The Dinner Party on WUNC

 Dinner Party - Saturdays at 4
Credit APM
Sat 4p
Brendan Francis Newnam and Rico Gagliano

The Dinner Party is a culture show designed to help you dazzle your friends at your next social gathering. Launched as a podcast in 2010, The Dinner Party is beloved by audiences for its spontaneity, thoughtfulness and exuberance. The show was lauded by Wallpaper magazine as one of the “Top 40 Reasons to Live in America” and hosts Gagliano and Newnam were named to Food & Wine magazine’s “40 Big Thinkers Under 40” list. 

Rico with WUNC Coffee mug
Credit APM
What happened to your WUNC coffee mug, Rico?

The show unfolds like a dinner party, kicking off with “The Icebreaker”— a joke to warm things up. Next comes “Small Talk,” in which top print and online journalists from around the country share their favorite odd news story of the week.  The “Cocktails” portion of the show features a true tale from this week in history with a handcrafted cocktail recipe themed after that it. Later, we usually “Eavesdrop” on an author reading from a hot new release or answer listeners’ burning etiquette questions. The marquee segment of the show is the “Guest of Honor,” in which hosts Gagliano and Newnam interview some of the most fascinating celebrities in the world and routinely get them to talk about the most unexpected, dinner-party-worthy subjects.

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Podcasts

  • Friday, June 14, 2013 5:07pm
    This week: Filmmaker Sofia Coppola takes us into the heart of darkness and into Paris Hilton's home ... Humorist Jonathan Goldstein takes his dad for a beer of rebellion ... It's the time on the season for a party playlist from The Zombies ... Lidia Bastianich dishes out food etiquette and makes a divine intervention ... Reviving corpses with blood and booze ... Shining the spotlight on back-up singers ... And gin's friend tonic gets a make-over. Plus, screaming pigs, Jackie Chan's new musical, and a Washed Out song that just feels right.
  • Monday, June 10, 2013 5:07pm
    This week: Actress Ellen Page (The East) on saving the planet and playing with dolls ... National Book Award winner Colum McCann takes us on a Transatlantic trip ... Laura Osnes -- Tony-nominated Cinderella on Broadway -- shares her favorite rags-to-riches stories ... Rico stuffs himself with stuffies ... Etiquette advice to make air travel a tiny bit more comfortable ... Hunting for the world's most exotic -- and seductive -- fruits ... And a classy, grassy cocktail for a baseball legend. Plus, a rogue joke, new Faces in music, and the only time The Price is Right can cost you.
  • Friday, May 31, 2013 5:07pm
    This week: Sex writer Dan Savage on cheating and snowboarding... Actress Jessica Walter of Arrested Development plays nice for etiquette... Doo-wop legend Kenny Vance on closing for the Rolling Stones... The director of indie gem The Kings of Summer warms us up for the season... Learn the history of Pac-Man, then gobble up a pizza-themed cocktail... The mutant cro-nut invades NYC... and an Alpine track that's setting the internet ablaze. Plus, life lessons from Karate, apathetic jokes, and tacopedias. Browse with your mouth!
  • Friday, May 24, 2013 5:07pm
    This week: Actress Andrea Riseborough (Shadow Dancer) reveals her secret identity ... Fitz, of The Tantrums, throws us an '80s dance party ... Why Italian pork will be flooding American shores ... Novelist Joanna Hershon's new take on an Old School ... The history of traffic tickets inspires a boozy Bicyclette ... And the Posts throw down the etiquette gantlet ... Plus, contemporary Dodos, wood cuts, and wrap artists.
  • Friday, May 17, 2013 5:07pm
    This week: We look back to one of our favorite episodes, in which actor/polymath James Franco rebels against beds ... Preeminent travel writer Paul Theroux offers etiquette advice to globetrotters (and public radio hosts) ... Nashville raconteur Todd Snider tells of his brush with NASCAR fame ... The NY Public Library celebrates Noel Coward ... and Hollywood's top auctioneer remembers memorabilia. Plus: the history of blue jeans, a Twin Shadow tune, sommeliers for your ears, and smashing (Guinness) records.