The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

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1. Legendary banjo player and bluegrass icon Earl Scruggs — the man behind “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” as well as The Beverly Hillbillies’ theme song, “The Ballad of Jed Clampett” — has died at the age of 88 of natural causes. [via Billboard]

2. Apparently Lorne Michaels has been auditioning some new performers over the past few weeks, and he’s finally found someone he likes; Big Gay Sketch Show veteran Kate McKinnon will make her debut in the next episode of Saturday Night Live. [via Vulture]

3. Kevin Smith would like to make Clerks 3 — as a limited-run play on Broadway. [via Slashfilm]

4. Beginning this Friday night, Cartoon Network is launching a new programming block that will feature a lot of the shows you grew up watching — fan favorites like Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Powerpuff Girls. [via The Daily What]

5. Julianne Moore will join Scarlett Johansson in the cast of Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s yet-to-be titled directorial debut, a comedy about “a modern day Don Juan who goes on a journey to become less of a ‘selfish dick,'” that he’ll also star in. She’ll be playing Gordon-Levitt’s “unlikely” mentor. [via The Playlist]

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