Last year, SNLfinally found their Donald Trump. (No offense, Alec Baldwin.) James Austin Johnson came to fame in part because he does arguably the most spot-on impersonation of the world’s most famous failed blogger. But he has more than one weapon in his arsenal. On a recent Tonight Show appearance, Johnson busted out his Trump and his Biden. But he also proved he’s as good doing them as he is doing maybe folk music’s most distinctive voice.
Host Jimmy Fallon recalled meeting Johnson for the first time, where Johnson teased that he was also very good at Bob Dylan. And indeed he is. Just as Dylan’s sound has changed over the decades, so has his voice. Johnson chose only four eras to impersonate, and because it’s the holidays, he did him doing “Jingle Bells,” because who wouldn’t want to hear Robert Zimmerman speak-singing or crooning Christmas carols.
Johnson started with the most famous era of Dylan: his nasal-voiced Greenwich village period. Then he moved onto the brief time where he tried to be a straight-up singer: the “Lay Lady Lay”/Nashville Skyline era. From there he moved onto the mid-‘70s “Rolling Thunder” tour — Johnson’s “favorite Dylan,” when he’s “unintelligible” and “just screaming.” He concludes with the late ‘90s, the time of Time out of Mind and his Victoria’s Secret commercial, when, Johnson says, he’s “singing like a Disney vulture” or “like he crawled out of a French crypt.”
It’s amazing stuff, proof that Johnson’s no one-trick pony. You can watch his Tonight Show appearance in the video above; the Dylan business begins around the 5:53 mark. And why not?
You can watch one of his earliest triumphs — “fireworks illegal in Pasadena” — below.
As the year comes to a close, music fans are looking back to see what songs, artists, and albums were their favorites via digital platforms like Apple Music Replay, Instafest, and Spotify Wrapped. Still, while those apps are great for seeing what each of us listened to personally, you might be curious about what we listened to collectively. Fortunately, those answers are also readily available thanks to Billboard, which collected lists of all the new albums and songs that reached No. 1 status on their respective charts (although they don’t come with a nifty, shareable graphic, sadly).
So, what were all the new songs that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100?
Leading off the year was the Encanto soundtrack standout “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” which had families singing along from the moment the movie dropped on Disney Plus — even if some parents had to do so reluctantly. Next, Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” — a sleeper hit from June 2020 — held the top spot for five weeks and broke the record for the longest charting song on the Hot 100 of all time at 91 weeks. Glass Animals were booted by British superstar Harry Styles, whose “As It Was” became an inescapable hit, spending a whopping 15 weeks at No. 1.
Jack Harlow’s “First Class,” Future’s “Wait For U,” and Drake’s “Jimmy Cooks” all took turns at the top spot before being swept away in the splash from Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” which held on for two weeks. That was just long enough to get pushed aside by Beyonce’s comeback single “Break My Soul,” which ceded the peak to Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl.” Steve Lacy’s surprise hit “Bad Habit” took over for three weeks in October before being replaced by Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ gender-bending “Unholy.”
But for the last few weeks, there’s been one reigning queen: Taylor Swift, who has dominated all November with the ubiquitous TikTok fave “Anti-Hero.” Now, Mariah Carey, who has already returned to the Hot 100 with her reliable holiday mainstay “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” stands a pretty decent chance of taking the top spot after doing so every December for an impressive three years running. Will she make it four? If she doesn’t, blame Taylor Swift. She’s the problem.
We Don’t Talk About Bruno Heat Waves As It Was First Class Wait For U Jimmy Cooks About Damn Time Break My Soul Super Freaky Girl Bad Habit Unholy Anti-Hero
It’s common knowledge that Amy Poehler is good at both hosting shows and making things, mostly because she hosted a show called Making It. We also know that Maya Rudolph has a show called Baking It, where a bunch of grandmothers judge contestants baked goods, and her former host Andy Samberg is busy doing something else. So the only logical next step here would be for Poehler to move from Making It to Baking It and fire Andy Samberg so that she and Rudolph can finally host together for the first time. This all makes sense if you don’t think about it too much!
The two Saturday Night Livealums will reunite for season two of Baking It, and in true Maya and Amy fashion, the duo has prepared a song to hype up the season, which will feature a new set of contestants facing off against each other in various food-related challenges for a ton of money. Also, unlike most boring baking shows with rude professional judges, again, the judges on Baking It consists of just a bunch of very critical grandmothers. Please listen to their cute little song below:
Season two will also include a Christmas special that will air on December 12th at 8 pm and feature all of your favorite holiday NBC-adjacent celebrities like Fred Armisen and Kristen Bell. Surely Andy Sandberg feels left out now! Maybe he can pitch a new show called Raking It about various lawn care tips, or Banking It where he robs banks. There is still time to workshop it.
Baking It will stream weekly on Peacock beginning on Dec. 12.
Did you know that in addition to being a beloved author of children’s books, Dr. Seuss wrote more than 400 political cartoons during World War II?
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, gifted the world with stories like “The Cat in the Hat,” “The Lorax,” “Green Eggs and Ham,” and dozens of other childhood classics until his death in 1991.
In recent years, however, it’s some of his lesser known works from the 1940s that have gained attention.
As World War II was slowly moving toward a reality, Seuss began penning cartoons for PM, a liberal publication, frequently pushing back against the “America First” mentality of U.S. isolationists opposed to U.S. involvement in the war.
Like this one, which depicts a mother reading a book titled “Adolf the Wolf” to children while wearing an “America First” shirt, explaining that because the wolf’s victims were foreign children, it didn’t really matter that the wolf ate them — a clear parallel to the conflicting approaches to our modern refugee crisis.
“And the Wolf chewed up the children and spit out their bones … but those were Foreign Children and it really didn’t matter.”
“A. Hitler taxidermist”
“We Clams Can’t Be Too Careful.”
“The old Family bath tub is plenty safe for me!”
Suess’s other comics took aim at overarching issues like anti-Semitism, racial inequality, and political obstructionism — all issues still relevant today.
To be sure, the comics were far from perfect and reflected some ugly stereotypes of their own. For instance, many of his cartoons amplified some pretty awful impressions of Japanese citizens and Japanese-Americans. And while it’s easy to chalk that up as being simply an element of the time, that type of anti-Japanese sentiment helped fuel the racism and paranoia that eventually led to Japanese internment.
“Only God can make a tree to furnish sport for you and me!”
“Stop all U.S. progress.”
“The Guy Who Makes a Mock of Democracy.”
“Relax, Sam, I assure you the express turns off right here!”
If the world of Dr. Seuss can teach us anything, it’s that history is our best defense against modern tyranny.
Well, that, and the fact that Americans will always love goofyhats:
This article originally appeared on 03.09.16. It has been lightly edited.
For many gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people, one of the most personal (and sometimes scary) experiences they’ll go through is the “coming out” process.
Coming out means telling others of your status as an LGBTQ person. As society is becoming more accepting of people’s sexual orientation and gender identity, coming out is getting easier all the time. Even so, for many, it’s still a carefully calculated process that involves planning who, how, and when to tell people in their lives.
In 2016, writer and director Lilly Wachowski — known as co-creator of “The Matrix” series of films, “Jupiter Ascending,” and “Sense8” — came out publicly as transgender.
It’s so great that Lilly came to that realization about herself and started living more authentically. In 2012, her sister Lana also came out as trans. What’s not cool about this is the fact that Lilly was forced to out herself, in a letter she chose to share with The Windy City Times, after a reporter from The Daily Mail threatened to do it without her permission.
If someone trusts you with news that they’re trans, there are a few key do’s and don’ts you should follow — and telling a journalist definitely falls under “don’t.”
As a transgender person, one of the most common questions I get from strangers is: “My friend or family member recently told me that they’re transgender. How can I support them?”
Below are five tips I give people who are thoughtful enough to ask.
1. Let them know they have your support.
If you’re asking this question (or taking the time to look up an article on the subject), you’re already on the right path. It’s important to make sure your friend knows you’re in their corner, as they’re probably afraid of how others in their lives will react. A simple “If you need anything, I’m here for you” can go a long way.
2. Respect their identity, name, and pronouns.
Ask questions like “What are your pronouns?” and “How would you like me to refer to you in private and when we’re around people who may not know you’re transitioning?”
If somebody is just starting to come out to others, odds are that there are still some people who don’t know and might still use old names and pronouns. Asking how you should react in those situations will help you avoid outing your friend to others who don’t yet know.
3. Educate yourself — don’t rely on your friend to educate you.
There are so many great resources on how to understand trans issues. While your friend may be happy to answer those initial personal questions about things like names and pronouns, they might become overwhelmed if you start treating them as a walking encyclopedia of all things trans.
4. Don’t gossip about them or “out” them to others.
The only people you should be discussing your friend’s gender with are people they’ve given you explicit permission to do so with. Going behind their back and outing them to someone they may not yet be ready to tell is not only a huge betrayal of their trust, but it could even put them in physical danger.
On top of that, when someone is hearing this news from a secondhand source (that is, you), some of the important details may get lost in translation, which get further garbled if this person tells someone else — it eventually turns into a game of telephone, and no one wants that.
A vigil for slain transgender woman Islan Nettles at Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem in 2013. Nettles was severely beaten after being approached on the street by a group of men and later died of her injuries.
5. Understand that this is not about you and your feelings.
It’s OK to feel confused, and it’s OK to not immediately “get it.” Those feelings are completely valid, but demanding to know why your friend didn’t tell you sooner (they were probably wrestling with this themselves for quite some time) or saying you feel betrayed will only hurt them during an extremely vulnerable time in their life.
Nothing you did “made” your friend trans, and it’s probably less that they were hiding something from you and more that they were hiding this reality from themselves.
Whether someone is a Hollywood director or a friend from high school, we should all have the right to come out at our own pace and in our own way.
Maybe years from now the aspect that makes this seem like such juicy gossip will fade and trans people won’t have to worry about being forcibly outed. Maybe years from now trans people won’t need to fear that coming out will be met with job loss, homelessness, or physical harm. Until then, it’s important that those of us who care for our trans friends and family members do what we can do show we’re there for them.
Like many rappers, Australian star Iggy Azalea has been looking to expand her creative portfolio to include film work but unforutnately, that goal was delayed by an injury she suffered in her day job as a rapper. According to a thread the star posted on Twitter on Monday (November 28), she was preparing to head home to Australia to film a movie but instead found herself unable to move for three days after getting surgery on her back.
“I was supposed to travel to Australia and film a movie,” she recalled, “but right before I left I had what I thought would be a rather mundane surgery on my back to fix the issues I had after touring two summers in a row on an injury. It didn’t end up being very mundane because I had complications with my recovery & ended up in bed hooked up to a million machines and in so much pain there are about 3 days I actually just can’t remember at all.”
Wanna hear a crazy story? I was supposed to travel to Australia and film a movie but right before I left I had what I thought would be a rather mundane surgery on my back to fix the issues I had after touring two summers in a row on an injury…
It didn’t end up being very mundane because I had complications with my recovery & ended up in bed hooked up to a million machines and in so much pain there are about 3 days I actually just can’t remember at all.
Fortunately, she said that she’s on the road to recovery, and wants to be fully mobile again by the holidays. “A week ago I was cleared to get up and start moving again,” she exulted. “I’ve been seeing someone daily at the house and we do lil workouts (they are so sad y’all lol) I’ve been getting back strong. I will recover 100%. My goal is to be in good health by Christmas.” However, any fans looking forward to more info on the movie she was supposed to shoot will be disappointed, as she lamented, “Obviously I won’t be in any movie. Missed that opportunity (damn it!)
But I’m just thankful to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now.”
A week ago I was cleared to get up and start moving again. I’ve been seeing someone daily at the house and we do lil workouts (they are so sad y’all lol) I’ve been getting back strong. I will recover 100%. My goal is to be in good health by Christmas.
Obviously I won’t be in any movie. Missed that opportunity (damn it!) But I’m just thankful to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now. I think I’m gonna seriously get into my fitness after this. I value my body in a whole new way after this experience
In the meantime, she’s been playing with Lego with her son and watching movies — which could be useful homework for her future career aspirations. At least she won’t have to worry about money while being unable to tour/move around; she recently sold her publishing and masters rights for “an eight-figure sum.”
He’s great, we play a lot of Lego in bed & watched a lot of movies. He’s really happy now that I’m up moving. He’s my hype squad! https://t.co/BXVVNDPlPr
Saturday Night Live charges into December on the momentum of a controversial Dave Chappelle-hosted post-election extravaganza that certainly drew sharp criticism. So perhaps it makes sense that the show is reaching back into its history of less controversial hosts to finish out the calendar year.
Tuesday brought word of who will host SNL’s next three episodes, starting with Keke Palmer hosting on December 3 while SZA performs. The show’s Instagram account shared the now-classic flashcards it uses to reveal who will host and perform in Studio 8H, with three new episodes scheduled for the holiday-filled month.
Palmer’s hosting duties were already known, of course, as the singer/actress had shared the news herself on Twitter earlier in the month.
Y’all got y’alls wish… guess whole hosting @nbcsnl? I’m so excited for usss yalllllll, couldn’t do it without you pic.twitter.com/9Z0JlHp2ic
Elvis star Austin Butler will host the show’s final episode of 2022, a pre-Christmas one sure to have a few holiday skits to add to the show’s ever-growing collection. But the biggest news here is that the show is bringing back some legendary talent to perform together. Steve Martin and Martin Short, co-stars of Hulu’s smash hit Only Murders In The Building, will reunite on the SNL stage on December 10.
Letting two people host is far from unprecedented, but the duo almost always have some pretty notable chemistry. In fact, both Short and Martin have actually hosted together before. On December 6, 1986, the duo joined Chevy Chase to host the show as a trio. Chase has seen a, uh, falling out of sorts with various former co-stars in recent years. And considering the current work Short and Martin do together this all makes lots of sense.
The episode will mark the 16th time Martin has hosted the show, while December 10 will be Short’s fourth appearance and his first hosting duties since 2012. Considering their history with the show — and how close Short will be to hosting five times — expect at least one jacket mention during the monologue and maybe a bit of singing and dancing to boot.
In mid-November, it was revealed that SZA would be taking the Saturday Night Live stage for the December 3 episode hosted by Keke Palmer. Now, SNL has revealed its musical guests, and guest hosts, for its final two episodes of 2022: On December 10, Steve Martin and Martin Short are both hosting, while Brandi Carlile will perform. Then, on December 17, Austin Butler (who recently played the lead role in the Elvis biopic) will host and Yeah Yeah Yeahs will be the musical guest.
This will be SZA’s second time as musical guest and her first since performing on the James Franco-hosted episode from December 9, 2017. This is also stint No. 2 for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who made their Saturday Night Live debut on the April 11, 2009 episode hosted by Zac Efron. Yet again, this is also Carlile’s second time on the show, as she performed on the October 23, 2021 episode hosted by Jason Sudeikis.
Meanwhile, this is Butler’s first time hosting Saturday Night Live. Short and Martin have both hosted on numerous occasions, but while it may seem like this would be their first time co-hosting the program, that actually isn’t the case: on December 6, 1986, they and The Three Amigos co-star Chevy Chase all hosted the show together.
Republican hopeful Herschel Walker — who’s currently in a run-off with Raphael Warnock for Georgia’s open Senate seat — might be pulling a Dr. Oz. And by that we mean running to govern for a state he doesn’t really live in.
Walker made comments during a January campaign speech, which is coming back to haunt the former football player after recent tax documents have revealed he likely has a home in Texas. That state could qualify as his primary residence. Earlier this year, Walker told crowds that he decided to run for Georgia’s senate while at his “home” in Texas.
“I live in Texas,” Walker told students at the University of Georgia while criticizing Democrats’ handling of the border crisis. “As I was sitting in my home in Texas, I was sitting in my home in Texas, and I was seeing what was going on in this country. I was seeing what was going on in this country with how they were trying to divide people.”
On Monday, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported that a complaint had been made regarding Walker’s residency after it was revealed he was getting tax breaks in Texas. The chairwoman of Georgia’s Democratic Party, Nikema Williams, has now requested the authorities get involved.
“The Georgia Bureau of Investigations and the Georgia Attorney General’s office must immediately investigate whether Herschel Walker lied about being a Georgia resident,” Williams said.
Quentin Tarantino has been receiving backlash after leveling some harsh criticism of actors who star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, this time around, he’s getting some heat from frequent collaborator Samuel L. Jackson. While appearing on Tuesday’s episode of The View, Jackson pushed back on Tarantino’s remarks that the MCU doesn’t produce real “movie stars” by bringing up the undeniable screen presence of the late Chadwick Boseman.
“It takes an actor to be those particular characters, and the sign of movie stardom has always been, what, asses in seats? What are we talking about?” Jackson, who regularly appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Nick Fury, said. “That’s not a big controversy for me to know that apparently these actors are movie stars. Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther. You can’t refute that, and he’s a movie star.”
Tarantino made the remarks during a recent appearance on Tom Segura’s podcast where he lamented the “Marvel-ization of Hollywood.”
“You have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” Tarantino said. “But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star. I mean, I’m not the first person to say that. I think that’s been said a zillion times, you know, but, you know, but it’s like, you know, it’s these franchise characters that become a star.”
Jackson, however, has never been a fan of criticizing genre fare, and he’d much rather enjoy himself than chase after an Oscar. “No, thanks,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I’d rather be Nick Fury. Or having fun being Mace Windu with a lightsaber in my hand.”
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