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Chris Gethard Talks To Us About New Jersey Food And Only New Jersey Food

These days, Chris Gethard is practically a media brand unto himself. Former host of the wildly inventive Chris Gethard Show, he’s also a stand-up comic (currently playing a residency in Edinburgh, Scotland until August 28), the host of the very lovely and human Beautiful/Anonymous podcast, and also hosts the hilarious and wonderful New Jersey Is The World podcast.

As that last title might indicate, Gethard is Jersey to the core, stealing the Class Action Park doc about the infamous Vernon theme park and showing unquestionable loyalty for his Essex County roots whenever he gets the chance. That’s why we were dying to talk to him for this article exclusively about New Jersey food.

But to be honest, the deck was always going to be stacked toward the Oranges — Newark, Montclair, and other points North Jersey, of which I was a resident for 20+ years before going into exile in South Jersey in 2020. Cry about it, Burlington County. Truth is, the North half of the state is unbeatable when it comes to pizza, hot dogs, ice cream, and diners, as Gethard’s picks (and my co-signs) reveal.

This chat didn’t just make me homesick, it made me hungry. So if you find yourself caught between Philly and New York City and need a bite, head north on the Parkway toward Gethard’s neighborhood and check out all of these amazing places to eat.

On Three Questions with Andy Richter, I think you said something like people spoke 40 different languages in your high school and how where you grew up in West Orange, New Jersey was a cultural melting pot. Did that influence you with regard to food when you were a kid?

I think growing up where I did meant that I had very little hesitation to just dive in and try eating stuff I’ve never encountered before. It’s like, here’s all your Irish Catholic friends, and then you’ve got all your Italian friends and your Jewish friends, and then here’s your Hispanic friends and your Haitian friends and your Black friends. And in my school, I was just around all different types of people. So you’re eating at people’s houses and you’re walking through neighborhoods that have restaurants that are serving all different types of communities. I don’t know if it was a melting pot so much as just a lot of different cultures smashing into each other, and I’m really glad that I grew up that way.

Have you ever worked in a restaurant?

No, I knew from the start that, with my anxiety issues, if I tried to work in a restaurant, it would’ve been a disaster. I can’t take the feeling that someone would be mad at me and I’ve seen too many people get mad at waiters and waitresses over the years, so I never did that side of things. I would’ve had a nervous breakdown on day one. In high school, all my friends got jobs at the same Applebee’s at the Livingston Mall and it seemed really fun to hang out. There was a part of me that was tempted, but I was like, I just know it’ll just be somebody in a mall yelling at me about how I didn’t get them their Jack Daniels-smothered onion tower in time and I’ll be crying in the back because I can’t handle it.

There used to be a guy who worked at that Applebee’s that looked like Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons.

There’s a high-percentage chance I went to high school with this individual you’re describing. I wouldn’t be shocked if that was a graduate of West Orange High.

I’ve been down in South Jersey for two years and the food does not compare to North Jersey food. Why do you think that is?

Well, I haven’t spent as much time in South Jersey, although I love it. I think, in general, South Jersey’s just a little bit more spread out, just a little bit more rural. So you think in North Jersey, I grew up in a neighborhood right on the border of West Orange and Orange, where I grew up down the block from Jimmy Buff’s, which is the inventor of the Italian hot dog.

Then you’ve got Dickie Dee’s, a number of other places that do that really well. Then you got Rutt’s Hut, which is legendary. You got all the Texas Wiener places out near Patterson. Just right there you have three distinct types of hot dogs that are uniquely New Jersey. It’s not a very large state to have three innovative takes on the hot dog. That’s pretty miraculous.

Everything’s compact. There are a lot of towns where you’re going to get world-class pizza, you’re going to get a hot dog place that puts other hot dog places to shame, you’re going to not be more than a few minutes away from a bagel that would blow people’s minds in the Midwest.

I will tell you, I have recently been introduced to the soft drink Boost.

Yeah. It’s everywhere down here. I haven’t had it. They sell it in like a moonshine jug.

It’s like non-carbonated Coke with lemon mixed in. But if you get it as a slushie, it’s delicious, but it’s only popular in like a handful of towns in South Jersey. That stuff is delicious. I mean, the first time I had it, I felt like I had chugged four Red Bulls. But it’s really delicious. You’ve got to be careful when you trifle with the mighty powers of Boost, but that is a South Jersey food item that I could give a huge thumbs up to for sure.

What’s your go-to diner?

My go-to diner all time, it’s changed its name. It used to be called the Versailles Diner. In Fairfield on 46. I haven’t been by in a while. But the Versailles was really a great diner that I went to for many, many years when my family lived in the area. What is it now? Is it West Essex?

West Essex. That was our breakfast spot every Sunday when I was growing up, and then later on with friends and everything. Yeah. That or The Tick Tock, Tick Tock gets a lot of love and I think it’s great, but I’ve never eaten at the Tick Tock sober, so…

There was that stretch of Clifton where you had the Tick Tock, then you had the Park West right up the road, and then another really great diner was once it crossed over from Route 3 into Route 46, it was the Six Brothers Diner. Between those three diners in that small stretch, that must have been the pound-for-pound best diner-to-human ratio you were going to find anywhere in the country when all three of those were up and running.

What about pizza places? What are some of the best ones?

I mean, there’s a whole bunch of pizza places that I love, but I am an Essex County guy and I am from down the hill, West Orange, New Jersey, and I always will be. The Star Tavern is a real point of pride, and every time I go back, it holds up. They recently redid it and remodeled it during the pandemic, and they used to have an old phone booth in the back. That’s gone. I miss the phone booth, but the good news is that the pizza is just as good as it’s always been.

Santillo’s in Elizabeth is incredible and it’s an experience. You walk down someone’s driveway and go through the side door of their house, the guy’s in there cooking pizzas. It’s absolutely incredible. I love the Reservoir Tavern up in Boonton. I think that that’s a great spot.

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Ice cream?

Oh, that’s a really good question. I tell you what, there’s a place in Morristown called Beenie’s. And I was just up there, they had a honey lavender flavor. That was incredible. But again, as an Essex County guy, I got to say, all of Essex county has a very layered relationship with Montclair. Montclair was always the place that felt fancy to us and felt like it was trying to be like baby New York. There was a lot of Montclair resentment growing up in Essex County. But that being said, Applegate Farms in Montclair, that ice cream is delicious. And they have a flavor called Graham Central Station, which again, why are you trying to be New York? We don’t need the Grand Central Station pun. Just call it graham cracker ice cream. But once you get over that, try it. Graham Central Station ice cream from Applegate Farms in Montclair. That’s probably the most delicious ice cream I’ve ever had.

So I listened to the episode of the Jersey Is The World pod with the mall food court fantasy draft, which I thought was awesome. But I’m curious, what’s the best North Jersey mall food court, based on selection, geography in the mall, and stores around it?

That’s a really good question. I mean, I have not been hitting up mall food courts too much.

No, I mean like back in the day.

Let’s make sure that caveat is on record, that as a man in my forties, I don’t spend as many meal times eating at mall food courts. But I’ll tell you, The Livingston Mall was kind of the go-to mall, but that was a smaller mall. And if we were hanging out and you were going to have a meal, we’d make our way out to Willowbrook. The Willowbrook Mall in Wayne had a pretty good food court there. They had an Arby’s and a Nathan’s, Panda Express, and they had a bunch of good stuff. And that mall also had the arcade, Fun and Games, so there were a lot of reasons to drive the extra couple miles to get out to the Willowbrook Mall.

I want to push back on that, because Willowbrook is good. I will give that credit. But I was a Rockaway Mall kid. Now, you’ve got me on the arcade. The arcade in Rockaway was all the way at the other side of the mall next to the movie theater. But you had KB Toys right there. You had Foot Locker. I think Babbage’s was downstairs (for video game shoplifting needs). They had the sample guy with the teriyaki chicken, which I don’t remember ever seeing a sample guy in Willowbrook. And they had the Orange Julius.

Listen, you’re not going to find me sneezing at the Rockaway Mall. That was very far from my house and I still went there a bunch of times, which speaks to the fact that it was a mall worth driving to. So at the end of the day, if I’m looking to go to the movie theater or the Border’s Books or the arcade, there’s no reason for me to drive beyond Willowbrook. But Rockaway is no joke either. And I certainly think all the people out in Paramus are going to take issue with us not mentioning them, because they got some great malls out that way too.

I don’t care about them. I’m sticking with Rockaway. And I’ll tell you what, I’ll win the battle right here because you had the pet store right directly downstairs, so you go see a puppy after you get an Orange Julius. That’s perfect right there. You can’t beat that.

Yeah. I mean, there are some simple joys in life that you really can’t argue with.

Most important question, what’s the perfect Jersey Shore food?

Ooh, that is a really good one. That is a really good one. If we’re talking boardwalk food, you got to get yourself a bucket of the popcorn that’s out there. You get yourself some soft serve. You get yourself a nice glass of lemonade. I’ve talked with my friend Don Finelli when we do the food episodes of New Jersey Is The World, and he and I both have great memories. If you’re on the beach, one thing that’s a classic is you get a meatball sub the night before and you put it in a cooler with ice and you just eat it cold out there on the beach. That’s pretty classic. You also go on the boardwalk, you get a slice of pizza that’s wider than your face. You get a sausage and pepper sandwich. Maybe you get some zeppoles. Those are the boardwalk classics.

I’ve been hanging out in Asbury Park a bunch after its resurgence lately, and I do shows down there every month, and you got places like Talula’s serving up the same pizza and torta. And Mutiny BBQ is down there. There’s a lot happening down the Shore when it comes to food, and it’s really just a cavalcade of joy when it comes to your food options down the Jersey Shore these days.

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The ‘Rick and Morty’ Season 6 Trailer Has Arrived, And The Bros Are Podcasting

Rick and Morty are back and they are, for once in their lives, doing something that every other man in the universe does: podcasting!

Rick and Morty, the beloved (and in some cases, too beloved) Adult Swim animated series from creator Dan Harmon returns for a sixth season premieres next month, and there’s a new trailer just in time for its triumphant return.

The trailer is, in its own unique Rick and Morty way, vaguer than a Better Call Saul teaser. In only 1:45 seconds, we see many very Rick and Morty which include Rick trying to vanish his entire family from reality which he insists is not dying, a small group of alien terrorists, Die Hard references, and more.

Instead of focusing on the beloved, toxic grandfather/grandson dynamic that people love about the show, the fifth season of Rick and Morty which aired last year focused on different versions of the characters in the multiverse. But the season six trailer indicates that in season six, things will be back to normal (or as normal as possible as they can be for Rick and Morty and company). At the end of the trailer, we see Rick and Morty podcasting together which would probably be a more interesting podcast than most podcasts out there these days.

Season six of Ricky and Morty begins Sunday, September 4 at 11 pm on Adult Swim.

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Calvin Harris’ ‘Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2’ Shows How Hip-Hop And Dance Can Work (Or Not)

When Calvin Harris released the first Funk Wav Bounces in 2017, that album felt groundbreaking. By attaching ostensibly hardcore rappers such as Schoolboy Q and Young Thug to glittering, post-disco dance-pop, the producer threw both sides of the equation into stark relief, accentuating the best qualities of each. The rappers were able to display new sides of their personalities; the groovy beats felt more urgent and immediate. Songs like “Slide” and “Feels” made bodies want to move.

Now, Harris is on the second volume of the Funk Wav Bounces experiment, his first full-length release since 2017. He’s expanded the scope of his feature pool with rappers like 21 Savage, Busta Rhymes, and Pusha T lending their blunt-edged rhymes to his production. However, that production has seemingly contracted in equivalent measure, resulting in something more constrained and abrasive. Instead of the breezy listen the first offered, this one provides something that goes a step too far and ends up feeling just disposable.

I don’t think it’s a result of just the music choices Harris makes here. Sure, the monotonous drone with which Savage usually raps is ill-suited to the post-funk two-step of “New Money.” And yes, the Dua Lipa and Young Thug-featuring “Potion” is more of a retread of what has gone before. But when you zoom out a bit and take in the whole of the context into which Funk Wav Vol. 2 was released, the picture becomes much clearer. Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 seems less essential because honestly, it just might be.

I wrote earlier this year about what appears to be a concerted effort by ostensible hip-hop and R&B artists to reclaim dance music as a Black artform. This is a huge part of the reason that Calvin Harris’ efforts might feel less welcome. The landscape has shifted. More Black artists than ever are delving (back) into genres that their forebears pioneered in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and there’s more interest in doing so in a way that feels authentic to the roots of the dance scene. Back then, folks had not only a reason to dance, they had a desperate need to, as well.

Those early records, spun by Black DJs in warehouses packed with Black and queer people, were often raw, constructed under the weight of systems designed to oppress their audience, and created with the specific intent of pushing back against them, both subtly and loudly. By contrast, pairing punchline punishers like Busta and Pusha T with inoffensive, polished grooves and neatly packaged pop stars like Charlie Puth and Justin Timberlake seems to work counter to the transgressive vibes dance music used to give.

Now, look around. You see rights under attack, open racism, viral epidemics and pandemics seemingly targeted at the most vulnerable communities, police brutality, a mental health crisis, a tidal wave of evictions, and growing economic inequality across nearly every quarter of society. People aren’t just anxious; they’re angry, they’re depressed, they’re hurting, and they’re desperate for a release. There’s just too much pressure and it needs to be released. Dance music has always offered that, but it can’t be watered down.

When you look around, you see that artists like Doechii, Kaytranada, and Leikeli47 are making exactly the sort of raw, defiant dance music that people need to hear. When Doechii performs her songs “Persuasive” and “Crazy,” she doesn’t do so with a coquettish smile – she snarls. Leikeli’s collection of ski masks and face-covering bandanas aren’t just meant to hide her identity and focus attention on her music – they also evoke the menace of an armed robbery, the rebellion of an uprising. Beyonce’s new album Renaissance is a dance history lesson, yes. But it’s also a sermon, with Bey calling on ancestors, highlighting their struggles, and likening them to the struggles we face today.

Calvin Harris isn’t wrong to try to capitalize on the growing interest in Black dance; it’s his job, and for the most part, he’s good at it. But this is day party music, when what the world and the audience need is warehouse, Stonewall uprising, Paris Is Burning music. There’s a lot of talk about how the modern dance wave offers audiences escapism. I’ll argue with that; Calvin Harris’ dance-pop is escapist, fantastic stuff. In another time, it’d be perfect to put on and drift away on its hazy, frictionless groove. But what people want, what people need now is defiance. When the world is doing its damndest to crush you, there is nothing more powerful than to stand up and dance.

Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 is out now via Columbia. Get it here.

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Here Is Klay Thompson Getting Hypnotized, Which Is Exactly As Entertaining As You’d Think

Klay Thompson won an NBA title this year. It was the end of what has been a pretty remarkable comeback for Thompson, who had not appeared in a game since tearing his ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals until January of 2022 and managed to be an important part of the Golden State Warriors’ pursuit of its fourth championship in the last eight seasons.

Thompson is now living it up during the offseason, and by that, I mean he’s been spending a good amount of time at baseball games. His brother, Trayce, is a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and since joining the team in June, Trayce has carved out a role as an effective utility outfielder for a team with World Series aspirations.

Earlier this week, Thompson found himself at Dodger Stadium during an event put on by Clayton Kershaw’s charity, Kershaw’s Challenge. Johnny Wu, a magician and hypnotist, was in attendance, and thought it would be fun to hypnotize the Warriors star, presumably because that does, indeed, seem fun. Here’s what happened:

One of two things happened here: Either Thompson was in on a very good bit or the man was hypnotized here. Considering how unbelievable he found the whole thing, that second one seems correct.

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The Shins Take Their Classic Hit ‘Caring Is Creepy’ To ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

2022 marks 21 years of the iconic indie rock album Oh, Inverted World by The Shins, and the band found this a great reason to celebrate by announcing an anniversary tour. To further hype up the birthday, they’ve taken the classic track “Caring Is Creepy,” known for its feature in the film Garden State, to Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

Their performance is nostalgia-tinted, but it sounds as great as ever. Singer James Mercer’s vocals are clean and distinct; the instrumentation is vivid and inviting, retaining its rich, bittersweet sound that makes it special. Lots of early-2000s influential indie-rock LPs are experiencing important anniversaries — last year was 20 years since The Strokes’ Is This It, and later this year is 20 years since Interpol’s Turn On The Bright Lights.

About the anniversary of Oh, Inverted World, Mercer said in a statement, “Everything was so tongue-in-cheek in the indie world of the ’90s. I remember feeling a longing for some sort of romance in music again, something earnest, like a real attempt at some emotional language.”

The tour is currently underway at the moment, and will be going on through September. In 2018, they unveiled an album titled The Worm’s Heart, which contained alternate “flipped” versions of songs from the band’s 2017 record Heartworms.

Watch The Shins’ performance of “Caring Is Creepy” above.

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A town defunded its library for having LGBTQ books, so people donated $90K to keep it open

If you don’t like a TV show, change the channel. If you don’t like a song, change the radio station. If you don’t want to read a book, don’t read it. If you don’t want your children to do something, tell them what to avoid.

Makes sense, right? Not to the majority of voters in Jamestown Township in western Michigan. On August 3, they rejected a millage to fund their local library to protest its inclusion of LGBTQ-themed books. A millage is what some municipalities use to calculate property taxes.

The voters rejected the millage by 62% to 37%. The vote gutted the library’s operating budget in 2023 by 84%. Larry Walton, the library board president, told Bridge Michigan that without the funding the library will close late next year.


The library became the center of controversy for carrying “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” in the adult graphic novel section. After protests, it was removed from the shelves and put behind the counter.

A review on publisher Simon and Schuster‘s website says that the book, written by Maia Kobabe, is “a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand.”

But conservative activists in Jamestown Township accused the library of indoctrinating local children by having the book on the shelves. There were also complaints about a book called “Spinning” about a teen girl’s attraction to other girls and “Kiss Number 8,” a graphic novel with similar LGBTQ themes.

“They are trying to groom our children to believe that it’s OK to have these sinful desires,” Amanda Ensing, a member of the group Jamestown Conservatives, said of library officials, Bridge Michigan reported. “It’s not a political issue, it’s a Biblical issue.”

If you don’t like the library’s books, why not tell your kids not to go there? Problem solved.

Did the people who supported closing the library consider the fact that by closing it they weren’t just eliminating access to a few books on LGBTQ issues but countless topics and stories that they may support?

The news of the library’s impending closure inspired a backlash by people who support the LGBTQ community and reading. More than $90,000 has been raised through two GoFundMe campaigns.

Jamestown resident Jesse Dillman has raised $87,000 for the cause through his campaign that has a goal of $200,000, the amount needed to keep the library open for the good part of a year.

“The Patmos Library in Jamestown is a core part of the community fabric,” he wrote on his GoFundMe page. “I firmly believe most residents here don’t share these views and desire to continue funding our local library. Funds raised here will be donated to the Patmos Library so that we can keep it open long enough to consolidate community support for our library millage.”

Michelle Barrows has raised nearly $5,000 on her page.

“I was very disheartened that the majority of this community believes in defunding the library because it has books with subjects they don’t like or understand,” Barrows wrote on her GoFundMe page. “If you don’t like the book, don’t check it out! Books don’t make people gay. Books DO provide understanding, teach tolerance, and love of differences.”

“I hope you get to your goal, but it is a very very sad day when a public library has to get funded this way due to extreme views of a minority wishing to impose their will on others. Keep on reading!” GoFundMe donor Nancy Stryker wrote.

The people of Jamestown’s decision to punish themselves and their community by shutting down the library over a few books they disagree with is a sad display of irrational political and religious outrage. Banning books has a long history of being connected to oppressive political regimes and is antithetical to living in a society that values freedom of speech.

But it is heartening to see that people from across the world have stood up and donated money to help keep the library alive. Perhaps those who voted to shut it down will hand back their library cards.

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Michelle Yeoh, Brian Cox, Stanley Tucci, And More Have Joined The Cast Of The Next Russo Brothers Movie For Netflix

For reasons unknown, the hottest directors in Hollywood are Joe and Anthony Russo. The brother directing duo, whose accomplishments include Captain America: Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Cherry, The Gray Man, and episodes of Community and Arrested Development have gathered an A-list cast for their next project for Netflix, despite their collectively agreed upon mediocrity.

The film, The Electric State, is an adaptation of the illustrated novel by Simon Stålenhag, adapted for the screen by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The film stars Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt. But to balance out the Pratt of it all, Deadline reports a stacked supporting cast including Michelle Yeoh, Stanley Tucci, Jason Alexander, Brian Cox, and Jenny Slate. I don’t think anyone could have predicted that Succession star and legend Brian Cox would participate in a Russo Brothers film, but maybe his iconic McDonald’s commercials should have been a sign that the man is down to clown.

At this time, it’s unknown who the newly added cast is playing, though Cox and Slate are reportedly providing voices for their characters. Per Deadline, The Electric State is “set in a retro-futuristic past, where an orphaned teenager (Brown) traverses the American West with a sweet but mysterious robot and an eccentric drifter in search of her younger brother.” The Electric State is expected to start filming this fall.

(Via Deadline)

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‘Dragon Ball’ Characters Look Like They’re Coming To ‘Fortnite’

Fortnite is maybe the greatest crossover experience ever made. While Epic Games’ free-to-play battle royale wasn’t originally designed to be a crossover experience, the influx of special characters from the fictional Naruto to the very real LeBron James has made it a unique gaming experience. Only in Fortnite will someone stumble across a gunfight between real life celebrities and fictional heroes while a giant muscled catman flexes in the corner, but that’s the bizarre experience Fortnite provides.

This only makes it fitting that the latest addition to Fortnite is going to be everyone’s favorite childhood anime series, Dragon Ball. In a short but very clear announcement on Twitter, Epic Games teased the introduction of Dragon Ball to its universe but didn’t give us much more detail than that. While it’s possible this crossover is going to stick to the show’s magical orbs, the Dragon Balls themselves, it feels like a safe bet that we’re probably going to get some playable characters as well.

This is fun, because usually when Fortnite adds new licensed characters, the devs at Epic try to include something from that crossover to make it feel like they’re really joining Fortnite‘s bizarre expanded universe. I hope what this means is that soon everyone is going to be able to fire off kamehameha waves and turn Super Saiyan within the game. If that is the case, then at some point, we’re going to get a Super Saiyan LeBron James or Spider-Man and that’s a delightful thought.

As for why this crossover is only just now happening, we assume it has to do with the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie releasing on August 19.

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Kieran Culkin Owned Up To Why ‘Succession’ Co-Star J. Smith-Cameron Threw A Drink In His Face (He Deserved It)

Succession Season 4 filming is in the works as we speak, thank god. And boy, people do miss that show, including how Kieran Culkin’s Roman screws himself over. One of the more enjoyable examples of this happening, of course, was when Roman meant to send a d*ck pic over to Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) during a meeting, but sent it to Logan (Brian Cox) instead. One must acknowledge that Roman sending this unsolicited picture to anyone was a bad idea, and the way that Logan reacted (against Gerri) was also a d*ck move. Yet I’m getting away from the point here, which is this: the Gerri/Roman relationship/dynamic was always going to be combative in a way, and that’s why a recent tweet from J. Cameron-Smith is an eye-popping one.

On August 8, Smith-Cameron tweeted, “I threw a drink in Kieran’s face tonight”

A followup soon arrived: “he had it coming.” And then came the photographic proof.

So, what happened? The subject came up when Culkin popped over to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Wednesday. And yes, he totally deserved it, after relating how a group conversation (starting with Sarah Snook talking about how mens’ ears and noses supposedly grow with age) led to Culkin giving Cameron-Smith a lot of hell (and then he kept on going), and she reacted accordingly.

It sure sounds like Kieran Culkin wanted that drink in his face. Total Roman move.

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Jerry Seinfeld Expected Lisa Kudrow To Thank Him For The Success Of ‘Friends’ The First Time They Met

As Lisa Kudrow prepares for the 11th season of her hit genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, she recently reminisced about her early days on Friends and how it led to a, let’s say, memorable first encounter with Jerry Seinfeld. While talking about everything from her pandemic viewing habits to still being afraid to ask HBO for a third season of The Comeback, Kudrow fielded a few questions about her time on Friends, which aired during the heyday of NBC’s “Must See TV.”

According to Kudrow, she bumped into Seinfeld at a party where he immediately made a smarmy remark to her about his show leading to Friend‘s success. However, Kudrow didn’t mind because she actually agreed with him. Via The Daily Beast:

Not to take anything away from the writing on Friends, or the cast, or how good Friends really was, but the first season our ratings were just fine. We held onto enough of Mad About You and starting building, but it was in the summer when we were in reruns after Seinfeld, where Seinfeld was our lead-in, where we exploded. I remember going to some party and Jerry Seinfeld was there, and I said, “Hi,” and he said, “You’re welcome.” I said, “Why, thank you… what?” And he said, “You’re on after us in the summer, and you’re welcome.” And I said, “That’s exactly right. Thank you.”

Kudrow also addressed Friends creator Marta Kaufman making headlines for her $4 million donation to make up for the lack of diversity on the show. Like the Seinfeld anecdote, Kudrow’s thoughts were completely unfiltered.

“Well, I feel like it was a show created by two people who went to Brandeis and wrote about their lives after college. And for shows especially, when it’s going to be a comedy that’s character-driven, you write what you know,” Kudrow said. “They have no business writing stories about the experiences of being a person of color.”

(Via The Daily Beast)