While it doesn’t look like podcasts are going anywhere anytime soon, probably because everybody and their cousin has one, Conan O’Brien is looking to relocate some of his projects. O’Brien’s digital media company Team Coco has just been sold to SiriusXM, the home of over 150 channels, including one that just plays Dave Matthews Band 24 hours a day.
The $150 million deal will bring Team Coco’s 10 podcasts over to SiriusXM. Some of the podcasts from Team Coco include O’Brien’s hit series Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, which features the former late-night host chatting with celebrities in order to find a friend for him.
Other shows include Inside Conan, which features behind-the-scenes looks at Conan, and Parks And Recollection, a Parks & Rec series hosted by Rob Lowe and Alan Yang. Then, of course, there is Scam Goddess, which breaks down viral scammers and their stories, and Why Won’t You Date Me hosted by Nicole Byers. All of those will be heading to SiriusXM.
O’Brien also signed a five-year deal with SiriusXM to produce a series of comedy specials and video content for the service. The former late-night host had been a TV icon, hosting Late Night With Conan O’Brien from 1993 to 2009, then continued to host Conan until its final season last year. Hopefully, he will find a friend soon.
After wrapping up his work on The Office, B.J. Novak has ventured off into other projects: he has written several books, appeared on over a number of podcasts, and even lent his voice to the animated franchise The Smurfs. He also had a brief stint as an international model. Now, he is set to release his directorial debut, Vengeance, which is NOT a Batman sequel (sorry).
Novak will star as a journalist and podcaster from NYC who travels to Texas after a girl he had been hooking up with died, and he gets a taste of small-town Texas pride, while also investigating her mysterious death, and attending a square dance night. When in Texas!
Vengeance also stars Issa Rae, Ashton Kutcher, Boyd Holbrook, J. Smith-Cameron, and Dove Cameron and is produced by legendary horror producer Jason Blum under Blumhouse Productions. Novak wrote, directed, and starred in the film. Check out the official description:
VENGEANCE, the directorial debut from writer and star B.J. Novak (The Office), is a darkly comic thriller about Ben Manalowitz, a journalist and podcaster who travels from New York City to West Texas to investigate the death of a girl he was hooking up with.
Check out the trailer above. The movie hits theaters on July 29th, so get your cowboy hats ready! Ye-haw!
Halsey’sManic era was a major success: The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and “Without Me” was Halsey’s first (and so far only) solo No. 1 single. (Halsey also had a chart-topper with the The Chainsmokers collaboration “Closer.”) It turns out Halsey actually wanted that era to last longer than it did, but Halsey alleges their label cut it short and prevented them from releasing “3AM” as a single like they wanted.
Over the past couple days, Halsey has been open with issues they’ve been having with their label Capitol Records, claiming they’re currently preventing them from releasing a new single until Halsey goes viral on TikTok. In light of that, earlier today, a Twitter user asked Halsey, “have there been other songs you haven’t been able to release as of now because of the same reason? how many do you have on a list?” Halsey responded, “never been stopped from release like this. It almost happened with nightmare. But they blocked 3am as a single as well and the manic era got cut short.”
Another user responded to that tweet, “Ok I always wondered why 3AM was not the biggest hit of 2020.” To that, Halsey replied, “there was a music video concept that was camp horror like Scream with the killer calling everyone and a reveal on ‘will you please pick up the f*cking phone’ with a bunch of guest stars [crying emoji].”
never been stopped from release like this. It almost happened with nightmare. But they blocked 3am as a single as well and the manic era got cut short https://t.co/R0DFfrAGez
there was a music video concept that was camp horror like Scream with the killer calling everyone and a reveal on “will you please pick up the fucking phone” with a bunch of guest stars https://t.co/mAECiKWijN
Back in 2020, Halsey said of the story behind how “3AM” came to be, “After a night out where I came home and was ringing everyone in my contacts cause I was dying to talk to literally ANYONE so I wouldn’t have to sit with my own thoughts. I realized ‘hmm this is…bad.’ and wrote a song about it! haha.”
Finding a great “sipping bourbon” is a fun task. Because hey, you get to sip a whole bunch of bourbon — who can complain about that? The key to the great sippers is simple: they need to be something a little more special than the average mixing bottle. These are the expressions that feel right all on their own. If you taste something and think about how good it’ll be in your next old fashioned, you’re not dealing with a sipper.
This is bourbon you’ll want to savor. Not a bottle you want to dilute with sugars, ice, and bitters.
More tactically, what you don’t want in a sipper are bourbons that feel one-note (vanilla bombs, spice bombs, etc., which work better as cocktail foundations), only alcohol burn from top to bottom (too many ABVs and nothing else), or whiskeys that overwhelm the senses with too much of everything all at once with no rhyme or reason. There’s a middle ground you’re looking for where flavor combinations build to a crescendo and the whiskey makers create a story from beginning to end. That, folks, transcends ABVs, styles, or even price when looking for a sipping bourbon.
All of that said, if you do find an everyday sipper that you love, you don’t want it to be a) too expensive or b) impossible to find on shelves — you want to be able to access it. That’s where I come in. The ten bourbon whiskeys below are all bottles that I’d reach for as sippers. Some of these I might pour over a rock or two. Some of them I’d likely poke my nose into in a Glencairn and take my time with. But all of that is beside the point, these are bottles that all cost $50 or just under that — the proverbial “sweet spot” of good bourbon right now.
Natually, I’m ranking these by which ones I reach for the most. Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
Broken Barrel works with Owensboro Distilling Co. out in Kentucky to make these whiskeys. This bottling is a 70 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and nine percent malted barley bourbon that spends one year in new white oak. Then broken barrel staves from both Barbados rum casks and ex-rye whiskey barrels are added to the barrel. That whiskey then rests for an undisclosed amount of time before bottling at barrel strength.
Tasting Notes:
This feels pretty young on the nose with big notes of nutty banana bread, vanilla beans, and creamy butterscotch. The palate goes deeper with a sense of oatmeal raisin cookies with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg next to a walnut bar covered in chocolate next to a hint of dark rum-soaked cherries. That sweet mid-palate leads to a finish full of Nutella and cream soda with a hint of wet pine and almost burnt banana bread crust.
Bottom Line:
This really benefits from a rock or two to calm down those ABVs. Once you get that water in there with a little cooling, it opens up toward red and tart berries with a little less of the butterscotch. Overall, this isn’t a mind-blowing sipper, but it’s nice, easy, and a little funky in a fun way.
This Tennessee whiskey from Chattanooga Riverfront Distillery leans into a very popular finishing barrel. The juice is a three-year-old whiskey (with high malt mash bill) that’s then aged for six months in Tawny Port casks. Those high-malt bourbons from the Port casks are chosen for their fruity nature and blended into this expression with a dash of Tennessee’s soft limestone water.
Tasting Notes:
This is all about the figgy pudding, mincemeat pies, and strawberry-rhubarb pie on the nose with a distinct Blackberry Hostess pie taking over on the backend. The palate meanders through notes of dark chocolate syrup, old leather boots, a hint of a charred oak stave, and lush oatmeal cookies with a brown butter and brown sugar vibe. The finish sweetens with a line of cotton candy leading back to the dark chocolate and now dried blackberries with a final note of black soil.
Bottom Line:
Port casks and bourbon just work together. This is intricate and kind of fun. That fruity nose compliments the palate without repeating it beat for beat. While this is a little fruity at first, the softness and earthiness of the back end make it a nice sipper overall.
Calumet Farm — from Three Springs Bottling Company, Bowling Green — is one of those bottlers that finds great barrels around Kentucky and folds them into their lineup of classic-feeling bourbons. This is more of an entry point for the brand with a standard mid-range-rye mash bill (74 percent corn, 18 percent rye, and eight percent malted barley). The whiskey spends eight years aging for it’s small batched (50 barrels per batch) and proofed down for bottling.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this one is a mix of old vanilla pods, soft caramel chews, dried red berries, and a hint of leathery cedar humidor. The palate amps up the vanilla to sheet cake territory with a cherry compote layer in between sheets as dark chocolate powder and a bit more of that cedar mingle on the tongue. The finish attaches the caramel to the chocolate and cherry as the leather and cedar dry things out and leaves you with a hint of white pepper and old tobacco leaf.
Bottom Line:
This is the most “classic” and “every day” bourbon on the list. This feels like a table bourbon you can easily have a pour of after a long day at work and let the stress melt away without having to think about it or anything else for that matter.
This four-grain Kentucky bourbon is made with 70 percent corn, ten percent malted wheat, ten percent honey malted barley, and ten percent malted barley. That spirit is then aged for three years in toasted and charred barrels before it’s batched from a mere 15 barrels, proofed down, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This has a lot of apple cobbler on the nose with sweet and bright stewed apples, plenty of dark brown spices, brown sugar, buttery pastry cobbles, and a touch of honey sweetness. The honey becomes creamy and spiked with orange zest as the malt shines through as a digestive cookie with a hint of fresh mint and more of that honey with a flake of salt. The finish brings about that spice again with a little more of a peppery edge this time as the fade slowly falls off, leaving you with a creamy vanilla tobacco feeling.
Bottom Line:
I just retried this again recently and it was so much better than I remembered it. This has serious depth without overpowering your senses with too much proof. It’s mature enough to provide a deep flavor profile while still being light enough to just enjoy as-is.
This expression amps up the already masterfully-crafted Woodford Reserve Bourbon. The juice is triple distilled in old pot stills and aged for six to seven years in deeply charred oak. Then the bourbon goes into a second barrel that has been double toasted but only slightly charred. After nine months of finishing, the bourbon is proofed and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This is an interesting one — hints of marzipan and rose water hit the nose next to dark berries and honey-toffee with just a bit of dry firewood. The palate draws those flavors out as the berries dry out, the marzipan becomes nuttier and less sweet, and the woodiness becomes more like a soft and almost like wet cedar. There’s a touch of apple and caramel with a slightly spiced edge near the end with a rich honeyed tobacco chew next to a whisper of vanilla.
Bottom Line:
This is where things get really good. Double Oaked is one of these pours that hit the spot because it’s familiar. It’s also one of those bourbons where you might something new when you return to it. It’s a nice balance of easy-going and enticing.
Jim Beam’s small batch entry-point is a nine-year-old classic. The juice is a low-rye mash that’s aged in new oak in Beam’s vast warehouses for a minimum of nine years. The whiskey is then vatted and cut down to 100 proof before bottling in new, wavy bottles.
Tasting Notes:
Buttered kettle corn with caramel meets mild notes of vanilla, worn leather, and a hint of orange zest up top. The sip delivers a very mild peppery spice that never overpowers while caramel corn, vanilla, and slightly musty oak mingle with cherry tobacco with an edge of wintry spice. A soft woodiness leads towards an end that retouches on the orange, cherry spice, and vanilla while fading away slowly.
Bottom Line:
This has become a straight-up classic bourbon. So many distillers — young and old — are chasing what the Noe family created here. This is easy yet deep, soft yet bold, engaging yet not overindulgent. You cannot go wrong pouring one of these as a sipper.
A few years back, Wild Turkey brought on Matthew McConaughey to be the brand’s Creative Director and create his own whiskey. The product of that partnership was launched in 2018. The juice is a wholly unique whiskey for Wild Turkey, thanks to the Texas Mesquite charcoal filtration the hot juice goes through. The bourbon then goes into oak for eight long years before it’s proofed and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Christmas spices meet oily vanilla and subtle caramel up top. The palate adds orange oils and buttery toffee to the mix, as the spices edges upwards on the palate, next to a creamy vanilla pudding body. That velvet texture builds throughout, with toasted oak and cedar notes as a hint of sweet firepit smoke arrives on the long and satisfying finish.
Bottom Line:
There are a lot of Wild Turkey expressions that could have gone in this spot had $50 not been our top price point. That said, this is a very easy-drinking bourbon with its own vibe and flavor profile.
This whiskey is from Jack’s bonded warehouse. The mash of 80 percent corn, 12 percent barley, and eight percent rye is twice distilled before it’s run through Jack’s very long Lincoln County process of sugar maple charcoal filtration. The spirit then goes into the barrel for at least four years — per bonded law — before it’s batched, cut down with that Jack Daniel’s limestone cave water, and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Vanilla comes through next to cherry Jolly Ranchers, a touch of sweet oak, a hint of fresh leather, and an echo of orange peels on the nose. Going back in on the nose after a minute or two, a sense of potting soil and maybe the vitamin aisle at a health food store alongside more of that fresh leather, a bit of sweetgrass, apple blossoms, and a vanilla cookie with a touch of oat in the mix. Apple fritters and maple bars lead the way on the palate next to brown sugar and vanilla cream. The mid-palate adds in a little winter spice with a lean toward cinnamon and clove and a dusting of nutmeg. The finish arrives with brown sugar and butter mixed into Cream of Wheat as a minor note of wood and apple cider kicks in late and lingers the longest on the end.
Bottom Line:
This has been one of the biggest surprises of 2022. I’ve been tasting this a lot since it dropped in April and it has grown on me every time. Plus, the price is fantastic for this level of well-made sipping bourbon. There might be a time as the year ends when this becomes an “instant classic.”
This expression uses six of Four Rose’s ten whiskeys in their small-batching process. The idea is to blend both high and low-rye bourbons with yeast strains that highlight “delicate fruit,” “slight spice,” and “herbal notes.” The whiskeys tend to spend at least six years in the barrel before blending and proofing with just a touch of Kentucky’s soft limestone water.
Tasting Notes:
Raspberry and cloves mix with old oak on the nose and boy, does it draw you in. The palate amps up the dark berry sweetness with a bit of tartness, as a stone fruit vibe comes into play. The spice heightens and leans more Christmas spice with a focus on nutmeg. Finally, a wisp of fresh mint arrives to counterpoint the whole sip as the oak, vanilla, fruit, and spice all slowly fade out.
Bottom Line:
I always find myself floating back to this bottle, especially for an end-of-the-day pour over a single rock. This is the good stuff that you can both get and won’t break the bank. The only reason this isn’t in first is that it’s a tad more of an outlier than a classic bourbon pour.
Michter’s really means the phrase “small batch” here. The tank they use to marry their hand-selected eight-year-old bourbons can only hold 20 barrels, so that’s how many go into each small-batch bottling. Before it goes into the bottle, the blended juice is filtered and proofed with Kentucky’s famously soft limestone water.
Tasting Notes:
Buttery caramel and peaches mix with creamy vanilla and old oak on the nose as a hint of cherry tobacco and allspice berries provide a counterpoint. The vanilla really shines as the peach almost takes on a grilled edge as it gets sweeter and adds a whisper of smoke next to peppery spice and a big marshmallow. The wintry spice kicks up and warms the senses as the slow fade embraces leathery apricot, burnt toffee, and more vanilla marshmallow with a final kick of charred oak that’s nearly smoldering.
Bottom Line:
This is the bourbon you pour when you want to get someone hooked on bourbon. It’s refined, fun, and just plain old good. It’s also versatile. I dig sipping on this as a standalone neat pour, but it also works wonders in a simple whiskey cocktail. Honestly, every whiskey on this list does. But as an easy-yet-classic sipper, you cannot beat this bottle of whiskey in this context.
The Better Call Saul team did not know that AMC was going to split the sixth and final season in two parts when they writing it. So, tonight’s midseason finale, “Plan and Execution,” will be “painful,” but as writer and director Thomas Schnauz explained on Twitter, it won’t have a “traditional” midseason finale cliffhanger.
“Just to warn everyone: we wrote S6 of #BetterCallSaul to be aired as 13 continuous episodes, but various delays split the season in half. So 607 was not written or filmed as a traditional “cliffhanger,’” he tweeted. Schnauz is a Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul all-star, having written some of the best episodes of both shows, including “End Times” and “Say Name” for the former and “Winner” and “Bad Choice Road” for the latter.
Saul co-creator Peter Gould previously commented on tonight’s episode, calling it “a big one. I think this is going to be a painful few weeks for a few people to find out what happens. Hopefully, people will enjoy the pain and not come after us with torches.” Maybe this is a canny bit of misdirection from Schnauz and Gould, and the episode won’t end with a “traditional” cliffhanger, but a “literal” cliffhanger. Saul already basically recreated one Sylvester Stallone movie this season — why not two?
For a reminder on Jimmy and Kim’s plan ahead of the midseason finale, here you go.
Donald Trump‘s ever-expanding menagerie of random phobias has plagued him for years. Stairs, germs, fruit, steaks without ketchup on them, you know the drill. Well, now there’s a new item to add to the list: Pies.
According to a new deposition from Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, the 45th president allegedly lived in fear of getting hit in the face with a cream pie like he’s in The Three Stooges or a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The guy who positioned himself as America’s toughest, strongest president will apparently crumble at the thought of baked goods coming at him. Via The Daily Beast:
“We were all instructed that if somebody was to ever throw anything at him, that if that person didn’t end up in the hospital, we’d all be fired,” he said, noting that the instruction came from the head honcho himself.
When contacted by The Daily Beast on Friday, Cohen clarified that Trump at times seemed obsessed with pies.
“It wasn’t just one time. It was an ongoing and regular thing. As he would go out to various different open venues, he would always remind Keith [Schiller] to keep his eyes open,” Cohen told The Daily Beast. “He never would turn around and say, ‘If anyone throws a rock or a bottle…’ It’s always a pie. He always brought up that pie thing.”
As the President of the United States, obviously, Trump’s life is in constant danger whenever he goes out in public. So it’d be completely understandable if he was worried about being shot, stabbed, or exploded in terrifying fashion. But, nope, his number one fear is pies because, and this is directly from Cohen’s testimony, Bill Gates got hit in the face with one in 1998. That’s what keeps Trump awake at night.
Halsey is frustrated with their record label at the moment and they’re letting their fans, and therefore the label, know about it. Yesterday, Halsey proclaimed their label is preventing them from releasing a new single until they “can fake a viral moment on TikTok.” The funny thing is that Halsey’s TikTok video about that actually went fairly viral: it has racked up about 8 million views since it was posted. That wasn’t enough, though, as Halsey still hasn’t gotten a firm answer about when the song can drop.
Now, Halsey is getting some support from the folks at Astralwerks, the label that originally signed Halsey: A representative from Astralwerks-Capitol shared a statement with Variety, saying, “Our belief in Halsey as a singular and important artist is total and unwavering. We can’t wait for the world to hear their brilliant new music.”
After that statement, Halsey made sure it was clear that Astralwerks is her former label and therefore not the one she’s headbutting with now, writing on Twitter, “I’m not signed to astralwerks anymore! Astralwerks is the label that signed me, and then they upstreamed me to Capitol. This quote came from the company who believed in me from the jump. Not the company I’m wrestling with right now [heart emoji].”
I’m not signed to astralwerks anymore! Astralwerks is the label that signed me, and then they upstreamed me to Capitol. This quote came from the company who believed in me from the jump. Not the company I’m wrestling with right now https://t.co/ZnYR25UDxZ
Meanwhile, a fan wondered if Halsey would be able to perform the song live before its release and Halsey not only didn’t rule out the possibility, but it appears they’re really considering it: “im thinking about it tbh,” they responded. Halsey also noted of the single, “it’s about [partner Alev Aydin] [smiling-crying emoji] part of the story of how we went from meeting and keeping touch randomly for years to realizing we were each others person all along. Right person wrong time type of song.”
I’m not signed to astralwerks anymore! Astralwerks is the label that signed me, and then they upstreamed me to Capitol. This quote came from the company who believed in me from the jump. Not the company I’m wrestling with right now https://t.co/ZnYR25UDxZ
it’s about alev part of the story of how we went from meeting and keeping touch randomly for years to realizing we were each others person all along. Right person wrong time type of song. https://t.co/QUplTSM3y9
Jack Harlow calls himself a “G” in the hook to “First Class,” and though that may be debatable to some, one thing that cannot be refuted is he is now a multi-week chart-topper. The record, interpolating Fergie’s 2000s bop “Glamorous,” is No. 1 once again on the new Billboard Hot 100 chart dated May 28. “First Class” is the rapper’s first solo No. 1, debuting atop the chart upon its April release and boasted the biggest streaming week of 2022.
— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) May 23, 2022
The track arrived as the second single from the Louisville rapper’s sophomore album Come Home The Kids Miss You, following the 2020 debut That’s What They All Say anchored by the Grammy-nominated “Whats Poppin.” Come Home includes lead single “Nail Tech” and features from Justin Timberlake, Pharrell, Lil Wayne, and Drake, the last of which leaked a few weeks early under the title “Have A Turn” before the official version was released as “Churchill Downs.” The “First Class” video also came out on the album’s release day.
Elsewhere on this week’s chart, Kendrick Lamar debuted four songs from his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (which debuted on top of the Billboard 200 this week) in the top 10: “N95” at No. 4, “Die Hard” featuring Blxst and Amanda Reifer at No. 5, “Silent Hill” Feat. Kodak Black at No. 7, and “United In Grief” at No. 8.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
For the 150th episode of People’s Party with Talib Kweli, Kweli found himself in the guest chair for a special episode hosted by poet and friend Jessica Care Moore and co-hosted by Jasmin Leigh. The trio discussed everything from Kweli’s formative early Brooklyn years to his decades-spanning discography to the journey of making the new Black Star album No Fear of Time.
“It was Yasiin’s idea that we do a whole album with Madlib,” Kweli explained. “He’s actually been saying this for years.”
But Kweli went on to note that after visiting Yasiin Bey in South Africa, his perspective on his identity as a human being and an artist shifted — allowing the highly anticipated album to be born organically.
“I changed my intentions behind my relationship with Yasiin,” he says. “Our relationship is not about music. Our relationship is about our brotherhood…When I did that, it began organically.”
From there impromptu recording sessions and touring with Dave Chappelle added to the cosmic energy around the art they created. “I’d be like ‘Yo, you wanna set up the mic? A couple of those songs [from the album] were recorded at Dave Chappelle shows, in garages, and on tours around Europe.”
Talib also explained the creative and financial strategy behind dropping the album on Luminary.
“The Black Star album Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star was a contract between me and Rawkus,” Kweli notes. “We never signed a Black Star contract.” Kweli then called out Universal Music Group as “colonizers” for making money off the group but not compensating them for the record.
“They don’t actually own that album. Y’all are put on notice as of this moment. We are coming for our shit!”
Talib Kweli explains that this racist history of financial theft and abuse of Black artists is why the deal with Luminary felt so necessary. For Black Star the need for creative control and proper compensation was crucial, especially given the reality that artists are not properly compensated for their work.
Yasiin Bey spoke on the matter before the Luminary deal when he was on People’s Party with Talib Kweli in 2021.
“We as a collective society do not value art,” Kweli adds. “We value iPhones, and sneakers and marijuana…People spend all this money on stuff but don’t want to give an artist ten dollars for an album?”
To get more of these insights from Talib on the journey of one of hip-hop’s coolest rap duos ever check out this week’s episode of People’s Party with Talib Kweli.
You may remember the name Christian Cooper, but if you don’t, this will jog your memory. In summer 2020, Cooper made the national news when a white woman, Amy Cooper (no relation), called the police, falsely accusing him of threatening her. Christian Cooper was out in the early morning at Central Park doing what he does often: bird-watching. It’s a longtime hobby that, thanks to that unfortunate exposure, he’s now taking to the next level and sharing with the world. Cooper recently finished filming six episodes of “Extraordinary Birder” for National Geographic.
“Whether braving stormy seas in Alaska for puffins, trekking into rainforests in Puerto Rico for parrots, or scaling a bridge in Manhattan for a peregrine falcon, he does whatever it takes to learn about these extraordinary feathered creatures and show us the remarkable world in the sky above,” National Geographic wrote in a press release announcing its new slate of personality-driven exploration and adventure themed storytelling.
Lifelong birder Christian Cooper (@blackburniannyc) will take us into the wild, wonderful and unpredictable world of birds in his new show, The Extraordinary Birder.pic.twitter.com/2ZwTlZ3JmN
— National Geographic TV (@National Geographic TV) 1652734815
Cooper is an avid bird watcher and has observed birds all over the world, but he’s most at home watching the more than 200 species of birds in New York City’s Central Park. Thankfully he hasn’t let his encounter with Amy Cooper and her dog taint his feelings about his favorite spot. The show will allow him to create a new association with his name and bird watching, and presumably he’ll be spending some time in the park, showing viewers just how magical the wildlife there is.
He explained to the New York Times that he first heard from National Geographic about collaborating on the show about a year and a half ago. “I was all in,” he said. “I love spreading the gospel of birding.”
Additionally, he shared excitement about getting more people “to stop and watch and listen and really start appreciating the absolutely spectacular creatures that we have among us.”
Cooper’s reverence for birds was formed in childhood. He explained to the Times that he has been in love with birds since the age of 10. Growing up on Long Island, he was fascinated with red-winged blackbirds. No matter where in the world he is, he’ll take the time to listen for birdsong.
“It adds another dimension to just being on the street,” he explained. “It adds another dimension to how you exist in the world.”
Filming the show allowed Cooper to expand his birding experiences, following his passion to see new (to him) species. He got to see some burrowing owls, which he found “actually quite adorable.”
Look out for a further announcement on the release date of the series. “Extraordinary Birder” will run on National Geographic channels and Disney+. It’s heartening to see that something wonderful came out of such a traumatic experience.
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part of the story of how we went from meeting and keeping touch randomly for years to realizing we were each others person all along. Right person wrong time type of song. 
