Beyoncé’s new movie Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé is out and with it, came a new song, “My House,” which appears in the credits. “My House” finds Beyoncé in “full rap mogul” mode, barking aggressive, boastful rhymes asserting her dominance. While it’s a bit of a departure from many of the dance-centric cuts that appear on her latest album Renaissance, it’s not the first time Beyoncé has shown off some impressive rap skills in addition to her always awesome singing abilities.
Here are 10 more of Beyoncé’s best rapping songs.
“No, No, No Part 2” With Destiny’s Child (1998)
While there are some who wouldn’t consider Beyoncé’s early work with Destiny’s Child to exemplify traditional rap structure, Beyoncé’s playful blending of R&B vocals with hip-hop delivery could be seen even then. It also turned out to be prescient; these days, the line between rap and R&B is blurrier than ever thanks to artists like Drake and those he’s inspired. Just look at SZA’s “Kill Bill” and “Snooze” — without Beyoncé, who’s to say there’d have been space for that style to flourish on the charts the way it has this year?
“Temptation” With Destiny’s Child (1999)
Although “Say My Name” is often considered the moment when Beyoncé perfected her rap-like, staccato singing style, another song from the same album, The Writing’s On The Wall, features a much more direct rapping delivery. hip-hop history has a proud tradition of storytelling tracks running through it, and with a bit of contextualization, “Temptations” fits right in.
“If Looks Could Kill You’d Be Dead”
Okay, go with me here. In 2001, MTV launched a made-for-TV film called Carmen: A Hip Hopera. It is exactly what it sounds like: a rap-ified version of the 1875 opera Carmen (or at least of Carmen Jones a 1954 musical loosely based on it). As the titular character, Beyoncé has two jobs: Looking gorgeous enough to prompt half the male cast to try to kill each other (check), and keep up with Mos Def, which she does admirably on her introductory number.
“Diva” (2008)
In 2008, producer Bangladesh had two of the biggest bangers of the year: “A Milli” by Lil Wayne and “Diva” by Beyoncé. While they employ a similar production style, the two performers used completely different rap approaches. Rather than using one to discount the other, the correct way to read this is acknowledging
just how versatile rap can be at its best.
“Partition” (2013)
On this standout from Beyoncé’s self-titled album, she leans fully into a swaggy rapper persona — the one she’ll end up using right to today. Her signature Houston drawl elongates the rhymes, harkening back to one of her home state’s most iconic bar-spitters, Pimp C.
“7/11” (2014)
“But she’s just repeating the same words over and over!” you may protest.
Ahem… No one questioned this when Lil Uzi Vert did it on “Do What I Want” (sure, some folks hated it but no one tried to take the rapper title away from him). If you think about it this way, Beyoncé kind of opened the door for Playboi Cart. He should send her a note.
“Feeling Myself” Nicki Minaj Feat. Beyoncé (2014)
On one of the first songs where Beyoncé went bar-for-bar with an actual rap peer, she not only kept up with Ms. Minaj — she darn near stole the whole show.
“Top Off” DJ Khaled Feat. Jay-Z, Future & Beyoncé (2018)
Beyoncé had collaborated with her husband Jay-Z a number of times in the prior decade but on DJ Khaled’s Father Of Asahd, for the first time, she endeavored to actually out-rap him. Whether or not she accomplished that mission is up to the listener’s taste but it wouldn’t be too hard to argue that that’s exactly what she did.
“Apesh*t” As The Carters With Jay-Z(2018)
Apparently, Bey and Jay had so much fun trading bars on “Top Off,” they decided to do it for a whole project on their group album Everything Is Love as The Carters. Once again, she arguably gets the best of him on the lead single, rattling off some of the most memorable punchlines on track.
“Savage (Remix)” With Megan Thee Stallion (2020)
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Beyoncé almost single-handedly gave fans the blueprint for survival, making OnlyFans a household name in the process.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
It’s not the holiday season until Mariah Carey resuscitates “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball festivities begin. We’ve officially crossed both thresholds, as the 2023 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour kicked off on Sunday, November 26, in Tampa, Florida, continued on Tuesday, November 28, in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area, and will next hit Kia Forum in Los Angeles, California on Friday night, December 1.
According to iHeart’s official announcement on September 29, iHeartRadio 102.7 KIIS FM’s Jingle Ball 2023 Presented By Capitol One is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. PST. Actually, every iHeartRadio Jingle Ball show will begin at 7:30 p.m. local time.
What Other Cities Will The 2023 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour Visit?
See the rest of the remaining schedule below, as relayed by iHeart.
Friday, December 8: iHeartRadio Z100’s Jingle Ball 2023 Presented by Capital One at Madison Square Garden in New York City featuring Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, OneRepublic, Sabrina Carpenter, Jelly Roll, Big Time Rush, Doechii, Pentatonix, David Kushner, and Melanie Martinez.
Sunday, December 10: iHeartRadio KISS 108’s Jingle Ball 2023 Presented by Capital One at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts featuring SZA, Sabrina Carpenter, OneRepublic, Flo Rida, David Kushner, Melanie Martinez, NCT DREAM, and (G)I-DLE.
Monday, December 11: iHeartRadio Hot 99.5’s Jingle Ball 2023 Presented by Capital One at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC featuring OneRepublic, Jelly Roll, Big Time Rush, Doechii, Flo Rida, Melanie Martinez, David Kushner, NCT DREAM, and (G)I-DLE.
Tuesday, December 12: iHeartRadio Q102’s Jingle Ball 2023 Presented by Capital One at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania featuring Usher, OneRepublic, Jelly Roll, Big Time Rush, Doechii, David Kushner, and (G)I-DLE.
Thursday, December 14: iHeartRadio Power 96.1’s Jingle Ball 2023 Presented by Capital One at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia featuring Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice, Sabrina Carpenter, Flo Rida, David Kushner, Kaliii, and NCT DREAM.
Saturday, December 16: iHeartRadio Y100’s Jingle Ball 2023 Presented by Capital One at Amerant Bank Arena, Ft. Lauderdale in Fort Lauderdale/Miami, Florida featuring Marshmello, AJR, Flo Rida, Ludacris, LANY, David Kushner, Kaliii, and Paul Russell.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Golden Bachelor finale. Do not — I repeat do NOT — move forward if you don’t want to know which woman the 72-year-old retired restaurateur picked to marry.
The season finale of America’s new favorite pastime, The Golden Bachelor, aired on ABC last night, though not everyone has seen it yet, thanks to Hulu‘s waiting game.
Those who have seen it know that Gerry picked 70-year-old Theresa from New Jersey, leaving fan-favorite Leslie without a golden husband-to-be, though fans have been speculating that Leslie would make the perfect first Golden Bachelorette.
There was a lot of drama surrounding both the finale and its protagonist Gerry, whose past dating life was recently meticulously mapped out in The Hollywood Reporter. The outlet reported that Gerry was not entirely truthful with his past, and has been dishonest about his journey. Everything in BachelorNation is a “journey,” by the way, so keep that in mind.
Despite the Hulu delay and overall disappointment with Gerry, viewers still enjoyed The Golden Bachelor, if not for what it is, for what it could be now that ABC has given it a chance. Here’s what the fans had to say about the messy finale:
Gearing up to watch Gerry get engaged as if I didn’t just read an entire exposé about how he allegedly started dating a woman a month after his wife died, promised her elderly mother he’d marry her, then break up after 1.5 yrs with her bc she gained 10 lbs.#goldenbachelorpic.twitter.com/U5XWprFXiN
I hate to say this I really do but like Theresa becomes Gerry’s #1 after revealing she’s a daytrader, then an article comes out detailing him being v particular about money on multiple occasions… has our Golden Bachelor been a Gold Digger this whole time?#goldenbachelorpic.twitter.com/kNP7iny02U
We need reality shows with more old people with regrettable tattoos and fewer influencers looking for Instagram brand deals, honestly. This is the future of TV.
When you hear the names Tegan and Sara, many different things might spring to mind: identical twin sisters, queer indie rock icons, several pivotal scenes from Grey’s Anatomy, etc. All of these would be correct, but they only scratch the surface of a much bigger story. For the majority of Tegan and Sara Quin’s career they’ve strived to maintain control, whether that be within their music, their image, or even in their relationship with one another. To boil them down to a few key words for the sake of packaging would be doing them a grave injustice. Their new Audible Original, aptly titled Under My Control, seeks to tell their truth, as they provide an in-depth look into the band and sisterhood that is Tegan and Sara.
Before even becoming a band, the sisters, who grew up in Calgary, were familiar with being looked at. Being identical has that effect. Towards the beginning of their Audible Original, the two talk about this sensation as Sara recounts a story from their childhood, in which they attempted to leave a bank, without their mother, because they were tired of people looking at them. Though Tegan also points out that, “It made us feel special and famous, before we were famous.” When I chat with them over Zoom, they express a similar sentiment, adding that it became more enjoyable to be recognized for their music. “You know in some ways there was a pleasure in knowing that being recognized now had more to do with something we’d created and not just with this randomness that we were born twins and we look the same,” Sara says. “There’s not much you can say when someone goes, ‘Are you guys twins?’ and you’re like, ‘Yeah.’ Like, that’s it.”
In Under My Control, listeners join them on their journey as they win their local music competition, Garage Warz, choose to start their band instead of attending university, and take on all of the industry meetings that follow. Though they are both musicians and songwriters, it took some convincing for Sara to commit to the band, while Tegan knew and had known that it was something she wanted for herself. “There was no question. I was going to be a musician. That’s what I was. I was a rockstar. That’s how I talked at the time,” Tegan says, laughing. “But it was fueled by fear that there was nothing else for me.” In terms of what propelled them to take on the huge task of recording their first album, Under Feet Like Ours, on their own, Tegan admits that it was not, “normal behavior to figure out how to get the funds, make an album, release that album, get an agent, find management. But I felt like we wanted to prove that we could do it and I think we really didn’t know what we wanted to do at university. We had no goals. Like. I did not want to get a normal job.”
The band ended up signing to Neil Young’s label, Vapor Records, and opening for Young on tour. It was the first time they had been out on the road, traveling internationally, and they were terrified. They recounted doing their first round of press during the tour and expressing the fear they had been experiencing to journalists. Their candor was not well received. “I learned really quickly ‘Do not tell people really how you feel,’” Sara says on Under My Control.
Since then, through multiple mediums including their music, their memoir High School, and their new Audible Original, it seems as though Tegan and Sara have grown to become more vulnerable so that they’re able to be honest about their story, and so fans and artists alike can connect to them on a deeper level. “By putting our voice on record we’re hoping to at least share our perspective and that feels really good,” Tegan says. “When we were 22 I’m glad that this didn’t exist. I’m glad there was no social media. I mean we say it all the time. F*ck, I mean it’s a nightmare when I think about what we would’ve said or done online.” Sara also tells me that not wanting to share her negative feelings about their career came from a place of shame. “I’ve always been afraid by being honest about not always liking our career or not always having a good time on tour with people that it would be insulting or disrespectful,” she says. “I was so embarrassed and ashamed to admit it was hard and that I wasn’t having fun and that I just wanted to hang out with my girlfriend. I don’t know, I was like a child. That’s what I wanted to do.”
“It was a tremendous weight,” Sara mentions on Under My Control, referencing the pressure to come out as queer to the world on top of all of the other stresses that come along with being in the band. “Even if I was having a good time it was like all this big important stuff around like money, and travel, and safety, and queerness, and whatever. It was just always kind of like an albatross on my shoulder. I couldn’t ever be totally free of it,” she elaborates. When both sisters decided to come out of the closet, Sara tells me that the thing that made it scarier was that Tegan was also queer. “It would be one thing if I was just going to be closeted, but if we’re both gay, I mean, I guess we come out. It’s like how do we both lie?” So though it might’ve made it scarier, it also pushed them to come out. Now when I ask if they’ve been able to process it all to arrive at a place of peace, Sara says, “that’s an Audible Words and Music piece onto itself on some level,” but that any internalized homophobia she had, “really broke for me in my mid to late twenties. It was like a ten-year process I would say.”
In an attempt to control their narrative in the early days of their career, they pushed back against the label “lesbian folk band,” fearing it made them inaccessible to a broader audience. “At the time we really fixated on the fact that they called us folk, but I actually think that what we were fixated on was that they were calling us lesbians because it felt at times coded, but mostly just blatant,” Tegan explains on their Audible Original. “It felt like them saying, “This is not music for everybody. This is only music for other lesbians.” Sara communicates this same thing over Zoom adding that, “the second I found queer and embraced it I was like, ‘We’re f*cking queer. We’re queer musicians,’ and I just remember that being like hugely freeing. It was like liberation.”
As Tegan and Sara tell the story of their career and sisterhood during Under My Control, they also take eight breaks in the action, in which new recordings of some of their hits including, “Closer,” “Where Does the Good Go,” “Walking With A Ghost,” and more appear. These performances offer a look into how the band’s music has changed over the years, along with explanations from the sisters about why it was changing. They perform “Living Room” from their album If It Was You, which Tegan notes “was an aggressive attempt to shake off” the lesbian folk label. Before their performance of “Walking With A Ghost,” Sara explains how the song was responding “to what I thought was sexist reviewing of our music.”
There’s often an expectation for women in music to constantly evolve and Tegan is aware of this. “I’ve read lots about how women feel they have to remake themselves every record and that women have to make career-defining albums and career-defining haircuts every time they do something new. But I think even in 2004 that I understood that and that with each new record, it was going to be our job to change.” Sara has a similar perspective, but she also feels that they were reinventing themselves because it’s just a fun thing to do, she tells me. “I’ve looked at other bands where they always wear a plaid shirt and have a beard and are always making records that sound the same. It’s just like so that’s it for them huh? It’s just the same old black-rimmed glasses. That’s it huh? In some ways I guess I envy that, but then on the other hand I’ve had so much fun reinventing myself.”
While Tegan and Sara might be known by many as incredible musicians, that’s not necessarily what they want to be remembered for. When they started to think about what legacy meant to them, they started to explore new avenues to tell their story to connect with fans outside of touring. What resulted was their memoir turned TV show, High School. When I asked what they hope people think of when they think of Tegan and Sara, Sara says, “I truly, truly hope that at the end of my life people still think I’m a good person, a nice person, a generous person.” Outside of that, Sara mentions their advocacy and philanthropic work through the Tegan and Sara Foundation. “I’m very proud of it. It’s not easy work.”
“There’s something very comforting and healing in remembering that we used to just be sisters,” Sara mentions towards the end of Under My Control. After all this time of attempting to control the narrative of their band and their story, it really does boil down to just this: Tegan and Sara are sisters. I know I mentioned above that using only a few words to describe the two can minimize them, but somehow after Sara says this, I was left with a sense of fulfillment. Tegan and Sara will always be sisters, and nothing in the past, present, or future will change that.
Melissa McCarthy stopped by Live with Kelly and Mark this week where the actress revealed a painful experience she had while filming in Australia. The worst part about it? No one believed it was happening.
According to Entertainment Weekly, McCarthy kept getting bit on set, but “nobody knew” what was happening. The Little Mermaid star said it was so bad that she needed ice packs at the end of the day.
“I kept getting bit by things,” McCarthy told Kelly Ripa. “And people were like, ‘I don’t think anything’s biting you.’ And I’m like, ‘No. I’m pretty confident I know when I’m being bitten.’ It’s not like I have a weird feeling. I have bite marks.”
However, the culprits were discovered when the crew realized that McCarthy’s chair had been placed over a nest of fire ants. Her doubters finally admitted that the actress was getting bit, but she won’t let the experience stop her from visiting Australia because she loves being in the country so much. In fact, she landed a cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder thanks to being in the country while the fourth Thor film was filming nearby.
We’re also pretty sure this wasn’t the “volatile, toxic set” that McCarthy opened up about earlier this year. Granted, this experience also made her “physically ill” on account of the swelling. Thankfully, the matter was quickly resolved and everyone acknowledged the problem: a whole bunch of fire ants.
Each year, the Comedy Wildlife Awards highlights photos that capture our animal friends in hilarious moments, made all the more delightful by the fact that not one of them is actually trying to be funny.
Perhaps that’s one reason we love animal and little kid videos so much. Their hilarity is so pure. And we’ve got a whole passel of funny kiddos and furry friends in this week’s list of things that made us smile.
If you’re looking for some small joys to lift your spirit, we’ve got you covered! Enjoy!
1. Kiddo steals the show at his sister’s end-of-year dance school concert
33 Days Until Christmas! We had to take a trip to the North Pole so Kohen can tell Santa what he would like for Christmas personally 😅🥹 #santaselevator #fyp #santaselevatorexpress #santa #christmas2023
The Natick Mall has taken the mall Santa visit to a whole other level. Read the full story here.
3. You think you’ve seen every cute kitten-attacks-dog-friend video and then this one comes along
— (@)
And the doggo was still so gentle. So darn cute.
4. Groom surprises his bride’s family by learning Korean in secret
6. Twins separated shortly after birth were both named Jim and led wildly parallel lives
Identical twins separated as newborns may not seem like a smile-worthy story, but the parallels between their lives are so remarkable, it’s like the universe decided to play a hilarious joke on everyone. Not only did their adoptive parents name them both Jim, they also both had childhood dogs named Toy and a brother named Larry. They both married women named Linda, got divorced, then married women named Betty. They both named their sons James—one of them James Alan and one of them James Allan. And that’s not even the end of the bizarre coincidences in their lives before they met at age 39.
In an era where sustainability meets self-care, the Boie Body Scrubber emerges as a standout hero in our daily routines. It’s not just another bath accessory; it’s a revolution in skin health and environmental responsibility. Crafted from unique, 100% recyclable materials, the Boie Scrubber redefines what staying clean and green means. As we become more conscious of the products we use daily, the Boie Scrubber promises a cleaner body and a cleaner planet.
Picture this: a body scrubber that loves the planet as much as you do. Boie’s Scrubber is a dream come true for anyone who takes recycling seriously. Made from BPA and phthalate-free thermoplastic elastomer, it doesn’t just clean your skin; it helps clean up your environmental act. Every Scrubber is engineered for longevity, drastically reducing waste from tossing out traditional sponges and plastic loofahs. And when it’s finally time to part ways? Boie has ensured their scrubbers are 100% recyclable, completing a full circle of sustainability. You can even send your worn-out scrubber directly to Boie as part of their “Send-It-Back” program, and they’ll recycle it for you. Because choosing Boie isn’t just good for you; it’s a step towards less plastic waste.
Here’s a not-so-fun fact: traditional bath sponges can be breeding grounds for bacteria. But with Boie, it’s a different story. Their Body Scrubber’s design features antimicrobial properties for keeping those unwanted bacteria at bay. This isn’t just about staying clean; it’s about staying healthy. While typical scrubbers can irritate your skin or introduce bacteria, the Boie Scrubber is a guardian for your skin’s health, ensuring a cleaner, safer wash every time. It’s also hypoallergenic, which is great news for people with acne, eczema, and keratosis pilaris.
Wave goodbye to the endless cycle of buying and tossing out old plastic loofahs. The Boie Body Scrubber is here to break that loop. Engineered for endurance, this Scrubber doesn’t just survive shower after shower; it thrives. Where traditional sponges and loofahs deteriorate and become less effective over time, the Boie Scrubber stands the test of time. This isn’t just good news for your wallet, saving you from constant replacements; it’s also a win for reducing waste. In the long run, Boie isn’t just a purchase – it’s an investment in sustainability and savings.
Step into a shower experience that’s not just clean but comfortabe too. The Boie Body Scrubber’s ergonomic design fits snugly in your palm, so using it is a breeze. This scrubber isn’t just about ease, it elevates your daily ritual. Its flexible bristles glide smoothly over your skin, offering a gentle yet effective cleanse. Every curve and contour of your body is effortlessly reached, turning a simple shower into a spa-like experience. With Boie, it’s not just about getting clean – it’s about indulging in a moment of self care.
Let’s face it: nobody enjoys the post-shower chore of cleaning a soggy, bacteria-laden sponge. Enter the Boie Body Scrubber— the low-maintenance hero of your bathroom. Thanks to its clever design, this Scrubber is a cinch to clean and dries in a snap: no more unpleasant dampness or the accompanying worries about hygiene. While traditional sponges can become a hassle to keep germ-free, the Boie Scrubber makes maintenance effortless. It’s all about giving you more time to enjoy your shower and less worrying about what’s lurking in your loofah.
Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of Christmas creep. It should go: October is for Halloween, November is for Thanksgiving, and December is for Christmas (and/or Hanukkah). But my Grinch-like protest is for naught: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has been terrorizing retail workers since October, and don’t even get me started on people who replace their inflatable 12-foot skeleton with a 15-foot Rudolph on the first of November.
The only good thing about Christmas creep is that it means we get to look forward to a certain commercial. Yes, it does exist.
The M&M’s commercial “Faint” debuted in December 1996 (the same year that America had Tickle Me Elmo fever). It still airs on TV every holiday season in all its standard-definition glory. The ad, as I’m sure you know, begins with Yellow, voiced by Oscar winner J.K. Simmons, asking Red (Futurama legend Billy West) if Santa Claus will enjoy eating red and green M&Ms. “I don’t know. I never met the guy,” Red answers. They never find out, because as they skulk around a living room at night, they run into the big man. “He does exist!” Red yells. “They do exist!” Santa says incredulously. Both Red and Santa faint from shock and wonder, leaving Yellow alone with his bowl of candy.
The commercial is a classic, but it also begs a lot of questions. Is Santa in Red and Yellow’s house? Why is Red so mad at Yellow for asking a reasonable question? Is it cannibalism for Yellow to serve a human being his own kind? And most importantly, who plays Santa?
That last question remains a mystery (sorry Santa), but I did learn the actor nearly got a concussion while filming the ad. This was among the many revelations during my chat with “Faint” animation director David Daniels, who is also the co-founder of Bent Image Lab and creator of the strata-cut animation technique. He, along with his co-workers at Will Vinton Studios, helped imagine the M&M’s “to be a kind of CG update to the California Raisins, with broader personalities, clear actions, and not cynical, ” Daniels told Uproxx. That’s apparent in the commercial, which has run for decades because of its wholesomeness.
Below is our interview, which has been edited for length and clarity.
How does it feel watching a 1996 commercial in 2023?
Wow. There’s a tremendous amount of different feelings. It’s amazing generally, just to know that the crew and the talent that I was directing still resonates. And that in a larger sense, it’s because the M&Ms themselves still exist as they were designed in 1994 and 1995. Having been there at the birth, I see it as a testament to all the thoughtful energy put into their characterizations and their movements and their surfaces. And then generally the humor of two myths meeting each other thinking the other is not real. It works for a 15-second spot. It’s impressive that it doesn’t need to be a 30. It still works, which is why they could play it so much.
It’s a very charming spot, because generally the M&Ms are built around their own insecurities, and how small they are or how edible they are, so they live in a world of threat. People are either going to be nice to them, or they’re going to eat them. So, we did a lot of thinking about what they could do. You could have a gag where a truck comes by and Red is in the middle of the street, and he goes, ‘Ahh,’ but then he’s still standing there, of course, because he’s so small. And the truck just went right over him. That’s just a tip of the iceberg of the theory that you take everything that’s their flaw and make comedy out of it.
I’m probably overthinking things here, but it’s weird that Red and Yellow are serving Santa a bowl of M&Ms, right? It’s candy cannibalism.
Many of our brothers had to die for this, this holiday treat experience [laughs]. I think that happens on a practical level, like, well, what are you going to do? OK, well, they’re coming in to do this. Well, we want to put more product in the spot, so therefore, they’re carrying a bowl of M&Ms. It’s not a cup of hot chocolate or something else that would be more traditional. And then the irony comes from that, but I don’t think it comes from, like, the first thing we’re going to do is make something ironic here. It’s the second thing that happens. But it’s certainly funny that way, isn’t it?
Tell me about when you started working at Will Vinton Studios.
I moved to Portland in 1992 as a stop motion and strata-cut animator. Having succeeded at first MTV during the decade of the ‘80s and then a larger sort of mixed media thing, I was doing all kinds of styles and Will Vinton Studios needed to expand beyond the California Raisins and the Noid, which were the moneymakers for them in the late ‘80s. So they hired me. I was the first director at Will Vinton Studios who was not homegrown. They went outside of their community. That was an effort to revitalize the studio, which, in a sense, the M&Ms is the culmination of that revitalization.
I brought computers with me, which they didn’t have. There was no computer animation in Portland in 1992. And I had been doing a lot of work in motion control as well. So motion control is really pivotal to elegant stop motion. It’s stuff that I had been doing that they didn’t have a knack for. So I was able to bring technical innovation to the studio. I was able to bring a lot of jobs to the studio that they wouldn’t get because I was much more different in how I use clay.
How did you land the M&Ms gig?
I had been working on a lot of other jobs. And I was taking a vacation, literally the week that the job started. The first M&Ms job with a live shoot in 1994, the director… Will Vinton is the guy the agency thought they were hiring, but as they got to know him, they wanted to work with his assistant director Larry Bafia. Will, let’s say, let his ego get in the way of the relationship. They were trying to make Seinfeld with candy, the agency, and he was trying to make Mark Twain with candy. Bless his heart, he’s a very sweet man.
It was a 12-week animation schedule, and Larry quit in week one during a live shoot after a humiliating public tongue-lashing from Will that horrified the agency in all respects during a voice record session in Los Angeles. Will wanted to have final say on the voice reads, and it is traditional for the agency to have the last word. So Larry walked off and quit. And the agency said, “Oh my God.” They threw me into it, right? It was literally, “OK,” the next day, “what do we do?” And I got on the phone and we landed that puppy.
We had to hire 16 people who really hadn’t worked at Vinton before. So it was a talent thing. It was everything. We had to buy a lot of equipment and we parallel-processed our way so every person would, in a sense, work on one shot and only one shot. I became the animation director because the agency was freaked out about not making the M&Ms into the Pillsbury Doughboy. That’s exactly what they didn’t want: nice and cute. Predictable. It went on for two years. Kirk, my technical director, we had to do a lot of hot wiring, hacking, just brute forcing our equipment to make it professionally finished in that time.
Because the ad has been playing for so long, is there a consistent paycheck, year after year? Or was it a one-time lump sum?
No, it’s like advertising. It’s one sum. Nobody gets paid after the job is done. I mean, you’d have to be celebrity status to write a contract like that, and we’re a production company. I’d be rich [laughs]. But what they did get was, of course, M&Ms ads forever. Not forever, but up until… Well, that’s a longer story I don’t want to get into. But pretty much 12 ads a year at $200,000 to $400,000 each, depending on if it was 15 or 30. It was a great baseline because it kept coming. [Advertising agency] BBDO was a juggernaut of advertising, and it had high visibility and fun character work.
I give credit to Susan Credle, who’s still highly successful in advertising, and her partner Steve Rutter. They wanted small, subtle, human acting with sarcasm and self-involved personalities. With complex thinking for the characters. The comedy was to be built from the flaws and very human quirks of each personality. To make candy not be, as they would say, “a mile wide and an inch deep,” which is what the Pillsbury Doughboy is. Very likable and completely forgettable, except for [Daniels does an impression of the Doughboy giggle]. You have your one mnemonic, but you have no personal connection with him, right? Whereas with a variety of M&Ms, the point of it is to allow personalities.
What do you think Billy West and JK Simmons brought to the roles?
It started off with, as you know, as Jon Lovitz and John Goodman [as the voices of Red and Yellow, respectively]. The braggadocio, the pompous self-importance of Red with verbal vulnerability. You know he’s bullshitting half the time or pumping himself up, or just being an asshole, but not with an edge. What Billy brought to it is charm. He’s great. It’s a great voice. And Yellow is the lovable lunk, which allows you to not think so badly about Red. Red likes having Yellow around because he likes people, let’s say, less astute than him. So he feels bigger. That’s why he’s friends with Yellow. But for the audience, it’s good to have the complement of the two. There’s a Laurel and Hardy thing, as well. Classic shapes and behaviors that are opposites. I think a lot of other people could have played Yellow. I think Red is really key.
One piece of information that I can’t really find out there about the ad is the name of the actor who played Santa. Do you remember?
No, but that actor also has some stunt credit credentials. It wasn’t just that he was an actor, but he also had done some stunt work. Because he has to fall, like, literally fall in that shot. And he falls behind the sofa. Well, the first take we did, he fell and he pretty much got his bell rung. That was a concussion, the poor guy. There was a moment on set we’re like, “[scared, frantic noise].” We didn’t kill Santa, but it’s like, who is going to put on the suit? It was a good 10 minutes, half hour as they were trying to shake him, shake the cobwebs out, and then they were redesigning his suit. He needed to be better padded on the back of his suit when he fell. All that stuff needed to be improved, so it just wasn’t done right. We got it on the next takes. He was a trooper and came around.
That was one of the physical challenges. What were some of the technical challenges of combining live action with computer graphics at the time?
Well, cameramen and live-action people who are generally shooting this don’t visualize invisible characters very well. So a lot of the challenge is first to set down an object that’s a yellow egg that’s three feet tall and a red oval that’s two and a half feet tall. So, we build little creatures to put into this, so they can line it up. Literally, we’re saying, “OK, they’re here, they’re here, they’re here.”
We would also shoot plates so we could get the surfaces in the lighting correct. A lot of animation matching is to see the exact lighting and the exact position, so as you get the plate back, you shoot them with it and without it so you can use the reflection on these puppet-like models that have been put in.
The longevity is crazy. I’m waiting for AI to improve that commercial. I haven’t looked at it recently, like I didn’t look at it last year. Have they finally done it?
Nope.
Usually, that’s a telltale sign, and you wouldn’t put that up in 2023. But it’s charming perhaps when people think of it like that. I know when I was young and I watched things that were made a decade or two earlier, the charm is that they’re so quaint.
Do you remember any of the rejected character designs for the M&Ms?
I want to give credit to Robin Ator, who was key to the design of these characters and their success. He was a longtime storyboard artist at Will Vinton Studios, and I really loved his ability. Those characters in a sense had already been generalized in the storyboard stage at the beginning, but manifesting them into three-dimensional objects was a completely different thing. And that’s what I was really responsible for. But he established the character stuff. The one thing I think that I really did add was the mouth shapes. I — and Chris Olgren, who sculpted the lip shapes and mouths for Red and Yellow — really went after the fact they have to have fatter lips. Yellow has to have a fatter lip at the bottom. The mouth shapes really are charming. In CG at the time, you could make very kind of pinched-looking things. And it took a lot of work.
Have you been to M&Ms World? That has to be a weird experience.
It’s odd. It’s indescribable. It’s such an epiphany. It’s amazing. One thing that runs through my mind is if it was going to last this long and be this widespread, and be so prolifically recreated in all these venues, I would have done a better job. It’s that kind of feeling. I look at it and go, “Oh, we could do better now.” But they stick with a series of original decisions. Because of course, you know, I understand that there’s their thing and why mess with something if it’s working. So that’s what goes on in my little machine, I think, “Oh, it’s still working. Like, wow, that’s crazy.” Because you’re thrown into something not knowing the length of time it’s ever going to be seen. I was just working two jobs for 10 weeks. I knew more would come if we succeeded… but you’re not thinking, 25 years out in your mind. So yes, it’s kind of really amazing.
I have mixed feelings in the sense that — this would probably be the dark version of it — they represent obesity to me in some respects. Since obesity has become such a big thing in the acceptance of culture, you know, we’re a very overweight culture, and that’s putting it politely. I’ve recently done some McDonald’s nugget characters too, recently, and I think, “Is this a gateway drug to allow people to think it’s OK to eat all this stuff and be fat, right?” That’s the dark side.
But there’s some really good stuff, too, because it brings joy. There’s a lot of people who say, “Oh, that’s such a great set of memories from my childhood.” A lot of work I’ve done that isn’t the M&Ms, they will say, “Oh, wow, you did that spot, too.” And I’ll have that mixed feeling. But I’ll be very grateful to bring a little laughter to life. It’s not the worst thing. There is a fantasy component to it, which I think is good. People should have more imagination.
You’re speaking like a true creative by finding perceived flaws in things that people love.
Especially over time. And I have a lot of not nostalgia, but a sense of cultural Gestalt. You have to always give credit to the animators and the team, and the actual CG sculptors who I was trying to direct to get these things done. The great thing about animation is you’re always working with another team each time, but you’re all in it together. And you’re all with it. There’s a humility about the achievement because it took so much to actually create an illusion of life.
We’ve been talking so much about the present but let’s change the subject to the future. Are there any upcoming projects of yours that you would like to highlight?
What I’m super excited about is that I’m going to be doing strata cuts as neural radiance fields (NeRF). Currently, there’s a form of neural radiance fields called a Gaussian splatter. That will allow your phone to capture from multiple cameras, but then it’s able to synthesize it as an inference. You can now re-cut up your strata cut from any angle. This will help stop motion. Imagine I can see the stop motion, but I can move my head around it now from any angle, and I can watch it in time from any time duration. The term is “Spatial Cinema.” That’s something I’ve dreamed about four years ago and thought maybe, you know, eventually, but I think time has finally caught up. That’s the one thing I live for because it gets beyond the two-dimensional nature of the screen finally. It’s literally a three-dimensional understanding of something over time that’s sculpturally happening in front of you. That’s my goal.
Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert simply could not help herself. The controversy courting congresswoman (and confused Dolly Parton fan) is still attempting to make people forget about her public groping escapades, and so of course she is seizing upon every opportunity to draw attention to her not-so-inclusive agenda instead. And what better way to do so than by pulling in a very famous comedian who happened to be on Capitol Hill to visit some old friends?
Those friends do not include Boebert, although she was all too happy to lend that appearance. Here’s Boebert grinning away with Chappelle in the background along with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna. And then came the brazen caption: “Just three people who understand that there’s only two genders.”
Given Boebert’s outspoken anti-drag show sentiments, her caption was clearly meant as a reference to Chappelle’s dust-up over his 2021 Netflix stand-up special. However, the truth about this photo quickly began to come out due to footage tweeted by reporter Pablo Manríquez. Boebert is shown approaching Dave and asking for a selfie, and Luna thanked him “for all you do.”
Reps. LAUREN BOEBERT and ANA PAULINA LUNA grab a selfie with Dave Chappelle. “Thanks for all you do,” said Luna. pic.twitter.com/KQku73E4GU
Additionally, Newsweek followed up by relaying reported remarks made by Chappelle at a subsequent stand-up set. He had declared, “She tricked me” while also remarking that the MAGA cheerleader was “rubbing her mitts together.” He added that he felt “blindsided” by her caption, and concluded, “It’s a shame she tricked me. I had two tickets to Beetlejuice and I was going to give her one!”
The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.
ITEM NUMBER ONE – The richest man in Flavortown
The Guy Fieri thing is relentlessly interesting to me. He burst onto the scene 20 years ago with blonde spikes and chain-related jewelry and people kinda dug it. Then it became a caricature and people kinda mocked him for it. Now, a lot of people have come back around and learned to kinda appreciate him for it all. And the weird thing about it is that he’s just been almost exactly the same dude the entire time. He didn’t bend and flap in the breeze to seek the public’s affection. He just kept being Guy Fieri every day and people eventually were like, “Good for him.” It’s a weird ride. I would read a book about it.
It’s also been a very lucrative ride, as we learned this week when details about his new Food Network deal trickled out. I admit that I gasped a little when I read this.
Guy Fieri has signed a new three-year deal with Food Network, which sources tell Variety is valued at more than $100 million.
This fresh pact means that Fieri retains his title as the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cable channel’s highest-paid talent and bests his most recent multiyear deal, which closed in 2021 for $80 million.
That is… so much money. I don’t know how much money I thought Guy Fieri made before I read it. It probably wasn’t nine figures, though, even if it does make sense when you think about it for a while. Like, how many other Food Network personalities can you name? Bobby Flay? That’s about as far as I got. Which means Guy is pretty much the face of an entire television channel. That’s a lucrative endeavor.
Add that to other various ventures — restaurants, a new line of spiked Fruit Punch, etc. — and you start to put together a picture of a whole empire, which is another thing I had not considered until recently but also makes sense in retrospect. Guy Fieri could be a billionaire before this is all said and done. Ruminate on that for a while.
And it gets wilder. The new contract wasn’t even the wildest piece of Fieri news that dropped during the month. There was also the thing where he’s holding a two-day Flavortown Fest in Ohio next summer. Look at this blockquote.
The Food Network star announced the launch of Flavortown Fest on Friday. Planned as a two-day festival held in the Arch City, the event promises to “fuse food and funk, bringing to life the one and only Flavortown, embodying Fieri’s larger-than-life energy and charitable spirit every step of the way,” according to a press release.
Although specific talent has not yet been announced, this description touts wild times will be had: “Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Fest will be unlike any other festival. Like Guy, it will be bold, loud, bad-ass and full of flavor with unparalleled surprises, one-of-a-kind programming and Guy-curated curveballs all weekend long.”
Three things here in conclusion:
The majority of the proceeds of this sucker are going to charity, because Guy Fieri is a good dude through and through and that’s probably one of the reasons he’s stuck around so long
There is a big part of me that wants to drive to Ohio and cover this with a documentary film crew like it’s Woodstock, maybe with Kristen Stewart
I need to know what a “Guy-curated curveball” entails
Really just a lot to consider here. Guy Fieri fascinates me. I want to study him like he’s an exotic creature. Maybe I will.
ITEM NUMBER TWO – Yes, I will watch it
This is the first trailer for Griselda, a new show coming to Netflix in January that stars Sofia Vergara as real-life drug queenpin Griselda Blanco. It’s made by the team that made Narcos and the trailer looks cool and there’s one part where she’s just walking around with a baseball bat that she just got done bashing some dude with. Between her and Juno Temple in the new season of Fargo, this is gonna be a big winter for ladies smashing dingers on people’s faces. I support this.
Here is the official description.
From creators Eric Newman, Doug Miro, Ingrid Escajeda and Carlo Bernard, the six-episode series chronicles the life of Colombian-born Blanco, who created one of the most profitable cartels in history. In 1970s-80s Miami, Blanco’s lethal blend of unsuspected savagery and charm helped her expertly navigate between business and family, leading her to become widely known as “the Godmother.”
Great. Wonderful. Exactly the type of thing I would watch. And I will watch it. My only request is that everyone involved step up their promo photo game before January. I scrolled through a bunch of them and was not blown away, which would be a weird complaint about any other show from any other production team, but not this one. This is the Narcos crew. These are the people who gave us “Pablo Escobar sitting in a cocaine-filled room with a little smirk on his face like Dennis the Menace”…
Netflix
… and “a stylish lady Narco in front of a huge truck filled with cocaine”…
Netflix
… and “a character played by Diego Luna walking away from an airplane with a brick of cocaine in his hands and a look on his face that makes it seem like he just found the cocaine on the airplane and was like ‘well, I guess I might as well sell some drugs now’”…
Netflix
… and multiple pictures of Pablo Escobar looking like the saddest little boy you’ve ever seen.
NetflixNetflix
I do not ask for much. But I do ask for this. Give me, like, Sofia Vergara on a speedboat in a fur coat. Or something like that. Just one. Please. I need it.
ITEM NUMBER THREE – Tell me more about the sharks
Background, quickly: There’s a movie coming out next year called Anyone But You that stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell and is loosely based on Shakespeare and which I have been referring to as Attractive People: The Movie. That’s the trailer for it. It will probably be, at worst, fine, if only because putting very good-looking and charismatic people on a screen together for a couple of hours is a pretty solid place to start. Maybe it will be great! I don’t know! No one does yet! This is, generally, how it works with things that will happen in the future.
More importantly, to me, for now, writer and director Will Gluck talked to Entertainment Weekly about it all recently and revealed that the filming was apparently shark-adjacent enough to be… a thing.
“Initially they wouldn’t give us permission because it’s a huge shark area and people get hurt by sharks all the time there.” That meant every time an actor or stunt double filmed in the water, they had to do so with a huge shark tank around it.
Two things:
It’s really kind of funny that they risked maiming via shark to make a silly lil rom-com
I would also watch a movie about Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney battling bloodthirsty sharks
Moving on.
The production employed shark consultants to advise on best practices, only to learn that the more activity in an area, the more sharks it will draw. Thus, the longer they shot and the more that was happening in a scene, the more sharks they had to contend with. But no actors (or sharks for that matter) were harmed in the making of Anyone but You — and the only bite we’ll see on screen is the edge that comes with the “enemies to lovers” banter of its leads.
Two more things:
Giving us this whole lead-up about sharks and then closing with “but none ever showed up and everything was great” is like spitting on Chekhov’s grave
I am so proud of everyone at EW for getting that preposterous last sentence into print
I am glad Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell did not get eaten by sharks.
ITEM NUMBER FOUR – Go Birds
My beloved Philadelphia Eagles are currently in first place in the NFC East and coming off of a few big wins and my editor is a nice man who will let things like “Brian will use any stupid excuse to talk about his favorite football team in his entertainment column again” slide and so, yes, it is time to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles. And Hollywood. But mostly the Eagles. For two reasons.
REASON NUMBER ONE: Bradley Cooper, star of the upcoming Oscar contender Maestro and lifelong Eagles fan, appeared on the Howard Stern show this week and said, well, this…
“Here’s the big question, and I really want you to answer in a serious manner,” Stern told Cooper. “Sophie’s Choice for 2024. You win the Oscar, not only for Best Director but also for Best Actor and Carrie wins Best Actress. Or, an Eagles Super Bowl victory.”
Cooper didn’t pause even for a second before choosing the Eagles Super Bowl win.
“You’re lying,” Stern replied.
“I don’t think so, bro,” Cooper said.
Two things once again:
I respect this greatly
I too would rather the Eagles win the Super Bowl than Bradley Cooper win an Oscar
No offense, obviously. But go Birds.
REASON NUMBER TWO: So there was this big auction to raise money for charity and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney kept bidding on this cool green Eagles jacket that was worn by Jason Kelce’s wife and he kept getting outbid and he ended up losing and then he found out who he lost too and explained it all to the Kelce brothers on their podcast…
“I couldn’t believe that someone was immediately jumping on every time I bid, and so my final bid was going to be representing my favorite player on the Eagles, 62. [$62,000], I thought that was a good number,” McElhenney told brothers and football players, Jason and Travis Kelce.
“And then I got a text from somebody I know who said, ‘I’ve been the one bidding against you, bozo.’ And it did not even cross my mind that this was a possibility, and it turned out I live with this person,” he continued, referring to his wife and It’s Always Sunny costar [Kaitlin Olson].
Two notes once again:
This is extremely funny and great for charity and I like it a lot
I don’t have any facts to prove this but I suspect marriages where the spouses call each other “bozo” last many years longer than marriages where they do not
In conclusion, again, Go Birds
ITEM NUMBER FIVE – NOM NOM NOM
PBS
The New York Times did a big fancy piece of journalism about the Cookie Monster this week. That’s a fun thing to say but it’s also true. Look, you can read it here. And you should. But I want to talk about this part of it: the cookies the Cookie Monster eats are actually real food, kind of, but not real cookies. This passage is going to stick with me for years.
The recipe, roughly: Pancake mix, puffed rice, Grape-Nuts and instant coffee, with water in the mixture. The chocolate chips are made using hot glue sticks — essentially colored gobs of glue.
The cookies do not have oils, fats or sugars. Those would stain Cookie Monster. They’re edible, but barely.
“Kind of like a dog treat,” MacLean said in an interview.
I must have one.
I also need Guy Fieri and the Cookie Monster to go on a road trip together.
Maybe they can drop some of these disgusting cookies off at my house on the way.
I must have one.
READER MAIL
If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.
From Lynn:
Brian, I’m curious as to your thoughts on the movie Labyrinth. I searched your tweets and found nothing, but I’m certain you have a strong opinion as it:
– stars David Bowie and a young Jennifer Connelly
– is Muppet-adjacent
– features a Bog of Eternal Stench!
– has an animated dog riding a real dog like a horse
– brought us the song Magic Dance which is an absolute bop
Please share your thoughts on the original and I’d love to hear your pitch for a sequel.
Wow. I had not thought about this movie for maybe 5-8 years. Then Lynn emailed me and I googled “Magic Dance” and I watched this video 100 times. Look at David Bowie sing with these creepy little fuzzballs.
As to the other part of the question: I really need the world to focus a little harder on putting megastar musicians into weird little musicals with Muppets or Muppet-adjacent creatures. It doesn’t have to be a straight Labyrinth sequel. Give me Olivia Rodrigo and the Muppets in space. Give me Dua Lipa doing a duet with Fozzie Bear on a haunted cruise ship. The people deserve this at least once every four years, like the Olympics.
Police are investigating after Big Boy statues were stolen from two Frisch’s restaurants in Kentucky.
Two notes here:
A reader named Nick sent this in and I am very grateful and would like to encourage more of you to be like Nick
BIG BOY STATUE HEIST RING
I need to know more.
The restaurant’s manager said this isn’t the first time the statue has been stolen.
God yes. I’m gonna go ahead and believe there’s a massive black market for these and they get auctioned off at black-tie underground galas where the world’s wealthiest criminals get together and bid on them like they’re exotic animals. You can’t take this from me. I hope there’s a whole episode of Griselda about it.
And police in Georgetown are also investigating, after thieves there made off with another Big Boy statue. Customers noticed right away.
Yes, sure, fine. But I need you to see this quote coming up. I need you to see what Linda said.
“Monday morning, I came in and it was like something’s missing,” Linda Allen said. “And I looked around, and everybody is saying ‘where’s the Big Boy? It was like oh my gosh, somebody took him!’”
This is absolutely the opening scene in the trailer for the movie about the Big Boy statue heist ring that I am quitting my job to write in 2024. Linda talking to the local news reporter about the theft. I’m picturing, like, Kristen Wiig with a menthol cigarette. And now you are, too.
We have fun.
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