Mrs. Claus gives Santa aka Kris Kringle aka BowlFullofJelly a ‘Deck the Halls Pass’!
It’s true! Santa wants to trade-in the old Mrs for a brand new Better-Half-his-age on-line!
Mrs. Claus says it’s just a phase & his new on-line pics prove it!
Clara says, ‘What can I do? During sex Mr Kringle calls out all nine reindeer names plus his before he gets to mine: ‘Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Rudolph & Blinzes’!
‘You know that old saying, ‘There may be snow on the roof, but there’s fire in the furnace’!
‘Ha! Well, our furnace hasn’t worked since…Eisenhower‘!
‘With him, there’s always Good News & Bad News: Mr. Wonderful can find the John in the middle of the night…but can’t unbuckle his frigin’ Red Suit in time’!
‘He’ll find out you don’t always get what you want & I’ve got millions of Wish Lists here to prove it: Little Johnny wants a Doll, Little Susie wants a Truck & Marilyn Sandswants him to read her funny new book “CAN YOU PEE OUTDOORS?” On-Line Dating Straight Lines found on Amazon’!
I’m sorry! haha
‘Lookie, lookie – I found my poor little dear’s Dating Profile in his sock drawer next to his Viagra! Looks like he has 2 ‘About Me’ lists – one he posted & another in case the first one doesn’t work!
‘Help me decide if he’s ‘Naughty or Nice’ & whether I should take him back ‘as is’!
JOLLY
DRIVE AT NIGHT
WORK FROM HOME 364 DAYS A YEAR!
DON’T EXERCISE! Okay – get in sleigh, get out of sleigh!
WON’T RELOCATE – but know how to stack wood!
WHEN I SAY I’M OUT BOWLING – I’m out bowling!
ONCE HAD A FLING WITH THE TOOTH FAIRY!
LOVE ME SOME LAP DANCES!
HAVE KIDS, DON’T WANT KIDS – don’t want your kids!
LIKE TO RUN AROUND THE HOUSE NAKED WEARING TINSEL!
SMELL LIKE AN ASHTRAY!
WILL SHAVE MY BELOVED BEARD OFF IN EXCHANGE FOR – well, a truly benevolent gesture!
‘Oh look – my honey has only one deal breaker’!
‘He loves me’!
Marilyn Sands is a former 80’s Stand-Up Comic & Comic Booker. Sold Jokes to Joan Rivers & lesser lights. Was up one night & wrote 2 Madcap Screenplays & a Stage Play. Her hilarious book “CAN YOU PEE OUTDOORS” On-Line Dating Straight Lines is on amazon.com/dp/1733487409And, “OWNING THE STAGE, RENTING THE BALLS”!My Life as a Funny Girlis on amazon.com/dp/1733487417″Living proofyou don’t have to be a success to write a Memoir”!And yes, this bio is my OBIT too!haha
“I never pictured a world where marijuana would be anywhere close to legal, and it’s mind-blowing to me that mushrooms are being decriminalized everywhere,” says Shane Mauss, a comedian who tours the country discussing his psychedelic experiences. For the 2018 documentary Psychonautics, he consumed a wide variety of substances on camera, from ayahuasca to LSD to ketamine to DMT, a smokable drug known to provoke especially strong hallucinations in which users sometimes encounter cartoonish “entities.” Mauss also hosts a science podcast called Here We Are, where he shares his thoughts about the mainstreaming of psychedelic drugs, the surprising pace of legalization efforts, and the role that podcaster Joe Rogan and other public figures play in normalizing psychedelics.
In June, Reason‘s Nick Gillespie caught up with Mauss at the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Denver. Attended by a reported 13,000 people, the conference was organized by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a nonprofit that is in the final stages of gaining Food and Drug Administration approval for the use of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD.
Reason: What does the psychedelic renaissance mean to you?
Mauss: I don’t know what the psychedelic renaissance means to me. I can tell you that as someone who was born in 1980 and experienced much of the Reagan-era “just say no to drugs,” early ’90s PSAs, the frying egg and this-is-your-brain-on-drugs stuff, I never pictured a world where marijuana would be anywhere close to legal, and it’s mind-blowing to me that mushrooms are being decriminalized everywhere.
Even when I started my science podcast eight years ago, the [only] organization even attempting to jump through all of the regulatory hoops to just test psychedelics in any way at all was MAPS, which was much smaller even eight years ago. And now there’s Johns Hopkins and Stanford and a zillion universities are getting into it.
What do you think changed?
I don’t know if this is just what progress looks like and it’s inevitable? I know I didn’t see this coming. Maybe the war on drugs was such a horrible policy in the first place that it was never going to last.
What do you like about psychedelics?
Psychedelics just changed my life. I did them as kind of a goof when I was a teenager, to be a rebel or whatever. I had smoked weed and laughed about it and thought it was great, but psychedelics were something more meaningful for me. I always had pretty serious depression issues from the age of 10 years old, and [psychedelics] were something that really helped with that. Mushrooms were my all-time favorite, my go-to for a very, very long time. And I think if it weren’t for DMT, I probably wouldn’t have a science podcast. I was always interested in how the mind worked.
Can you describe your experience with DMT?
I was raised in a strict religious household. I didn’t fit into that. I was always an atheist, especially in my younger years. I was a very angry, bitter atheist. To have a DMT experience, it seems like you’re talking with entities or in some other world. Or is this the afterlife? Or is this some other dimension? That is the subjective feeling of a lot of experiences. It made me go: “How could I perceive something like that?” By the end of it, I actually don’t think I was in some other dimension. I think it was in my brain.
So then the question is, how would a brain make a perception that is so different from this conscious experience? It just got me really digging into how the subconscious mind works in neuroscience, and it was incredibly impactful for me over and over again. I started doing ketamine a few years ago and other than falling and scraping my face, it’s been nothing but really interesting. [Gestures at red marks on his face.] This looks much worse than it is.
If anyone watches my documentary Psychonautics, they’ll see I think I have a balanced take on psychedelics. I have a lot of inherent disclaimers. You can look at this face and go: “Well, maybe I should pause before doing ketamine outside of a nightclub so I don’t fall over.”
What are the parts of the psychedelic community that you like the most?
I did psychedelics alone for a very long time until I started experimenting with doing a psychedelics show. I think 2015 was when I first started doing a few of those. Once I started meeting the people that would come out to a psychedelic comedy show, they weren’t the cliché—burned-out, dreadlocked hair, and their only hygiene was a sound bath—type. It was never like that. Sometimes I’d have like one table of burnouts, a bunch of clichés, but you would just meet the most interesting, intelligent people.
I’ve been doing science shows for years, and it can be tough sledding sometimes, getting people to have the attention span to listen to jokes about biology. I remember the very first time that I did a show about psychedelics, the engagement was overwhelming. Afterward, there was a line of people. I’ve been a successful comedian since 2004 and I’ve been on Late Night and everything else. If you do a psychedelic comedy show, there is a line of people that has a million questions and they’re meeting each other in line and connecting. The psychedelic community is just so inquisitive and so open.
What are the parts of the psychedelic community you find objectionable?
I did a 111-city psychedelic comedy tour that ended in 2017. It was the greatest tour of my life. I loved meeting people every show. I loved going to festivals. Then COVID happened. As someone who interviews virologists and epidemiologists, the insane, not just conspiracies, but anger and harassment that I saw anyone doing any kind of science face, it certainly opened my eyes to some of the problematic errors in thinking within the community, some of the magical thinking, and a lot of the grifting in the space. Granted, this is the internet and you’re seeing the worst of the worst cases.
There’s a lot of pretty dubious supplements and things like that are being peddled and treatments and telling people you can cure their cancer with coffee enemas and stuff like that.
Is Joe Rogan a purveyor of psychedelic misinformation?
Absolutely. I’ve been on Joe Rogan’s show. I find him to be a good interviewer and a nice guy. And Alex Jones is one of his best friends. It’s just his shtick: “Oh, did the aliens make the pyramids?” It’s a little discouraging for someone who likes science [that when] I watch Animal Planet, Finding Bigfoot is the most popular show. Or when I try to watch the History Channel to learn something, Ancient Aliens is the most popular show on there.
On Joe Rogan’s show, a way to get on there is to have some big controversial idea or something like that. I think that he ends up subjected to a lot of grifters and a lot of people that are telling him what he already wants to hear and dressing it up as some sciencey-sounding thing.
Do you think the psychedelic community is more open to conspiracist thinking or anti-science thinking?
I find the psychedelic community to be very intelligent. I would say that because of the nature of it being such an underground thing, I think it has drawn people that are unconventional, that maybe don’t like authority as much, which is great. I think we should absolutely be questioning science and authorities and laws all of the time. I very much support that.
Sometimes it’s like a race to see who can have the most far-out idea because there are a lot of creative people in the space, and you want to get attention for your ideas and advertise your ideas. Some of those more far-out ideas are sexier and more tantalizing than reality for some people. I think reality is very interesting. Some people think reality is very boring.
Are psychedelics becoming normalized in our culture?
I started comedy in 2004. I was like a typical late-night, short-joke, absurdist comedian. I’ve always been interested in psychedelics, so even back then I would sprinkle in a few psychedelic jokes here and there. I found that if I did a regular comedy club, I could do five minutes of psychedelic jokes and it would be funny. Usually they were goofy ones, like I ate too many mushrooms. And if I talked about them too much more than that, you would start getting funny looks.
I had all of these deals potentially in the works and ran into all sorts of barriers at Showtime and HBO not wanting to anymore. They didn’t have a problem talking about drugs; they had a problem talking about potential benefits. It was talking about psychedelics as medicines that was very taboo to them. They wouldn’t touch it. When Michael Pollan’s book [How to Change Your Mind] came out, that was the first time there was a psychedelic book on the front of almost every bookstore in the country.Pollan’s book opened the doors for others. And for all of my criticisms of people like Aaron Rodgers, or someone that might be peddling a bunch of anti-science nonsense, it’s still awesome to have someone huge, like a [future] NFL Hall of Famer, praising psychedelics. There are pros and cons to it.
What do you think the benefits would be to society where psychedelic use is just normalized?
That’s a really interesting question because I’m not exactly one of those people that’s like, “If you just put LSD in the drinking water and everyone did LSD, the world would be peace and love.” I’ve seen the negative effects of psychedelics. I’ve been to a psych ward twice myself. I know that psychedelics aren’t perfect. The very things that can help some people’s mental health can hurt others. I have mixed feelings on making everything legal, but the war on drugs is a horrible failure. I don’t know what else there is to do but just get rid of the absurd laws around them.
It will make me nervous when people are doing psychedelics more and more willy-nilly because there’s unexpected things. I mean, marijuana changed my life. I no longer like the stuff. But I had such a beautiful few-year run with marijuana. I loved it. I never saw marijuana being legalized. I was thrilled, even though it’s no longer my cup of tea. Thrilled to see it go so legal and get so popular. My grandma, I think, did CBD. My God, I never saw that coming.
Are you worried about the psychedelic community as it becomes more mainstream?
I’m not about being the cool kid hipster about psychedelics. I’m thrilled to see more and more scientific organizations getting to be a part of it. I have more pause about some of the influencer community out there and some of the wellness community.
If you project 20–40 years into the future, where things have been psychedelicized, what’s that world look like?
I think that people [will] have more options, even to just escape reality, responsibility, or whatever, even in more reckless use of things than just drinking their faces off every day. I think there’s a correlation between younger people not drinking as much, and I think part of that has to do with marijuana and some of these other substances becoming more normalized. There [are] lots more alternatives for people. Even the lowest bar of that is less drunk driving, less alcoholism. I think there will be a lot of excitement for a while, and hopefully 40 years from now this will just be commonplace.
This interview has been condensed and edited for style and clarity.
The Marrakech International Film Festival begins on Friday, bringing American and international movie stars to the Arab world as war in the Middle East has led to the cancellation of other film festivals
BySAM METZ Associated Press
November 24, 2023, 3:57 AM
MARRAKECH, Morocco — International movie stars arrive in Morocco on Friday to kick off one of the Arab world’s largest film festivals amid a shadow cast by Israel’s latest war with Hamas and protests that have swept the region for almost two months.
Directors Martin Scorsese and Richard Linklater and actors Jessica Chastain and Mads Mikkelsen are expected in Marrakech for a festival that Moroccan Prince Moulay Rachid called a “bastion of peace that brings people closer together.”
The prince, who leads the foundation responsible for the festival, said in a statement that the festival was an “invitation for discovery, empathy and sharing,” noting Morocco’s September earthquake and the catalog of Moroccan films and filmmakers scheduled to be showcased.
The Marrakech International Film Festival, along with Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival that is scheduled to open next week, are taking place despite war in Gaza. That’s in contrast to the Cairo International Film Festival and Tunisia’s Carthage Film Festival, both of which were canceled due to the war.
The festival opens Friday with Linklater’s action-comedy “Hit Man.” It will also feature more than 70 other films, including Michel Franco’s “Memory,” starring Chastain, and Matteo Garrone’s Italian immigration drama “Io Capitano.”
Mikkelsen, known for starring in “Another Round” and “Casino Royale,” will receive a career achievement award along with Moroccan actor-director Faouzi Bensaïdi, whose film “Deserts” is also being shown at the festival.
Scorsese will preside over the festival’s Atlas Workshops — an initiative designed to screen films or films in progress by emerging Arab and Moroccan filmmakers.
Comedian Maysoon Zayid is not interested in proving her humanity to others. “I don’t believe in humanization,” she quips. “If you don’t think I’m human, I can’t even start that conversation with you, because I’d much rather be a cat.” A Jersey-born comic of Palestinian descent with cerebral palsy, Zayid is full of one-liners as we talk in the weeks leading up to the Arab American American Comedy Festival, which celebrates its 20th anniversary on Sunday, November 19, at Town Hall in New York.
Zayid cofounded the fest in 2003 with comedian, lawyer, and SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah, who’s also from New Jersey and of Palestinian descent. “We’re probably the only comedy festival in the country—if not the world—that started in response to a terrorist attack,” Obeidallah tells me in a separate conversation. “But that’s the blunt reality of why this festival started.” In the aftermath of 9/11 and the lead-up to the Iraq war, “the negativity about Arab Americans on mainstream media, it was off the charts.”
So, Zayid and Obeidallah decided to do something about it. “Since day one, we have been combating the negative images of Arabs and Muslims in the media,” Zayid says. And they’ve stayed the course in uncertain times. “We started this vessel in the run-up to the Iraq war. And then [in 2012] we had it after Hurricane Sandy, when we didn’t know if we would even have electricity. We had it in 2021 when omicron was hitting and we didn’t know if they would close the clubs. We had one on Zoom. We’ve had them during the Yemen genocides, the Arab Springs, we’ve had them on days that mass shootings have happened.”
Now, of course, the festival comes in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, as well as the subsequent monthlong war in Gaza. “We are in the shadow of a moment in history where I thought I had seen it all,” Zayid says. “The show must go on, but I’ve never been in an atmosphere like this.”
“If you watch the media, there’s very little humanity of the Palestinians, the innocent people who are dying,” says Obeidallah. “Most of the stories are about Hamas and that somehow all Palestinians are Hamas, which is vile to say; Hamas is a terrorist group. The result is the pain that so many in our community are feeling.”
That community is banding together this Sunday. Zayid and Obeidallah will be joined by a bevy of comics of Arab descent, including Mohanad Elshieky and Dave Merheje, as well as Tony and Emmy winner Tony Shalhoub, who will sit for “a fireside chat.”
Born in Windsor, Canada, to Lebanese parents, Merheje plays Ahmed on Ramy Youssef’s Emmy-nominated FX series, Ramy. Over the phone, he tells me he’s finding it hard to motivate himself to tell jokes at a time like this. “Some days, honestly, I just don’t really feel like going up, like, I’m not as super-motivated,” he says. “It’s just so heartbreaking. ”
Still, Merheje plans to perform new material this Sunday. “I went to the Middle East for the first time over the last two years,” he says. “I went to Lebanon, where my parents were born, last year, and then I went to Egypt and Dubai.” Merheje says he was enamored by the region’s beauty. “I just felt this thing I never felt before. I’ve been trying to share that experience, because it was very beautiful. The people were great. The people were so welcoming, and there was such care and love and empathy that I saw there that I’ll never forget.”
Elshieky, who served as a digital producer on Full Frontal With Samantha Bee and has appeared on Conan and Comedy Central, was born and raised in Libya, but has not been able to return home since coming to the US in 2014 for what was supposed to be just a six-week exchange program. “I used to do a lot of translation work for journalists and whatnot who came to Libya to cover the civil war that was going on,” Elshieky says. “Because of my visit to the States—especially that it was sponsored by the US Department of State—I think some of the groups back home that were in control at the time assumed that I was somehow involved with the US government.”
“I can’t go back to Libya because I applied for political asylum and all of that stuff,” he adds. “I do not think it’s safe for me, personally, to go back. Hopefully, in the future, things change. Who knows?”
Like Merheje, Elshieky is having a hard time motivating himself to tell jokes right now. But he also believes that in doing so, he’ll find the strength he needs to persist in trying times. “I’m doing it so I can have some energy, because I feel like everything has been just absolutely fucking terrible,” he tells me. “A lot of the people who attend the festival are Arabs, Muslims, and brown people. Everyone has been having a bad time, but especially people who are in that community. This is good for me and good for them as well—just to be in a space with people who look like them, and maybe help take their mind away from just how terrible everything is.”
For those who are on social media or who love comedy, you have probably heard of Matt Rife. He is a wildly successful comedian on TikTok, where he has amassed more than 18 million followers. On Instagram he has 6 million and his live performances are popular. Currently he is sharing his struggles as being “hot” and a comedian, he says it makes it extra hard. So you wonder with all the pressure of being at “it” boy, does Matt Rife use weed.
From Ohio, Rife first took an interest in comedy at 14 years old when a teacher encouraged him to be in a high talent show. He did the show, and then started performing professionally a year later at just 15. He has been doing well since.
As a comedian, Rife is best known for his self-produced comedy specials: Only Fans (2021), Matthew Steven Rife (2023) and Walking Red Flag (2023), as well as his appearance on Bring the Funny in 2019. He has had guest roles on the sketch comedy and improv game show series Wild ‘n Out, and comedy television series Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Fresh Off the Boat.
The question really isn’t does Rife use weed, but how much! He is know for working his weed use in his comedy acts, including consuming on stage. The 28 year old has made a brand out of being handsome, stoned and funny. During one show, a guy from Texas, who may have had al little alcohol, ends up partaking with Rife who during the show. Check it out HERE.
Early on Rife shares about his marijuana life…
Rife gives a light-hearted touch to his cannabis use and helps make it mainstream – it the way Dean Martin made normalized martinis and drinking.
In “Next Goal Wins,” a soccer coach comes from far away to lead a hapless group of athletes. He’s a fish-out-of-water type, ill-suited for the job, but rises to the occasion and everyone feels good at the end. Wait, you’re thinking, that’s the plot of “Ted Lasso.” Well, only kind of.
Writer-director Taika Waititi — the manic, slightly unhinged mind behind “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “Jojo Rabbit” — offers a sports movie that’s not, of course, a sports movie and the opposite of whatever Jason Sudeikis was doing on his TV series.
“Next Goal Wins” — “inspired by true events” — stars Michael Fassbender as a bitter Dutch-American soccer coach assigned to help the struggling American Samoa national team qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The team is an international laughing stock and still stinging from having been on the wrong side of the worst loss in international soccer history — a 31-0 thrashing by Australia in 2001.
Waititi and co-writer Iain Morris based their movie on a 2014 British documentary of the same name and you can instantly tell why Waititi gravitated toward the story. It has a clash of civilizations, explores overcoming loss and it has a beautiful lesson about embracing those who are different.
In Waititi’s hands, it becomes a sloppy, quirky, pop culture-studded frothy comedy that gently apes other underdog sports movies but doesn’t offer much but a mildly funny respite from reality. It makes “Bend it like Beckham” seem really deep.
Waititi himself — he couldn’t resist stepping into his own film — frames the movie in the first minutes by playing a priest on American Samoa who promises this will not be a tale of woe but “a tale of woah!” (Shakespeare isn’t laughing).
Fassbender here is the opposite of Lasso — he’s broken inside, angry outside, egotistical and unyielding, a coach fired from his last three teams and given a career lifeline no one else wants. He has no home-spun wisdom to offer, just routine high school bullying. “Something’s not right about that guy,” says one islander. “Well,” comes the response. “He is white.”
The coach will eventually be redeemed by American Samoa itself, by the nobility of its people and the goodness of their souls, with the movie getting dangerously close to worn out movie cliche territory.
The script had an opportunity to really examine the demand of winning at all costs versus the rewards of merely having fun and having a passion for sports but abandons any lessons in a flurry of team-building montages.
This being a Waititi movie, there’s a scattershot of pop culture references — “Karate Kid,” “Taken,” “The Matrix,” “Any Given Sunday” and even Frank Sinatra (“You’re riding high in April, shot down in May”). At times, these seem more like the director’s idiosyncrasies than plot advancers.
The script also takes a weird sort of glee mocking the islanders, who are portrayed sometimes as playing dress-up. One sits at a desk with a keyboard and a monitor but no computer and another makes siren noises with his mouth in a police car because of faulty equipment.
“Next Goal Wins” is most winning in the way it handles the team’s star player, Jaiyah Saelua, who became the first nonbinary player to compete in a men’s FIFA qualifier. Played with real tenderness and joy by nonbinary actor Kaimana, the role and the way her teammates and the coach relate to her is genuine and touching.
There are other really nice turns by Oscar Kightley, Will Arnett and Elisabeth Moss, but it’s Fassbender who must do the bulk of the lifting here. His accent is spotty and he may initially not have been on the top of everyone’s list for the part but he sticks the landing, to mix sports metaphors. “Next Goal Wins” isn’t a tale of “woe” or “woah!” but “meh.”
“Next Goal Wins,” a Searchlight Pictures release that’s in theaters Friday, is rated PG-13 for “some strong language and crude material.” Running time: 103 minutes. Two stars out of four.
___
MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Interested in knowing where to watch and streamHappy Feetonline? You have come to the right place. George Miller directed the 2006 animated jukebox musical comedy film and wrote the screenplay with John Collee, Judy Morris, and Warren Coleman. The plot revolves around Mumble, an emperor penguin, who discovers that even though he can’t sing the heart song like the others of his kind, he can tap dance.
Here’s how you can watch and stream Happy Feet via streaming services such as HBO Max.
Is Happy Feet available to watch via streaming?
Yes, Happy Feet is available to watch via streaming on HBO Max.
Set in Antarctica, Happy Feet follows a penguin named Mumble as he struggles with the fact that he can’t sing. Things don’t become easier when other penguins discover his dancing abilities. After surviving an attack from a leopard seal, Mumble finds acceptance in a group of Adelie penguins, who refer to themselves collectively as “the Amigos.” This sets Mumble off on a grand adventure in which he becomes the sole hope for all penguins.
The voice cast includes Elijah Wood as Mumble; E. G. Daily as Baby Mumble; Robin Williams as Ramón, Cletus, Lovelace, and the narrator; Brittany Murphy as Gloria; Alyssa Shafer as Baby Gloria; Hugh Jackman as Memphis; Nicole Kidman as Norma Jean; Hugo Weaving as Noah the Elder; Fat Joe as Seymour; Cesar Flores as Baby Seymour; Anthony LaPaglia as Skua Boss; Magda Szubanski as Miss Viola, Miriam Margolyes as Mrs. Astrakhan; Steve Irwin as Trev; Carlos Alazraqui as Nestor; Lombardo Boyar as Raul; Jeffrey Garcia as Rinaldo; Johnny Sanchez as Lombardo; Roger Rose as Leopard Seal; and more.
Watch Happy Feet streaming via HBO Max
Happy Feet is available to watch on HBO Max. Launched on May 27, 2020, HBO Max, or simply Max, is a subscription-based video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service with a library containing original titles as well as those developed by other branches of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment, including Animal Planet, CNN, Cartoon Network, Eurosport, and Adult Swim.
You can watch the movie via Max, formerly known as HBO Max, by following these steps:
$19.99 per month or $199.99 per year (ultimate ad-free)
Enter your personal information and password
Select ‘Create Account’
Max With Ads provides the service’s streaming library at a Full HD resolution, allowing users to stream on up to two supported devices at once. Max Ad-Free removes the service’s commercials and allows streaming on two devices at once in Full HD. It also allows for 30 downloads at a time to allow users to watch content offline. On the other hand, Max Ultimate Ad-Free allows users to stream on four devices at once in a 4K Ultra HD resolution and provides Dolby Atmos audio and 100 downloads.
The synopsis of Happy Feet is as follows:
“Into the world of the Emperor Penguins, who find their soul mates through song, a penguin is born who cannot sing. But he can tap dance something fierce!”
NOTE: The streaming services listed above are subject to change. The information provided was correct at the time of writing.
Netflix has released a new teaser trailer for its upcoming Korean drama series Gyeongseong Creature, which is set to star…
Ahead of the show’s Netflix debut on Friday, November 17, a new Scott Pilgrim Takes Off trailer has been released.…
Netflix has revealed a One Piece blooper reel of the live-action adaptation’s cast from the first season‘s filming. The first…
Netflix dropped a Terminator: The Anime Series teaser during Geeked Week, heralding the anime series based on the world of…
When “Chelsea Lately” aired its final episode on E! in 2014, Heather McDonald, a staff writer and regular panelist on the show, needed a new gig. As a stand-up comedian, her performance schedule wasn’t as consistent as a full-time job — then she heard about a fellow comic who launched a podcast to get his name out there and sell more tickets.
“I was like, ‘If a podcast can help do that, I’m going to do that,’” McDonald says.
She launched “ Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald ” in 2015. Now, nearly 800 episodes later with more than 200 million downloads, it regularly ranks among the top comedy podcasts on Apple’s charts.
Twice a week, McDonald releases a free episode sharing the latest celebrity gossip and pop culture headlines, TV recaps, and anecdotes. She bounces topics off guests and interviews people with juicy stories.
McDonald strives to avoid anything truly divisive — like politics. But despite her best efforts, she found herself in the middle of a debate about the coronavirus vaccine after she collapsed during a 2022 stand-up set in Arizona. Footage of her fainting was used in a video compilation that peddled misinformation about vaccine side effects.
Before she collapsed, McDonald had joked that she’d never contracted the virus.
“I fainted right after that. And I have never fainted before or after,” she says calling the timing “unbelievable.” For the record, she says, she still hasn’t had the coronavirus and is indeed vaccinated.
She’s still not sure why she fainted and a variety of tests have indicated that there’s nothing wrong. But despite being debunked, the video of her collapse still goes viral every few months, she says.
“It has done nothing but hurt my career because the pro-vaccination people think that I am like a puppet for the anti-vaxxers. And the anti-vaxxers call me names for getting vaccinated,” McDonald says. “I say everyone make their decisions for themselves and I have no say in the matter.”
What she does have say in is the creative direction of her podcast, a freedom that McDonald says is rare.
“I love working for myself. I love saying whatever I want to say and knowing that if I never get hired to do another TV job, it doesn’t really matter,” she says.
The free episodes are also recorded on video and uploaded to YouTube. With her job security, McDonald likes to keep some of her opinions within a tighter, paying circle. There are exclusive “Juicy Scoop” episodes available via subscription through Patreon for options ranging from $5 to $50 per month.
“When you have a TV show, even if you wrote and created and starred in it, it can still get canceled. When you have something like this, it just doesn’t,” she says of podcasts as a medium.
The show is about fun, not hard facts, she maintains.
“I am a comedian with an opinion. I do not have a journalistic background. I do as much research as I find interesting. I screw up names, things pop in my head in the moment, so they’re not thought out,” she says.
Spencer Pratt is one of McDonald’s popular guests. A former cast member on MTV’s “The Hills,” he is willing to play up a villainous side on reality TV. On “Juicy Scoop,” he’s charming and funny.
Pratt said people approach him now to bring up his “Juicy Scoop” appearances.
“It’s why I keep driving out to the Valley,” he joked (that’s where McDonald records her podcast.)
McDonald fosters an intimacy with her guests and fans alike, bookmarking her stories with directives like “Don’t tell anyone this” or “Keep this between us” to solidify the closeness she says she feels to her subscribers.
“They say, ‘I feel like you’re my friend.’ I’m from a generation of women that we really did talk on the phone a lot,” she says. “It comes naturally for me to talk, be a storyteller.”
McDonald does still tour and perform comedy gigs — even if it’s not her main job anymore.
“As popular and as successful as the podcast gets, I never want to stop (stand-up) because such a small, tiny percent of entertainers can do stand up,” she says. “A lot of people are able to have podcasts and do well at it, but to stand in front of a stage and have a captive audience and make them laugh for an hour and a half is a skill that took a long time for me to get to.”
The North American box office had one of its slowest weekends of the year, due in large part to “Dune: Part Two’s” absence from the lineup.
Moviegoers had many other options to choose from. The video game adaptation “Five Nights at Freddy’s” repeated its first-place ranking, followed by “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” still going strong. Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla ” expanded nationwide and “Oppenheimer” returned to IMAX screens. Several well-received indies opened as well.
But this was the weekend that Warner Bros. and Legendary’s “ Dune: Part Two” was supposed to open, before the SAG-AFTRA strike prompted many studios to shuffle release dates in anticipation of a lengthy dispute that has stopped movie stars from promoting their films. The “Dune” sequel starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya was pushed to March 2024, and no major blockbusters moved in to take its Nov. 3 spot.
Even with “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” still bringing Swifties to the multiplex, and prestige offerings including Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” overall ticket sales are likely to be around $64 million for the weekend, making it one of the slowest of the year.
“It’s hard to reverse engineer, but ‘Dune 2’ would have certainly been the No. 1 movie and it would have been a bigger overall weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “The strikes have had a profound impact on this marketplace. But this left a lot of opportunity for films like ‘Priscilla,’ ‘The Holdovers’ and ‘Radical’ to get more of a spotlight.”
In its second weekend, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” picked up an additional $19.4 million to take first place, according to studio estimates Sunday. It’s a hefty 76% drop from its first weekend. That’s not unexpected given that the movie is also streaming on Peacock and that viewership for films targeting intense and niche fandoms are often wildly frontloaded. But taking in $217 million globally against a reported $20 million production budget makes it a hit for Universal Pictures and Blumhouse.
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” took second place, with fourth weekend earnings at an estimated $13.5 million for the AMC release. Playing only on Thursdays through Sundays, the film has made an astonishing $231.1 million globally to date.
In third place, “Killers of the Flower Moon” was down only 25% in its third weekend, with $7 million from 3,786 screens, which brings its domestic total to $52.3 million. The $200 million film was financed by Apple Original Films with Paramount overseeing its theatrical run.
After a healthy opening in New York and Los Angeles last weekend, “Priscilla,” based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me,” expanded to 1,359 screens where it earned $5.1 million over the weekend to take fourth place. Coppola’s well reviewed film starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi attracted an audience that was predominately younger (75% under 35) and female (65%). The hope is that A24 release will have a long life into awards season.
“ The Holdovers,” a Focus Features release, also expanded slightly to 64 theaters this weekend, where it grossed an additional $600,000. Next weekend the New England-set period drama starring Paul Giamatti as a curmudgeonly prep school teacher will expand to over 800 locations.
A handful of smaller films made their theatrical debuts this weekend, including Meg Ryan’s “What Happens Later,” released by Bleecker Street; and Sundance gems “ Radical ” and “ All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.”
The biggest of the batch was “ Radical,” which is based on a true story about a teacher in a Mexican border city and stars Eugenio Derbez. The warmly reviewed Pantelion release opened in 419 locations and made $2.7 million.
“’Radical’ is a big winner this weekend and a big win for Eugenio Derbez,” Dergarabedian said. “He’s becoming a global superstar.”
“What Happens Later,” a rom-com starring Ryan and David Duchovny as exes stuck in an airport, made $1.6 million from 1,492 screens. Raven Jackson’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” meanwhile, opened on three screens and earned $12,529, according to A24.
“The overall box office is rather quiet, but there are so many interesting films out there,” Dergarabedian said. “Independent film can really shine right now.”
The effects of the ongoing strike at the box office are not easily quantifiable. Up to this point, it’s mainly meant that stars without interim agreements haven’t been able to promote their films. “Priscilla” was one of the exceptions and Elordi and Spaeny have been able to do interviews and appear on talk shows to drum up awareness.
Next weekend will be an interesting test, as Marvel and Disney release “The Marvels” without months of appearances from stars like Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Lashana Lynch preceding it. It is possible a resolution between the actors’ guild and the major entertainment companies may come this week, but it’s unclear if that will have any impact on “The Marvels.”
“All eyes will be on ‘The Marvels,’ not only what it represents during the strikes, but what it means for Marvel as a whole, which is always compared to their past successes,” Dergarabedian said. “But the opening weekend isn’t everything anymore. Hopefully it’ll provide an infusion of that blockbuster feeling going into the holiday season.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
Richard Moll, a character actor who found lasting fame as an eccentric but gentle giant bailiff on the original sitcom “Night Court,” has died
ByMARK KENNEDY AP entertainment writer
October 27, 2023, 6:20 PM
In this photo provided by Kathy Hutchins, Richard Moll arrives at the 2010 TV Land Awards Sony Studios Culver City, Calif., April 17, 2010. Moll, a character actor who found lasting fame as an eccentric but gentle giant bailiff on the original “Night Court” sitcom, has died at age 80. Moll died Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, at his home in Big Bear Lake, Calif., according to a Jeff Sanderson, a family spokesperson. (Kathy Hutchins/Hutchins Photo via AP)
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Richard Moll, a character actor who found lasting fame as an eccentric but gentle giant bailiff on the original “Night Court” sitcom, has died. He was 80.
Moll died Thursday at his home in Big Bear Lake, California, according to Jeff Sanderson, a publicist at Chasen & Company.
Moll played “Bull” Shannon on NBC’s “Night Court” from 1984-1992 alongside stars Harry Anderson and John Larroquette. His character formed a close friendship with the court’s other bailiff, Roz Russell, played by Marsha Warfield. Bull was known for his catchphrase, “Ohh-kay,” and a dim but sweet world view.
After “Night Court” ended, Moll contributed his trademark gravelly voice to various video games and comic book projects like “Batman: The Animated Series” as Harvey Dent and appeared in horror films like “Ghost Shark” (2013) and “Slay Belles” (2018).
He voiced Scorpion on the 1990s’ “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” and had small parts in 1994’s “The Flintstones,” the Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy “Jingle All the Way” and “Scary Movie 2.”
The towering actor — he was 6-feet 8-inches tall — did not join the reboot of “Night Court” starring Larroquette. The original “Night Court” finale ended with his character being abducted by aliens who needed someone tall to reach the things on their highest shelves.
Moll is survived by his children, Chloe and Mason Moll; ex-wife, Susan Moll; and stepchildren Cassandra Card and Morgan Ostling.
NEW YORK — The fallout from the actors strike, now past 100 days, has been widespread throughout the film industry. Movies large and small have postponed. Sound stages remain shuttered. Adjacent industries have been devastated.
Another effect is that some great performances haven’t gotten the attention they deserve. For most movies, actors haven’t been able to promote their work.
As the strike pushes into Hollywood’s awards season, it’s increasingly muting the reception for some of the best performances of the year. With so many out of work due to the strike, no one should cry for muzzled Oscar campaigns. But actors deserve the chance to take a much-deserved bow.
Interim agreements have permitted some of the fall’s standouts – among them Sandra Hüller in “Anatomy of a Fall” and Cailee Spaeny in “Priscilla” – to hit red carpets and bask in standing ovations. And two of the year’s biggest hits – “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” both likely to be Academy Awards heavyweights — debuted as actors walked out.
Hopefully, the strike will end in time for some of the stars of upcoming releases to get the attention they deserve, among them Andrew Scott in “All of Us Strangers,” Aunjanue Ellis in “Origin,” Emma Stone in “Poor Things,” Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction” and Carey Mulligan in “Maestro.” Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the studios have continued this week.
But to give the best performances of September and October a little shine, here are some of the standouts you might have missed during the SAG-AFTRA work stoppage, and where to watch them.
Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” boasts some of the best work in years by a pair of longtime Scorsese collaborators in Leonardo DiCaprio (as the easily corrupted Ernest Burkhart) and Robert De Niro (as the venal local power broker William Hale). But this is Lily Gladstone’s movie. As Mollie Kyle, she’s the preternaturally calm and graceful presence amid a churning hive of 1920s criminality. Some could fairly wish the film was more given over to Mollie’s perspective, but Gladstone’s gentle power in “Killers of the Flower Moon” doesn’t need to assert itself. It’s self-evident. (Currently in theaters)
Choosing just one performance to isolate in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” is a fool’s errand. First, there’s Paul Giamatti. In his second film with Payne, following “Sideways,” he plays a curmudgeon instructor at a 1970s boarding school tasked with staying over Christmas break with a handful of students. Sessa, in his first film, is among them. Randolph, the school cook whose son has died in Vietnam, is there, too. Each is stellar in radically different ways but ultimately the same one: They comically and empathetically imbue their characters with humanity. (Playing in theaters)
Jamie Foxx has a ball playing a flamboyant personal injury lawyer who sounds more like he’s preaching from the pulpit than cross-examining a witness in Maggie Betts’ “The Burial.” Foxx’s attorney takes a case out of his comfort zone in defending a mild-mannered Mississippi funeral home owner (Tommy Lee Jones) against a corporate chain buying up local businesses. Foxx and Jones prove a surprisingly well-suited duo in this crowd-pleasing, throwback courtroom drama. (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video)
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Nyad” is first and foremost a showcase for Annette Bening, who gives a tenacious, vanity-free performance as the marathon swimmer Diana Nyad. But so much of what makes “Nyad” a touch more than a conventional sports drama is Jodie Foster’s supporting turn as Bonnie Stoll, Nyad’s close friend and trainer. “Nyad” is often less about its namesake than how the people in Nyad’s life respond to her obsessive drive. Foster, a rare presence on movie screens these days, has seemingly only grown more confident and at ease as an actor. (Now streaming on Netflix)
“Cassandro,” another sports biopic with a courageous queer protagonist, chronicles the scrappy rise of Mexican American luchador Saúl Armendariz, a.k.a. Cassandro. Bernal (“Amores Perros” and “Y tu mamá también”) pours himself into the inspirational story of the groundbreaking wrestler. It’s among Bernal’s most nimble transformations — not just physically in the ring but in embodying the sheer joy and undaunted spirit of a natural performer. (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video)
You may have noted Eve Hewson, daughter of Bono, in ensembles like Steven Soderbergh’s “The Knick” or in the Irish comedy series “Bad Sisters.” But John Carney’s “Flora and Son,” a charming movie about music and rebirth, gives her center stage. Hewson stars as a working-class single mother in Dublin whose online guitar lessons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the instructor) transforms her life and her relationship with her 14-year-old son (Orén Kinlan). Just as Carney’s “Once” was a breakthrough for Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, Hewson is a revelation in “Flora and Son.” (Streaming on Apple TV+)
Colman Domingo has long been a powerhouse on screen. (Among many other things, he was the menacing pimp of “Zola.”) But George C. Wolfe’s “Rustin,” a biopic of the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, gives Domingo the kind of grand, historical platform that can define an actor. The film is set mainly during the run-up to the 1963 March on Washington, which Rustin was the architect of. Rustin was a complicated figure — a dedicated activist and an openly gay man — yet Domingo’s layered, astute performance captures him fully. (Playing in limited theaters Nov. 3, streams Nov. 17 on Netflix)
Even though Garth Davis’ “Foe” is a bit of a dystopian soup, Aaron Pierre proves an arresting, penetrating presence. The film is led by committed performances by Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal, who play a couple living in an old farmhouse in a science-fiction future. But when a mysterious visitor (Pierre) arrives with disquieting news – Junior (Mescal) is to be sent to a space station – he becomes a regular, vaguely malevolent houseguest with unclear motives. Not everything quite works in “Foe” but Pierre is electrically beguiling. (Playing in theaters)
In Chloe Domont’s high-finance drama “Fair Play,” Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich start out lovebirds and end up bitter rivals, but the two actors steadfastly remain equally riveting throughout. The film, about two hedge fund analysts in a secret relationship, puts gender roles through a Wall Street meat grinder. For Dynevor, it’s a breakthrough. For Ehrenreich, it’s a kind of post-“Solo” comeback. (Streaming on Netflix)
No, that’s not a misprint. Marshawn Lynch, the former elite NFL running back known as “Beast Mode,” is tremendous in a small role in Emma Seligman’s raunchy lesbian teen comedy “Bottoms.” Most of the movie belongs to Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri – both chaotically brilliant – who play high-schoolers who start a quasi Fight Club in a convoluted scheme to bring them closer to their crushes. Lynch plays the teacher who sponsors them. It’s not just a funny performance but a poignant one for the footballer. Lynch did it, he’s said, because he had regrets about how he handled his own sister’s coming out in high school. (Playing in theaters, available for digital rental)
___
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Gael García Bernal’s first name
There are two sides to every story, and Hasan Minhaj is ready to share his in excruciating detail. On Thursday, the comedian released a 21-minute video in response to a New Yorker article titled “Hasan Minhaj’s ‘Emotional Truths,’” in which Minhaj admitted to embellishing certain stories about his experiences with racism and Islamophobia in his stand-up specials.
Prior to posting the video, Minhaj had released a lengthy statement addressing the New Yorker article by Clare Malone, maintaining that “all my stand-up stories are based on events that happened to me” and that he uses “the tools of stand-up comedy—hyperbole, changing names and locations, and compressing timelines to tell entertaining stories.”
In the video, titled “My Response to The New Yorker article” and first published by The Hollywood Reporter, Minhaj doubles down on his claim that all of his stand-up material is based in truth, accusing TheNew Yorker of publishing a “needlessly misleading” story about him. Minhaj begins his video by addressing the conflict in the Middle East. “I know the news coming out of the Middle East right now feels devastating and hopeless,” Minhaj says. “And I’ve been asked by a lot of people to give my perspective on what is happening in the region.”
“I’ve also been asked, ‘Wait a second. Aren’t you a liar?’” he adds.
Minhaj proceeds to pivot to his current controversy, admitting that while it “feels so trivial” in comparison to world events, it remains “very serious” and “demands an explanation.” He claims that the New Yorker article made him look like “a psycho.”
“Underneath all that pomade, is Hasan Minhaj just a con artist who uses fake racism and Islamophobia to advance his career?” he asks. “Because after reading that article, I would also think that.”
Before launching into a detailed explanation of how he thinks TheNew Yorker misconstrued its interview, Minhaj offers an apology to his fans and says that he took “a beat” to respond to the allegations because he was still “processing” what had happened. “I just want to say to anyone who felt betrayed or hurt by my stand-up, I am sorry,” he says. “I made artistic choices to express myself and drive home larger issues affecting me and my community, and I feel horrible that I let people down.”
Over the course of the video, Minhaj attempts to discredit various claims in Malone’s article, providing recordings of his interview with Malone as evidence, while also admitting that he did embellish certain elements of the stories.
TheNew Yorker issued the following statement in response to Minhaj’s video: “Hasan Minhaj confirms in this video that he selectively presents information and embellishes to make a point: exactly what we reported. Our piece, which includes Minhaj’s perspective at length, was carefully reported and fact-checked. It is based on interviews with more than 20 people, including former Patriot Act and Daily Show staffers; members of Minhaj’s security team; and people who have been the subject of his stand-up work, including the former FBI informant ‘Brother Eric’ and the woman at the center of his prom-rejection story. We stand by our story.”
After sharing his perspective on three stories Malone pointed to as specific evidence of embellishment, Minhaj attempts to differentiate his work as a political comic on shows like The Daily Show and Patriot Act from his work as a comedic storyteller. “I thought I had two different expectations built into my work: my work as a storytelling comedian and my work as a political comedian, where facts always come first,” he says. “That is why the fact-checking on Patriot Act was extremely rigorous. The fact-checking in my congressional testimony, deeply rigorous…. But in my work as a storytelling comedian, I assumed that the lines between truth and fiction were allowed to be a bit more blurry.”
Season 2 of HBO’s pirate comedy/romance Our Flag Means Death takes some big turns by episode 7 — maybe not as big as the season 1 turn, when inept pirate captain Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and Ed “Blackbeard” Teach (Taika Waititi) realized they had romantic feelings for each other, but still… a whole lot of things happen that we figured viewers would want to talk about, once they’d seen it for themselves. So when Polygon sat down with creator and showrunner David Jenkins to talk about season 2, we split the conversation into two parts: an overview of the season’s biggest ideas, and this spoiler-focused conversation about all the surprises in episode 7, including its explosive ending.
[Ed. note: Read on at your own risk; spoilers abound ahead.]
Photo: Nicola Dove/Max
To recap: In episode 7 of Our Flag Means Death season 2, Stede and Blackbeard have just had sex for the first time, and they seem all set for their happily-ever-after together — until Blackbeard abruptly leaves Stede to pursue a job as a fisherman. The crew visits the Republic of Pirates, where Oluwande (Samson Kayo) expresses feelings for Zhang Yi Sao (Ruibo Qian), even though he was previously uncomfortable with her expressing feelings for him when she took over his ship, and even though he and his friend Jim (Vico Ortiz) had a romantic liaison in season 1. They also learn that The Swede (Nat Faxon) has happily settled in as one of 20 husbands to Spanish Jackie (Leslie Jones), even though he was forced into that relationship to save the rest of the crew.
Yes, that summary does sound like something out of a soap opera, now that you mention it. But this doesn’t: At the end of the episode, a trap set by Prince Ricky (Erroll Shand) obliterates Zhang’s fleet, and the pirates’ haven is destroyed when the English fleet sweeps in to kill or capture the whole cast. Jenkins talks us through it all below.
This conversation has been edited for concision and clarity.
Polygon: One thing that really surprised me in season 2 is that you have two different coercive relationships where a man is being uncomfortably forced into an intimate relationship with a woman, and then he later decides he likes it. What kind of conversations went into those relationships and the gender tropes you’re reversing there?
David Jenkins: With The Swede and Spanish Jackie — she owns [her husbands]. They live in her basement, and she owns them, basically. So already, you’re [ick noise]. But then I love that The Swede really likes her. She’s a gangster, she’s a mob boss. There is a gender aspect to having her in that role. But then he says, “I’ve found parts of myself that I never knew existed, and other parts I thought were long gone.”
I just liked the idea of Leslie [Jones]’s character and Nat Faxon’s character being together and happy, balancing each other. She’s already got a wild thing going — she’s got 20 husbands. To me, to see that relationship start as kind of a joke, Oh, Leslie’s character’s scary and his character’s timid, and it turns into No, actually, they balance each other pretty well — that’s kind of sweet. It’s less about the fact that she essentially owns him, it’s about the fact that they do care about each other. It’s kind of nice.
Photo: Nicola Dove/Max
But you have very much the same dynamic with Zhang and Olu. When they start out, she’s got all the power in the relationship, and she’s kind of predatory about claiming Olu. He’s intimidated and forced into it, and he comes around on deciding he likes her. It just feels like an odd beat to repeat.
Well, she has all the power in the relationship until she doesn’t. And then she realizes that she’s in love with this guy — he is soft and kind and sweet. And that’s powerful. I think they’re mirrored in Blackbeard and Stede’s relationship — they’re each each other’s manic pixie dream girl.
I think there is something in the show about how piracy is a brutal way of life. It’s essentially Mad Max, this world. There’s no law, there’s just strong and weak. And in stories like Game of Thrones, we see how that plays out. It’s a lot of women getting raped in stories and you’re like, [resigned ick noise]. In Our Flag, a lot of these relationships aren’t consenting relationships — they’re power-dynamic relationships, because it’s Mad Max. So a thing I like to see in this show is, Well, why is the more powerful person interested in this weaker person? What are they trying to balance?
In a world where might makes right, and some people just need to align themselves with someone strong, it’s interesting to be like, Well, what does Blackbeard need? What does Spanish Jackie need? What does Zhang Yi Sao need, the most powerful pirate in the world? What happens when she gets into a relationship? What is she looking for? She’s a modern person, what does she need? So you’re always gonna get those weird power dynamics to start with, I think, and then you just try to get to: What’s underneath that? Why are they doing what they’re doing? What are they looking for?
Photo: Nicola Dove/Max
Speaking of what Blackbeard needs, I think some fans will think that him leaving Stede in episode 7 is a form of revenge. It so closely parallels what Stede did to him. You can read it as them being very much alike, running from commitment, or as him trying to hurt Stede. What do you want to say to people freaking out after episode 7?
Well, there’s a thing I talk about a lot — I really, really liked the Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga version of A Star Is Born. I like how the dynamic changes between them. Everything we do is collapsed on this show — we talk about these lofty things, but we don’t have the time to execute everything we might like to do. Like, episode 4 is a mini Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, just a very small version of it.
In this case, we liked the idea that Blackbeard found this guy and made him a legitimate pirate, but now that he’s a star, Blackbeard’s questioning what he wants to do now that he’s lost his appetite for piracy. And Stede’s turned into Lady Gaga’s character. He’s famous now, because he killed the scariest pirate, so that power is inverted. It’s interesting to look at how a relationship changes now that Blackbird isn’t the star anymore and Stede isn’t a hanger-on. Stede got what he wanted; he’s a real boy. Is Blackbeard jealous? Is he uncomfortable with it? When power dynamics shift in a relationship, that leads to trouble. And then it really is just like, What are they going to do? Are they going to make it through it? Can they rebalance? Because that is a sign of a healthy relationship.
That episode is also a big turning point for Zhang and Olu, and for Olu and Jim. What went into the decisions around them moving in different directions after their connection in season 1?
I think that relationship was always seen in the room as a friend relationship that got romantic. That tension was interesting to us — it’s like, Well, what if we don’t play them as jealous? What if we play it as, when you love a friend and it becomes romantic, and then you see someone who makes them happy and you know you’re not it, you feel jealous? But also, they’re your friend. You want to see them happy. I think a lot of times, particularly in straight relationships, it’s traumatizing, and could be more about the jealousy. But here, I think it’s nice to see it this way: They truly care about each other enough to just want to see their friend with someone good, someone who takes care of them. In my life, those are the best relationships [with exes]. I do see those among my friends, but I don’t see it dramatized a lot, I just see the negative component dramatized. I like it this way — they’re friends, and they just want to see each other do well.
Photo: Nicola Dove/Max
This has never really been a show about villains, but the end of episode 7 feels like a shift in that regard.
I think a lot of the internal forces in Our Flag are the villains. It’s like, Can you let yourself be loved? Do you know what you want in love? If you know what you want, are you healthy enough to get it? When you start going into the tropes of [Blackbeard impression] Oh, should I be gay or not? or Oh, my friends did me dirty — we’ve seen that a lot. It’s good dramatic fuel, but I don’t think those are the things that drive the show.
I think the things that drive this show are a bunch of people who care about each other and are trying to figure out how to have relationships. And relationships are hard. Usually, you’re your own bad guy or gal or person in a relationship. It’s rarely [someone] doing something terrible to you — it’s you just trying to figure out your own shit. Hopefully, your friends help.
The big ending of episode 7 does suggest, though, that there might be more outside pressure coming to the cast, even if it’s just a short-term blip.
I think this is a story about the age of piracy coming to an end. This way of life is coming to an end. And every Western that’s good is that story: This way of life we made is coming to an end, and it can’t last. […] I think every story about outlaws is about trying to preserve a way of life against normative forces that are kind of fascistic.
All of which is a big historical moment, as far as the history of piracy, and it’s part of Stede and Blackbeard’s real-life story. Was that element coming in from history, the way you took little parts of Stede and Blackbeard’s relationship from history?
Using historical beats are good, because they give the story some shape — until they’re not useful, and then you just ignore them. When you feel like you’d rather eat a sandwich, just ignore the history. And then when you feel like, OK, we’re in emotional soup here, we need some downward pressure, then you bring history back in. The balance of the show is 90% ignoring history, and then 10%, bring it in, whenever we’re like, Ah, gotta move the story forward! Remember, the English are out there, and they’re really bad!
The season 2 finale of Our Flag Means Death airs on Max on Oct. 26.
Marilyn Sands is a former 80’s Stand-Up Comic & Comic Booker. Sold Jokes to Joan Rivers & lesser lights. Was up one night & wrote 2 Madcap Screenplays & a Stage Play. Her hilarious book “CAN YOU PEE OUTDOORS” On-Line Dating Straight Lines is on amazon.com/dp/1733487409And, “OWNING THE STAGE, RENTING THE BALLS”!My Life as a Funny Girlis on amazon.com/dp/1733487417″Living proofyou don’t have to be a success to write a Memoir”!And yes, this bio is my OBIT too!haha
If you feel like you’ve been working like a dog, let us offer you the internet equivalent of a big pile of catnip: hilarious tweets about pets.
Each week at HuffPost, we scour Twitter X (yes, Elon Musk is apparently fur real) to find the funniest posts about our furballs being complete goofballs. They’re sure to make you howl.
(And if you want more, no need to beg ― you can check out last week’s batch right here.)
John Mulaney loves a suit. The comedian retired his on-stage hoodies and flannels sometime around 2010 and has never looked back. Since then, it’s been one well-tailored ensemble after another, from his stand-up specials and Saturday Night Live monologues to late-night guest appearances and beyond. And throughout the years, the cut of Mulaney’s suits has stayed as trim and neat as a pin—even in 2023, a year where the big suit has reigned supreme, he’s stuck to his slim-cut guns.
Mulaney leaving The Late Show in his slick black suit—no tie necessary.
Jason Howard/Bauer-Griffin
You’d think a celebrity with access to professional stylists and designer threads might be tempted to dip their toes in the slouchy suit waters, but not Mulaney. On The Late Show last week, he appeared in an immaculate black two-piece. It looked like could’ve worn at any point in the last 10 years—sharp and slim but not suffocating. However, there were a few subtle signals that Mulaney’s sartorial habits have evolved. “So…didn’t shave. No tie. You’ve changed,” quipped Stephen Colbert. “This is not the John Mulaney I remember.” It’s an astute observation from the host. Yes, Mulaney mostly looked and dressed as he had many times before, but the details were different.
A fresh Rolling Stones album, a revealing documentary on spy novelist John le Carré and “Living for the Dead,” a new Hulu series that’s like “Queer Eye” meets “Ghost Hunters” are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you
Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are comedian Heather McMahan’s first network comedy special called “The Son I Never Had” and Nida Manzoor’s rollicking action-comedy movie “Polite Society.”
— John le Carré, whose birth name was David Cornwell, died in 2020. But before his death, the author of “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” sat down with documentarian Errol Morris for a series of probing interviews. The result, “The Pigeon Tunnel,” is one of the non-fiction highlights of the movie year. In the film, which stream Friday, Oct. 20 on Apple TV+, Cornwell discusses his career as a spy, his books and historical truth in a fittingly murky, noir-tinged documentary about one of the 20th century’s greatest writers.
— DreamWorks Animation’s “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” is about a 15-year-old with a secret. Ruby (voiced by Lana Condor) and her family are sea creatures who are passing as humans on land. Ruby is, in fact, not just an aquatic mammal, but one of the mightiest of all, a Kraken. Director Kirk DeMicco’s film, which begins streaming Friday on Peacock following a theatrical run this summer, is a coming-of-age tale with monsters, mermaids and overprotective moms (Toni Collette). In his review, AP’s Mark Kennedy praised it as “a tale of generational sisterhood with the message to not hide your difference.”
— Nida Manzoor’s “Polite Society,” is a coming-of-age tale, too, but a much different beast. In the directorial debut of the “We Are Lady Parts” creator, Priya Kansara and Ritu Arya play British-Pakistani sisters with divergent dreams. Ria (Kansara) pines to be a stuntwoman. Lena (Arya) has fading artistic hopes that are fast being consumed by an arranged marriage to (Akshay Khanna). Ria sets out to spoil their parents’ plans in a rollicking action-comedy that, as I wrote in my review, “marries Jane Austen with kung-fu flare.” It begins streaming Tuesday on Prime Video.
— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
— What was the music world before Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and Deidra “DJ Spinderella” Roper became Salt-N-Pepa? Tracking their legacy is much simpler: Salt-N-Pepa’s no-nonsense femininity and agency, coupled with their activism and unabashed sexuality, opened the floodgates for all that followed. So, this year, celebrating both 50 years of hip-hop and the 30th anniversary of Salt-N-Pepa’s famed fourth studio album, Universal Music Group is re-releasing “Very Necessary” with bonus tracks, alternative mixes and beyond. Streaming this one is a no brainer — and for the record, “Shoop” hits every bit as hard in 2023 as it did in 1993.
— Last month, The Rolling Stones announced they were preparing to release their first album of original material in 18 years, since 2005’s “A Bigger Bang.” Come Friday, October 20, the wait is over. “Hackney Diamonds,” is the Stones’ first new record since the death of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021. (His drumming is included posthumously and poignantly on two of the album’s 12 tracks.) It is also their best in decades, a multigenerational affair produced by the pop-rock mastermind Andrew Watt (with credits including Post Malone, Justin Bieber) and featuring guest appearances from the likes of Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. Their rock ‘n’ roll vitality is as present as ever — there’s no interest in rehashing the past, rather, “Hackney Diamonds” is a joyful experiment, full of swagger.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
— “Living for the Dead,” a new Hulu series executive produced and narrated by Kristen Stewart, is like “Queer Eye” meets “Ghost Hunters.” It follows a group of five queer ghost hunters who travel to haunted locations and use their individual skills to confront the spirits and clear the space. There’s Ken, who specializes in tarot, Juju the spiritual expert, Logan the psychic, a researcher named Roz and Alex who does the ghost hunting. The series debuts Wednesday
— Comedian Heather McMahan debuts her first network comedy special called “The Son I Never Had” on Tuesday. If you haven’t followed McMahan, she’s got a popular podcast called “Absolutely Not” and a hilarious Instagram account that caught on during the pandemic, and led to sold-out comedy dates. McMahan’s schtick is both relatable and outrageous.
— The sweet and smart comedy “Upload” is back on Prime Video for a third season. Created by Greg Daniels (“The Office”), the series takes place in the (near) future where one can opt to be uploaded to a virtual afterlife. The more money you have, the better the second life is. It stars Robbie Amell, a computer programmer, who was uploaded in season one — and falls for his still-living digital concierge, Nora (Andy Allo.) The first two episodes drop Friday, Oct. 20.
— Detective Harry Bosch returns in the second season of “Bosch: Legacy” on FreeVee on Friday, Oct. 20. Bosch was originally introduced by author Michael Connelly in his books and adapted for TV. He’s now retired from the LAPD, solving cases as a private investigator.
— Alicia Rancilio
— Two iconic characters who have recently become movie stars are returning to the medium that made them famous: the 2-D, side-scrolling, running-and-jumping game. First up is Sonic the Hedgehog with Sonic Superstars. It’ll look familiar to anyone who grew up in the 1990s with the Sega Genesis, with the furry speed demon hurtling through loop-the-loops, caroming off springs and collecting gold rings. Sonic bounces back Tuesday on PlayStation 5/4, Xbox X/S/One, Nintendo Switch and PC. Three days later, everyone’s favorite plumber, Mario, returns with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Expect plenty of the block-breaking, mushroom-eating, warp-pipe-traveling antics that put Nintendo on the map in the 1980s. Plus, Mario can turn into an elephant. This one’s exclusive to the Switch, starting Friday, Oct. 20.
— Speaking of multimedia legends, your friendly neighborhood web-slinger is back with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. It’s actually Insomniac Games’ third crack at the character, after separate adventures starring alter egos Peter Parker and Miles Morales. This time the two Spideys are teaming up to battle notorious villains like Venom, Kraven the Hunter and The Lizard. If you enjoyed swinging between Manhattan’s skyscrapers in the previous games, get ready for an even bigger map, now including Queens and Brooklyn. And you can use your web shooters to create underarm “web wings,” which let you soar across spaces that don’t have tall buildings. Do whatever a spider can starting Friday, Oct. 20, on PlayStation 5.
— Lou Kesten
___
Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/entertainment.
A fresh Rolling Stones album, a revealing documentary on spy novelist John le Carré and “Living for the Dead,” a new Hulu series that’s like “Queer Eye” meets “Ghost Hunters” are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you
Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are comedian Heather McMahan’s first network comedy special called “The Son I Never Had” and Nida Manzoor’s rollicking action-comedy movie “Polite Society.”
— John le Carré, whose birth name was David Cornwell, died in 2020. But before his death, the author of “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” sat down with documentarian Errol Morris for a series of probing interviews. The result, “The Pigeon Tunnel,” is one of the non-fiction highlights of the movie year. In the film, which stream Friday, Oct. 20 on Apple TV+, Cornwell discusses his career as a spy, his books and historical truth in a fittingly murky, noir-tinged documentary about one of the 20th century’s greatest writers.
— DreamWorks Animation’s “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” is about a 15-year-old with a secret. Ruby (voiced by Lana Condor) and her family are sea creatures who are passing as humans on land. Ruby is, in fact, not just an aquatic mammal, but one of the mightiest of all, a Kraken. Director Kirk DeMicco’s film, which begins streaming Friday on Peacock following a theatrical run this summer, is a coming-of-age tale with monsters, mermaids and overprotective moms (Toni Collette). In his review, AP’s Mark Kennedy praised it as “a tale of generational sisterhood with the message to not hide your difference.”
— Nida Manzoor’s “Polite Society,” is a coming-of-age tale, too, but a much different beast. In the directorial debut of the “We Are Lady Parts” creator, Priya Kansara and Ritu Arya play British-Pakistani sisters with divergent dreams. Ria (Kansara) pines to be a stuntwoman. Lena (Arya) has fading artistic hopes that are fast being consumed by an arranged marriage to (Akshay Khanna). Ria sets out to spoil their parents’ plans in a rollicking action-comedy that, as I wrote in my review, “marries Jane Austen with kung-fu flare.” It begins streaming Tuesday on Prime Video.
— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle
— What was the music world before Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and Deidra “DJ Spinderella” Roper became Salt-N-Pepa? Tracking their legacy is much simpler: Salt-N-Pepa’s no-nonsense femininity and agency, coupled with their activism and unabashed sexuality, opened the floodgates for all that followed. So, this year, celebrating both 50 years of hip-hop and the 30th anniversary of Salt-N-Pepa’s famed fourth studio album, Universal Music Group is re-releasing “Very Necessary” with bonus tracks, alternative mixes and beyond. Streaming this one is a no brainer — and for the record, “Shoop” hits every bit as hard in 2023 as it did in 1993.
— Last month, The Rolling Stones announced they were preparing to release their first album of original material in 18 years, since 2005’s “A Bigger Bang.” Come Friday, October 20, the wait is over. “Hackney Diamonds,” is the Stones’ first new record since the death of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021. (His drumming is included posthumously and poignantly on two of the album’s 12 tracks.) It is also their best in decades, a multigenerational affair produced by the pop-rock mastermind Andrew Watt (with credits including Post Malone, Justin Bieber) and featuring guest appearances from the likes of Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. Their rock ‘n’ roll vitality is as present as ever — there’s no interest in rehashing the past, rather, “Hackney Diamonds” is a joyful experiment, full of swagger.
— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman
— “Living for the Dead,” a new Hulu series executive produced and narrated by Kristen Stewart, is like “Queer Eye” meets “Ghost Hunters.” It follows a group of five queer ghost hunters who travel to haunted locations and use their individual skills to confront the spirits and clear the space. There’s Ken, who specializes in tarot, Juju the spiritual expert, Logan the psychic, a researcher named Roz and Alex who does the ghost hunting. The series debuts Wednesday
— Comedian Heather McMahan debuts her first network comedy special called “The Son I Never Had” on Tuesday. If you haven’t followed McMahan, she’s got a popular podcast called “Absolutely Not” and a hilarious Instagram account that caught on during the pandemic, and led to sold-out comedy dates. McMahan’s schtick is both relatable and outrageous.
— The sweet and smart comedy “Upload” is back on Prime Video for a third season. Created by Greg Daniels (“The Office”), the series takes place in the (near) future where one can opt to be uploaded to a virtual afterlife. The more money you have, the better the second life is. It stars Robbie Amell, a computer programmer, who was uploaded in season one — and falls for his still-living digital concierge, Nora (Andy Allo.) The first two episodes drop Friday, Oct. 20.
— Detective Harry Bosch returns in the second season of “Bosch: Legacy” on FreeVee on Friday, Oct. 20. Bosch was originally introduced by author Michael Connelly in his books and adapted for TV. He’s now retired from the LAPD, solving cases as a private investigator.
— Alicia Rancilio
— Two iconic characters who have recently become movie stars are returning to the medium that made them famous: the 2-D, side-scrolling, running-and-jumping game. First up is Sonic the Hedgehog with Sonic Superstars. It’ll look familiar to anyone who grew up in the 1990s with the Sega Genesis, with the furry speed demon hurtling through loop-the-loops, caroming off springs and collecting gold rings. Sonic bounces back Tuesday on PlayStation 5/4, Xbox X/S/One, Nintendo Switch and PC. Three days later, everyone’s favorite plumber, Mario, returns with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Expect plenty of the block-breaking, mushroom-eating, warp-pipe-traveling antics that put Nintendo on the map in the 1980s. Plus, Mario can turn into an elephant. This one’s exclusive to the Switch, starting Friday, Oct. 20.
— Speaking of multimedia legends, your friendly neighborhood web-slinger is back with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. It’s actually Insomniac Games’ third crack at the character, after separate adventures starring alter egos Peter Parker and Miles Morales. This time the two Spideys are teaming up to battle notorious villains like Venom, Kraven the Hunter and The Lizard. If you enjoyed swinging between Manhattan’s skyscrapers in the previous games, get ready for an even bigger map, now including Queens and Brooklyn. And you can use your web shooters to create underarm “web wings,” which let you soar across spaces that don’t have tall buildings. Do whatever a spider can starting Friday, Oct. 20, on PlayStation 5.
— Lou Kesten
___
Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/entertainment.
Hasan Minhaj has admitted to playing fast and loose with the truth. A new report from TheNew Yorker claims that the comedian and former Patriot Act host embellished or fabricated some stories about his harrowing experiences with racism and Islamophobia as a practicing Muslim from an Indian family; the stories were often found in his stand-up comedy and featured in his comedy specials. In an interview with TheNew Yorker’s Clare Malone for the report, Minhaj admitted that some of his stand-up material was, in fact, not entirely true. “The emotional truth is first,” said Minhaj. “The factual truth is secondary.”
“Every story in my style is built around a seed of truth,” Minhaj told Malone. “My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70% emotional truth—this happened—and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.”
Malone, who wrote the report and conducted the interview, could not verify a handful of major stories relayed in Minhaj’s comedy, ones in which he claimed to have experienced a racist or Islamophobic incident. In his 2017 Netflix special, Homecoming King, Minhaj recounted asking a white girl to prom and going to her doorstep to pick her up the night of the dance, only to find someone else putting a corsage on her wrist. As he told it, she went back on his prom invitation because her parents didn’t want their daughter to take pictures with a “brown boy.”
The would-be prom date, however, disputed certain aspects of Minhaj’s story, saying she turned him down days ahead of the event. She added that Minhaj hadn’t made enough effort to hide her identity, leading her to face online threats and doxxing for years after the special. While Minhaj admitted to her version of the prom events, he homed in on the “emotional truth” of the situation, saying his version of the story resonated because “there are so many other kids who have had a similar sort of doorstep experience.”
In Minhaj’s 2022 Netflix stand-up special, The King’s Jester, the comedian told a story about a white man named “Brother Eric” who converted to Islam and joined Minhaj’s family’s Sacramento-area mosque in 2002, when Minhaj was a junior in high school. As Minhaj told it, “Brother Eric” wound up being an FBI informant actually named Craig Monteilh, who had reported Minhaj’s mosque to authorities, leading police officers to show up at the mosque and pin Minhaj to the hood of a car.
However, TheNew Yorker’s reporting found that entire story to be false: Craig Monteilh, a.k.a. “Brother Eric,” was in prison in 2002, the year Minhaj claimed to have met him, and didn’t become an FBI counterterrorism informant until 2006; Monteilh said he had never worked for the FBI in the Sacramento area, only in Southern California. “I have no idea why he would do that,” Monteilh told TheNew Yorker. Speaking to Malone at a comedy club in the West Village, Minhaj admitted that the “Brother Eric” story was made up and that it was based on “a hard foul he received during a game of pickup basketball in his youth,” when he and other Muslim teens played against middle-aged men whom they believed to be police officers.
In another anecdote from the same special, Minhaj claimed that an envelope containing white powder was mailed to his home, and that he opened it and accidentally spilled it on his young daughter. Unsure whether it was anthrax, Minhaj rushed his daughter to the hospital, and she turned out to be unharmed. The New Yorker found that no such event took place, and Minhaj admitted that it did not, though he claimed the story was based on a time when he received a real letter containing a powdery substance. Minhaj maintained that although both of the King’s Jester stories were only based on “emotional truths,” “the punch line is worth the fictionalized premise.”
“No, I don’t think I’m manipulating,” Minhaj told TheNew Yorker. “I think they are coming for the emotional roller-coaster ride. To the people that are like, ‘Yo, that is way too crazy to happen,’ I don’t care because yes, fuck yes—that’s the point.”
Minhaj has his defenders. Comedian and former Patriot Act writer Ismael Loutfi told The New Yorker that he believes his former boss was well within his right to embellish certain stories and aspects of his life. “Maybe it’s just three or four facts he combined into one,” Loutfi said. “Every stand-up you see who’s telling any joke, there is an element of truth, but then the thing that provokes laughter is dishonest. I can see how you would find it sort of disreputable, but at the same time I don’t think that that’s a story I’ve heard anyone talk about.”
Minhaj has made a name for himself with political comedy that often centers on issues surrounding Islamophobia and South Asian identity. Before hosting the Emmy- and Peabody-winning Patriot Act, Minhaj was a correspondent on TheDaily Show. He headlined the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2017 and was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people in 2019. He also recently had a long sit-down interview with former president Barack Obama. Following Trevor Noah’s departure, Minhaj did a stint as guest host of TheDaily Show in March, and he is now rumored to be a front-runner to take over the full-time hosting gig.
Minhaj delivered the following statement to Vanity Fair when asked for comment:
“All my stand-up stories are based on events that happened to me. Yes, I was rejected from going to prom because of my race. Yes, a letter with powder was sent to my apartment that almost harmed my daughter. Yes, I had an interaction with law enforcement during the war on terror. Yes, I had varicocele repair surgery so we could get pregnant. Yes, I roasted Jared Kushner to his face. I use the tools of stand-up comedy—hyperbole, changing names and locations, and compressing timelines to tell entertaining stories. That’s inherent to the art form. You wouldn’t go to a haunted house and say, ‘Why are these people lying to me?’—the point is the ride. Stand-up is the same.”
Behold, the genesis of Death, Let Me Do My Show. She toured it as a special, working out the kinks, before upgrading her sets, band, costumes—all of it—for the off-Broadway show.
During tech rehearsals in New York, she spends over an hour patiently delivering the same handful of lines so different options can be tweaked for lighting, blocking, sound, all of it. Barefoot in sequined pants and a black top, she does a series of calisthenics and warrior poses familiar to any mom who’s not sure when her back started to feel like that, firing off requests and suggestions and jokes all the while. She’s settling into an Airbnb for the run, and could they add two big containers of white vinegar to the list, one for home and one for the theater? She forgot her Clarisonic toothbrush and doesn’t want her husband (she affectionately refers to him by his last name, Gregor) to have to worry about finding it and bringing it when he joins her with their daughter. She’s still pissed about something a high school drama teacher said about her audition for Little Shop of Horrors, when teen Rachel was having a tough time. The running commentary bounces from personal admin to the show to commentary on society to her desire for a doughnut from the snack table set up stage left, which she shares by declaring, “I have to doughnut.”
It’s a lot happening all at the same time, a whole galaxy of planets spinning around Bloom, the sun: balancing the show and her family, trying to do everything she can to support her friends and colleagues, making sure there’s a trash can in the dressing room. She does it all standing in front of the show’s backdrop, which shouts, “Rachel Bloom” in oversized neon, as if there’s any forgetting who’s at the center of all of this. But after the whirlwind of Crazy Ex, she’s used to being a human command center. This, though, is a new level.
Adam Schlesinger and Rachel Bloom attend the ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ Live Event.From Walter McBride/Getty Images.
“The thing that baffles me is I had a TV show where I was in the writers room writing songs, performing, and editing. I was working 16-hour days,” she said. “It was so incredibly hard. Having a kid is way harder. Because you are not trained your whole life [for parenting]. We spend our whole lives working on a career, right? So at least there’s some sort of training or kind of context for when the schedule is really hard. With a kid, there’s no training, but you have to suddenly become an expert and I find it harder. I find it astonishing that this is what’s expected of most people: that you are expected to have kids and most people are like, yeah, that’s just what you do.”
Bloom is so open that it’s easy to believe that she’s working things through in real time. When she sings a lullaby that ends with her sweetly crooning “this is hell” while gazing at an imaginary baby in an imaginary crib, you might feel guilty for laughing. This woman seems like an open wound, but she isn’t. She’s a very good actor who has done a lot of work in therapy and is also a gifted writer who is able to convey, for example, that gut punch of feeling sleep-deprived and terrified and totally smitten all at the same time, a common and potent cocktail of early parenthood. When she talks about Schlesinger in the show, it feels so raw that I almost want to stop her—wait, before you show us too much of yourself! But she’s okay. She wasn’t always, but she is now.
“Anything I say onstage has been processed. I think I have a good sense of not only what trauma has been processed but also what can I stand behind, should someone be like, ‘I have an issue with the story,’” she said. “Basically anything I share, it’s not the first time I’m sharing it with someone. Could I have done this show in 2020? No. I couldn’t look at a picture of Adam for the first couple of months without crying. I couldn’t physically deal with it. I did my first stand-up show [of this material] back in May 2021, and by then it was processed. It had become part of my personal narrative. There are things that happen to you and you’re in shock, and for a while you’re like, ‘That’s not me. That’s not my story.’ And then when it all folded into my story, it finally became real that I was a parent. I felt for the first couple months like, ‘When are these people going to come get their baby?’ You just feel like you’re cosplaying a parent, you’re like, ‘I feel like an imposter. This is insane.’ Every time I said ‘my daughter’ it felt like I was doing an impression of someone. ‘Oh, my daughter.’”
And that same daughter has led her to strengthen her own boundaries around what she shares. While she can ask her husband for consent to share stories about their first bout with postpartum sex, for example, a toddler doesn’t understand how to give permission for her mom to tell funny stories about her. That toddler will also some day probably learn how to read and operate a computer, and will be able to google herself and her mother. Bloom has a new sense of protecting her daughter now and in the future, an added consideration in her material.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25016343/nat_faxon.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25016347/vico_ortiz_madeleine_sami_samson_kayo_0.jpg)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25016365/erroll_shand.jpg)
