Stephen Thompson Stephen Thompson is a host, writer and reviewer for NPR Music and Pop Culture Happy Hour. He appears frequently on All Songs Considered and NPR newsmagazines.
Washington, DC - May 03, 2016: Stephen Thompson CREDIT: Matt Roth
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Stephen Thompson

Matt Roth/NPR
Washington, DC - May 03, 2016: Stephen Thompson CREDIT: Matt Roth
Matt Roth/NPR

Stephen Thompson

Writer/Editor, NPR Music and Host, Pop Culture Happy Hour

Stephen Thompson is a host, writer and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist and guest host on All Songs Considered. Thompson also co-hosts the daily NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created with NPR's Linda Holmes in 2010. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)

In 1993, Thompson founded The Onion's entertainment section, The A.V. Club, which he edited — alongside duties as The Onion's copy editor — until December 2004. In the years since, he has provided music- and pop-culture-themed commentaries for NPR programs such as Weekend Edition, All Things Considered and Morning Edition, on which he earned the distinction of becoming the first member of the NPR Music staff ever to sing on an NPR newsmagazine. (Later, the magic of AutoTune transformed him from a 12th-rate David Archuleta into a fourth-rate Cher.) Thompson's entertainment writing has also run in Paste magazine, The Washington Post and The London Guardian.

During his tenure at The Onion, Thompson edited the 2002 book The Tenacity Of The Cockroach: Conversations With Entertainment's Most Enduring Outsiders (Crown) and copy-edited six best-selling comedy books. While there, he also coached The Onion's softball team to a sizzling 21-42 record, and was once outscored 72-0 in a span of 10 innings. Later in life, Thompson redeemed himself by teaming up with the small gaggle of fleet-footed twentysomethings who won the 2008 NPR Relay Race, a triumph he documents in a hard-hitting essay for the book This Is NPR: The First Forty Years (Chronicle).

A 1994 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Thompson now lives in Silver Spring, Md., with his girlfriend, their three cats and a room full of vintage arcade machines. (He also has two adult children who've headed off to college but still call once in a while.) Thompson's hobbies include watching reality television without shame, eating Pringles until his hand has involuntarily twisted itself into a gnarled claw, using the size of his Twitter following to assess his self-worth, touting the immutable moral superiority of the Green Bay Packers (who returned the favor by making a 22-minute documentary about his life) and maintaining a fierce rivalry with all Midwestern states other than Wisconsin.

Story Archive

Tuesday

Bruce Willis in a scene from Die Hard. FlixPix/Alamy hide caption

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FlixPix/Alamy

Monday

Ariana DeBose as Asha in Wish. Disney hide caption

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Disney

Friday

Tuesday

Vanessa Kirby and Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon. Aidan Monaghan/Apple hide caption

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Aidan Monaghan/Apple

Monday

Barry Keoghan and Archie Madekwe in Saltburn. MGM and Amazon Studios hide caption

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MGM and Amazon Studios

Friday

Isa Briones, left, Will Price, Miles McKenna, Zack Morris and Ana Yi Puig in Goosebumps. David Astorga/Disney hide caption

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David Astorga/Disney

Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Murray Close/Lionsgate hide caption

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Murray Close/Lionsgate

2 Chainz and Lil Wayne teamed up for Welcome 2 Collegrove. Courtesy of Def Jam hide caption

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Courtesy of Def Jam

New Music Friday: The best releases out on Nov. 17

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Thursday

Kaimana and Michael Fassbender in Next Goal Wins. Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/Searchlight Pictures hide caption

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Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/Searchlight Pictures

Friday

Billie Eilish is nominated for six Grammys at the 2024 awards ceremony. Five of those nominations are for her song "What Was I Made For," from the soundtrack to the film Barbie. Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images

A review of the 2023 Grammy nominations

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Wednesday

Friday

Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi in Priscilla. A24 hide caption

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A24

Thursday

The Beatles, pictured here in 1969, just released what's been billed as the band's final song. Bruce McBroom/© Apple Corps Ltd. hide caption

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Bruce McBroom/© Apple Corps Ltd.

The Beatles' 'Now and Then' is a wistful curiosity, 45 years in the making

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Faith Martin and Gerry Turner on ABC's The Golden Bachelor. Craig Sjodin/ABC hide caption

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Craig Sjodin/ABC

Wednesday

Josh Hutcherson and Piper Rubio in Five Nights at Freddy's. Patti Perret/Universal Pictures hide caption

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Patti Perret/Universal Pictures

Friday

Lokita (Joely Mbundu) and Tori (Pablo Schils) are two migrant children making their way in Belgium in Tori and Lokita. Janus Films hide caption

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Janus Films

Anna Richardson hosts the Channel 4 reality dating show, Naked Attraction which is now available on Max. Channel 4 / Nicky Johnston hide caption

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Channel 4 / Nicky Johnston

Friday

Blink-182 is back with reunion record 'One More Time'

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Sampha's LAHAI tops our shortlist for the best releases out this week. Jesse Crankson/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Jesse Crankson/Courtesy of the artist

New Music Friday: The best releases out on Oct. 20

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Thursday

Bad Bunny performs during the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella hide caption

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Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella

Friday

L'Rain's new album, I Killed Your Dog, is one of our favorite releases of the week. Tonje Thilesen/Courtest of the artist hide caption

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Tonje Thilesen/Courtest of the artist

New Music Friday: The best releases out Oct. 13

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Friday