Amid the demonstrations across the country protesting police brutality and the death of George Floyd, many musicians have chosen to delay releases so that the world can better focus on combatting racial injustices. G-Eazy made a similar decision, telling a fan on Twitter that he delayed his Everything’s Strange Here album release because “there’s more important things going on in our country than releasing new music rn.” Instead of releasing new music, the rapper chose to revisit his 2017 track “Love Is Gone” with a touching visual.

Originally appearing on his record The Beautiful & Damned, G-Eazy’s “Love Is Gone” is filled with politically-charged commentary that still holds meaning today. “When cops are killing people, and they can’t take the blame / They get acquitted, then you wonder why all the people rage, stupid / We all keep praying for peace, praying for progress / If you live in the hills then you stay in the projects,” G-Eazy raps on the track.

To re-frame the song as a modern protest anthem, the visual’s directors Matt Bauerschmidt and Sterling Hampton chose to compile clips of some of the ongoing protests. Blurring faces for privacy, the visual shows moving clips of thousands of demonstrators marching the streets together and pushing for change. Echoing the track’s message, G-Eazy wrote upon sharing the visual on social media: “Until we all love each other nobody benefits.”

G-Eazy also said of the video, “I wrote ‘Love Is Gone’ in the Summer of 2016…Fast forward 4 years later, and the same racial injustices are still happening day after day in our country. The fight against inequality is as important as ever. This is more than just a song to me, it’s a message… All lives can’t matter until #BLACKLIVESMATTER. Big love to my fam Drew Love and to JAHMED for blessing it with a new verse with some thoughts of his own.”

Watch G-Eazy’s “Love Is Gone” video above.

Every year, hundreds of new batches of bourbon hit the market. In fact, every month you can get up to a dozen new expressions from distilleries across the land. The industry is practically like streetwear — with surprise drops and long-awaited reveals. Meaning there’s a lot to keep up with and that’s before you consider the standard year-round releases and the releases from past years that are still available on shelves. If you love bourbon enough to track this stuff, you’ve got your hands full.

I do track this stuff — tasting a lot of whiskey over the course of a year for the sake of this gig. Some of it’s amazing. A lot of it is fine. Sometimes it’s shockingly bad. As with all booze (and anything creative), there are always going to be blind spots in craft and execution. So far this year, I’ve tasted a few duds, plenty of solid expressions, and 10 bottles that absolutely demand a place on your bourbon shelf. The latter category is what we’re here to talk about today.

The ten bottles below are drams that I 100% vouch for. They’re the best new bourbons of 2020 I still think about, weeks or months after I wrote about each sip in my notebook. They’re also (mostly) available for delivery, though there are some serious price point barriers in play. Some of these bottles aren’t cheap. Still, with bottles this good, spending a little extra cash is well worth it.

Michter’s US*1 Toasted Barrel Finish Bourbon

ABV: 45.7%
Distillery: Michter’s Distillery, Louisville, KY
Average Price: $70

The Bottle:

I think about this bottle a lot. This isn’t a brand new expression, but it is released yearly. The ripple with this expression is the secondary aging process. The juice is transferred to “toasted” barrels for finishing. The barrels are dry-cured outdoors for 18-months — rain or shine — and then toasted, not charred.

Tasting Notes:

Seasoned oak, smoke, and spice dominate upfront. The sip reminds you of pecan pie spiced with cinnamon and allspice that leads towards more smoky flavors, stewed pear, and a clear sense of the barrelling program. There’s longevity to this whiskey — it fades very slowly, leaving you with a sense of campfire smoke and a pitchy woodpile.

Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Batch Proof

ABV: 61.6%

Distillery: Brown Forman Distillery, Shively, KY
Average Price: $140

The Bottle:

This series from Woodford aims to highlight each step for the whiskey-making process: water, grain, fermentation, distillation, and maturation. This particular expression specifically highlights the maturation step. The juice is bottled at “batch proof” — straight from the barrels — and holds a very high 60-plus-percent ABV with no fiddling in the final product.

Tasting Notes:

Big notes of oak counter a classic vanilla pod and caramel essence. The oak is really the star of the show with support from a sharp and dark spiciness next to an overripe apple/pear combo with a hint of honey. There’s a real marrying of the vanilla, oak, and dark spices on the end with a hell of a kick from the high ABV as the sip slowly fades away.

Belle Meade Bourbon Honey Cask Finish

ABV: 55.9%
Distillery: Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, Nashville, TN
Average Price: $125

The Bottle:

Full-disclosure, this one is going to be very hard to find until it’s re-released. Still, it’ll be worth tracking for whenever it does return. The bottle takes Belle Meade’s much-lauded bourbon and finishes it in a honey cask from TruBee Honey in Tennessee, where they’ve previously aged all-natural honey in the barrels.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a sweetness on the nose but it doesn’t scream “honey!” It’s more of a honey-soaked wildflower vibe with a grassiness and plenty of vanilla. The sip holds onto that floral and honey nature with hints of bitter orange, creamy pudding, and a note of oak. The bourbon gets leathery near the end with echos of cherry, spice, and mint slowly dissipating.

Barrell Bourbon Batch 23

ABV: 53.89%
Distillery: Barrell Craft Spirits, Louisville, KY (Sourced)
Average Price: $90

The Bottle:

This is a blend that should dispel any idea of “blends” being a bad word in whiskey. The juice is sourced from ten, 12, and 15-year-old bourbons made in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana. The expression is then bottled in Kentucky while maintaining the cask strength of the booze.

Tasting Notes:

This dram sticks with you. There’s a sense of a buttery, rummy, and nutty Christmas cake alongside oily vanilla pods. Rich toffee spiked with dark and very sharp spices offset the wet, brown sugar sweetness. The velvet feel of this whiskey sticks in your senses as the vanilla, spice, and mild sense of oak lingers like a fog.

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof A120

ABV: 67.1%
Distillery: Heaven Hill Bernheim Distillery, Louisville, KY
Average Price: $72

The Bottle:

Elijah Craig’s Barrel Proof line aims to highlight great barrels from their rickhouses as the months tick by. In this case, the A120 stands for the release with “A” being the first of the year and with “120” signifying January 2020. The juice in the bottle is straight from the barrels and tends to be at least 12 years old when bottled.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a lot going on in this sip. Baked stone fruits swim in toffee and spices with hints of smoke, vanilla, and tart berries. The spicy baked fruits carry on with an emphasis on the spice as hints of sourdough, more berries, and creamy toffee mingle. The sip starts to fade slowly with a small billow of smoke accentuating all of that vanilla, spice, and fruit.

Blanton’s Gold Edition

ABV: 51.5%
Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY
Average Price: $230

The Bottle:

This one comes with a hefty price tag. The whiskey is made for the international market, which doesn’t help the pricing in the U.S. since it has to be brought back. Still, the whiskey in the bottle is the ultimate in refinement and a testament to how filtering can be done without hurting the end product.

Tasting Notes:

Cedar bark, dried tobacco smoke, and old oak barrels in a musty rickhouse dominate upfront. The sip ebbs through notes of tart and sweet red fruit as dark spices, creamy vanilla, and grassy nature mix on the palate. The sip slowly fades out, leaving the smoke, wood, and spice with a mild echo of dark chocolate bitterness.

Wilderness Trail Single Barrel Bourbon

ABV: 50%
Distillery: Wilderness Trail Distillery, Danville, KY
Average Price: $50

The Bottle:

This a very young and unique whiskey. The mash bill leans into wheat with 24 percent of the recipe coming from the locally grown grain. The mash is a sweet mash, not a sour mash (meaning the recipe uses completely new ingredients with every batch). The juice is aged for five to six years using toasted oak staves, giving it extra depth.

Tasting Notes:

Brown sugar, pecans, cedar, and apple orchards greet you. The sip stays airy as notes of vanilla, apples, spice, and wood mingle on the palate. The end is long with the sense of the wood and corn lasting the longest.

Wild Turkey Master’s Keep 17 Year

ABV: 50%
Distillery: Wild Turkey Distillery, Lawrenceburg, KY
Average Price: $155

The Bottle:

This year’s Master’s Keep 17 Year is another smash for Wild Turkey. The barrels that hold this sipping bourbon are moved between stone and wooden rickhouses. This multi-environment aging process makes this expression one of the most unique on the market.

Tasting Notes:

This is Wild Turkey turned up to eleven. Soft billows of campfire smoke, rich vanilla pods, Christmas spices with orange zest, and clear oakiness are all present. The sip builds from those notes with a salted caramel sweetness alongside a lot more spice and vanilla. The sweetness has a marshmallow and bitter chocolate vibe as the finish descends through the senses in a smoky haze.

Blade and Bow 22 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 46%
Distillery: Buffalo Trace Distillery & Heaven Hill Bernheim Distillery, KY (Diageo)
Average Price: $212

The Bottle:

This high-end expression form Diageo is bottled at the old Stitzel-Weller Distillery. The juice that’s blended for this dram is sourced from Buffalo Trace and Heaven Hill but they don’t say exactly what the mash bill of those juices are. It’s fine. The end result stands on its own as a very sippable whiskey and that’s enough.

Tasting Notes:

Chewy plums mingle with oak, honey-roasted almonds, and straw. The palate builds on notes of spicy pepper, dark spices, and a lumberyard feel, while vanilla and sweet fruits cut through. The end is short, sweet, and full of more spice, vanilla, oak, and a flourish of wildflowers.

Little Book “The Road Home”

ABV: 61.3%
Distillery: Jim Beam, Clermont, KY
Average Price: $115

The Bottle:

Little Book is Jim Beam’s ode to the wonders of blending whiskey. This expression blends nine-year-old Basil Hayden, nine-year-old Knob Creek, 11-year-old Booker’s, and 12-year-old Baker’s. Each bourbon goes into the final blend unaltered and barrel strength. It took master distiller Freddie Noe 57 tries to get this one exactly right and that devotion to greatness comes through in each sip.

Tasting Notes:

This is just a classic dram of bourbon. Rich vanilla pods and corn-focused caramel marry charred oak and Christmas puddings spices, candied fruit, and zest. The sip moves into dried stone fruit territory as the oaky char bitterness is counterpointed by a sweet vanilla underbelly. That oak lasts as the warm end embraces the senses and slowly fades away.

I never feel more out of touch with pop culture than when I look at the Netflix top 10.

The most popular show in the country, as of Friday morning: 13 Reasons Why (stopped watching after season one). The most popular movie: something called 365 Dni, Polish for 365 Days (never even heard of it until this week). It’s an unassuming title for what Decider has dubbed “the closest thing to porn on Netflix.” This DiCaprio GIF sums it up.

Here’s how Netflix describes the erotic-drama: “A fiery executive in a spiritless relationship falls victim to a dominant mafia boss, who imprisons her and gives her one year to fall in love with him.” That’s some grade-A sexy trash (even if it has an F review on Rotten Tomatoes), and it’s struck a nerve with Netflix subscribers: 365 Dni is currently more popular than Space Force, Hannibal, and the final season of Fuller House.

Directed by Barbara Białowąs and Tomasz Mandes and starring Anna-Maria Sieklucka and Michele Morrone, 365 Dni is based on Blanka Lipińska’s book trilogy, leading to inevitable comparisons to Fifty Shades of Grey. But with all due respect to Anastasia Steele (and none to Christian Grey — he sucks), Fifty Shades of Grey could never:

Laura wakes on a yacht to Mario and Massimo arguing. During the night, Massimo shot the man who had tried to rape Laura, inciting a mafia war between the two families. Mario insists that Massimo has to get rid of Laura, but Massimo refuses. Laura attempts to apologize, but Massimo puts the blame for the incident on her. As they argue on the upper decks of the ship, Laura falls into the water and Massimo jumps in to save her. When she wakes up later, Massimo admits he was scared she might not make it because of her heart condition and doesn’t want to lose her. They then spend hours having sex.

Who are Laura, Massimo, and Mario? Does it matter? You’re missing the part about the mafia and people falling into water and “they spend hours having sex” on a boat. It’s no Money Plane, but 365 Dni is wild, and that infamous boat tryst is the wildest scene.

365 Dni is available on Netflix, but maybe don’t watch it your parents.

Yikes.

(Via Decider)

Hip-hop is moving as fast as ever. Luckily, we’re doing the work to put the best new rap music in one place for you. This week, there were videos from Lil Wayne and Spillage Village, as well as Dame D.O.L.L.A. AKA Damian Lillard. Check out the rest of the best new rap music below.

Mr. Swipey — “Freca” Feat. French Montana

French Montana is continuing his foray into the Brooklyn drill scene, collaborating with Swipey on “Freca,” a Latin-flavored take on the in-demand genre. The video shows the two defying social distancing rules but having the time of their life while doing it.

Problem — “Lamborghini”

Earlier this week, Problem released a video for “Lamborghini,” a single from his Coffee & Kush, Vol. 1 album. The JoshyGonz-directed clip includes outrageous footage of a five-year-old Utah boy who sought to buy a Lamborghini.

Cambatta — “Bones Of Osiris”

Cambatta’s latest video for “Bones Of Osiris” captures the tension of the moment, with black and white footage of nationwide demonstrations fueling his fiery lyricism, as he affirms, ”Never had a Dad in my home I got everything I own cause I’m Black and I’m grown.”

Rome Streetz — “My Reality”

Rome Streetz delves into a reflective stream of consciousness on “My Reality,” a single from his upcoming Noise Candy 4 project, which will be out next week. He rhymes, “I need some land before a tie-dye bezel / n****s rather be broke and look rich I guess you feel special.”

Tsu Surf — MSYKM

New Jersey rapper Tsu Surf jumped ahead of the pack by releasing MSKYM, his latest project, on Wednesday. The 13-track album showcases a blend of the gritty street confessionals and romantic excursions that have won him an expansive fanbase. Features include Jim Jones, Benny The Butcher, G Herbo, Mozzy, and Dave East.

Blu & Exile — “Roots Of Blue”

Blu & Exile offered a lengthy taste of what to expect from their upcoming Miles project on “Roots Of Blue,” which fuses spoken word with powerful verses in which Blu pays homage to the lineage of African ancestors who preceded him.

Azealia Banks — “Black Madonna”

Azealia Banks gets braggadocious on “Black Madonna,” a Lex Luger-produced track where she shows her considerable charisma and rhyming ability over Lex’ atmospheric production.

Too Short — “Off And On” Feat. Lexy Pantera

Too Short explores rocky romances on “Off And On,” exploring the ups and downs of relationships amidst a poppy soundscape with Lexy Pantera.

Kolyon — “Walk Down” Feat. Mozzy

Florida rapper Kolyon released a remix of “Walk Down” featuring Mozzy, who gives the already menacing track a new dynamic of grittiness with bars like, “You don’t believe in what you bang, look how you throw it up.”

Hopsin — “Kumbaya”

On “Kumbaya,” Hospin delves into passionate, rapidfire rhymes about his internal turmoil, offering the evocative nugget that, “I done made a lot of money from exposin’ my grief.”

Joey Trap — Playlist For The End Of The World

Hopefully, the title of New York rhymer Joey Trap’s Playlist For The End Of The World is just artistic license. The genre-bending MC released his 23-track album on June 5, showing off considerable charisma and myriad flows throughout the project which also features Zedsu and YBN Nahmir on the thumping “EW.”

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

Aside from being a reliable role player in the NBA, Iman Shumpert also isn’t too shabby when it comes to rapping. He has once again shown off those skills by linking up with his famous and talented wife, Teyana Taylor, on her new song, “Wake Up Love.”

On the smooth track, Taylor brings up some concerns about the relationship, opening the song, “One thing’s for certain / Need you right here in my arms, baby I’m yearning / But I think I got a bone to pick with you / Lately I’ve been wondering what’s with you / I need you to hear me, baby.”

Shumpert comes back with a reassurance, saying, “I’d save you from a burning building / I wear the burns as gold medals, turn you on to remember.” He later continues, “I know I demand a lot and you don’t like that / So let’s just leave the baggage, I’ma hop us on this flight back / You like that, right?”

Taylor previously teased that her next album, appropriately titled The Album, would receive a June release. That said, it’s not clear if current events will have an impact on when the record comes out. Either way, Taylor has so far previewed it with new songs like “Bare Wit Me” And “Made It.”

Listen to “Wake Up Love” above.

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Our Longest Summer series will look at the eight teams whose seasons are now officially over, and will have to wait until mid-October to make decisions on what’s next and how to proceed after falling short of the cut-off for a continued 2019-20 campaign.

The 2019-20 season wasn’t kind to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The John Beilein era ended after just 14 wins in 54 games and, while the team did perform better after making a coaching change, Cleveland’s overall performance left plenty to be desired. Defensively, it was a near-total collapse and, even with offensive sparks flying at times, the Cavs were relatively dismal on the way to the NBA’s second-worst record before the hiatus.

Now, with 22 of the league’s 30 teams heading to Orlando, the Cavaliers have an extended offseason to attempt to right the ship. Some parts of the team are seemingly in decent shape but, for others, there are real questions that the organization has to answer, leaving uncertainty in a broad sense.

2020 Free Agents

Andre Drummond (player option), Tristan Thompson (UFA), Matthew Dellavedova (UFA), Ante Zizic (UFA)

2020 Projected salary cap space (assuming $115 million salary cap)

None, per Early Bird Rights

Areas of Strength

The Cavs didn’t do much well this season, but Cleveland does have some talented pieces. Should he choose to exercise a lucrative player option, Andre Drummond remains an above-average starting center. Kevin Love isn’t the player he was in his prime but, offensively, the former All-Star brings a lot to the table. On the perimeter, Collin Sexton made considerable strides in terms of efficiency and production, developing his three-point shooting in intriguing fashion and leading the team in scoring. The Cavs also enjoyed flashes from rookies Kevin Porter Jr. and Darius Garland, with some reasonably solid supporting play from veterans like Larry Nance.

Areas of Need

While it isn’t too hard to find positives on the roster, the overall picture is grim. If not for the historic efforts of the Washington Wizards, the Cavs would get more attention for deploying a truly abhorrent defense for much of the season. The talent on that end of the floor is, well, not very good, and the team’s pieces don’t fit all that well together, especially when considering Sexton and Garland in the backcourt. It is at least possible that one (or more) of the rookies makes a leap in the future but, in a more practical sense, Cleveland needs pieces that can defend at a high level and they probably need the true No. 1 option that so many rebuilding teams are looking for along the way.

Biggest Decisions

Drummond will make the decision for the Cavs in some respect and, while not impossible that he exits, most of the buzz would lean toward the veteran center opting in to his deal for nearly $30 million. Cleveland didn’t pay much in the trade for Drummond, making the risk a reasonable one, but how they navigate his one-year pact (if it happens) and pending free agency will be crucial. In addition, Love could be on the trade market once again and, with Tristan Thompson hitting free agency after a lengthy tenure, considerable turnover could happen in the frontcourt. On top of that, the Cavaliers could have a top-three pick in a draft loaded with backcourt contributors and, if fit is a consideration in any way, things could get dicey.

Overall Offseason Focus

The Cavaliers should be in asset accumulation mode. That isn’t ideal for a team that still owes quite a bit of money to Love (and Drummond), but Cleveland simply isn’t close enough to contention to worry all that much about fit and short-term gains. As an over-the-cap team, the Cavaliers have less flexibility than they’d like to, but hitting on their first-round pick this year is paramount, and if they are able to shed Love and/or Drummond with an eye toward flexibility, it might be the time to go ahead and blow it up completely.

Nicki Minaj and Tekashi 69‘s new collaboration “Trollz” is out now and the two colorful rappers chose their midnight release to address some of the criticisms against them on social media. Each took a different approach, but it was clear that the former “Fefe” collaborators found the message of the voices arrayed against them a bit out-of-sync with the realities of the rap game.

Tekashi went on Instagram Live, pointing fingers back at some of his biggest critics, which include Future, Meek Mill, and Snoop Dogg. In the past, each rapper has either subtly or directly criticized Tekashi for being a “rat,” a snitch, and a phony. However, according to Tekashi, “This rap game is full of liars.” He told his viewers, “I’m a show you how this rap game full of rats … I’m a show you how the rap game really works … The rap game don’t want you to know certain stuff. I’m a expose the rap game right now, ’cause I got facts.”

Starting with Meek Mill, Tekashi connected the Roc Nation affiliate with an executive of the company who was at one point a cooperating witness in a federal drug case. Pointing out how Meek works with that executive, Tekashi called out Meek, saying, “You can’t pick and choose who you want to call rats. This is public information.” He also poked at Meek with the words from Drake’s “Back To Back”: “Ever since Nicki left you, you are a nobody… ‘Was that your tour or your girl’s tour?’”

Then Tekashi turned to Future, noting that Future had obliquely dissed him in an Instagram story with a message that said, “I believe if u hang with a snitch u a snitch and deserve to die.” Tekashi pointed out that Future regularly works with Meek. He also reminded Future that neither of them lives the lyrics of their raps. Future admitted in the promotion for his 2019 album The Wizrd that he didn’t want to reveal that he’d gone sober and risk losing fans. “You rap about molly, percs, all this shit, never got locked up for no drug offense,” Tekashi sneered. ” You say, if you hang out with a rat, you’re a rat. So what does that make you? ‘Cause you hang out with these n****s.”

Finally, he called out Snoop, who addressed Tekashi’s testimony a number of times during the younger rapper’s trial and incarceration. “”For the two years I was locked up, you aired me out,” 69 shrugged, “I’m just replying. Wasn’t it Snoop Dogg and Meek Mill who couldn’t keep my dick outta their mouths?” That was when Nicki Minaj appeared to back him up.

Nicki cut through Tekashi’s outright trolling to the heart of the argument: That rappers aren’t really gangsters. “You rappers are in rooms all the time with people with sketchy pasts,” she said. “I’m not judging anybody … I have so much respect for so many of these people … [but] none of you n***as are from the block. If these n***a are still out there doing what they’re doing and really living that life want to talk about it, I gotta respect it because they play by a different code … But as far as rappers they gotta just play it easy, ’cause y’all know y’all bend the rules for certain people … Talking ’bout snitches when there’s snitches in your camp.”

However, Nicki also wanted to remind their critics that the proceeds from “Trollz” were being donated to The Bail Project. “We just want to make sure the protestors and everybody on the front lines … we want you to know how much I respect the people out there protesting and lending their voices.”

Watch Nicki and Tekashi’s Live conversation above.

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

Holey Moley is a lot of things.

It’s a summer competition series that ABC recently rolled out for a second season. It’s an extreme mini-golf challenge that features very large, very elaborate holes that make your local mini-golf course look like the saddest little rinky-dink operation you’ve ever seen. It’s a spectacle to the ridiculous, featuring Wipeout-style physical challenges on every hole and people in costume and just the dumbest collection of ideas and commentary and human bodies flailing through the air that you’ve ever seen. It is also, for my money, the nation’s finest television program.

That’s a bold claim. I’m aware it’s a bold claim, partially because Holey Moley is a bozo carnival of cartoon violence masquerading as a television show, sure, and partially because of the competition. There are so many other good shows out there. Very good shows. Succession is a good show that mixes humor with an in-depth examination of class and status. Better Call Saul is a good show that somehow built off of another good show (Breaking Bad) in such a magical way that it might end up eclipsing the original. Barry is a good show that features Noho Hank, a tatted-up Chechen mobster who is actually the sweetest and goofiest character on the show and my favorite character on television. All of these are terrific television shows that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys high-quality entertainment.

But did any of them dress a man in a suit of armor and light them on fire with fake dragons in the first 10 minutes of their season premiere?

They did not.

There are a few things in play here. I’ll concede that. Some of it is the timing, both general and specific. There’s the summer of it all, the thing where it’s warm and nice out and you might prefer to watch putt-putt maniacs heave themselves off of padded obstacles instead of, say, spending a chunk of a weeknight watching some bleak show about a murdered child and the alcoholic detective tasked with bringing the killer to justice. That’s understandable. Holey Moley is a great show to watch with a light summer-y beer or a cone of soft-serve in your hand.

There’s also the larger thing happening right now, today, in this specific summer, where we are all in the middle of a pandemic and a recession and there are protests against police brutality and systemic racism in every major city in America and it’s all building up to an election season that looks like it’s going to be very ugly and stressful. You can be forgiven if you’re not fully prepared to binge a true-crime series or dive into something that requires more than a half dozen brain cells after a full day of consuming that kind of news. Take a break for an hour. Turn your brain off. Find something stupid and soothing that asks nothing of you but a mild suspension of disbelief.

Something like, say, a show that features a man in a gopher costume — who goes by Dr. Frankengoph — throwing a giant switch and sending electric shocks through the arms and legs of contestants after each missed putt on a specific hole.

There’s something so wildly stupid and cathartic about it, and everyone involved knows it, too. The announcers, comedian Rob Riggle and actual play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore, deliver their commentary with their tongues so firmly in their cheeks that they would slice them off if they bit down. (Tessitore especially is super fun as the straight man.) Jon Lovitz showed up in a pirate costume to hit lob wedges over a pool and onto a green. Steve Guttenberg and Greg Louganis judged a diving contest. NBA All-Star Steph Curry appears as a cartoon after appearing in person in the first season. Everything is designed to be goofy and dumb and corny and just a bag of fun.

There’s one hole on course called Pole-cano. It starts with the contestants putting up a huge hill and over a ledge, at which point their ball rattles down through a series of fake rocks, kind of like golf Plinko, before spitting out on the other side of the hole near the green. To get to the green, the contestants have to grab hold of a zip line and attempt to h-…

Yes.

Yes.

YES.

This is exactly what I’m talking about. This is what Holey Moley is. I feel like I should point out that this guy was perfectly fine afterward, and that he’s a shark researcher who wanted to use the money he was trying to win to devote more research to shark research, the former because it allows you to laugh guilt-free and the latter because of course he is.

I could watch this GIF for hours. I probably have, to be honest. I might do it for another 45 minutes this afternoon. And it’s not even the dumbest or weirdest hole on the course. That honor goes to a hole called Number Two, which starts with the contestants putting their ball down a narrow strip of green with a water hazard on one side and a row of portable toilets on the other side. Then they have to run down that thin strip of green without falling into the water. This is tricky because, surprise, the portable toilets are all occupied by people in monster costumes.

Again, find me another television show where a bro in a backward visor gets launched into a swimming pool by some sort of cape-wearing monster hellbug who is emerging from a portable toilet. Take all the time you need. Rewatch Chernobyl if you think it’s in there. I have time and GIFs to watch. I can wait.

Do you see what I mean now? About how Holey Moley is the ideal television show for this exact moment? About how its commitment to lunatic shenanigans can be exactly the medicine your ravaged brain needs for an hour or so a week? About how freeing it is to watch adrenaline-junkie weirdos fling themselves — or get flung — into pools of water as part of what everyone involved claims is miniature golf competition? I don’t know if it’s just me, but Holey Moley has been a gift from the heavens for me in the last few weeks.

But then again, even in much calmer and simpler times, I do really enjoy watching people get absolutely walloped by huge padded windmills…

… so take some of this with a grain of salt. Or, now that I think about it, don’t. Thinking too hard about things and analyzing them for context and/or incongruities… that flies directly in the face of everything Holey Moley stands for. No, no grains of salt, no thinking, no learning. Just people in costumes performing acts of controlled physical violence against people who are usually not in costumes. And are sometimes on fire. Think of it like meditation with more splashing. Therapy with evil gophers. Whatever it takes right now, you know?

Let Holey Moley heal you.

Steve Carell is a rare actor who has a reputation around Hollywood for being an incredible nice guy, an all-around good person. He’s basically the Tom Hanks of TV (although, he has his fair share of movies, too, including an Oscar nomination for Foxcatcher). In fact, the Space Force star was so beloved on The Office — where he was number one on the call sheet — that when he left the series after seven seasons, the cast retired his number on that call sheet. In the eighth season, Rainn Wilson was number two on the Call Sheet. There was no number one.

Andy Greene, who wrote The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s, was hard pressed to find anything negative said about Steve Carell on The Office. He has an entire chapter in the book basically devoted to how wonderful a person he is. “There was never a false note with Steve because you believe he is true in everything he does,” on crew member said. “He was just the greatest,” said another. “He is truly the loveliest man in Hollywood.”

Three people in the book, in fact, offered the same example of what a spectacular human being Carell was. On location, they said, when everyone was jammed into a van, Carell would be the first to hop out, open the door, and “help everyone out of the van. He’d help the crew out of the van. I have never seen that in anyone before or since … he would stand there, and he would help every single person out of the van. And if you had a chair, he’d grab your chair and walk it over to the trailer. He was always such a gentlemen. And so kind.”

“I don’t remember in the nearly ten years of that show that Steve Carell ever said a bad word about anybody,” another co-worker on the sitcom noted. “He was so gracious and so kind. He’s just a class act.”

“He became a sort of big movie star during the course of The Office, but nothing ever changed. He was still the same Steve,” said another.

Producer Randy Cordray, who has been working in television since the 1970s, said of Carell, “To this day, in my long and varied careers, Steve Carell is the most wonderful and most professional actor and the best human of anyone I have ever worked with.”

It is nothing but high praise. However, Kim M. Ferry — the hair department head for eight seasons of The Office — did have one story to share about Steve Carell, where he actually expressed anger, although (again) even this story reflects well on the actor.

“There was only one time when he told me about being upset,” Ferry said:

One weekend, he was trying to teach his daughter Annie how to ride a bike and he had a lot of paparazzi that started showing up outside of his house and started taking pictures of her. They were saying, ‘Hey, over here!’ They were kind of heckling, and at one point, [Steve’s daughter] was trying to ride the bike, and she stopped, started crying, got off the bike, and she ran into the house.

He was livid. At that point, he walked across the street, and he said, ‘Look! I’m right here. If you want to take pictures of me, take pictures of me. You want to take pictures right now, I’ll stand here for an hour. But do not ever hurt my daughter like that. She didn’t sign up for this. She just got born into my family and I am famous. Why can’t I have an experience with my daughter private?”

One paparazzi literally stood in front of the other guys and said, ‘You know what guys? He’s right. We should go. We’ll all go.

That story may say more about Steve Carell than any other, because it may represent the first time that the paparazzi actually listened to an actor and moved along. Then again, Carell’s most generous act on The Office may have been the time he talked Greg Daniels out of ruining Jim and Pam’s wedding by featuring a horse going over Niagara Falls.

Source: The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History