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In 1978, there were more female comedians in LA than ever before, and many of them were performing at the Comedy Store. But that didn’t mean they were treated fairly, or even given much of a chance to perform.The Comedy Store’s owner, Mitzi Shore, tried to rectify that with an experiment — a room dedicated only to female performers. It was a move that was warmly welcomed by some comedians, and treated with a lot of skepticism by others. It was a great place to develop a unique style that might not have played with mainstream audiences, because audiences rarely showed up. Here’s the story of the ups and downs of the Belly Room.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by the New York Times’ Marc Tracy to discuss UMBC. Deadspin’s Dom Cosentino comes on to talk about Kirk Cousins’ new contract. Plus: Dave Kindred on covering girls’ high school basketball. NCAA (1:27): Stefan, Josh, and Marc Tracy of the New York Times recap the first weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, including 16-seed UMBC’s historic win over 1-seed Virginia. Kirk Cousins (23:30): Stefan and Josh are joined by Dom Cosentino of Deadspin to discuss whether NFL players and agents will be emboldened by free-agent quarterback Kirk Cousins’ groundbreaking guaranteed contract with the Minnesota Vikings. Dave Kindred (40:06): After retiring home to Illinois seven years ago, Dave Kindred began covering the local girls’ basketball team for fun. Then his wife suffered a massive stroke. Dave talks about the experience with Stefan and Josh. Afterballs( 56:30): 

On today’s Gist, we’re nixing the Spiel to go on a Slate Podcasts retreat! Shouldn’t the White House staff have their own officewide retreat day? Plus, Maria Konnikova considers receipt paper toxicity: Is it BS? Konnikova writes for the New Yorker and is the author of The Confidence Game. 

Jacob Weisberg talks to Chris Whipple, author of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, about what it takes to be a successful Chief of Staff, how John Kelly reinforces Trump's partisan instincts, and why he has failed even by his own narrow definitions of the job. Plus, an incredible coincidence takes place in the Seychelles.

Virginia Heffernan is joined by The Guardian's Luke Harding and the Head of the Global Magnitsky Justice campaign, Bill Browder, to discuss Vladamir Putin, his actions in the UK, and just what message he's sending to the Western world.Today's show was recorded from PutinCon in NYC on Friday, March 16th, 2018.

As part of our continuing series about animals with jobs Jacob Brogan sits down with Wendy Rice of the Cincinnati Zoo to talk about Fiona the Hippo and how she helps Fiona in her job as ambassador of the Cincinnati Zoo, and all of hippo-kind. 

Listener questions about universal basic income, getting swole, McDonald's, and housing, with Felix Salmon, Anna Szymanski, and Jordan Weissmann. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder

This week Dahlia Lithwick calls on white-collar-crime specialist Jennifer Taub to follow the money in the Mueller investigation. She also speaks with  Bob Bauer, a former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, about the relationship between presidents and their lawyers, and between this president and his lawyers. Bauer discusses when professional duty can stray into enabling, a question facing Trump’s personal and institutional lawyers as cases involving the president accumulate. Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.Podcast production by Sara Burningham.

Pierre Bienaimé has three things to know today—from Gina Haspel's bad rap, to the firing of the FBI's number 2, to the many, many Saint Patrick's day lies.

On The Gist, “meddling” is too weak a word to describe what Russia did during in the U.S. election. In the interview, Chris Molanphy walks us through the No. 1 hits of 1969, the year flower power and psychedelic pop went fully mainstream. Chris is the host of Slate’s Hit Parade. In the Spiel, our Congress members represent way too many constituents—700,000 on average—to stay in touch with their needs.

Jacob Weisberg chats with Michael Isikoff and David Corn, authors of Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump. They discuss why Trump continues to show deference towards the Kremlin, his history with Russia, and rate the Trump-Russia angles up to this point.

Susan Matthews, Dan Engber, Jacob Brogan, Kirsten Berg and Alex Barasch sit down for a science-filled spoiler special all about Blue Planet II.

Jayson De Leon has two things to start your day and they're all about lines – from Mueller looking into the Trump Organization to a judge reenforcing lines with two of Mueller's indictees.

Aisha Harris and producer Veralyn Williams discuss A Wrinkle in Time. And our conversation at the Speak Up, Rise Up festival with BuzzFeed’s Bim Adewunmi and Latino USA’s Antonia Cereijido about shameful representations in film and tv.For links on what we discuss check out our show page. Tell a friend to subscribe! Share this link: megaphone.link/representEmail: represent@slate.comFacebook: Slate RepresentTwitter: @SlateRepresent, @craftingmystyleProduction by Veralyn WilliamsSocial media: Marissa Martinelli

On The Gist, the Trump administration walks back a line about U.S. trade with Canada. And which American president was the studliest? Kate and J.D. Dobson are out with a book that considers Ulysses S. Grant’s quiet charisma, Franklin Pierce’s youthful charm, and the distinguished eyebrows of a certain Warren G. Harding. The Dobsons are the authors of Hottest Heads of State, Volume 1: The American Presidents.In the Spiel, the world’s greatest toy store goes down.