Arts Audio/Video - NPR

Triumph the Comic Insult Dog's bark may be worse than his bite: The canine puppet has been mocking Hollywood celebrities for over a decade now. Robert Smigel, Triumph's creator, talks about the furry late-night fixture and his other comedy projects.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews Mad Men, the drama about advertising execs during the Kennedy years. Season two of the Emmy-nominated series begins on Sunday night on AMC.

"Hello, dummies!" Top insult comedian Don Rickles is still as sharp as ever. At age 82, he just received his first Emmy nomination for his performance on the HBO special Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project.

Naked ladies, rabbits, basketballs and a big, shiny blue heart are all on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art, courtesy of the American painter, sculptor and artist-provocateur. The exhibit leaves most visitors smiling, laughing or just plain puzzled.

Purists, fear not: The new film of the Evelyn Waugh novel is visually sumptuous and largely stays true to its source. And Bob Mondello says this two-hour take on the classic tale provides new insights on character.

More sentimental than spooky, the second X-Files film asks not whether you believe in alien life or vast government conspiracies, but if you believe in life after love.

The Talladega Nights team reunites for some rudimentary plotting and an abundance of anatomical humor, courtesy of two whiny man-children: To critic Cynthia Fuchs, that all adds up to "tedious."

With a tightly woven narrative, James Marsh's superb documentary studies Philippe Petit's high-wire walk between the Twin Towers. Critic David Edelstein says the film is often awe-inducing.

This summer has offered a feast of superhero flicks — from Iron Man, to The Incredible Hulk, to The Dark Knight. But despite their box-office success, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott warns that comic book movies may have hit their peak this summer — and that it will all be disappointing sequels from here.

In the early 80s, Yaz was a favorite on dance floors worldwide. The duo was short-lived, but they scored multiple Top Ten hits in the U.S. and the U.K. Now Yaz is back together for its 25th anniversary.

The Monty Python funnyman is back with Not The Messiah, an adaptation of the 1979 film Life of Brian. He reprises some of the original songs and characters, and laments that the sheep get more applause than he does.

Amid summer's blockbusters, two films offer a change of pace: American Teen, a documentary that plays like fiction, and Boy A, fiction that feels true to life.

The team behind the car-racing comedy Talladega Nights is taking another lap. Director Adam McKay and actors Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly talk about their new film, Step Brothers, and the laughs they had making it.

Janis Ian wrote "Society's Child," a song about an interracial couple in the 1960s, when she was 15 years old, a song that she says everyone hated her for. In a new memoir, Ian recounts her life as an activist and musician.

The Oscars telecast has experienced poor ratings in recent years. Summer films gave critic Andrew Wallenstein an idea about how to get more people to watch the ceremony: nominate films people actually go to see.

Books inspired by PG-13 movies are taking over library shelves. Can See Iron Man Run really be good for young readers? Alex Cohen talks with Slate.com writer Erica Perl about the pros and cons of "fast-food lit."

Before he was old enough to say "embarrassing," millions of people saw Spencer Elden in his birthday suit on the cover of Nevermind. Now a teenager, he's trying to make sense of his very public image.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new Silver Jews album, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. The band is fronted by singer, songwriter, poet and occasional cartoonist David Berman.

Brothers Doug and Ryan Stewart are known to sports fans as the 2 Live Stews. Now, they've moved to television with a show, airing on TV One, called Black Men Revealed. They join NPR's Tony Cox to talk about it.

NBC has announced Jay Leno's last day as host of The Tonight Show will be May 29, 2009. Conan O'Brien is to be the show's new host. This may set off a game of musical chairs in late-night if Leno wants to stay on television and goes to another network.

It's been six years since X-Files fans have had a fresh dose of the show's paranormal paranoia. Neda Ulaby investigates whether the hard-core X-philes have stuck with their show — and how producers are finding a new audience.

Actress Estelle Getty, who played the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on the long-running television show The Golden Girls has died. She was 84. The show about four female retirees sharing a house in Miami ran from 1985-92. Getty won two Emmys for her role.

The diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's The Golden Girls, has died. She was 84, and had suffered from dementia in recent years.

Alexander Calder is famous for large public art and delicate mobiles. But he also created deceptively simple and elegant jewelry that, for the first time, is the focus of an exhibition. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is its initial stop on an international tour.

Critics have widely praised Heath Ledger's interpretation of the role of "The Joker" in the latest Batman movie. Washington Post staff writer Hank Stuever even argues that Ledger has redefined the green-haired, clown-like villain to create a character more compelling and relevant than Batman himself.

Batman set a record this weekend. The new movie The Dark Knight has pulled in more than $155 million, a record U.S. box office weekend. The film got a huge boost from interest in the late Heath Ledger's role as The Joker.

Fresh Air's jazz critic has a listen to a re-issue of The Hawk Flies High, the 1957 album from tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins — who's often credited with legitimizing that instrument in the jazz world.

The Dark Knight is the most successful film of the summer. Director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale can take much of the credit: They've revived a flagging franchise, offering a fresher, darker look at a legend.

European film aficionados are noting a resurgence in North Africa's film industry. But Algerian producers and critics say the war-battered and repressive country still has a long way to go to regain the form that produced such classics as The Battle of Algiers in the 1960s.

Paula Felix-Didier of the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires, Argentina, discovered more than 20 minutes of missing film footage from the classic science fiction silent movie Metropolis in her museum's archives. German filmmaker Fritz Lang directed the film, and three reels have been missing almost since its premiere in 1927.

"No country has ever closely scrutinized itself visually," the legendary photographer once said. A new book documents hundreds of the Depression-era images she took and the descriptions she wrote of them.

Last week, the Library of Congress appointed Kay Ryan to be the nation's next poet laureate. Ryan, who will take the position in the fall, shares a pair of poems and talks to host Andrea Seabrook about her approach to words and writing.

When Henry Fleming joins the Union Army, he's got big ideas of what glorious battles await him. He's eager to impress his friends and a brown-haired girl he likes. But soon he questions himself — and his courage.

At a time of outright genocide in Darfur, and civil unrest throughout the Sudan, an unprecedented gathering of musicians from across the war-torn country presented a contrasting picture — one of harmony and unity — at the Sudanese Festival of Music and Dance in Chicago.

This week, in an unusual first, television producer Joss Whedon unveiled Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a musical comedy written for — and released exclusively on — the Internet.

Writer Mark Jordan Legan breaks down reviews of the long-awaited Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Animated feature Space Chimps is up next. And finally, Legan looks at Mamma Mia!, starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan. It's as divisive as ABBA itself, he says.

In The Dark Knight, an explosively provocative Batman installment directed by Christopher Nolan, exhilaratingly straightforward action sequences are matched by moral complexity of a sort not usually associated with comic-book movie franchises.

Farai Chideya speaks with Newsweek correspondent and News & Notes regular contributor Allison Samuels about the feud among the children of the late Martin Luther King Jr., Eddie Murphy's latest movie flop, and the recently announced Emmy nominations.

Two Golden Globe wins, 16 Emmy nominations, and a new season on its way: The AMC television drama Mad Men seems on its way to making itself a household name. Celebrating its success is creator Matt Weiner.