Category: Worldwide

Last year, Wilco returned with their new album, Cruel Country. after celebrating the 20th anniversary of their classic album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

They’ll be hitting the road this fall. On Tuesday, June 6, the band announced tour dates in the United States to follow their stints in Europe and the United Kingdom. It kicks off in Kansas at the end of September and ends in Arkansas at the end of October. There’s an additional date in Mexico in December.

Find the full tour dates below.

08/10 — Cochran, BE @ Lokerse feesten
08/12 — Aranda de Duero, ES @ Sonorama Festival
08/14 — St. Feliu de Guíxols, ES @ Festival Porta Ferrada
08/16 — Marbella, ES @ Starlite Marbella
08/17 — Alicante, ES @ Plaza de Toros
08/19 — Portugal, ES @ Paredes de Coura Festival
08/20 — Vigo, ES @ Espazos Festival
08/22 — Ramonville St. Agne, FR @ Le Bikini
08/24 — San Mauro Pascoli, IT @ Acieloaperto Festival
08/25 — Turin, IT @ TOdays Festival
08/27 — Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg [SOLD OUT]
08/28 — Utecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg
08/30 — London, UK @ 02 Forum Kentish Town
08/31 — Wiltshire, UK @ End of the Road Festival
09/02 — Edinburgh, UK @ Usher Hall
09/03 — Birmingham, UK @ Moseley Folk Festival
09/05 — Manchester, UK @ The Bridgewater Hall
09/06 — Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall+
09/08 — Dublin, IE @ 3Olympia Theatre + [SOLD OUT]
09/09 — Cork, IE @ Cork Opera House +
09/25 — Wichita, KS @ Wave *
09/26 — Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom *
09/28 — Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom *
09/29 — Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheater @ Waterloo Park *
10/01 — Albuquerque, NM @ Kiva Auditorium *
10/03 — Scottsdale, AZ @ Scottsdale Civic Center East Bowl Stage *
10/04 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
10/05 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
10/06 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
10/08 — Monterey, CA @ Rebels & Renegades Festival
10/11 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether *
10/13 — Santa Barbara, CA @ Arlington Theatre *
10/14 — Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre*
10/16 — Portland, OR @ Keller Auditorium *
10/17 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre ^
10/18 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre ^
10/20 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Eccles Theater ^
10/22 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom ^
10/23 — Omaha, NE @ The Astro Theater ^
10/25 — Kansas City, MO @ Midland Theatre ^
10/26 — St. Louis, MO @ Stifel Theatre ^
10/27 — Bentonville, AR @ The Momentary ^
12/02 — Wed. Dec. 6 – Riviera Maya, MX @ Sky Blue Sky (Hard Rock Hotel)

+ w/ Anna Miekie
* w/ My Brightest Diamond
^ w/ Nina Nastasia

A lot of very stellar — over-qualifyingly stellar — actors have been employed by the MCU over the years. Early on, in only their fourth-ever outing, they nabbed no less than Sir Anthony Hopkins. Over the course of six years and three films, he played Odin, father to Thor in that titular wing of the film series. It’s not exactly back-breaking work; like many British thespians, he’s both a brilliant actor and a fine ham. Still, it doesn’t seem like he misses a gig he hasn’t done in years.

The New Yorker has a new, sprawling look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which just turned 15 if you peg it to the release of the original Iron Man. It’s an alternately revelatory and withering look at a mega-franchise that, as the headline puts it, “swallowed Hollywood.” It even ends on a grim note, noting some pricy layoffs and, thanks to some underperforming titles, what appear to be the signs of “Marvel fatigue.”

Buried in it (as caught by Indiewire) is a quote from Hopkins, who, the piece notes, is now known to some generations “not as Hannibal Lecter but as Thor’s dad.” Hopkins’ take on his time as ruler of Asgard isn’t much more encouraging.

“They put me in armor; they shoved a beard on me,” Hopkins explained. “Sit on the throne, shout a bit. If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it.”

Hopkins’ last dance with the MCU was in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, when Odin croaked. He’s done just fine since then. He won a second Oscar for The Father, as an aging man losing his sense of memory. He was also fine in last year’s Armageddon Time. And of course, he’s very good on Twitter. He’s doing fine without Kevin Feige.

(Via The New Yorker and IndieWire)

Nearly ten years ago Jared Leto won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Cut to today and he’s mostly known for acting weird on sets of movies that even he makes fun of, and for trying to be the weirdest person at the annual Met Gala. (This year he at best tied with Doja Cat, who had almost the same idea.) On Monday he added yet another exhaustingly unexpected twist to his CV: He scaled a hotel in Berlin.

As per Entertainment Weekly, Leto was seen climbing the brick wall of Hotel de Rome, a five-star hotel in Germany’s capital. He had no harness, which made it all the more impressive/irritating, though it naturally drew a crowd and images and videos of it hit social media.

No one knows why Leto decided to climb the walls of a five-star hotel in Berlin. Reps for him have yet to respond to requests for comment.

Back during the first Monday in May, Leto appeared at this year’s Met Gala in a giant cat costume. It wasn’t immediately known who was inside the get-up, but when it turned out to be the erstwhile Jordan Catalano, few were exactly surprised given his history of out-there Met Gala costumes. Alas, not only did Doja Cat also show up as a cat — with legimitiately impressive make-up to boot — but both were upstaged by the real surprise star of the to-do: an actual cockroach.

(Via EW)

Nearly ten years ago Jared Leto won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Cut to today and he’s mostly known for acting weird on sets of movies that even he makes fun of, and for trying to be the weirdest person at the annual Met Gala. (This year he at best tied with Doja Cat, who had almost the same idea.) On Monday he added yet another exhaustingly unexpected twist to his CV: He scaled a hotel in Berlin.

As per Entertainment Weekly, Leto was seen climbing the brick wall of Hotel de Rome, a five-star hotel in Germany’s capital. He had no harness, which made it all the more impressive/irritating, though it naturally drew a crowd and images and videos of it hit social media.

No one knows why Leto decided to climb the walls of a five-star hotel in Berlin. Reps for him have yet to respond to requests for comment.

Back during the first Monday in May, Leto appeared at this year’s Met Gala in a giant cat costume. It wasn’t immediately known who was inside the get-up, but when it turned out to be the erstwhile Jordan Catalano, few were exactly surprised given his history of out-there Met Gala costumes. Alas, not only did Doja Cat also show up as a cat — with legimitiately impressive make-up to boot — but both were upstaged by the real surprise star of the to-do: an actual cockroach.

(Via EW)

In the immediate aftermath of the Miami Heat’s 111-108, Game 2 victory over the Denver Nuggets, much of the discourse fixated on the idea that Miami successfully turned Nikola Jokic into a scorer, evidenced by his playoff-low four assists and the Heat’s win. Despite this narrative, Miami still directed considerable defensive attention his way and doubled him occasionally, on and off the ball.

At least from my vantage point, where the Heat really lasered in was against Jamal Murray, who tallied 26 points (11-for-22 shooting) and 10 assists during Denver’s Game 1 triumph. On Sunday, the star point guard had 18 points and 10 assists, but posted his third-lowest usage rate of the playoffs at 24.4 percent, a notable decline from 30.3 percent in Game 1.

Much of that usage downgrade stemmed from Miami’s defensive adjustments. It started Caleb Martin and assigned Gabe Vincent to Murray in Game 1, but swapped Kevin Love in place of Martin, moved Vincent onto Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and stuck Jimmy Butler onto the Canadian marksman for Game 2.

Vincent is a good defender, but Murray leveraged his size and strength advantage into pull-ups and easily discernible passing windows — usually to Jokic — throughout Game 1. Putting Butler on Murray gave the Heat someone with the frame to dissuade his long-range looks and close down space from midrange, a dynamic Vincent couldn’t emulate. When Butler rested, other rangy, defensively inclined wings in Martin and Haywood Highsmith guarded Murray. All three of them picked up Murray before half-court on numerous possessions to complicate matters. The Heat also rarely crashed the offensive glass and promptly organized their half-court defense to avoid cross-matches for Murray, similar to their approach against Jaylen Brown last round.

Butler spent the most time on Murray. His blend of size, discipline, and body control corralled Murray on and off the ball. Slithering around screens, closing out off the catch, and pairing with Bam Adebayo in pick-and-rolls, Butler hounded his opponent. The free-flowing vibes of Game 1 were absent for Murray’s laborious Game 2. Butler may still be enduring a cold spell as a scorer, but his defense was tremendous on Sunday evening. (This also, for the record, applies to his playmaking.)

Slowing stars is about infringing on their comfort. Murray is comfortable against Vincent. He wasn’t against Butler and Martin in Game 2.

Murray is an adept off-the-bounce shooter beyond the arc, yet he typically loves to build out his scoring profile from the midrange. When he can saunter into and drain a few intermediate pull-ups, the likelihood that he gets scorching hot skyrockets. When he can’t, the offense becomes more of a Plan B grind. Miami’s solution to prevent one of those torrid nights was to send strong-side help around the elbows. Shrink his open real estate in the midrange. Don’t empower him to pound a couple dribbles and rise for a 15-footer.

When he piloted pick-and-rolls with Jokic, Adebayo was typically playing at or near the level of the screen and aimed to eliminate those pocket pass windows. Murray is a good passer, but his best, most routine quality in that regard is the systematic, inevitable nature of his deliveries to Jokic; he’s almost always either feeding the big fella or wiggling into an open shot himself. The Heat negated that and forced reads elsewhere as he operated downhill.

During zone defense reps, they maintained similar principles on Murray. They crowded his catches and intruded on his driving lanes to funnel offense somewhere besides seamless midrange touches for him.

Miami’s margin for error against him is small. If he and the Nuggets did fashion favorable matchups or spacing arrangements, Murray excelled. When the Heat didn’t drift up from the strong-side corner or he brought Vincent into the on-ball assignment, the offense hummed. Basically, when he encountered ample space, regardless of how it arose, he made Miami pay.

I expect Denver to respond. Michael Malone and co.’s adjustments have been shrewd all playoffs. The offense is multifaceted. Murray is multifaceted. The Heat are a switch-heavy team guarding an offense rich with shooting and creativity. More concerted efforts to remove Butler from the action via screens could or should be incorporated.

Something like this, where Michael Porter Jr. sets a quick pick and flows into a vacant corner, could prove quite useful. Because of his movement shooting and steadfast trigger, Miami probably can’t show and recover on that in time to influence him.

Obviously, the Heat are not going to switch Vincent onto Jokic much. Above, they presumably switched to dissuade a Murray pull-up triple, given the time and score. But Vincent at the point-of-attack and Butler glued to a preeminent floor-spacer, rather than vice versa, are circumstances the Nuggets will revel in, as they did for an easy score late in Game 2.

Adebayo’s intersection of length, mobility, and agility in ball-screens posed trouble for Murray. I wonder if Denver deploys Gordon, who’s predominantly being defended by Love, as a screen-and-roll valve more in Game 3. Not only would that thrust Love into tenuous defensive contexts, ball-screen coverage, and movement in space, it would take him away from his beneficial role as an interior helper, where he shined in Game 2.

Initiating pick-and-rolls higher up to give Murray more time to identify swing passes to accomplished corner shooters (Porter, Caldwell-Pope) as Miami continues bringing strong-side help could exploit that brazen tactic as well. Let Murray curl around screens well before someone like Butler or Vincent awaits him. Stretch out the distance helpers have to travel between their man and Murray commandeering the action.

Trying to better insulate him defensively with shows or pre-switches might be another beneficial gambit. The Heat ran him through a ton of pick-and-rolls to exploit his insufficient screen navigation. Whether it was communication, winding around screens or closing out, he was quite poor defensively and Miami targeted him, maybe as both a means of generating profitable offense and wearing him down for his own offensive ventures.

Jokic is the most unstoppable player in the NBA. There is no scheme to contain him. Murray, while an excellent complementary star, does present avenues for defenses to quiet him. The Heat showcased some of them in Game 2, which proved less about the game-plan on Jokic and far more about the game-plan on Murray. While the separators for Miami overwhelmingly resided in its bountiful offense and Denver’s wretched defense, its tweaks against Murray were relevant and impactful. If the conversation is going to revolve around the Heat’s defense, it should start and progress from there.

In the immediate aftermath of the Miami Heat’s 111-108, Game 2 victory over the Denver Nuggets, much of the discourse fixated on the idea that Miami successfully turned Nikola Jokic into a scorer, evidenced by his playoff-low four assists and the Heat’s win. Despite this narrative, Miami still directed considerable defensive attention his way and doubled him occasionally, on and off the ball.

At least from my vantage point, where the Heat really lasered in was against Jamal Murray, who tallied 26 points (11-for-22 shooting) and 10 assists during Denver’s Game 1 triumph. On Sunday, the star point guard had 18 points and 10 assists, but posted his third-lowest usage rate of the playoffs at 24.4 percent, a notable decline from 30.3 percent in Game 1.

Much of that usage downgrade stemmed from Miami’s defensive adjustments. It started Caleb Martin and assigned Gabe Vincent to Murray in Game 1, but swapped Kevin Love in place of Martin, moved Vincent onto Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and stuck Jimmy Butler onto the Canadian marksman for Game 2.

Vincent is a good defender, but Murray leveraged his size and strength advantage into pull-ups and easily discernible passing windows — usually to Jokic — throughout Game 1. Putting Butler on Murray gave the Heat someone with the frame to dissuade his long-range looks and close down space from midrange, a dynamic Vincent couldn’t emulate. When Butler rested, other rangy, defensively inclined wings in Martin and Haywood Highsmith guarded Murray. All three of them picked up Murray before half-court on numerous possessions to complicate matters. The Heat also rarely crashed the offensive glass and promptly organized their half-court defense to avoid cross-matches for Murray, similar to their approach against Jaylen Brown last round.

Butler spent the most time on Murray. His blend of size, discipline, and body control corralled Murray on and off the ball. Slithering around screens, closing out off the catch, and pairing with Bam Adebayo in pick-and-rolls, Butler hounded his opponent. The free-flowing vibes of Game 1 were absent for Murray’s laborious Game 2. Butler may still be enduring a cold spell as a scorer, but his defense was tremendous on Sunday evening. (This also, for the record, applies to his playmaking.)

Slowing stars is about infringing on their comfort. Murray is comfortable against Vincent. He wasn’t against Butler and Martin in Game 2.

Murray is an adept off-the-bounce shooter beyond the arc, yet he typically loves to build out his scoring profile from the midrange. When he can saunter into and drain a few intermediate pull-ups, the likelihood that he gets scorching hot skyrockets. When he can’t, the offense becomes more of a Plan B grind. Miami’s solution to prevent one of those torrid nights was to send strong-side help around the elbows. Shrink his open real estate in the midrange. Don’t empower him to pound a couple dribbles and rise for a 15-footer.

When he piloted pick-and-rolls with Jokic, Adebayo was typically playing at or near the level of the screen and aimed to eliminate those pocket pass windows. Murray is a good passer, but his best, most routine quality in that regard is the systematic, inevitable nature of his deliveries to Jokic; he’s almost always either feeding the big fella or wiggling into an open shot himself. The Heat negated that and forced reads elsewhere as he operated downhill.

During zone defense reps, they maintained similar principles on Murray. They crowded his catches and intruded on his driving lanes to funnel offense somewhere besides seamless midrange touches for him.

Miami’s margin for error against him is small. If he and the Nuggets did fashion favorable matchups or spacing arrangements, Murray excelled. When the Heat didn’t drift up from the strong-side corner or he brought Vincent into the on-ball assignment, the offense hummed. Basically, when he encountered ample space, regardless of how it arose, he made Miami pay.

I expect Denver to respond. Michael Malone and co.’s adjustments have been shrewd all playoffs. The offense is multifaceted. Murray is multifaceted. The Heat are a switch-heavy team guarding an offense rich with shooting and creativity. More concerted efforts to remove Butler from the action via screens could or should be incorporated.

Something like this, where Michael Porter Jr. sets a quick pick and flows into a vacant corner, could prove quite useful. Because of his movement shooting and steadfast trigger, Miami probably can’t show and recover on that in time to influence him.

Obviously, the Heat are not going to switch Vincent onto Jokic much. Above, they presumably switched to dissuade a Murray pull-up triple, given the time and score. But Vincent at the point-of-attack and Butler glued to a preeminent floor-spacer, rather than vice versa, are circumstances the Nuggets will revel in, as they did for an easy score late in Game 2.

Adebayo’s intersection of length, mobility, and agility in ball-screens posed trouble for Murray. I wonder if Denver deploys Gordon, who’s predominantly being defended by Love, as a screen-and-roll valve more in Game 3. Not only would that thrust Love into tenuous defensive contexts, ball-screen coverage, and movement in space, it would take him away from his beneficial role as an interior helper, where he shined in Game 2.

Initiating pick-and-rolls higher up to give Murray more time to identify swing passes to accomplished corner shooters (Porter, Caldwell-Pope) as Miami continues bringing strong-side help could exploit that brazen tactic as well. Let Murray curl around screens well before someone like Butler or Vincent awaits him. Stretch out the distance helpers have to travel between their man and Murray commandeering the action.

Trying to better insulate him defensively with shows or pre-switches might be another beneficial gambit. The Heat ran him through a ton of pick-and-rolls to exploit his insufficient screen navigation. Whether it was communication, winding around screens or closing out, he was quite poor defensively and Miami targeted him, maybe as both a means of generating profitable offense and wearing him down for his own offensive ventures.

Jokic is the most unstoppable player in the NBA. There is no scheme to contain him. Murray, while an excellent complementary star, does present avenues for defenses to quiet him. The Heat showcased some of them in Game 2, which proved less about the game-plan on Jokic and far more about the game-plan on Murray. While the separators for Miami overwhelmingly resided in its bountiful offense and Denver’s wretched defense, its tweaks against Murray were relevant and impactful. If the conversation is going to revolve around the Heat’s defense, it should start and progress from there.

Last month, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announced their 24th (!) studio album, insanely titled PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation. The group unleashed the lead single “Gila Monster,” and now they’re back with the track “Dragon.”

The song comes with a trippy music video done by Jason Galea. “Over the last two months I dusted off my music video computer to slay the 10 minute ‘Dragon,’” Galea said. “I wanted to explore a harsh distorted visual palette using my live visual setup mixed with PS1 cutscene inspired animation and studio footage I filmed of the band. The animation was created using Cinema 4D and processed through After Effects and a Tachyons circuit bent video unit.”

Drummer Michael Cavanagh added, “Ahh my sweet baby Dragon is here fresh out of hell’s womb, summoned by the humans at the end of their pitiful road. It’s hard, fast and here to disrupt the natural order and annihilate everything in its path, so turn it up Sammy!”

They’re in the midst of residencies in North America at the moment.

Watch the video for “Dragon” above.

PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation is out 6/16 on KGLW. Find more information here.

Last month, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announced their 24th (!) studio album, insanely titled PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation. The group unleashed the lead single “Gila Monster,” and now they’re back with the track “Dragon.”

The song comes with a trippy music video done by Jason Galea. “Over the last two months I dusted off my music video computer to slay the 10 minute ‘Dragon,’” Galea said. “I wanted to explore a harsh distorted visual palette using my live visual setup mixed with PS1 cutscene inspired animation and studio footage I filmed of the band. The animation was created using Cinema 4D and processed through After Effects and a Tachyons circuit bent video unit.”

Drummer Michael Cavanagh added, “Ahh my sweet baby Dragon is here fresh out of hell’s womb, summoned by the humans at the end of their pitiful road. It’s hard, fast and here to disrupt the natural order and annihilate everything in its path, so turn it up Sammy!”

They’re in the midst of residencies in North America at the moment.

Watch the video for “Dragon” above.

PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation is out 6/16 on KGLW. Find more information here.

Tucker Carlson was fired by Fox News in late April, but props where’s it’s due: It took him less than a month-and-a-half to bow his first new show at his new home. (This probably violates his old contract, but that will surely be settled over a lengthy legal battle.) As threatened, the network’s former top star took his toys to Twitter, and on Tuesday he dropped the first episode of his new, social media-only program (or whatever you call it). From the looks of it, his viewers will have to settle for a shorter, less polished version of in old show, in a new, homier location that makes him seem less like an authority and more like a rando vomiting conspiracy theories from his basement.

The maiden episode barely had time for an introduction — just a simple “Hey, Tucker Carlson here” — before its host launched into an extended riff on Ukraine and the mysterious destruction of the Kakhova dam along the Ukraine-Russia border. Reporters on the ground are trying to untangle who’s really at fault, with both sides blaming the other.

Meanwhile Carlson — on the ground in Maine and recording from what looks like a spare room — of course blamed Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky. It was classic Tucker. He sarcastically called Zelensky “too decent for terrorism” before segueing into a meeting last month between him and Lindsey Graham, airing the same deceptively edited video played by hs fans on Russian State TV, albeit minus the part where someone calls for his assassination.

The episode ran 10 minutes, but it covered a lot of ground. At one point he does a kind of conspiracy theory bingo, name-dropping Jeffrey Epstein, BLM protests, 9/11, aliens, and — why not! — the assassination of JFK. He also repeatedly slammed trans people, natch.

And yet Tucker was noticeably low-energy, almost tired, as though weighed down by too many years of connecting dots that have no connection at all. Perhaps he’s just rusty after a several weeks off-air. Maybe he missed his old, better-looking set. (At one point you can hear someone off-screen, presumably a family member, loudly close a door.)

Even his usual refrain about being persecuted for just being curious seemed phoned-in:

If you’re wondering why our country seems dysfunctional, this is a big part of the reason. Nobody knows what’s happening. A small group of people control access to all relevant information, and the rest of us don’t know. We’re allowed to yap all we want about racism, but go ahead and talk about something that really matters, and see what happens. If you keep it up, they’ll make you be quiet. Trust us. That’s how they maintain control.

He concluded by praising his new digs — while signaling that it might not work out in the end. “As of today we’ve come to Twitter, which we hope will be the shortwave radio under the blanket. We’re told there’s no gate-keepers here,” he said. “If that turns out to be false we’ll leave. But in the meantime we’re grateful to be here.”

Watch, if you must, the debut episode of what appears to be called Tucker on Twitter in the tweet embedded above. May his base of older folks who’ve never cut their cable cords and don’t really use social media enjoy it.

Tucker Carlson was fired by Fox News in late April, but props where’s it’s due: It took him less than a month-and-a-half to bow his first new show at his new home. (This probably violates his old contract, but that will surely be settled over a lengthy legal battle.) As threatened, the network’s former top star took his toys to Twitter, and on Tuesday he dropped the first episode of his new, social media-only program (or whatever you call it). From the looks of it, his viewers will have to settle for a shorter, less polished version of in old show, in a new, homier location that makes him seem less like an authority and more like a rando vomiting conspiracy theories from his basement.

The maiden episode barely had time for an introduction — just a simple “Hey, Tucker Carlson here” — before its host launched into an extended riff on Ukraine and the mysterious destruction of the Kakhova dam along the Ukraine-Russia border. Reporters on the ground are trying to untangle who’s really at fault, with both sides blaming the other.

Meanwhile Carlson — on the ground in Maine and recording from what looks like a spare room — of course blamed Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky. It was classic Tucker. He sarcastically called Zelensky “too decent for terrorism” before segueing into a meeting last month between him and Lindsey Graham, airing the same deceptively edited video played by hs fans on Russian State TV, albeit minus the part where someone calls for his assassination.

The episode ran 10 minutes, but it covered a lot of ground. At one point he does a kind of conspiracy theory bingo, name-dropping Jeffrey Epstein, BLM protests, 9/11, aliens, and — why not! — the assassination of JFK. He also repeatedly slammed trans people, natch.

And yet Tucker was noticeably low-energy, almost tired, as though weighed down by too many years of connecting dots that have no connection at all. Perhaps he’s just rusty after a several weeks off-air. Maybe he missed his old, better-looking set. (At one point you can hear someone off-screen, presumably a family member, loudly close a door.)

Even his usual refrain about being persecuted for just being curious seemed phoned-in:

If you’re wondering why our country seems dysfunctional, this is a big part of the reason. Nobody knows what’s happening. A small group of people control access to all relevant information, and the rest of us don’t know. We’re allowed to yap all we want about racism, but go ahead and talk about something that really matters, and see what happens. If you keep it up, they’ll make you be quiet. Trust us. That’s how they maintain control.

He concluded by praising his new digs — while signaling that it might not work out in the end. “As of today we’ve come to Twitter, which we hope will be the shortwave radio under the blanket. We’re told there’s no gate-keepers here,” he said. “If that turns out to be false we’ll leave. But in the meantime we’re grateful to be here.”

Watch, if you must, the debut episode of what appears to be called Tucker on Twitter in the tweet embedded above. May his base of older folks who’ve never cut their cable cords and don’t really use social media enjoy it.