Culture Gabfest Elvis Has Entered the Building Edition
Mar 4, 2026
June Thomas, journalist and biographer (working on a Rita Mae Brown book), and Michael Schulman, film and awards historian, dig into Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis concert film and its staging of Vegas-era showmanship. They debate Tracy Morgan’s new sitcom and its 30 Rock lineage. They also wrestle with Netflix’s Famous Last Words series and whether posthumous interviews feel profound or exploitative.
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Childhood TV Jimps Shaped June's Elvis Memory
- June recalls watching Elvis movies as a child and being present for the 1977 death announcement, which shaped her early Elvis image.
- Seeing Epic altered her view: the Vegas concerts revealed a spiritual, hands-focused stagecraft she hadn't expected.
Screening Opened By A Rhinestone Impersonator
- Michael saw Epic at the 118-year-old Orpheum with a sold-out crowd and an Elvis impersonator who opened the show.
- The crowd's slow-dancing and the impersonator's finale line intensified the film's triumphant kitsch atmosphere.
Stitched Imperfection Becomes Intentional Aesthetic
- Baz Luhrmann's editing choices create an 'imperfect' concert feeling—stitched performances and in-the-moment decisions—that emphasizes spontaneity over choreography.
- That imperfection foregrounds a transitional era of showmanship and audience interaction.
