When What We Do In The Shadows returns for a second season on April 15, fans might discover some changes amongst the show’s bumbling vampiric trio. The mockumentary comedy series, based off Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s cult hit, has gotten more comfortable in its gothic, Staten Island digs. There’s still plenty of ridiculous hijinks – think virgin vampire hunters, seances, Haley Joel Osment – but there’s also real character growth, emerging threats, and some interesting plot twists.

And Natasia Demetriou is right in the thick of it. The actress, who plays the seductive, superstitious Nadja, returns with a perfected deadpan and some outrageously funny one-liners as she tries to manage the chaos caused by her immortal flatmates and move her relationship forward with husband Laszlo (Matt Berry), despite his more-than-disappointing porn career. Demetriou was nice enough to chat with us about the show’s return, her character’s real-life roots, and being just as dumb as the men.

Most shows spend their first season getting into a rhythm. Have you guys found that groove in season two?

The biggest change I noticed from season one to season two was like, “Oh, I know this character.” You remember how she’d react, and you can push it further because you know the limits.

I imagine wearing those prosthetic teeth all day every day helps get into the right mindset.

Yeah, and the fact that they make us drink blood every morning. That’s kind of crazy. It really gets you into the character.

Jemaine [Clement] and Taika [Waititi] pulled inspiration for the show from their film, but Nadja is a totally original character. Did that make it easier or more difficult to enter this world, knowing she’d be the first female vamp we’d seen?

I felt so lucky to play a female character in a comedy where she’s as stupid and narcissistic as the men, because quite often, the female parts I’ve auditioned gone up for, they’re written kind of strong. They’re there with the guys, and they’re sort of pointing out where the guys are fools or where the guys have made a mistake. It means that, yes, you’re a female character in a comedy, but you’re not getting to do any of the goofy, sort of dumb, fun stuff. With Nadja, it’s amazing because I’m more stupid than the men in the house. And that is like a dream.

Jemaine had a rough idea of what they wanted for the character before I got the part. His wife is Greek, and his mother-in-law is Greek, and I know that they wanted some of that sort of Mediterranean drama as part of the character. We talk a lot about that, about my aunties and my dad, but the writing’s all there.

What’s the big storyline for season two and how does your character play into it?

There is one sort of overarching storyline, but I can’t give too much of that away, and also my character’s too stupid to realize what’s going on. But there are lots of fun things. We may or may not meet our ghosts. We may or may not meet some witches. Me and Laszlo may or may not reveal that we’ve written a lot of the most famous songs of all time, and they’ve just been plagiarized off us over the years.

The show feels different from other comedies on TV right now. How much of that comes from the mostly British cast and the creators? Is there a certain style that you’ve brought with you?

I feel like, at its heart, the true uniqueness of the show comes from Jemaine and Taika. They have such a distinctive voice – and they cast this. Jemaine always says when it came to auditions, all the European people that they cast just do better vampiric accents. He saw Laszlo as coming from England so, of course, there’s no one more British than Matt Berry. And Kayvan has this amazing Iranian family… I think it feeds into the whole fish-out-of-water thing. They are trying to live in this world, but it’s not for them anymore. I think it was very wise of them to cast the way they cast, and not just because I got to be in it.

How much are you able to improvise, especially during scenes like the talking heads segments?

Jemaine and all the directors really encourage us to improvise. I think because we have these characters and this world and these bricks that are so solid, as a performer, you feel really comfortable improvising. You know what the story is. You know what information you have to get across. And then you can kind of improv around that. I’ve thrown a lot of stuff that my dad has actually said, or there’s a couple of things about Nadja’s background story that is literally taken from my dad’s childhood.

Such as?

Well, my dad is from Cyprus, which is a tiny island. There were loads of snakes on the island and he had a serious fear of snakes. So, I let that bleed into her origin story. What other stuff? The way she sings. That’s based on my aunt. Luckily, I don’t think the show goes on in Cyprus, so no one’s going to be getting offended. It’s all done with love, though. I am so proud of my Cypriot heritage. It’s my favorite thing about myself. I’m very, very, very honored to be able to work in a show that embraces the dramatic, crazy wonderfulness of it all.

You got started in sketch comedy. What’s the current sketch comedy scene in Britain and how does it compare to what you’ve seen happening here?

You guys are crushing it. America, when it comes to comedy, is like absolutely smashing it, especially with sketch and character stuff. I feel Britain has had the age of stand-up that’s what Britain’s been focused on for a while. I mean, comedy is the way that British people sort of relax because everyone’s so uptight and apologetic. I got into doing live sketch comedy and stuff because I wanted to be like French and Saunders. My writing partner and I do a sketch comedy show. We are currently writing a show for the BBC. My dream has always been to have my own sketch show, but I guess sketch shows are very expensive to make. There’s a lot of wigs involved, especially in the stuff I write.

That’s so great, because we desperately need more female-led sketch comedy series.

It’s getting better. We’re actually able to notice it and talk about it and go, “Hang on. There hasn’t been much of that,” which is amazing.

‘What We Do in the Shadows’ returns on Wednesday, April 15 at 10:00pm on FX.

Trends may come and go, but a sense of humor never goes outta style.

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These are must watches.

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“My mom has a podcast, but you can only hear it if you have the password to my voicemail.”

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The coronavirus pandemic has put the mental and physical health of an already vulnerable group at far greater risk.

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Phoebe Bridgers just announced her forthcoming sophomore LP Punisher. While the singer’s upcoming solo effort is highly-anticipated by fans, Bridgers is also known for her frequent collaborations. The singer has been apart of her Conor Oberst collaborative project Better Oblivion Community Center and worked with singer/songwriters Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus for Boygenius. As Bridgers prepares herself for a new era of music, the singer reflected on her dream collaborations and said she would love to work will Billie Eilish.

In an interview with Hanuman Welch on Apple Music’s Beats 1, Bridgers detailed her upcoming album and some of her frequent collaborators. Bridgers offered some names of musicians she would like to collaborate with, namely some musicians who intimidate her. And Billie Eilish was at the top of the list.

“I guess just people I’m really scared of, like [I] would be intimidated by, which includes Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Billie Eilish,” she said. Elaborating her admiration of Eilish, Bridgers says she thinks the pop singer is motivated by her own creativity:

“You just can tell that definitely a giant record label is helping it, but she’s the boss. I think it probably wasn’t easy along the way to just be like, ‘Fuck you. This is my idea.’ And it’s so cool that she got proven right. I like that she just did what she wanted and tell that it really, really paid off. No matter what you feel about her music, I think Taylor Swift was kind of a similar thing, where it was like Taylor Swift had this giant infrastructure behind her. But if she wasn’t talented, it wouldn’t be so giant. And Billie is kind of like the coolest possible version of that, where it’s like they monetize her ideas. She just has crazy ideas.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Bridgers explained her album’s title, Punisher. According to Bridgers, a “punisher” is a person you don’t want to encounter at a party:

“I’m constantly afraid I’m doing it to people, and people definitely do it to me. [Its] where you run into someone at a party and they’re very nice. Or, like, your friend starts dating someone. And you end up cornered with your friend’s new boyfriend and they’re talking to you about whether AT&T or Verizon is better or worse. And they’re sweet, but it’s been 45 minutes… It’s not a mean person, but it’s someone who just doesn’t know they’re punishing you.”

Listen to Bridgers’ full interview on Apple Music’s Beats 1 here.

Punisher is out 6/19 via Dead Oceans.

An absolutely gigantic trade has occurred in the WNBA. In a move first reported by Howard Megdal of High Post Hoops, the New York Liberty have opted to send team legend Tina Charles to the Washington Mystics in a trade that also includes the Dallas Wings.

The Liberty eventually confirmed the full details of the trade. In exchange for Charles, New York received fourth-year guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and four picks from the Mystics: first-round selections in each of the next two drafts, along with second and third-round picks in 2021. The Liberty then took that 2021 first and their own 2021 second-round pick, called up the Wings, and acquired veteran guard Tayler Hill along with a pair of picks in the upcoming draft.

It is a stunning haul for the Liberty, which now possess gobs of draft picks as part of a gigantic rebuild. While it is presumed they will use the No. 1 pick to select former Oregon standout Sabrina Ionescu, they now control the first round of the draft based on the sheer number of first-round selections they possess, which could be used to load up on young talent or acquire talent some other way.

Of course, this comes at a steep price, as Charles, a Queens native, is one of the best to ever suit up for the squad. After getting selected No. 1 overall by the Connecticut Sun in the 2010 WNBA Draft, Charles joined her hometown squad in 2014, making five All-Star game appearances in six years and earned a trio of All-WNBA first-team selections. Now, Charles will get the opportunity to compete for a title as a member of the reigning champs, while we’ll get the chance to see what the Liberty do with their treasure trove of picks during Friday’s draft, which will be held virtually.

Not too many stars are keen to let fans see their burner accounts on social media, but Summer Walker has a slightly different philosophy. While she does use her @summerwalker account for official business, she makes little effort to hide her identity behind the @galactawhore account, on which she posts memes, news clips, conspiracy theories, and thirst traps with her face conspicuously visible. She also occasionally plays music, such as a soulful, acoustic cover of Drake’s ‘Summer’s Over Interlude’ from his 2016 album Views.

Of course, Drake and Summer go back a bit, since the Canadian superstar contributed a verse to the singer’s breakout hit, “Girls Need Love.” Drake also counted Walker as the inspiration behind two of his recent songs, which he wrote in the middle of the night after hearing her song “Fun Girl.” It’s only natural that she would add one of her favorite Drake songs to the growing collection of covers and she’s worked on, including Justin Beiber’s “Yummy.”

Although the singer promised that she would stop performing, then doubled down by vowing to stop making new songs of her own after 2020, it’s nice to know that fans will still be able to catch her performing in a medium she’s obviously much more comfortable with. She’s also got an appearance on the upcoming DVSN album to help hold fans over.

Watch Summer’s cover of Drake’s “Summer’s Over Interlude” above.

After a number of event cancellations, complete and controversial changes to the way they produce television, and a WrestleMania event with no fans, it was only a matter of time before WWE would be forced to make some major, serious cuts. Not even tens of millions of dollars and being deemed an “essential business” could prevent them.

On Wednesday afternoon, Vince McMahon held a conference call with WWE employees that announced furloughs and cutbacks for WWE staff, the company, and its independent contractors (i.e., you know, the wrestlers), said to be, “hard decisions that reflect the current reality.”

Per the call (with a h/t to Mike Johnson over at PWI), McMahon stated that WWE would cut back on pay for board members and executives and cut the overall number of employees, including many of the Superstars themselves. Some will be let go outright and some will go on furlough, and they’ll find out which one they are via text. WWE will also be delaying the move of their headquarters to a new building in Stamford as a cost cutting measure.

WWE released the following statement to investors:

“Given the uncertainty of the situation, the Company also identified headcount reductions and made the decision to furlough a portion of its workforce effective immediately. The decision to furlough versus permanently reduce headcount reflects the fact that the Company currently believes the furlough will be temporary in nature.”

The statement also notes that WWE, “has substantial financial resources, both available cash and debt capacity, which currently total approximately $0.5 billion, to manage the challenges ahead,” which makes the warning of major cuts across the board feel odd. Not to mention the talent who have literally put their health and lives on the line to keep WWE programming on TV amid a global pandemic, only to find out by text a week later that you’ve been furloughed.

While no releases have been announced yet, we’ll make sure to let you know who makes the cut, and who doesn’t. The Revival was cut last week ahead of the announcement. No matter what, this is set to be a major change in the landscape of professional wrestling and WWE’s order of operations going forward, and we wish everyone affected by the announcement the best.