Category: News

Tom Rinaldi is a television presenter and sideline reporter who dedicates his life to making us tear up while telling the stories of athletes. The veteran broadcaster left ESPN a few years back and took his talents to Fox, which is in a pretty busy stretch of a few weeks. Every fall, Fox has college football and NFL games on its calendar, and Rinaldi working both of those is nothing new.

This year, Fox is also the home of the World Cup in the United States. Rinaldi has been part of Fox’s coverage of the event from Qatar, but this hasn’t been the only football he’s covered in the last few days. In a recent interview with Richard Deitsch of The Athletic, Rinaldi laid out his schedule from Nov. 21-29, which included stops in Doha, New Jersey, Texas, Ohio, and Kansas City for work.

“I don’t want to sound like a shill, but I’m so incredibly grateful,” Rinaldi told The Athletic about his workload. “Who wouldn’t want to have the opportunity to be at these games and these events? To be in ‘The Shoe’ for Ohio State-Michigan, and then to be in the stadium for the USA against Iran? To be part of the Thanksgiving tradition in the NFL, and then to be on the sideline to see Sean McVay trying somehow, someway to solve Patrick Mahomes? It’s an awesome set of opportunities and a 10-day stretch I’m not ever going to forget.”

Tom Rinaldi if you are reading this I will Venmo you $5 for a cup of coffee, because it is obvious to me that you deserve one.

David Harbour is, by now, a firmly established actor who has found a place in some massive modern entertainment franchises. The Stranger Things star landed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe recently and has seen his career blossom in the streaming era. But one of the early breaks in his career involved a “cloak-and-dagger” meeting he earned because Madonna thought he was hot.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the Violent Night star told a story about how he ended up getting cast in “W.E,” a 2011 historical drama about the affair between King Edward VIII and an American, Wallis Simpson. And though Harbour admitted that “it was not a terrific movie” the story behind it all is pretty spectacular.

The conversation happens around the two-minute mark of his appearance. Harbour described it as “crazy” but heard about a job opportunity that slowly revealed itself to be based… well, mostly on how hot he was.

“It was a real cloak-and-dagger type of thing,” he said. “It started out, I got a call from a casting director that I knew very well saying ‘They’re putting together a top-secret movie read-through. But you just have to show up at the St. Regis and go in this room and all will be revealed.”

Despite it being “weird” and “creepy,” Harbour acquiesced.

“And I said ‘Why do they want me?’” Harbour asked, though the casting director didn’t want to tell him at first. Eventually, though, the truth came out.

“Well, the director really liked you in this movie Revolutionary Road. You have, like, a sex scene in it,” Harbour recalled the casting director saying. “They thought you were really sexy.”

Harbour joked about some very famous male directors possibly fitting the bill of this anonymous figure. But eventually, he showed up to the read and “in walks Madonna, who is directing this movie.”

Which, of course, brought Harbour back to the reason he was there in the first place.

“The first thing that flooded over me before she went over was ‘wow, Madonna thinks I’m sexy,’” Harbour said. “I was really excited about that.”

Though he described it as a “truly harrowing, exciting experience” the movie did turn out to be a flop. But the story behind it certainly is not. The segment also includes a very funny exchange about the meaning of Madonna’s “Open Your Heart” music video, which Harbour interpreted VERY differently from Jimmy Kimmel. You can watch the full interview above.

The tributes continue to pour in for late Low drummer and vocalist Mimi Parker, who died in early November, this time in the form of a musical cover: Indie act Storefront Church (Lukas Frank) enlisted the help of Phoebe Bridgers to re-imagine Low’s 1994 single “Words.”

Bridgers is well familiar with covers, having already covered The Handsome Family’s “So Much Wine,” The Carpenters’ “Goodbye To Love,” and The 1975’s “Milk,” but this rendition means a lot more to the guitarist. Parker’s passing was a huge blow to the rock music community, and with the cover, Frank and Bridgers paid their respect.

Co-produced by Waylon Rector, the pair beautifully elevates the track in a way never heard before. An all-star team of musicians (Rector on guitar, Frank on drums, Spoon’s Alex Fischel on piano, Daniel Rhine on bass, and Cynthia Tolson leading the strings) worked to keep the initial mythical allure of the song while bringing it up to the current times.

Frank took to Instagram to share what the cover meant to them, writing, “Low’s music has been incredibly useful to me; it’s like an antidote to anxiety, with Mimi’s voice at the heart of it — relieving, cathartic and honest. This cover features Phoebe, who I’ve known since we were little kids. I couldn’t be more grateful for her contribution and support, both now and over the years.”

Listen to the full cover above.

Though charges of racism are nothing new for Britain’s Royal Family, one bigoted old bag just took it to a whole new level. On Thursday night, Trevor Noah shared the latest controversy facing Buckingham Palace, which involves an 83-year old woman and an exchange that likely has Queen Elizabeth II turning over in her grave.

On Tuesday, Lady Susan Hussey — Prince William’s octogenarian godmother, and the late Queen’s onetime lady-in-waiting — was at Buckingham Palace for a reception at which Ngozi Fulani, an advocate for victims of violence and domestic abuse and the founder of the nonprofit Sistah Space, was a VIP guest. But it was Fulani who ended up being victimized when Hussey began questioning her about her nationality and apparently refused to accept the London-born guest’s response that she was British. Fulani later posted a full recap of the exchange to Twitter, which began with the problematic “Where are you from?,” and devolved into more pointed questions like, “No, but what nationality are you?” (eek!) and “No, but where do you really come from? Where do your people come from?” (NO!!!)

Noah offered some belated advice to Hussey, who has since resigned her “position” (whatever that means), when he explained that “there is only one socially acceptable way to find out someone’s heritage: you swab their DNA while they’re asleep.”

Clearly, Hussey must have skipped the first day of “Avoidable Racism 101,” because Noah said that the first thing they teach you is:

“Never say the word ‘from.’ That’s it. A lot of racism includes the word ‘from,’ so just avoid it altogether. ‘Where are you really from?’ ‘Go back to where you came from.’ ‘You see this clip from Tucker Carlson?’

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 6:15 mark.

Matty Healy has been doing a lot on The 1975’s At Their Very Best tour in promotion of their brilliant new LP Being Funny In A Foreign Language — from eating raw meat on his knees to making out with fans. He’s also been running into fans a bit before shows and having interesting interactions, the most recent one being about his height, which he is very passionate about.

In the video, he vehemently (and all in good fun) claims he’s around 5’11″or 6’0″ tall. While standing next to the fan and comparing his height to hers, he says, “How can I be f*cking 5’5″, 5’6″? I am sick to f*cking death of this. I am a big boy!”

This is also not the first time Healy has addressed the perception that he’s short. When asked in a 2018 interview if there are any misconceptions about him, he answered, “There must be, right? Because I’m a person, and I only give a way into what I’m like in interviews or records — which are a context. Everyone in the band is 6’4″ and I’m 5’10”, so everyone thinks that I’m 5’5″. That’s one of them [laughs].”

This is just one of many Healy clips to go viral as of late. A fan-favorite one includes him yelling at security in Auto-Tune during a song, “Someone’s fallen down over there,” he says. “Go and f*cking sort them out. Stop standing there like a bunch of d*ckheads.” There’s also an amazing roster of guests who’ve joined the band on the stage to perform, including Phoebe Bridgers for “Milk” and Jack Antonoff to play some Bleachers deep-cuts.

Once a “huge supporter” of Elon Musk’s Tesla venture, Jack White has made it abundantly clear that he wants no part of anything else that the new Twitter CEO is half-baking, even removing Third Man Records from the social media platform. Now as Kanye West’s Twitter account has been suspended once again (and for the first time under the Musk Twitter regime), White is calling out Musk’s hypocrisy.

“So Elon, how’s that ‘free speech’ thing working out?,” White began in an Instagram post. West, for what it’s worth, was presumably booted for posting a weird image of a swastika inside of a Star Of David. White continued to call out Musk for backtracking on his previous statements on free speech: “Oh, I see, so you have to CHOOSE who gets free speech and who doesn’t then? What kind of crybaby liberal suspends someone’s free speech?”

White notes Alex Jones also getting suspended and then lays down the hammer in saying, “Perhaps you’re learning how harmful it can be when you let dangerous, hateful people say whatever they want on your stage.”

These lengthy diatribes on Instagram are becoming more frequent for White, but he has a knack for making good sense of ridiculous situations created by ridiculous people. Read his entire post below.

“So Elon, how’s that ‘free speech’ thing working out?

Oh, I see, so you have to CHOOSE who gets free speech and who doesn’t then? What kind of crybaby liberal suspends someone’s free speech?
Hmm….

Conspiracy liar alex jones doesn’t get ‘free speech’ either? I see. So you’re learning that these folks incite violence and hatred but trump…DOESN’T?
Hmmm.

Or is it that liar jones, and anti-Semite egomaniac kanye can’t provide tax breaks for billionaires the way the former president could? Or that maybe the controller of this ‘free speech’ is insulted personally? Or that just maybe, there needs to be, oh I don’t know, RULES and REGULATIONS or else you breed chaos?

It’s nice to watch in real time as you learn that all things need to be regulated, whether that be guns, drugs, alcohol, assembly, or speech because of the danger of someone or something being hurt or destroyed. They’re sometimes called ‘laws’. And perhaps you’re learning how harmful it can be when you let dangerous, hateful people say whatever they want on your stage.

Comments turned off on this post. This isn’t a debate forum. This is me talking on my front porch, not debating in town square. I regulate the platforms i control too. Do the right thing Elon and don’t provide other hate mongers a stage, let them go talk in town square. (And no, twitter isn’t town square owned by the govt., it’s a private company owned by Elon Musk.)
-Jack White III.”

Earlier this year, there were rumors that Bob Odenkirk was going to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which was never proven or confirmed, but it did get the people excited. After finishing up his stint as the lovably scammy Saul Goodman, Odenkirk has expressed interest in doing more action sequences, which is why the MCU would be a perfect fit for him if he decided to ever join.

But instead of signing away the next decade to Mickey Mouse, it looks like Odenkirk will get his own little cinematic universe after becoming the most powerful man in Hollywood (and the world). A sequel to Odenkirk’s action movie Nobody is in the works, with production expected to take place next year.

In Nobody, Odenkirk played a father who turns to violence after his home is robbed. It became an unexpected hit, so it seems like he will be back to punching people on public transit in no time. Producer Kelly McCormick told Collider that they would be going ahead with a sequel.

“We hope to make it [Nodoby 2’s production] next year, so fingers crossed,” McCormick said. “So our theory is you don’t need to make a good sequel just to make a sequel. We need to make a great sequel. And so it’s about making sure that we get it right. And if we do, I think there’s a lot of hope that we can go next year.” Odenkirk hasn’t officially signed on yet, but they can’t make the movie without him, so he will hopefully be involved unless they have decided to get very literal with the movie’s title.

The only way to make the story even better would be to give him a dog sidekick à la John Wick. Better yet, a Keanu Reeves cameo would be perfect. He will have time after March 24th.

(Via Collider)

Feid closed out his breakthrough year with the release of his new EP Sixdo last night (December 1). The rising Colombian star’s EP includes collaborations with hip-hop legend DJ Premier and reggaeton pioneers Zion y Lennox.

Back in September, Feid released Feliz Cumpleaños Ferxxo Te Pirateamos El Álbum after the LP was leaked online. It’s become the biggest album of his career. In October, Feliz Cumpleaños Ferxxo climbed No. 8 on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs chart. This week, Spotify’s Wrapped campaigned revealed Feid as the 48th most-streamed artist globally this year.

Instead of being a cash-grab of leftovers tracks, Feid pushes his Medellín-made reggaeton to new places in Sixdo. The most adventurous collaboration is “Le Pido A Dios” featuring DJ Premier. Premier’s twinkling hip-hop beats meet Feid’s sentimental flow and the result is a fresh and feel-good banger. It marks the first time Premier has worked with a Latin artist. Universal Music Latin’s Albert Piedrahita, who was behind Feid’s Nieve EP, was the A&R that brought them together.

Another standout on the six-track EP is the dreamy “California.” He puts a new spin on Latin pop with a touch of symphonic strings and piano. Feid’s voice soars as he envisions himself living the good life in the Golden State. His reggaeton reaches new emotional depths in the alluring “Chorrito Pa Las Animas.” Zion y Lennox join Feid on the electronica-infused “La Pasamos Cxbrxn.”

Sixdo is out now via Universal Music Latin. Listen to it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Dave Steele was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in 2014 and told that he would slowly lose his vision until he was completely blind. Imagine the pain and stress of knowing that every day your sense of sight will slowly diminish until you fall into darkness.

Steele was not only losing his sight, but after his diagnosis, he felt he lost his purpose.

The diagnosis came with an added gut punch: Each of his four children also has a 50% chance of having RP. Steele lost his job, his family couldn’t afford the rent on their home and the waiting list for government benefits was nine months. “I was feeling more guilty about the pressure I was putting on my family and that, in turn, was affecting my vision loss as well and I became more anxious and more isolated because of it,” he told
Henshaws InSights.

As his troubles mounted, Steele found solace in talking to others coping with sight loss through Facebook community groups. “That was a real massive, massive help to me,” he told Henshaws InSights.

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Steele told his new friends in the RP community that he had worked as a singer, and they invited him to perform at a support group meeting. The night before his performance, he had a moment of pure inspiration. He decided to change the lyrics to Ben E. King’s hit, “Stand By Me” to reflect what life was like living with RP.

Dave Steele Stand by me RP awareness

www.youtube.com

This opened the door for his sense of purpose in life to return. “People were coming up to me saying that the words I had written were able to describe how they had always thought about their journey with sight loss when they were unable to find the words themselves,” he said.

In coping with his disability, Steele discovered a talent he never knew he had.

“I never considered myself a poet before I started to lose my sight. I worked as a singer since the age of 18 and had written a couple of poems and songs about things like previous girlfriends. But it wasn’t until I started going blind that I found the ability to write these words that have helped so many people,” he told Upworthy.

This realization led him to create a community for people dealing with RP. Every day he wrote about everything he was going through in poetry and posted them on Facebook RP groups. The experience was cathartic for Steele and his followers.

His poetry gave people words to describe their journey they wouldn’t have had otherwise, and helped countless people feel they weren’t alone. That’s when Dave Steele truly became
The Blind Poet. Steele has created a community on Facebook where thousands come to read his poems, share their stories, connect and support one another. He has written more than 1800 poems, published four books of poetry and written a book for children with low vision, “Austin’s Adventures.”

In 2019, Steele, who lives in Manchester, England, was able to do his first speaking tour of the U.S.

Steele uses his persona as The Blind Poet to clear up misconceptions about people with low vision.

“Being blind doesn’t mean that we can’t see anything. Ninety-three percent of people affected by vision loss have some kind of remaining vision. This misconception isn’t anybody’s fault but the lack of education surrounding blindness can cause people like me to become isolated,” he told Upworthy.

Steele believes this misconception makes visually impaired people less likely to use their mobility aids such as a seeing-eye dog or cane in public.

“I’ve been accused of faking my blindness many times by strangers when I’m out and most people living with vision loss have been told ‘you don’t look blind,’ but what does blindness look like?” he added.

Steele wants people to know that “blindness is a spectrum, that there are many different shades and ways to lose sight.”

The Blind Poet’s writing has a big effect on people regardless of their ability to see. “Those affected relate to the words I write and those who aren’t, close their eyes and put themselves in our shoes,” he told Upworthy. “I talk about themes that everyone can relate to whether living with a disability or not.”

The poem that’s had the biggest reaction is “The Secret,” dedicated to Steele’s daughter who lives in Scotland. “It’s about the internal struggle with when is the right time to tell your child that they have a one in two chance of going blind when they’re older due to the condition I have,” he said.

“The Secret” By Dave “The Blind Poet” Steele

It took me years to come to terms with how my eyes declined

Through stages of acceptance of slowly going blind

But nothing I could ever do would allow me to prepare
To tell my little girl the thing I still don’t want to share

It’s tortured me through sleepless nights consumed my mind with guilt

This secret I have kept from her could break the trust I’ve built

I pray that she will understand the things I tried to do and why I never told her that she could be 1 in 2

For she is still a child and far too young to burden with

a fate that I might pass to her for now’s her time to live

But soon will come a moment when I know she must be told

When all the battles I have won I’ll pass for her to hold

But for every unheard question there’s an answer I’ve prepared

They’re written in each line each verse each poem that I’ve shared

For every page I’ve filled I’ve emptied out my heart and soul

So one day she would know the way

That’s always been my goal

So Ellie I hope years from now you’ll be there reading this

Know you can do amazing things whether RP hit or miss

My inheritance to you won’t be a passed down faulty gene

But knowing all life’s beauty that this VIP has seen

Dave Steele

His words also helped a 7-year-old girl named Jackie stand up to bullies in Amarillo, Texas. Her mother taught her one of Steele’s poems and she recited it to speak up for herself. The Blind Poet met the family at an event where he spoke and wrote a poem for her. Here’s an excerpt:

I may be only 7 but it’s getting hard to see

They notice first the cane I hold but “Hi I’m still Jackie”

For I am just a little girl who loves to swim and dance

Will do it every single day if my eyes give me the chance

The classroom lights can sting my eyes

Some days I just black out

I try to do the best I can

Despite the ones who doubt

Don’t treat me like a baby

I am small but I am strong

No matter how my vision fades

It’s my world and I belong

Steele hopes that everyone who is struggling with RP can find community like he has. “Losing sight can feel very isolating and often it’s easy to feel like we are the only ones going through it,” he told Upworthy. “But through the words in my poetry and the many amazing support groups on social media, realizing we aren’t alone can be the first step in acceptance and taking our lives back.”

Facebook has been a life-changing tool for bringing visually impaired people together. “There are so many incredible support groups and pages that are created by people who are going through the same things,” he told Upworthy. “Just being able to connect with someone like that is so important and it’s been integral to my story.”

Facebook has also given him a voice.

“Without Meta/Facebook I wouldn’t be where I am today or known as The Blind Poet,” he said. “To be able to write a piece of poetry and upload it by clicking a button and sending it around the world and to someone who needs to hear its message is truly an incredible thing.”

Steele finds that Facebook’s accessibility features have improved over the years and helped the visually impaired get the most out of the platform.

“Things like dark mode, allowing users to invert the colors on the display to reduce glare on the eyes,” he said. “Also larger text options and, of course, VoiceOver make sure that we can connect with people just the same as anyone else.”

After facing adversity, Steele has turned it into an opportunity to uplift countless people who are facing a devastating diagnosis. Even though his sight may be fading, his dedication to helping others is only growing stronger.

“Being known around the world as The Blind Poet is something I never take for granted,” he told Upworthy. “Every day, I try to reach more people and replicate the impact my poetry has already had with others. I want the opportunity to speak at more events around the world and ultimately to continue to be a voice for those who are comforted by my words.”

Tis the season for using the word tis a lot and also trying to feel something by watching endless holiday movies and specials, be they ones that feature talking trees, claymation squirrels, or saccharine sweet meet-cutes. But hark, the herald Terry sings, it’s an entirely different kind of holiday special with Reno 911!: It’s A Wonderful Heist (premiering Saturday at 8PM on Comedy Central), a sorta play on the Frank Capra classic It’s A Wonderful Life (complete with Nick Swardson’s rollerskating Terry as a Christmas angel) that quickly descends into typically hilarious and thunderously inappropriate Reno 911! chaos. All the usual favorites are involved with a ton of guest spots and cameos as Dangle and company try to thwart a theft at a local mall while dealing with a barrage of weirdos including the proprietors of a Kenny Rogers museum. It is, in a word, fantastic. Further proof that Tom Lennon, Niecy Nash, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Cedric Yarbrough, and company refuse to fade nearly 20 years after the first episode.

As we are wont to do when a new Reno project drops, we spoke with Lennon about the new special, a previous Christmas Special from his cult favorite show Viva Variety, macabre tributes to superfan Kenny Rogers, why there are so many dildo stores in Reno, and getting distracted by Robin Williams.

I would like to steal The State poster that you have in the background there.

That’s an original State poster.

I’m going to rob you of that, just so you know. Get your alarms set and everything.

It would be a Wonderful Heist.

It’d be a great heist, just like…

They plugged the movie as they did banter!

[Laughs] So, last night I was doing research and I stumbled upon…

You were doing research on me?

Well, the show and stuff. Not searching for your social security number or anything like that.

You’re doing a Steele dossier on me. I get it. I know how this goes.

Well, there is a little bit of a pee-tape situation in this (movie).

There’s a lot of pee tape.

Isn’t there? But I was watching the Viva Variety Christmas episode, which is hard to find.

I have absolutely no recollection of that. Are you serious? We did a Christmas episode on Viva Variety?

Yeah. First or second episode of season 2. And you guys had Duran Duran on. It was great. I want you to know, you actually came up with flavored nicotine gum on the show, Lemon Lua, so I think you guys actually created vaping. So someone owes you a check and a lawsuit.

When we did Viva Variety, Kerri and I were both chain smokers. We smoked so many cigarettes. So whenever we’re doing bits, and we could smoke in the studio where we did Viva Variety. So whenever we were doing commercials, whenever you’re seeing us smoking we’re definitely really smoking tons of cigarettes. Yeah, that was in a studio called Metropolis in New York that’s at 106th and Park Avenue. It was really cool. We had so many great bands, many of whom we kind of stayed friends with, which was really cool.

I saw you’re doing some kind of reunion thing?

There is, January in San Francisco, there is a Viva Variety 25th. It’s going to be a cool show. The last time we did a Viva reunion show, it was not very good. And can I tell you why?

Please.

Robin Williams came to hang out backstage. And that was the only time that we were going to rehearse, was that time we were backstage. So because Robin Williams showed up, we just hung around with Robin Williams and we didn’t work on the show very hard. Just because he’s fun to pay attention to. So then I think the show was notably not as good because he was there, and we didn’t really work on it because of him.

I think it’s understandable.

Yeah.

So, that was a Christmas episode. I know you guys have done some Christmas stuff before with Reno 911. What is it about just the season that just kind of lends itself to the show and what sparked the want to do this special?

The main thing is that we wanted to find a way to have Nick Swardson as Terry play a pretty significant role. We’re like, “A Christmas special really has to have Terry Bernadino in it.” So just the fun of what if what Clarence is to Jimmy Stewart, Terry is to Lieutenant Dangle? That was really just the whole thing. And then it was actually fun. It’s always fun to see when the Reno characters get to do something other than be cops just for a second. So to see that Wiegel’s having a great life. Everybody’s having amazing lives without Dangle, but they’re having amazing lives with tiny little dreams. Like Jones is just running a fondue restaurant. Kimball’s life goal is that she owns a snake. Everybody’s just got real small dreams that came true.

There are so many elements to this that feel just perfect. I don’t want to give too much away, but the Kenny Rogers Museum and the bus with Kerri is so great.

Thanks for watching it. It’s always nice to talk to people who’ve actually seen the movie. I’m so proud of this movie. When you tell people there’s a Kenny Rogers Body Worlds exhibit, that was the thing that really makes it a Reno 911 thing. That came up because Kenny Rogers was a huge Reno 911 fan, and he mentioned us in TV Guide. And then after he said that we were his favorite show, we kind of reached out to him and then he came on the show a couple of times. In fact, there’s an episode, if you remember, Patton Oswalt kills Kenny Rogers in an episode of Reno 911. And he walks up to him and he says, “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” And then shot Kenny Rogers in a great episode.

I don’t know if you’re being real with me or not right now.

I’m being totally real with you.

I will confess that I’m drawing a blank and will have to look that up.

So many Reno 911s that we have to now look up to see what we’ve done before.

It’s been a while. You guys have a bit of a track record.

There are 125 of them. So yeah.

It’s funny, the first thing I ever published was, I went to the Bodies thing in New York forever ago and was appalled by it and wrote a thing. That’s the first thing I ever published. And so this is a full circle moment here. I think it’s a career. I’m going to wrap it here.

We’ve been trying to get references into the Body Worlds exhibit forever because it’s the most macabre thing that exists.

(Human bodies) just like playing tennis.

And everybody just acts like it’s okay. We brought in these corpses from China, and we’re watching them play volleyball.

You guys spend a lot of time at a mall in this one. It seems like there are a lot of dildo stores in that mall (in addition to the Rogers museum). Why are dildo stores recession-proof?

(Laughs) Yeah, Nick Swardson’s roller skating and I’m running down the middle of the mall next to him, and we’re screaming out “Merry Christmas.” It’s supposed to be like “Merry Christmas, you old building and loan.” And I think we had some ideas of names, but then we just kept riffing on what disgusting things would be in the mall. So nine of them are dildo shops. Several of them are weed stores.

We’re a long way from Things Remembered, aren’t we?

(Laughs) In the mall by my hometown, there was Things Remembered that then was empty for a long time. So there was just the hanging sign that said Things Remembered at an empty store. And I was like, “This is absolutely a Stephen King thing waiting to happen here.”

I have to ask, the Ricki Lake reference?

Ricki Lake made a movie. Is it called The Business of Being Born? It’s her documentary about home birthing. So this is Dangle. I give a great speech about Christmas and that Jesus was born in a manger because basically, it’s like the booking apps. Like they got to Bethlehem and they just got fucked because they didn’t have a reservation for them. And then I give a really long, angry speech about “This is why we don’t use the booking apps, because they’re not reliable.” And then I sort of dovetailed into Ricki Lake’s movie, The Business of Being Born. And I’m also in a leather diaper the whole time I give that speech.

You sure are.

It makes a lot of sense.

It does. It all works. It really does.

On paper, it doesn’t make sense, but in the movie, it also doesn’t make sense.

‘Reno 911! – It’s A Wonderful Heist’ premieres Saturday December 3 at 8PM ET on Comedy Central