Latest news with #Emmy
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Everything has an expiration date': Amy Poehler on her ‘inappropriate' ‘SNL' moments, including portraying Michael Jackson and Kim Jong-il
Amy Poehler's Good Hang comedy podcast is getting serious. In this week's episode (watch below), she caught up with Tina Fey and Will Forte, her former Saturday Night Live costars, and opened up about how certain aspects of comedy don't age well. Poehler was an SNL cast member between 2001 and 2008, and returned later to host the show in 2010 and 2015 (she won an Emmy for the latter appearance alongside Fey, her cohost). The funny ladies most recently appeared in February's SNL50 anniversary special, where they took questions from the star-studded audience members. More from GoldDerby Owen Wilson returning for 'Meet the Parents 4,' Academy Museum details 'Jaws' exhibit, and more of today's top stories Will '28 Years Later' take a bite out of 'Elio'? Will 'Dragon' continue to soar? Here's our box-office prediction 'Jaws' turns 50: Steven Spielberg's caught-on-camera Oscar snub still smarts - and shows need for Best Director reform "Getting older and being in comedy is [figuring out] that everything has an expiration date," Poehler said on the podcast. Addressing the anniversary special's comedic "In Memoriam" montage that alluded to problematic sketches, Poehler added, "They had that segment which was like, 'Here's all the ways we got things wrong,' and they showed way inappropriate casting for people." While the actress didn't specifically name any of her past controversial moments from Saturday Night Live, she did portray several non-white people on television, including Michael Jackson in a tree and on a roller-coaster, former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, and Japanese singer-songwriter Yoko Ono. Plus, Poehler was involved in a sketch in which Ben Affleck yelled at a "mentally challenged guy," played by Fred Armisen. "We all played people that we should not have played," Poehler readily admitted. "I misappropriated, I appropriated ... I didn't know." While stopping short of specifically apologizing, she did go on to say, "It's very real, and the best thing you can do is make repairs, learn from your mistakes, do better. It's all you can do." The "In Memoriam" montage in question began with Tom Hanks proclaiming, "These SNL characters and sketches have aged horribly. But even though these characters, accents, and — let's just call them 'ethnic wigs' — were unquestionably in poor taste, you all laughed at them. So, if anyone should be canceled, shouldn't it be you, the audience? Something to think about." Good Hang With Amy Poehler is undoubtedly a frontrunner to receive a Golden Globe nomination in the brand new Best Podcast Award category next year. The goal of the honor is to celebrate excellence in podcasting by recognizing a contender's "quality, creativity, audience engagement, and impact." Each week, Poehler welcomes celebrities, fun people, and famous friends to her studio where they swap stories and talk what's been making them laugh. SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby Everything to know about 'The Pitt' Season 2 Adam Brody, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and the best of our Emmy Comedy Actor interviews Kristen Bell, Tina Fey, Bridget Everett, and the best of our Emmy Comedy Actress interviews Click here to read the full article.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Keke Palmer's ‘Just Keke' album channels public relationship drama into reclamation
NEW YORK (AP) — A sheer dress silhouetting a black body suit, Usher's signature crowd interaction and a tweet from her child's father: that concoction created a nearly two-week social media frenzy starring Keke Palmer back in 2023. Now, the multi-hyphenate creative has channeled that experience into her new album, 'Just Keke.' 'It was tough … I didn't even realize I was in such grief,' said the 31-year-old about the fallout of her extremely public breakup with her ex, Darius Jackson. 'I get to put that same emotion into a song, and I get tell those people that's been watching me since I was nine … what's going on in a way that it can translate.' Following 2023's 'Big Boss,' her third solo studio project, out now, is an 18-track visual album conceptualized and directed by Palmer and her team. Tayla Parx, who's written for Alicia Keys, Justin Bieber and Dua Lipa, handled the bulk of the writing and executive produced with Palmer. The storyline follows Palmer musically navigating celebrity, motherhood and self-reflection. But her vulnerability about her well-publicized relationship drama is the album's throughline. 'That's what artistry is … mine is about transmutation, it's about bringing closure,' said Palmer, who's usually mum about her romantic relationships. 'I have to address something that I would never address, especially nothing on an intimate level — that's just so not me. But I knew that I had to because now that it's become public, it's become a part of my work, and I have to respond to it as such. And that just caused me to have to grow.' While attending Usher's popular Las Vegas residency in 2023, the Emmy winner danced closely with the music icon during his routine audience interaction segment. Social videos of the interaction prompted a viral tweet from Jackson, her ex-boyfriend and child's father, criticizing her attire, writing, 'It's the outfit tho.. you a mom.' While he was quickly admonished online, the conversation eventually moved beyond social media to articles and think pieces tackling subjects ranging from patriarchy, women's attire, and having children before marriage. Standout tracks on 'Just Keke' include 'My Confession' — a tongue-in-cheek interpolation of Usher's hit 'Confessions, Pt. II' — as well as the previously released '125 Degrees' and 'Off Script.' She passionately belts out her love on the ballad 'Unless It's You,' while 'Misunderstood' finds her asking, 'Don't you see me throwing out a lifeline? / You too busy pinning me the bad guy / Maybe we ain't doing what we should / or maybe we're just misunderstood.' 'What the project, I think, speaks to as well is just like reclamation,' said the 'Nope' star, admitting the album could reignite criticism about her personal life. 'I'm just Keke, hate it or love it. This is me, this is my story, this is how I see things, I see my life … the whole point of it, too, is making peace with just saying what you got to say and letting it be that.' While Palmer's mic is still hot, she's extremely booked and busy on Hollywood lots: a sequel to 'One of Them Days,' and she stars with Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson in 'The Pickup' from Prime Video in August. The 'Akeelah and the Bee' actor will lead Peacock's upcoming TV adaptation of Mel Brook's 'The 'Burbs,' and she'll join the team on 'Spaceballs 2' with original stars Bill Pullman and Rick Moranis, the latter a reclusive '80s and '90s star who's since largely stayed out of Hollywood. Palmer says she'll judge the success of 'Just Keke' not necessarily by sales or Billboard charts, but by potential opportunities that arise, whether it's creating and directing visual albums for other artists, helming her own musical and comedic variety show, or even embarking on her own world tour. 'It could look like so many things, and I'm open to all of them,' said Palmer. 'As long as I know that I put my all into this, I know I can't lose.' ___ Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
It Starts On The Page (Limited): Read ‘Black Mirror' Episode 705 Script 'Eulogy' With Foreword By Charlie Brooker
Editor's note: Deadline's It Starts on the Page (Limited) features 10 standout limited or anthology series scripts in 2025 Emmy contention. In Season 7 of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror, the dystopian sci-fi anthology series for Netflix continues to evolve the increasingly real tech depicted, especially the growing applications and implications of AI from Hollywood to everyday life. More from Deadline 'Black Mirror' Creator Charlie Brooker On 'USS Callister' Sequel, Paying Homage To Black-And-White Movies & Watching AI With 'Impressed Awe & Rising Horror' Carla Gugino Joins Brad Pitt In 'Cliff Booth' Movie From Netflix And David Fincher Teyana Taylor, Ben Marshall, Zach Cherry & Kam Patterson Join Netflix's Kevin Hart Comedy '72 Hours' Written by Brooker and Ella Road and directed by Chris Barrett and Luke Taylor, the season's fifth episode, 'Eulogy', stars Paul Giamatti as Phillip, a man contacted by a tech company called Eulogy, informing him of the death of his ex-girlfriend Carol and seeking to collect immersive photo memories. With the help of The Guide (Patsy Ferran), Phillip is able to use technology to walk through his memories. As none of the photos are usable, with Carol's image defaced in each, Phillip is left with only the painful memories of their downfall as he struggles to remember their good times. Meanwhile, the mysterious Guide helps him uncover a buried truth about his former relationship. Here is the script for 'Eulogy' with an intro by Brooker, in which he discusses how he got to collaborate with Road on the 'bittersweet and heartbroken' love story, shares the initial inspiration for the episode reflected in Carol's name, and reveals how Giamatti's casting changed the original plan for the character. Why do old photos feel more evocative than anything taken in today's smartphone-and-photostream era? I think it's a combination of scarcity and imperfection. Pre 2010 or so, you might have had a handful of snapshots to cover an entire decade of your life – and many of them would've been a little blurred, or out of focus, filled with red-eye and half-obscured by thumbs. The flaws make them more evocative somehow. That's why if I ran Apple – which just to be clear I don't – I'd implement an optional mode that automatically limits the number of photos you can take on any given day and randomly degrades them into the bargain, to make revisiting them later a more rewarding experience. Our episode 'Eulogy' came about after Black Mirror EP Jessica Rhoades read Ella Road's play The Phlebotomist and suggested her as a potential co-conspirator. Ella and I sat down for a long lunch and discussed areas we were interested in, stress-testing them as potential Black Mirror stories. We quickly zeroed in on memory, particularly how old photographs and music can evoke a time and place. The idea of using tech to throw someone inside a set of old images soon followed — with the aim being to create a 'cathartic, therapeutic tearjerker.' At first it was a little like Dickens' A Christmas Carol – hence Philip's lost love being literally named Carol. We pictured Philip being led through memories which played out around him in real time, with conversations and arguments and people storming out of rooms. But that began to feel a little TOO Christmas Carol. Keeping everyone frozen in place not only kept it focussed (and more eerie), it fundamentally shifted the story, into a tight, high-concept two-hander in which Philip chases a forgotten memory of Carol's face. We always knew there would be a transatlantic element to the story; originally Philip was a gruff Mancunian while The Guide was American. When we discussed casting Paul Giamatti's name was mentioned, and I almost leapt out of my chair — he's one of my favourite actors of all time. So we flipped it, retooling the character in his image. Unbeknownst to me, Paul was a fan of the show. He said when he read the script, knowing this was Black Mirror, he was waiting for some horrendous shoe to drop. But that's not what happens. This is a love story. It's bittersweet and heartbroken. But ultimately it's kind to its inhabitants. Paul and co-star Patsy Ferran knocked it out of the park, as did directing duo Chris Barrett and Luke Taylor. The ending hits me like a bus every single time I see it. Mission accomplished. Charlie Brooker Black Mirror's Emmy haul so far includes three wins for Outstanding TV Movie and two writing trophies out of three nominations. Read the script below. Best of Deadline 'Bachelor in Paradise' Cast Announcement: See Who Is Headed To The Beach For Season 10 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Seth Meyers is still laughing after 11 years: ‘We've taken advantage of bad things'
It's been 11 years since Seth Meyers took over as host of Late Night, and yet he's showing no signs of slowing down. "I can't believe I'm still doing this, but there's literally nothing else I'd rather be doing," he tells Gold Derby. More from GoldDerby 5 slots isn't enough: More limited series deserve a chance to compete with 'Adolescence' Laugh tracks: The state of the 2025 Emmy comedy race Close calls: The state of the 2025 Emmy drama race Of course, he's found more than a few other things to keep himself busier than ever, including a standup special, HBO's Dad Man Walking, two podcasts The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers and Family Trips With the Meyers Brothers, and a stand-up tour with John Oliver, among others. Not to mention filming his YouTube segments "A Closer Look," "Day Drinking," and "Corrections." Here, the SNL alum opens up about turning bad news into good comedy, getting a nickname from President Donald Trump, and the end of the late night wars. Gold Derby: So let's talk about . It's been 11 years — that's quite an accomplishment. How do you keep it fresh? Seth Meyers: One, we react to the news as it happens. And so ultimately, it feels almost like you're doing an improv show every day where you don't know what you're going to talk about until you get to work. And the other way we keep it fresh is we've just taken advantage of bad things to have a creative renaissance. We went through a pandemic, and if there was any silver lining, it's that we let our show change based on our time away. And one of the ways it changed it is you got a little bit more casual. I think we embrace the fact that we are the second late-night show on NBC, and we gave ourselves permission to act that way, and that was all sort of born out of the pandemic. How much can you respond to the news in real time? We give ourselves as much freedom as we can, but we never want to get caught responding to something too close to tape time if it doesn't allow us time to fully process our take. We don't want to mention something just to get points for having mentioned it. I think a lot of our audience watches us every day, and they have an understanding that if we don't get to a big story, it probably means we'll get to it tomorrow. Now, of course, the price of that is we are living in a time where sometimes the craziest thing to happen on Monday seems tame compared to the crazy thing that happens on Tuesday. We have no shortage of material, and that is both good and bad. You just booked George Clooney for the first time. Has he been on your wish list for a while? He has. It was really cool to see him on Broadway in Good Night, and Good Luck. In this day and age, you really do take note when you are blown away by seeing someone on stage. And this has been a very cool Broadway season for that. I was lucky enough to see Denzel [Washington] as well. That first time you see people you have seen on the screen your whole life and then actually see them physically perform, there's nothing quite like it. You just never regret going to see a Broadway show. So let's talk about "A Closer Look." Where did that segment come from? Very organically. I wrote a longer form thing, maybe in our first or second year, about the Greek debt crisis. And then I think we did one about Planned Parenthood maybe a month later, and we had no idea that we were building what would be the linchpin of our show. It's a really exciting piece to do. It's being written as close to real time as possible. And oftentimes we're talking about things that are upsetting. We have creative space where we taken silly tangents and do half-baked impressions. And we have callbacks to bits we did months ago, and it has become a very fertile place, both for information and for us. How much does that have to do with who's in the White House? A massive amount, I would say. The speed at which we are having to rush to add or even rush to tear up something that no longer is relevant based on the 180-degree turn that was just taken at a press conference, a hastily assembled signing ceremony. So whatever complaints anybody out there has about President Biden, I really, truly believe after 4:00, literally no news broke over the course of his entire administration. And that was very nice, at least for the people who write our cue cards. You got your own nickname, "Marble Mouth Meyers." Was that a badge of honor? I wouldn't say a badge of honor. I want to be fair — I think the guy has come up with some pretty good nicknames. I think "Marble Mouth Meyers" is maybe not his best. I challenge anybody to go back and listen to this interview in which I am talking faster than most people and I don't think I've stumbled once. It is a weird thing for him to have drilled down on. But you know, as far as my complaints about the man, that one is pretty low down the list. Given the political climate that we're in now, where networks are paying attention to what he's doing and vice versa, it feels like there's definitely a close conversation happening with the administration. Look, I think it's hard for networks right now. I would not want to be in the seat of anyone who's in charge of trying to run one of these things while you have an incredibly petty person who has the levers of power. So I don't want to say that I think it's easy to be in charge at a time like this, but I also want to give credit where credit's due and say that certainly the people that are in charge of our network have not given any extra edicts from on high as far as how they expect us to perform. So you never pull your punches. We don't pull our punches. And we also have no expectation that the audience we have spent so much time building up would have any interest in sticking around and watching our show if we started to. It feels like there's a lot of camaraderie in late night right now. It's lovely, especially as we go through these tumultuous times. We always had a great amount of affection and respect for one another. Strike Force Five, which was our writers' strike podcast, it was an incredible, like the long tail of that is how closer we are with one another. And it's really a cool thing to have. It's cool to see you as a guest on those shows, too. I've been lucky to have a long friendship with Jimmy Fallon and to be a guest on his show. To finally get to do [Stephen] Colbert and [Jimmy] Kimmel is so much fun, and if John Oliver had the courage to have guests on, I would love to do his show as well, but you know, he's chosen another path. And I do hope one day he finds success. The only thing I will say is, as a huge fan of the Bill Carter books, I do want to apologize to people who like the drama and the feuds. And I apologize for the fact that ultimately we are giving you a more boring era of late night in regards to squabbles. But I can only tell you it is very nice for us. While the formats for our shows in a wide shot look similar, any one of us can tell you how different they are from one another. And it's very rare that I feel as though we are stepping on each other's toes in regards to material or approach. What are the challenges you face as a late-night host these days? The challenge that I task myself with doing every day is writing a show. I think that there are obviously challenges in linear television and there are challenges in regards to things like advertising. But ultimately, I'm not the one who educated myself on how to solve those things. I'm very lucky to work in a network that has very smart people who are in charge of things like that, and so I just am going to write the show every day. And the challenge in that is the challenge that's always been there, which is you want to write to the height of your intelligence. You want to write quickly and you want to be able to, when the time comes, perform it with enthusiasm that makes it interesting to watch. So how much pressure do you feel to come up with new segments like "Corrections" or "Day Drinking"? All of our writers know that it's an open floor anytime they want to bring a new idea — you never know which one's going to be a hit, which one you're going to want to do again. But the fun part is trying and everything that has ever worked on our show has been born out of an authentic place. If it's "Jokes Seth Can't Tell," realizing they were writing jokes where their identity as the writer of the jokes was working against me being the guy who told those punchlines. So it's never that we sit down and say, what's the next big thing? It's more than somebody has a little idea that's based in truth, and then it gets its own momentum going. Where did "Corrections" then come from? "Corrections" came from the fact that people online who write comments in the YouTube section ultimately had a big problem with the fact that I said "Legos" instead of "Lego bricks." And so then I stepped out of the show once and recorded a short YouTube video where I tried to address this and then it became this snowball rolling downhill. And now every Thursday, I read every YouTube comment and we recorded a video called "Corrections," where I address all the mistakes I have been told by our viewers. The viewers who comment are known as jackals, and so I address the jackals and their impossible to please demeanors. And have you gotten corrections to your "Corrections"? Oh, yeah. Basically "Corrections" is a snake eating its own tail, which I can tell you is called ouroboros, which I learned from someone in the comment section. But it's certainly taking on a life of its own. It's not a giant number, but for the people who watch it every week, I think that they now feel very inside on the lore of the show and the characters who put it together. And so it's a very nice little community that we built, and in this day and age community is a pretty special thing. But it's also you being self-referential. I think that's what people are really responding to. The fun thing is I'm pretending to be insulted by their corrections, and they are pretending to be angry at my mistakes. But we all are aware that we're just kind of doing the show for one another. It's funny how special a thing it has become and how it makes me feel connected to our audience, which is a thing that I really didn't fully understand until the pandemic happened, and I was alone in a room doing a show into a screen, and then I realized, oh, most people are at home, many alone, watching this show on a screen. And so that closeness, which I only sort of fully appreciated then, is something that we tried really hard to keep, even now that we're back in the studio with a full audience. What's next for you? What's the one thing you haven't done that you want to conquer? I just want to get a good night's sleep. I feel really lucky. And it's an incredible luxury to have a show, especially in times like these where I feel like if I didn't have a show, I'd just be sort of muttering to myself as I walked up and down the street. So mostly I just want to hold on to what I have and appreciate that. I'm very happy that I come to work every day knowing how good I have it. It won't be a thing where I'll look back and say, oh, why wasn't I happier when I had my show? This was the happiest I think I've ever been. Best of GoldDerby Jay Duplass on exposing his 'dad bod' and playing a 'soft villain' in 'Dying for Sex': 'Easily one of my biggest acting challenges' Jon Hamm on 'Your Friends and Neighbors': 'None of us are perfect specimens' 'I'm very happy to be busy': O-T Fagbenle on his trio of Emmy-eligible performances Click here to read the full article.
Los Angeles Times
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
With ‘The Rehearsal,' Nathan Fielder needs his own Emmy category
Yes, Tom Cruise will soon own an Oscar. But has he ever flown a Boeing 737 with 150 passengers on board? I'm Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter, here to explain why Nathan Fielder should be the Top Gun of this Emmy season. The second season of Nathan Fielder's brilliantly bonkers 'The Rehearsal' opens inside a commercial jet cockpit where the plane's captain and first officer are having a tense exchange as they prepare to land at a fogged-in runway. The first officer suggests they're off course. The captain disagrees but is soon proved wrong as the plane crashes. We see the pilots slumped in the cockpit, dead. Then the camera pans to Fielder, surveying the fiery aftermath, a disaster he just re-created in a simulator on a soundstage. With that prelude, it may seem strange to tell you that I laughed out loud as many times watching 'The Rehearsal' as I did any other TV series this season. Not during the simulated disasters, of course, which Fielder used to illustrate what he believes to be biggest issue in airline travel today — pilots failing to communicate during a crisis. So, yes, 'The Rehearsal' is about airline safety. Mostly. But Fielder is a master of misdirection. There is no way you can predict where he'll direct his premise, and I found myself delighting in utter surprise at the tangents he took in 'The Rehearsal' this season. An alternate biopic of pilot Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger, with Fielder playing Sully from diapered baby to the Evanescence-loving hero landing in the Hudson River? Yes! Re-creating the German subsidiary of Paramount+ as a Nazi headquarters? OK! Vacuuming up air from San Jose to help train a cloned dog in Los Angeles while he attempts to understand how the nature-vs.-nurture dynamic might play out in human behavior? Ummmmm ... sure. We'll go with it! With Fielder's incisive mind, the detours are everything. Even the destination this season came as a jolt. Yes, it involves that Boeing 737 I mentioned in the intro, and, no, I'm not going to elaborate because I still feel like not enough people have watched 'The Rehearsal.' The series' first two seasons are available on HBO, as are all four seasons of Fielder's Comedy Central docuseries 'Nathan for You,' which had Fielder 'helping' small-business owners improve their sales. (Example: Pitching a Santa Clarita liquor store owner that he should sell booze to minors but just not let them take it home until they turned 21.) The humor in 'The Rehearsal' can be just as outrageous as 'Nathan for You,' but the overall tone is more thoughtful, as it also explores loneliness and the masks we all wear at times to hide our alienation. For the Emmys, HBO has submitted 'The Rehearsal' in the comedy categories. Where else would they put it? But the show is so singular that I wonder if even its fans in the Television Academy will remember to vote for it. They should. It's funny, insightful, occasionally terrifying, utterly unforgettable. And I hope Isabella Henao, the winner of the series' reality show competition, goes places. She sure can sing! Meanwhile, that other pilot, Tom Cruise, will finally receive an Oscar, an honorary one, in November at the Governors Awards, alongside production designer Wynn Thomas and choreographer and actor Debbie Allen. Dolly Parton, singer, actor and beloved icon, will be given the annual Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her charitable work. Cruise has been nominated for three acting Oscars over the years — for playing Marine Corps Sgt. Ron Kovic in Oliver Stone's 1989 antiwar movie 'Born on the Fourth of July,' the sports agent who had Renée Zellweger at hello in Cameron Crowe's 1996 classic 'Jerry Maguire' and the chauvinistic motivational speaker in Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 opus 'Magnolia.' Cruise was also nominated as a producer for 2022's dad cinema favorite 'Top Gun: Maverick.' Cruise should have won the supporting actor Oscar for 'Magnolia,' a ferocious turn in which he harnessed his strutting brashness to play an odious character hiding a deep well of pain. It came the same year as his star turn opposite then-wife Nicole Kidman in 'Eyes Wide Shut.' Not a bad double feature! Instead, Michael Caine won for 'Cider House Rules' during an Oscar era in which there was seemingly no prize Harvey Weinstein couldn't land. It wasn't even Caine's first Oscar; he had already won for 'Hannah and Her Sisters.' Cruise has devoted himself to commercial action movies, mostly of the 'Mission: Impossible' variety, for the past two decades. He did recently complete filming a comedy with director Alejandro González Iñárritu, scheduled for release next year. It'd be funny if Cruise wins a competitive Oscar after picking up an honorary one. It happened with Paul Newman, Cruise's co-star in 'The Color of Money.'
