot. It’s a cultural touch point for us all.
Two more to add: The Bed Rock Music video and the DJ Earworm united state of pop 2009