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Tag: Marc Maron

  • What to Stream: ‘Wicked: For Good’ soundtrack, Ted Danson, ‘The Bad Guys 2’ and Black cowboys

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    Ted Danson’s “A Man on the Inside” returning to Netflix for its second season and Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo belting out the “Wicked: For Good” soundtrack are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

    Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Aerosmith teaming up with Yungblud on a new EP, “The Bad Guys 2” hitting Peacock and Jordan Peele looking at Black cowboys in a new documentary series.

    New movies to stream from Nov. 17-23

    — “Train Dreams,” (Friday, Nov. 21 on Netflix), Clint Bentley’s adaptation of Denis Johnson’s acclaimed novella, stars Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier, a railroad worker and logger in the early 20th century Pacific Northwest. The film, scripted by Bentley and Greg Kwedar (the duo behind last year’s “Sing Sing” ), conjures a frontier past to tell a story about an anonymous laborer and the currents of change around him.

    — The DreamWorks Animation sequel “The Bad Guys 2” (Friday, Nov. 21 on Peacock) returns the reformed criminal gang of animals for a new heist caper. In the film, with a returning voice cast including Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos and Marc Maron, the Bad Guys encounter a new robbery team: the Bad Girls. In his review, AP’s Mark Kennedy lamented an over-amped sequel with a plot that reaches into space: “It’s hard to watch a franchise drift so expensively and pointlessly in Earth’s orbit.”

    — In “The Roses,” Jay Roach (“Meet the Parents’), from a script by Tony McNamara (“Poor Things”), remakes Danny DeVito’s 1989 black comedy, “The War of the Roses.” In this version, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch star as a loving couple who turn bitter enemies. In his review, Kennedy called “The Roses” “an escalating hatefest that, by the time a loaded gun comes out, all the fun has been sucked out.”

    — AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

    New music to stream on Nov. 21

    — Musical theater fans, your time has come… again. “Wicked: For Good” is upon us, and with it comes the release of its official soundtrack. On Friday, after or before you catch the film in theaters, stream its life-affirming compositions to your heart’s content. Might we suggest Ariana Grande’s “The Girl in the Bubble?” Or Cynthia Erivo’s “No Place Like Home?” And for the Jeff Goldblum and Jonathan Bailey lovers, yes, there’s gold to be unearthed, too.

    — Rock this way: Aerosmith is back with new music. Following their 2023 “Greatest Hits” collection and just a few months after the conclusion of their “Peace Out: The Farewell Tour” (the band said it would no longer hit the road due to singer Steven Tyler’s voice becoming permanently damaged by a vocal cord injury ) they’re teaming up with next gen rock ‘n’ roller Yungblud. It’s a collaborative EP called “One More Time,” out Friday. The anthemic opening track, “My Only Angel” sets the tone. What’s another one for the road?

    — AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

    New series to stream from Nov. 17-23

    — Raise your hand if you still miss “Succession” Sundays on HBO. An acclaimed Swedish drama called “Vanguard” debuts Tuesday on Viaplay that’s of the same vein. It’s a dramatization about Jan Stenbeck, one of Europe’s most influential media moguls. There’s ambition, betrayal and yes, sibling rivalry.

    — Ted Danson’s “A Man on the Inside” returns to Netflix for its second season on Thursday. Danson plays a widower named Charles who has found a new sense of purpose as an amateur private detective. In Season One, Charles moved into a retirement home to catch his culprit. In Season Two, he goes back to college to solve a case. Danson’s real-life wife, Mary Steenburgen, joins the cast as Charles’ love interest as he explores the idea of a second chance at romance.

    — Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore co-star in “The Assassin” for AMC+. Hawes (“Bodyguard”) plays a retired assassin living in solitude on a Greek island whose peaceful life is turned upside down when her estranged son (Highmoore) comes to visit. When the two find themselves in danger they must work together to stay alive. It premieres Thursday.

    — Jordan Peele has a new documentary series called “High Horse: The Black Cowboy” coming to Peacock on Thursday. The three-part series examines how stories of Black cowboys have been erased from both pop culture and history books.

    New video games to play from Nov. 17-23

    — If you bought Mario Kart World when Nintendo launched the Switch 2 back in June, you may be wondering: Do I really need another racing game? Kirby Air Riders comes from designer Masahiro Sakurai, the mastermind behind Super Smash Bros., so it adds that franchise’s chaotic combat to the mix. Each of the competitors has different weapons and each of the vehicles has different benefits and drawbacks. And everyone can use Kirby’s signature “inhale” technique, which lets you absorb an opponent’s skills by, well, swallowing them. So if you like your racing weird, get your motor running Thursday.

    — Lou Kesten

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  • Screening at NYFF: Scott Cooper’s ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’

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    Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

    The first and final scenes of any film are vital, and contained within these bookends you can find the entire story of Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Unfortunately, nearly everything in between is standard biopic filler and reinforces filmmaker Scott Cooper’s unique position in the Hollywood landscape: he’s a tremendous director of actors and quite unremarkable at most other parts of the job.

    Based on Warren Zanes’ Bruce Springsteen biography of the same name, the film (which Cooper both directed and wrote) tells the story of how the famed heartland rocker created Nebraska—perhaps his most time-tested album—but it seldom has anything to say beyond observing his emotional troubles during this period, often at great dramatic distance. Despite this contained focus on a one-year period, Deliver Me From Nowhere is very much a decades-spanning saga in the tale of most by-the-numbers “true stories” about revered figures and begins with a monochrome depiction of a young Springsteen (Matthew Pellicano Jr.) listening to his father (Stephen Graham) abuse his mother (Gaby Hoffmann) in the next room. A hard cut from his haunted expression to the adult Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) delivering a full-throated, thoroughly embodied performance of “Born to Run” in 1981 creates a strange but appropriate thematic link between these childhood events and Springsteen’s ’70s mega-hit. Regardless of what the song was actually about (in short: a girl), its lyrics become an obvious cipher here for a man escaping his past at lightspeed. If only the rest of the film had maintained this momentum.

    As mentioned, Deliver Me From Nowhere does in fact conclude with a touching gesture toward catharsis, so in theory one could string these brief opening and closing acts together to create a much more impactful short film without losing very much by way of story. However, viewers then wouldn’t be treated to the real delights of a Scott Cooper joint: broad caricatures who become imbued with beating humanity in a way so few American filmmakers tend to manage. As Springsteen begins work on his next album, he sees the process as a long-overdue exorcism of personal demons, while his record executives et al. want more hits for the radio. The Boss, however, is largely shielded from these demands, leaving his manager and producer Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) to advocate on his behalf.

    This side of things—the logistics of creating the next big hit or cultural phenomenon—features little by way of discernible drama despite the many arguments that play out in the confines of various offices. And yet it can be intriguing to watch in its own way, as Landau becomes the de facto point-of-view character for lengthy stretches, talking up Springsteen’s genius to anyone who’ll listen (including and especially David Krumholtz’s Columbia record exec) while barely giving any pushback to the artist himself. There’s a sense of inevitability to Nebraska coming into being (and the iconic Born in the U.S.A. after it, which used many of his original concepts for the former). On one hand, this rarely affords the movie any meaningful stakes. On the other, it allows Strong to create a cautiously eager version of Landau who practically bleeds adoration for Springsteen. Similarly, Paul Walter Hauser plays an eager recording engineer who goes along with Springsteen’s intentionally lo-fi plans for Nebraska, while Marc Maron plays a mostly silent studio mixer who, despite a few incredulous reactions, largely goes along with things. After all, who is he, and who are any of them, to question the Boss?

    A man with curly hair and a sweat-soaked shirt sings passionately into a microphone on stage, one arm raised in the air under bright concert lights.A man with curly hair and a sweat-soaked shirt sings passionately into a microphone on stage, one arm raised in the air under bright concert lights.
    White’s conception of Springsteen is joyful to witness. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

    This kind of idolatry is usually the raison d’être for jukebox “IP” biopics like Deliver Me From Nowhere, and there’s a refreshing honesty to the hagiography refracted in Strong’s doting gaze. Granted, the film is prevented from veering into full-on Boss propaganda by the personal half of the story, in which he enters a romance with radiant single mother Faye Romano (Odessa Young), a relationship that feels doomed by the very same inevitability that colors the movie’s making-of-Nebraska half. He offers her, up front, a premonition of what will inevitably happen—that he won’t be able to commit himself to loving her so long as this album and its ghosts hang around his neck—but with the movie’s parameters all clearly established, in the studio and behind closed doors, there remains little reason to watch it beyond its performances. Springsteen will prioritize his work, people will laud his musical talent and he will eventually confront the wounds of his past, but none of these are framed as part of a story where Springsteen’s or anyone’s human impulses threaten to derail the inevitable for even a moment.

    White’s conception of Springsteen is joyful to witness, not just for the way he impersonates the Boss’s gravelly voice and vein-popping performances but for the way he conjures Springsteen’s spirit through exaggeration. He crafts a sense of mood (and moodiness) where the film might not otherwise contain it, brooding to the extreme and sitting in Jersey and New York diner booths hunched over to the side, leaning so far that he threatens to keel over. He doesn’t so much play Springsteen as he does an imaginary, effortlessly cool, deeply tormented version that James Dean might have portrayed, and Deliver Me From Nowhere is slightly better for it. In tandem with Masanobu Takayanagi’s cinematography, which subtly silhouettes the superstar and turns him into an icon even in mundane settings, the film has tremendous physical architecture even if its emotional architecture is practically null.

    SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE ★★ (2/4 stars)
    Directed by: Scott Cooper
    Written by: Scott Cooper
    Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young, David Krumholtz, Gaby Hoffmann, Harrison Sloan Gilbertson, Grace Gummer, Marc Maron, Matthew Pellicano Jr.
    Running time: 114 mins.

    Clichés abound in the form of flowery dialogue, but the kind that, when imbued with enough cinematic gusto—Springsteen speaks of “finding silence amongst the noise”—can transcend their trappings and become jubilant. Unfortunately, here they end up as overwritten pablum that struggles to convey meaning.

    There are movie references aplenty, from Springsteen discovering dark subject matter through a Terrence Malick film and flashbacks of him enjoying Charles Laughton’s sumptuous The Night of the Hunter with his father. But these only serve as mood boards, presented as-is when Springsteen watches them, rather than becoming stylistic or thematic influences for the artist or for the film at large. They become reminders of how comparatively little by way of style or philosophy Cooper puts into his work, even if his protagonist can be seen watching them, enjoying them and being influenced by them in a way that makes his wheels silently turn. But what that influence leads to, and the synapses it fires, remain something of a mystery.

    At the end of the day, Deliver Me From Nowhere is a film worth looking at and observing from the same distance that Cooper frames his impenetrable version of Springsteen, whose troubles hover over his creative process like a gloomy cloud. But the camera seldom looks past the pristine surfaces it creates in order to explore those problems or Springsteen’s connection to the many lyrics we see him jotting down throughout the runtime. “Double album??” he scrawls at one point, underlining it twice in a gesture that hilariously ends up with about as much weight and meaning as any of Springsteen’s actual lyrics—in a film nominally about the lifelong pain that fuels them. Sure. Double album. Why the hell not?

    Screening at NYFF: Scott Cooper’s ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’

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    Siddhant Adlakha

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  • Obama rips concessions that businesses and others have made to Trump

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    (CNN) — Barack Obama ripped into the law firms, universities and businesses that have worked out settlements or other deals with President Donald Trump’s administration, arguing that “We all have this capacity, I think, to take a stand.”

    The former president said the organizations that concede to Trump should be able to say, “We’re not going to be bullied into saying that we can only hire people or promote people based on some criteria that’s been cooked up by Steve Miller,” referring to the top White House aide.

    According to an advance podcast transcript, Obama said he sympathized with those looking to avoid a backlash, but said, “We’re not at the stage where you have to be like Nelson Mandela and be in a 10-by-12 jail cell for 27 years and break rocks.”

    The comments, some of the most direct that Obama has made about Trump outside of his campaign trail appearances in 2020 and 2024, came in an interview posting Monday for the final episode of the “WTF” podcast hosted by comedian Marc Maron.

    Maron, who last interviewed Obama in 2015, has frequently talked about that conversation in subsequent episodes. In July, after announcing he would end the 16-year run of the pioneering podcast, he suggested that another talk with Obama would be a dream way to finish. Last week, he got his wish — though not by having Obama make another visit to his house, as many of the podcast guests tend to.

    Maron kept the interview a surprise even from fans, only teasing in his penultimate episode that he traveled to record it. They met in Obama’s office in Washington.

    The conversation focused on the state of America and what Democrats can find hope in — but Obama also criticized progressive absolutism and singled out one rising Texas Democrat who impresses him.

    The news out of his hometown on his mind, Obama called Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago “a deliberate end run around not just a concept, but a law that’s been around for a long time” — the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits the use of the military inside the US for law enforcement purposes.

    “That is a genuine effort to weaken how we have understood democracy,” he said.

    Obama reflected on his own experiences in the White House, including dealing with pushback from Republican leaders such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

    “If I had sent in the National Guard into Texas and just said, ‘You know what? A lot of problems in Dallas, a lot of crime there, and I don’t care what Gov. Abbott says. I’m going to kind of take over law enforcement, because I think things are out of control,’ it is mind-boggling to me how Fox News would have responded,” he said.

    The two also discussed the evolution of the media environment, particularly around the podcast world Maron helped shape, and what it has done to political communication.

    “It was interesting to me when people started criticizing Bernie [Sanders] or somebody else for going on Rogan. It’s like, why wouldn’t you? Yeah, of course, go,” Obama said, referring to “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast.

    Among the Rogan guests who caught Obama’s eye: Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who turned a viral appearance on the podcast into fuel for what has now become a competitive Senate primary run.

    Obama called Talarico “terrific, a really talented young man,” adding that his appearance proves that going on long-form podcasts requires “a certain confidence in your actual convictions to debate and have a conversation with somebody who disagrees with you.”

    Overall, Obama argued, “what people long for is some core integrity that seems absent, just a sense that the person seems to walk the walk, just talk the talk.”

    Obama said he particularly enjoyed a bit from Maron’s latest stand-up special when the comedian jokes that progressives annoyed the average American into fascism.

    “You can’t constantly lecture people without acknowledging that you’ve got some blind spots too, and that life’s messy,” Obama said. “I think this was a fault of some progressive language, was almost asserting a holier-than-thou superiority that’s not that different from what we used to joke about coming from the right moral majority and a certain fundamentalism about how to think about stuff that I think was dangerous.”

    “If I talked about trans issues, I wasn’t talking down to people and saying, ‘Oh, you’re a bigot,’” he said. “I’d say, ‘You know, it’s tough enough being a teenager. Let’s treat all kids decently. Why would we want to see kids bullied?”

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  • Marc Maron Had Real Time to Come After Bill Maher

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    Marc Maron may suffer from crippling anxiety, but he doesn’t suffer fools. Maron went off on Bill Maher on Pod Save America, calling him “desperate” in an episode released August 24. “I can’t do it,” he said, when Jon Lovett asked him about Maher. “I always had a problem with his tone.” He elaborated that with Maher, “and it happens with some of the other boomers, there’s this desperate chasing of relevance that changes someone’s mind in terms of how they approach what they do and also kind of makes the whole undertaking feel desperate.”

    Maron did caveat that he’d been on Maher’s shows Politically Incorrect and Real Time before (he was on Real Time thrice between 2011 and 2015). Then he offered the Kendrick Lamar–esque kill shot: “He’s got good joke writers who know how to write for his tone, but I can’t see past the desperation and what he’s willing to do to stay in the conversation.” Next, Maron claims Maher disappoints his entire family.

    Earlier this year, the WTF host criticized Maher for telling people that he agreed with “some of the things” that Trump was doing. “Are you going to be like Bill Maher, you know, ‘I’m going to agree with some of the things that Trump is doing,’” Maron said on a March episode of WTF with W. Kamau Bell. “It’s like, dude, you’re a bitch.” That may be Politically Incorrect, but it’s funny.

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    Jason P. Frank

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  • Marc Maron is ‘All In’ for upcoming Phoenix comedy show

    Marc Maron is ‘All In’ for upcoming Phoenix comedy show

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    Interviewing a famous podcaster who has interviewed many famous people himself, including Barack Obama, Robin Williams, Bruce Springsteen and 15 years’ worth of other A-listers, can be intimidating. So, as a fan, I was both excited and nervous when I was asked to speak to Marc Maron ahead of his Phoenix stand-up show, “All In.”…

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    Timothy Rawles

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  • Celebrity birthdays for the week of Sept. 22-28

    Celebrity birthdays for the week of Sept. 22-28

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    Celebrity birthdays for the week of Sept. 22-28:

    Sept. 22: Singer-dancer Toni Basil is 81. Actor Paul Le Mat (“American Graffiti”) is 79. Singer David Coverdale (Whitesnake, Deep Purple) is 73. Actor Shari Belafonte is 70. Singer Debby Boone is 68. Country singer June Forester of The Forester Sisters is 68. Singer Nick Cave is 67. Actor Lynn Herring (“General Hospital”) is 67. Singer Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde is 67. Opera singer Andrea Bocelli is 66. Musician Joan Jett is 66. Actor Scott Baio is 64. Actor Bonnie Hunt is 63. Actor Catherine Oxenberg (“Dynasty”) is 63. Actor Rob Stone (“Mr. Belvedere”) is 62. Actor Dan Bucatinsky (“24: Legacy”) is 59. Bassist-guitarist Dave Hernandez (The Shins) is 54. Rapper Mystikal is 54. Singer Big Rube of Society of Soul is 53. Actor James Hillier (“The Crown”) is 51. Actor Mireille Enos (“World War Z”) is 49. Actor Daniella Alonso (“Revolution,” ″Friday Night Lights”) is 46. Actor Michael Graziadei (“The Young and the Restless”) is 45. Actor Ashley Eckstein (“That’s So Raven,” “Sofia the First”) is 43. Actor Katie Lowes (“Scandal”) is 42. Bassist Will Farquarson of Bastille is 41. Actor Tatiana Maslany (“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” “Orphan Black”) is 39. Actor Ukweli Roach (“Blindspot”) is 38. Actor Tom Felton (“Harry Potter” films) is 37. Actor Teyonah Parris (“Mad Men”) is 37.

    Sept. 23: Singer Julio Iglesias is 81. Actor-singer Paul Petersen (“The Donna Reed Show”) is 79. Actor-Mary Kay Place is 77. Musician Bruce Springsteen is 75. Director George C. Wolfe (film’s “Nights in Rodanthe,” stage’s “Angels in America”) is 70. Drummer Leon Taylor of The Ventures is 69. Actor Rosalind Chao (2020’s “Mulan,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”) is 67. Actor Jason Alexander (“Seinfeld”) is 65. Actor Chi McBride (“Hawaii Five-0,” ″Boston Public”) is 63. Steel guitarist Don Herron of BR549 is 62. Actor LisaRaye (“All of Us,” ″Beauty Shop”) is 58. Singer Ani DiFranco is 54. Singer Sam Bettens of K’s Choice is 52. Rapper-producer-record head Jermaine Dupri is 52. Actor Kip Pardue (“The Rules of Attraction,” “Remember the Titans”) is 48. Actor Anthony Mackie (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) is 46. Singer Erik-Michael Estrada of O-Town is 45. Actor Brandon Victor Dixon (“Hamilton”) is 43. Actor David Lim (“S.W.A.T.,” ″Quantico”) is 41. Actor Cush Jumbo (“The Good Fight,” ″The Good Wife”) is 39. Actor Skylar Astin (“Pitch Perfect” films) is 37.

    Sept. 24: Singer Phyllis ″Jiggs” Allbut Sirico of The Angels is 82. Actor Gordon Clapp (“NYPD Blue”) is 76. Actor Harriet Walter (“The Crown”) is 74. Actor Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules: Legendary Journeys”) is 66. Singer Cedric Dent (Take 6) is 62. Actor-writer Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) is 62. Drummer Shawn Crahan of Slipknot is 55. Drummer Marty Mitchell (Ricochet) is 55. Singer-guitarist Marty Cintron of No Mercy is 53. Guitarist Juan DeVevo of Casting Crowns is 49. Actor Ian Bohen (“Yellowstone,” “Teen Wolf”) is 48. Actor Spencer Treat Clark (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “Animal Kingdom”) is 37. Actor Grey Damon (“Station 19”) is 37. Actor Kyle Sullivan (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 36. Actor Ben Platt is 31.

    Sept. 25: Polka band leader Jimmy Sturr is 83. Actor Josh Taylor (“Days of Our Lives,” “Valerie’s Family”) is 81. Actor Robert Walden (“Lou Grant”) is 81. Actor Michael Douglas is 80. Model Cheryl Tiegs is 77. Actor Mimi Kennedy (“Dharma and Greg”) is 76. Actor Anson Williams (“Happy Days”) is 75. Actor Mark Hamill is 73. Actor Colin Friels is 72. Actor Michael Madsen is 66. Actor Heather Locklear is 63. Actor Aida Turturro (“The Sopranos”) is 62. Actor Tate Donovan (“The O.C.”) is 61. TV personality Keely Shaye Smith (“Unsolved Mysteries”) is 61. Actor Maria Doyle Kennedy (“Orphan Black,” ″The Tudors”) is 60. Actor Jason Flemyng (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” ″The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”) is 58. Actor-singer Will Smith is 56. Actor Hal Sparks (“Queer as Folk”) is 55. Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones is 55. Actor Bridgette Wilson-Sampras (“The Wedding Planner,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer”) is 51. Actor Clea DuVall (“Heroes”) is 47. Actor Robbie Jones (“One Tree Hill”) is 47. Actor Joel David Moore (“Avatar”) is 47. Actor Chris Owen (“American Pie” films, “October Sky”) is 44. Rapper T.I. is 43. Actor Lee Norris (“One Tree Hill,” “Boy Meets World”) is 43. Actor-rapper Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) (“Atlanta,” ″Community”) is 41. Actor Zach Woods (“Silicon Valley,” ″The Office”) is 40. Actor Jordan Gavaris (“Orphan Black”) is 35. Actor Emmy Clarke (“Monk”) is 33.

    Sept. 26: Country singer David Frizzell is 83. Actor Kent McCord (“Adam 12”) is 82. “The Weakest Link” host Anne Robinson is 80. Singer Bryan Ferry is 79. Actor Mary Beth Hurt is 78. Actor James Keane (“Bulworth,” TV’s “The Paper Chase”) is 72. Singer-guitarist Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos is 70. Country singer Carlene Carter is 69. Actor Linda Hamilton is 68. Singer Cindy Herron of En Vogue is 63. Actor Melissa Sue Anderson (“Little House on the Prairie”) is 62. Singer Tracey Thorn of Everything But the Girl is 62. TV personality Jillian Barberie is 58. Guitarist Jody Davis of Newsboys is 57. Actor Jim Caviezel (“Sound of Freedom,” “The Passion of the Christ”) is 56. Actor Tricia O’Kelley (“The New Adventures of Old Christine”) is 56. Actor Ben Shenkman (“Royal Pains,” “Angels in America”) is 56. Actor Melanie Paxson (“Descendants”) is 52. Singer Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men is 52. Music producer Dr. Luke is 51. Jazz trumpeter Nicholas Payton is 51. Singer and TV personality Christina Milian is 43. Actor Zoe Perry (“Young Sheldon”) is 41. Singer-songwriter Ant Clemons is 33.

    Sept. 27: Actor Kathleen Nolan is 91. Actor Claude Jarman Jr. (“The Yearling”) is 90. Singer-guitarist Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive is 81. Actor Liz Torres (“Gilmore Girls”) is 77. Actor A Martinez (“LA Law,” ″Santa Barbara”) is 76. Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (“Pearl Harbor”) is 74. Actor-opera singer Anthony Laciura (“Boardwalk Empire”) is 73. Singer-actor-director Shaun Cassidy is 66. Comedian-podcaster Marc Maron is 61. Singer-guitarist Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind is 60. Actor Patrick Muldoon (“Melrose Place”) is 56. Singer Mark Calderon of Color Me Badd is 54. Actor Gwyneth Paltrow is 52. Actor Indira Varma (“For Life”) is 51. Singer Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down is 46. Bassist Grant Brandell of Underoath is 43. Actor Anna Camp (“The Mindy Project,” ″True Blood”) is 42. Rapper Lil’ Wayne is 42. Singer Avril Lavigne is 40. Bluegrass musician Sierra Hull is 33. Actor Sam Lerner (“The Goldbergs”) is 32. Actor Ames McNamara (“The Connors”) is 17.

    Sept. 28: Actor Brigitte Bardot is 90. Actor Joel Higgins (“Silver Spoons”) is 81. Actor Jeffrey Jones is 78. Actor Vernee Watson (“Bob Hearts Abishola,” “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) is 75. Writer-director-actor John Sayles is 74. Guitarist George Lynch (Dokken) is 70. Actor Steve Hytner (“Seinfeld”) is 65. Actor-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 60. Country singer Matt King is 58. Actor Mira Sorvino is 57. TV personality and singer Moon Zappa is 57. Actor Naomi Watts is 56. Country singer Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town is 55. Country singer Mandy Barnett is 49. Rapper Young Jeezy is 47. Actor Peter Cambor (“NCIS: Los Angeles”) is 46. TV personality Bam Margera (“Jackass”) is 45. Actor Jerrika Hinton (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 43. Guitarist Luke Mossman of Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats is 43. Musician St. Vincent is 42. Comedian Phoebe Robinson (“What Men Want”) is 40. Drummer Daniel Platzman (Imagine Dragons) is 38. Actor Hilary Duff is 37. Actor Keir Gilchrist (“United States of Tara”) is 32.

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  • Marc Maron on his dark, deeply personal new HBO special

    Marc Maron on his dark, deeply personal new HBO special

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    Marc Maron on his dark, deeply personal new HBO special – CBS News


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    Comedian and podcast host Marc Maron is out with his first HBO special “Marc Maron: From Bleak to Dark,” which covers difficult topics like grappling with his father’s dementia and the sudden death of his partner, director Lynn Shelton. Maron tells Anthony Mason about his writing process, the unexpected success of his podcast, “WTF,” and turning his grief into comedy.

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  • Mondo Bullshittio #46: The Inquiry Into Andrea Riseborough’s Oscar Nomination

    Mondo Bullshittio #46: The Inquiry Into Andrea Riseborough’s Oscar Nomination

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    In a series called Mondo Bullshittio, let’s talk about some of the most glaring hypocrisies and faux pas in pop culture… and all that it affects.

    Well before the Oscar nominations were officially announced, there were “whisperings” of the “suspect” campaign that seemed to come out of nowhere with regard to well-known members of the Hollywood elite touting the performance of Andrea Riseborough in To Leslie. That “campaign” (which cost literally nothing next to the monetary amount required for the ad space most other people espousing a film for Academy Award consideration “have to” plunk down) consisted essentially of director Michael Morris and his wife, Mary McCormack, rallying fellow celebrities to watch the movie and tout it on their social media accounts if they liked it. Harmless enough, right? Especially compared to how other nominations have been secured in the past (that is, with gobs and gobs of money and quid pro quo antics). Not to the “scandalized” Academy. No, they felt that Riseborough’s nomination was so suspicious and rife with dubious motivations that they decided to launch an inquiry into it. After all, it has been branded as “one of the most shocking nominations in Oscar history.” How could they not humor those outraged by the decision with the pageantry of an “investigation”?

    And yet, had the Academy been investigating a slew of other nominations, they might have found far more muck to rake. Regardless, all of the sudden, Academy members and vested award participants were extremely interested in the importance of adhering to a document entitled “Regulations Concerning the Promotion of Films Eligible for the Academy Awards.” In it, there’s a section called, “c. Mailings may not include.” Under the first article in that umbrella is: “Personal signature, personal regards, or pleas to watch the film.” Although actors and actresses (including Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, Charlize Theron, Sarah Paulson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Jane Fonda, Mia Farrow, Mira Sorvino, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Monaghan, Laura Dern and Kim Basinger) extolling the virtues of Riseborough’s performance weren’t doing so in any “mailings,” apparently their gushing fervor expressed in a public space (mainly Twitter and Instagram) was enough to loosen the meaning of the word. Hence the Academy responding to the fury, complete with accusations of a CAA-fueled conspiracy afoot as many of the actors praising Riseborough’s performance are repped by that agency. Of course, Riseborough, too, is also represented by said agency. Cue more infuriated cries of, “J’accuse!”

    Talk of Riseborough’s manager, Jason Weinberg, being the main catalyst behind getting Riseborough and Morris’ “little film” so much traction was corroborated by the likes of Jeremy O. Harris, who stated in January, “This man did a group chat Oscar campaign for a client he has seen work her ass off for years with little to [no] recognition who gave a daring performance in a small picture and it worked. This should be studied.” But director Morris himself was to thank for securing Charlize Theron (who Riseborough, as Leslie, is channeling a bit…namely, when Theron played Aileen Wuornos in Monster) to introduce the movie at a November screening where she proselytized the film’s greatness. And that’s what truly upped the momentum for the little indie performance that could. By the end of November ’22, Riseborough had secured an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Lead Performance.

    This wasn’t enough to sway the voters behind the nominations for the Golden Globe Awards or the Critics Choice Awards, but nothing could stop the momentum by this point, as Morris phoned in another friend in Gwyneth Paltrow, who trumpeted Riseborough’s brilliance in early January, insisting that Riseborough ought to win “every award there is and all the ones that haven’t been invented yet.” The SAG Awards nominations subsequently tend to disagree. But by mid-January, it doesn’t matter. The unofficial campaign for the movie has spread to Alan Cumming—and everyone knows the gays give good word of mouth. And that, to boot, when a gay man has praised a dramatic performance, it’s all but assured a following.

    The real problem, though? The push for Riseborough, in many people’s eyes, is a detriment and cloak of invisibility to Viola Davis. Specifically for her performance in The Woman King. And when Riseborough seemingly did “oust” Davis, taking “her place” among Best Actress Academy Award nominees Michelle Williams, Cate Blanchett, Ana de Armas (what the fuck—it’s even more insulting because Marilyn herself was never nominated for an Oscar) and Michelle Yeoh, the backlash veered into full-on “Beyoncé should have won Album of the Year” territory. Except, in this case, it’s a white lady instead of a white man and the performance is actually pretty fire instead of fairly forgettable. Nonetheless, the director of The Woman King, Gina Prince-Bythewood, was certain to announce that “the Academy made a very loud statement [in shutting out Davis] and for me to stay quiet is to accept that statement.” Many were of the same belief regarding not just the lack of Black female representation in the category, but the fact that Riseborough appeared to be getting the Oscar campaign equivalent of nepo baby treatment. With so many influential people advocating her performance, it somehow made the masses actually focus less on that, and more on how white folks are effortlessly guided into a Cinderella story at every turn.

    Appropriately, To Leslie itself is a kind of fairy tale. Or rather, a “semi-realistic” one. A story of an underdog who manages to pull herself up out of a very deep hole against all the odds. But, just as Riseborough, she has quite a bit of help to achieve that feat. Does that make her achievement less valid? It depends, of course, on who you ask. But there’s no denying that the real reason the Academy bothered to launch an inquiry at all was a result of the #OscarsSoWhite-oriented heat they were getting for Viola Davis’ absence, not to mention Danielle Deadwyler’s for her performance in Till. It was ultimately this politically incorrect faux pas that really spurred the organization’s investigation into the “tactics” used to secure the nomination. Barely a week later, as everyone expected (because everyone knew it was bullshit to call the kettle black on any “untoward” methods for lobbying for a movie or its lead actors), the CEO of the Academy, Bill Kramer, confirmed that Riseborough’s nomination would stand.

    Alas, by loosely pinning a “lobbying scandal” on Riseborough (because that’s whose name comes to mind above everybody else’s when all is said and done), the Academy can continue to avoid any true responsibility for its own actions. Or rather, what Prince-Bythewood might call its “loud” nomination choices. All while Riseborough somehow ends up being painted as the “bad guy” and the “overrated actress” of the scenario. And so, all this pomp and circumstance turns out to be more of a bane than a blessing for Riseborough and her talent in the end. Especially if she actually ends up winning.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • To Leslie: A Semi-Realistic Fairy Tale

    To Leslie: A Semi-Realistic Fairy Tale

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    As Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman once said, “People put you down enough, you start to believe it.” That statement couldn’t be any truer for washed-up alcoholic Leslie Rowlands (Andrea Riseborough), a proverbial small-town girl whose only achievement in life has been winning the lottery at her favorite local bar in West Texas. Although only a “modest sum” of $190,000, it’s enough to make Leslie’s head get a little too big as she proceeds to party the funds away. All while her parents, thirteen-year-old son, James (later played by Owen Teague), and sister, Nancy (Allison Janney), watch.

    It is the latter and her husband, Dutch (Stephen Root), who end up helping raise James when Leslie decides to leave “just so you can go out drinkin’ [and] thinkin’ you’re hot shit,” as Nancy puts it. Of course, anyone who has been an alcoholic or known one is aware of the seduction that the bottle holds. And it’s far greater than the appeal of being a Responsible Adult. Which is why, at the time, Leslie doesn’t feel so bad about the abandonment, sinking deeper and deeper into her hole of addiction and financial ruin. As she confesses to her employer-turned-semi-boyfriend/custodian, Sweeney (Marc Maron), “I was happy to have a break, okay? I partied and I didn’t mean to spend it all. I lost everything and I had to file for bankruptcy. So yeah, I left him.”

    Leslie’s explanation cuts to the core of Ernest Hemingway’s iconic dialogue from The Sun Also Rises: “‘How did you go bankrupt?’ Bill asked. ‘Two ways,’ Mike said. ‘Gradually, then suddenly.’” And when you’re “flush,” everyone around you wants to cash in on it as well, which is precisely what happened with Leslie, as she undoubtedly ordered rounds for everyone in the bar each time she went out. And, to the point of Nancy mocking her for thinking she was “hot shit,” Leslie still seems to be laboring under that misconception while she shamelessly flirts with men at bars to attempt getting her tab covered in her present state of broke assery.

    Ten years ago, it might have worked, but in the now, she’s become the proverbial “sad bar troll.” The one who stayed at the fair too long and currently looks like a bedraggled carny. And, talking of carnies, screenwriter Ryan Binaco (whose only previous writing credit is 3022) seems to want to emulate the message of William Lindsay Gresham’s Nightmare Alley (another lurid tale about an alcoholic hitting rock bottom after experiencing life at “the top”). A novel (and movie) that reiterates to the “little people” that they should be happy with their lot in life before they go trying to reach for the stars. To Leslie does something similar, being that Leslie is a woman determined to believe that the money will change her and her son’s lot in life. But, as Somen a.k.a. Steve’s mom in Welcome to Chippendales warns, “Some people are not meant to be rich.” For when you’re born fundamentally “gauche” (see also: The Beverly Hillbillies), you’ll only end up either 1) squandering it all or 2) constantly wanting more—never “just” being satisfied with the fluke of a come-up you’ve already gotten.

    In Leslie’s case, it’s the former category, and she pays a much higher price for ever having been “rich” in the first place—a heavenly blip in time that hardly compares to the hell she’s expected to spend the rest of her life in now—than she would have if she had gone on as an “ordinary” woman. That is to say, someone who kept their head down and kept working some banal job without letting “grand” ideas of being wealthy get the better of them. Even though we live in a society that preys on this naïve hope of the plebes every day (*cough cough* the very existence of the lottery and its nonstop barrage of ads peddling notions of hitting the big time with no effort except the purchase of a ticket). It’s also sometimes better known as capitalism.

    And once Leslie loses all her money, she also loses her entire sense of worth. Something that Sweeney, who manages the cheap roadside motel that his friend, Royal (Andre Royo), owns, has to help remind Leslie of as she makes slow progress on getting sober and actually doing the job she was hired for: cleaning the rooms. But, to bring up something else the aforementioned Vivian Ward said, “The bad stuff is easier to believe. Ever notice that?” It would be difficult for Leslie not to, what with all the “townfolk” constantly talking about what a fuck-up she is. But Sweeney tells her point-blank, “You’re not the piece of shit that everybody says you are.” In this regard, To Leslie additionally emphasizes that sometimes it only takes one person to believe in you in order for you to believe in yourself again. Just as it was for Vivian with Edward in Pretty Woman. And yeah, Leslie would probably be prostituting herself if there was more male interest actually shown in the “product.”

    Instead, she accepts the only job she’s miraculously offered: hotel maid. And all because Sweeney sees her homeless, drunken state and takes pity on her. Only to return his charity by later seething, while sober, “I’m fuckin’ stuck here with you and Royal—a pair of fuckin’ hilljacks like the shit icing on my shit fuckin’ life.” Sweeney reminds, “Me and Royal are the best thing that happened to you. So don’t call us names. And your family won’t talk to you because they shouldn’t after what you did. But you’re livin’, right?” She bursts out laughing at the “consolation” as he continues, “I’m sorry it ain’t a fairy tale, we all shoulda done things differently. But you’re what’s wrong with your life, not anyone else.”

    Royal expresses a similar sentiment when he tells Leslie at a town gathering, “Now everyone thinks they should be livin’ some life out the movies. Life is hard. Stop actin’ like it ain’t.” But even To Leslie, for all its bleakness, cannot fully surrender to giving its anti-heroine a totally dreary ending. Even if it might seem that way by Hollywood standards, with The Hollywood Reporter praising, “Recalls the grit of 1970s American indie cinema at its most indelible.” Yet, if that were an accurate comparison, somebody would end up either dead or heartbroken (e.g., Looking For Mr. Goodbar and Five Easy Pieces, respectively). Neither of which happens in To Leslie, a film that ultimately wants to declare to the masses that it’s okay to just be “ordinary.” To have modest dreams instead of lofty visions of fame and fortune. An assurance that probably means nothing in this world of “viral fame”-seeking whores who will have to learn the hard way that capitalism only favors a plebeian “come-up” for so long before cutting them down to size again.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Gallagher, watermelon smashing comedian, dies at 76

    Gallagher, watermelon smashing comedian, dies at 76

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    NEW YORK — Gallagher, the long-haired, smash-’em-up comedian who left a trail of laughter, anger and shattered watermelons over a decadeslong career, has died at age 76.

    Craig Marquardo, in a statement identifying himself as Gallagher’s “longtime former manager,” said that he died Friday at his home in Palm Springs, California, after a brief illness. Gallagher had numerous heart attacks over the years, including one right before a scheduled show in Texas in 2012.

    With a beret on his head and a few simple props, from a can of oil to a bull whip, the man born Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr. built a nationwide following in the 1970s and ’80s, appearing on the “Tonight” show with Johnny Carson and starring in numerous Showtime specials. His act included observational humor (“What about Easter? Whose idea was it to give eggs to an animal that hops”), political commentary (“They don’t call a tax a tax. They call it a revenue enhancer”), invented sports (synchronized Ping-Pong) and his trademark Sledge-O-Matic destruction.

    “Ladies and gentlemen! I did not come here tonight just to make you laugh. I came here to sell you something, and I want you to pay particular attention!” he would call out in his best rapid-fire impersonation of a late-night television pitchman. “The amazing Master Tool Corporation, a subsidiary of Fly-By-Night Industries, has entrusted who? Me! To show you! The handiest and the dandiest kitchen tool you’ve ever seen.”

    Sledgehammer in hand, he would then apply his full muscle to apples, grapes, lettuce and other produce, most famously the inevitable watermelon, with audience members in front showered in food bits.

    Gallagher was a Fort Bragg, North Carolina, native who started out in 1960 as road manager for the comedian/musician Jim Stafford and soon began performing himself, honing his act at the Comedy Store and other clubs. He was not the only funnyman in the family: His younger brother Ron became a comedian, received Leo’s initial blessing and looked and acted enough like his better-known sibling that some audiences were unsure who they had come to see. Leo Gallagher eventually secured a court injunction barring his brother from using his routines.

    The elder Gallagher became increasingly controversial in recent years, chastised for racist and homophobic remarks. Gallagher even cut short an interview in 2011 with Marc Maron after the WTF podcast host confronted him about his statements.

    “I’m the problem?!” Gallagher said at one point. “Do you think when I’m dead, gays will finally have an opportunity in America? Have I really been holding them down?”

    In 2003, Gallagher was among more than 100 candidates running in the recall election for California governor, won by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Over the past decade, Gallagher appeared in a Geico commercial and in the movie “The Book Of Daniel.”

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