Category: Worldwide

This article originally appeared on 12.12.16

Some people just haven’t gotten the memo: You really don’t want to heckle comedian Steve Hofstetter. He’s become one of my favorite stand-up acts both because he’s just funny but also because of his brilliant ways of shutting down hecklers and other rude patrons who show up for his live act.

In this case, Hofstetter was in the middle of a bit where he quipped, “I don’t like people.” It was part of a larger joke recalling how he’d had a bad interaction with a police officer but that he was “still alive” because he was a white male.

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Hofstetter was talking about how most cops like the joke but others get offended. His point was that if you get offended by a joke about cops killing innocent people, you’re probably not a good cop. Just as he was finishing up the joke, a person in the front of the audience got up. When Hofstetter politely asked the guy to stop talking so loudly, the man said, “I’m going.”

Heckler cop thinks he’s special – Steve Hofstetter

www.youtube.com

He then followed up, telling Hofstetter, “You disrespected me, so I’ll disrespect you.”

The man then went on a tirade, stealing a drink from another customer and getting into an argument with the club’s bouncers. He also got into a shouting match with another patron before finally stepping outside.

Hofstetter tried to lighten the mood, joking, “I think he’s mad that the Meghan Trainor concert was canceled last night. Maybe he’s all about the bass, I don’t know.”

He then disclosed to the audience that the heckler had actually approached him before the show, asking Hofstetter to roast some of the friends the man had shown up with, which he refused to do.

That’s when one of the heckler’s companions told the comedian that the heckler was actually himself a cop. And that the man the heckler was shouting down was actually another cop who was embarrassed by his bad behavior.

“I know to drive slowly when I leave,” Hofstetter joked.

But just to make it clear that he wasn’t out to give all cops a hard time, the comedian noted that he actually thinks most cops are good people; he just wants them to speak up more when a bad cop does something wrong, comparing it to how comedians call out each other all the time when one of them crosses the line. And that’s something we should all be able to get behind without the need for a hilarious punchline.

A series of funny videos by TikTokker Maitland Hanley from Brisbane, Australia, prove that fathers need to be a lot more appreciative of the women who carry their children. Maitland’s partner, Jessica, was pregnant with his child so to prove that being pregnant wasn’t that hard he filmed himself doing routine tasks in a pregnancy suit.

To create his new body he attached a large watermelon to his belly and two smaller ones to his chest to make it look like he had enlarged breasts. To hold it all together he used a ton of plastic wrap.

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Things got off to a really bad start for Maitland. On his first day as a pregnant person, he couldn’t even make it out of bed. He tries to sweep his legs around to get off the mattress but can’t even make it up because his belly is too cumbersome.

Just imagine if that was a real child in his belly, it’d be born dizzy. At the end of the video he admits, “I thought it would be so much easier.”

On his second day with child, Maitland has a seriously difficult time trying to get up off the floor.

On day three he learns where the phrase “barefoot and pregnant” comes from when he can’t manage to put on his shoes.

Maitland is going to need a lot of help getting out of the tub.

The one thing Maitland is good at doing while pregnant is satisfying his pregnancy cravings. Here he picks something up at McDonald’s to feed himself and his baby. We’re not sure what he bought at Mickey D’s, but if he was really pregnant he would have asked for ice cream with pickles.

There’s no way he’s making it out of this car.

Maitland is clearly playing his fake pregnancy for laughs but the videos highlight something we should all remember. Partners of pregnant people should be grateful for all they do to bring a life into this world. As Maitland can tell you, being pregnant is no joke.

This article originally appeared on 11.01.16

It’s not revolutionary news that smoking wreaks havoc on your body in different ways. More often than not, however, the focus of anti-smoking campaigns is on your internal health, citing emphysema, heart disease, and lung cancer, to name just a few consequences.

While the superficial effects may not be as lethal, appealing to people’s sense of vanity can have a powerful effect as this clever gallery below shows. Twins, only one of whom smokes, sit side by side, showing the profound damage smoking can cause to your face, hair, and teeth.

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The twins’ circumstances vary in each set of pictures, but the differences and effects are undeniable. In some instances, one of the twins never smoked. In others, the “smoking” twin had smoked for at least five years longer than the other “non-smoking” twin.

Though they’re not common knowledge, the effects of smoking on your appearance are predictable and consistent. You can identify a smoker with ease if you know what you’re looking for. Harmful smoke, dehydration, and even the heat from a burning cigarette can damage your complexion, hair, and eyes. The photos below helpfully point out the symptoms and effects on the smoking twin.

The photos here were taken from those of 79 pairs of identical twins at the Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. Though they weren’t taken with this use in mind, that allows them to serve as an even more powerful testament to the effects as perceived by casual observers.

1. The eyes are a strong “tell” if someone’s a smoker or not. In this photo, the smoker is the man on the right. He has smaller, more sunken eyes and carries more wrinkles throughout his face than his twin on the left. You’ll also notice his hairline has receded further than his brother’s. That’s a little-known though hardly surprising effect of smoking habitually.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

2. Here, the difference is profound. Though they’re the same age, they look almost like they represent different generations. The smoking twin on the right has done so for 16 years, and it’s manifested in a number of ways. Most noticeable is the pervasive discoloration of her skin compared to her twin on the left. Less noticeable, but still apparent, is the damage done to her lips, eyes, and even her hair. It’s difficult to believe they’re even related, let alone twins.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

3. This comparison is less glaring but still apparent. The twin on the left is the smoker. You can see many more pronounced wrinkles on her forehead, under her eyes, and around her nose. There are also pronounced bags under her eyes.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

4. In this comparison, the smoking twin only smokes about two cigarettes per day, so the difference will be less profound. The twin on the right is the smoker. The differences are on the subtle side, mostly the more damaged hair and the squintier eyes.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

5. Based on what you’ve read in the earlier side by side pics, you might be able to ID the right twin as the smoker due to the discolored and receding hair as well as the aged skin.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

6. These two twins are both elderly, so the differences are slightly less pronounced. Though the left twin has more graying hair, it’s the right twin that’s the smoker. She’s got a droopier face, especially on the outside of the eyes. The wrinkles are also more pronounced in the brow and upper lip.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

7. Though the two sisters here are also older, it’s easier to distinguish the smoker. The left sister bears the hallmarks all over her skin. Her cheek, outer eye, and neck all look weathered from her habit. Not only is she more wrinkled, but the skin has begun to discolor from the fair tone her sister has.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

8. Here it’s pretty difficult to tell. The woman on the left is the smoker. She sports slightly discolored lips that are upon inspection, more wrinkled than her sister’s. Since the lips are the most proximate to the smoke, they are a pretty telling feature when it comes to identifying smokers.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

The pics above show a lot of singular traits that can call out a smoker, but it can be a lot more simple than that. Speaking to the NY Daily News, dermatologist Elizabeth Tanzi from George Washington Medical Center dispenses with the jargon, stating, “Smoking makes you look old. That’s all there is to it.”

This article originally appeared on 04.26.19

In case you were wondering, don’t mess with comedian Steve Hofstetter. The stand-up comic posted a video of himself recently shutting down a heckler who didn’t like Hofstetter taking a break from his routine to praise Jessica Mendoza, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and Stanford graduate, who last year became the first female to call a professional baseball game.

“Next!” the heckler shouts. At first, Hofstetter is caught off guard but then he tries to give the guy a chance to explain what he found “offensive” about celebrating this historic moment in sports. “You and I can talk later,” the anonymous guy says, directly challenging an earlier warning from Hofstetter to not approach comedians after shows.

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Once the guy refuses to explain why he’s offended, Hofstetter asks him to leave, saying not only is he being a jerk but he’s not at least willing to stand up for his own beliefs. Then things get weird. It turns out the heckler is at the show with his family, including his daughters. “You have daughters and I was standing up for women’s rights and you were offended by that,” Hofstetter says. “I hope the rest of you are going to be okay later.”

Sexist heckler owned by comedian – Steve Hofstetter

www.youtube.com

Unlike some heckler videos that drag on and on, this one is maybe most amazing in the way he gets shut down before he can even really get started. The whole video is funny, inspiring and just a classic example of a comedian taking down a heckler. Like near the end, when Hofstetter addresses a common trope of someone questioning why a male comedian needs to stand up for women’s equality.

“As it turns out, I actually have a genetic history of women in my family,” he says. “If you want to be a real man then respect the women in your life.”

Upvoted, an online publication from Reddit featuring the most compelling content from their site, recently republished this “classic” piece originally posted around 2011. The beautiful piece of writing was done by a commenter in response to a poster asking for advice on grief.

The original post simply read: “My friend just died. I don’t know what to do.”

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Here was redditor GSnow‘s moving advice:

“Alright, here goes. I’m old. What that means is that I’ve survived (so far) and a lot of people I’ve known and loved did not. I’ve lost friends, best friends, acquaintances, co-workers, grandparents, mom, relatives, teachers, mentors, students, neighbors, and a host of other folks. I have no children, and I can’t imagine the pain it must be to lose a child. But here’s my two cents.

I wish I could say you get used to people dying. I never did. I don’t want to. It tears a hole through me whenever somebody I love dies, no matter the circumstances. But I don’t want it to “not matter”. I don’t want it to be something that just passes. My scars are a testament to the love and the relationship that I had for and with that person. And if the scar is deep, so was the love. So be it. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are a testament that I can love deeply and live deeply and be cut, or even gouged, and that I can heal and continue to live and continue to love. And the scar tissue is stronger than the original flesh ever was. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are only ugly to people who can’t see.

As for grief, you’ll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you’re drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it’s some physical thing. Maybe it’s a happy memory or a photograph. Maybe it’s a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive.

In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don’t even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you’ll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out. But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what’s going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything…and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life.

Somewhere down the line, and it’s different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas, or landing at O’Hare. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself. And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you’ll come out.

Take it from an old guy. The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don’t really want them to. But you learn that you’ll survive them. And other waves will come. And you’ll survive them too. If you’re lucky, you’ll have lots of scars from lots of loves. And lots of shipwrecks.”

Here’s the original post:

Great impressionists are able to transform into their subjects after finding a unique hook that brings them into the character. Recently, we shared how master impressionist and “SNL” alum Dana Carvey was able to figure out Joe Biden by imagining him at a town hall rally.

Dana Carvey’s Biden is A+. He’s so cool. https://t.co/0f0gmYC85Y

— rob delaney (@robdelaney)
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Our favorite Trump impersonator James Austin Johnson says he was able to dial in his version of the former president after mimicking his rambling rally performances.

PRES TRUMP TODAY IN CALIFORNIA: ” ‘WEIRD AL’ WAS VERY MEAN TO MR. COOLIO!! DIDN’T ASK FOR RIGHTS. NOT VERY NICE!” https://t.co/kgF5UFYRLP

— James Austin Johnson (@shrimpJAJ)
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Mary Elizabeth Kelly has earned over 14 million views on TikTok for mastering over a dozen impersonations of popular actors and actresses by figuring out their mouth movements. She calls this form of impersonating people “mouth acting.”

Kelly is an actress who’s appeared on “Master of None” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

It all started when she was watching “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

“I’m a huge film and TV watcher and am always drawn to the mouth movements and idiosyncrasies of actors for my own study and for fun,” she told the Shropshire Star. “I think I was watching ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ and noticed Johnny Depp’s mouth movements were so much a part of his performance and after that I started noticing it in other actors and made a list.

“I love impersonating other actors and doing accents and such, so I thought it’d be fun to show all the actors who act with their mouths!” she added.

This led to a video of her mouth acting Jennifer Coolidge, Emma Stone, and Drew Barrymore that received over 1.2 million plays on Twitter.

“Mouth acting”. This is amazing https://t.co/VdbyWHLE8k

— Declan Cashin (@Tweet_Dec)
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What it would look like if Jennifer Garner, Nicole Kidman, and Mark Ruffalo were stuck in traffic?

What would happen if Winona Ryder, Emma Stone, and Mandy Moore starred in their own cooking shows?

On “Star Wars” Day she ran through a list of characters from the films and proved she does a seriously funny Mark Hamill.

What do your favorite stars look like ordering coffee?

Before she made a name for herself through mouth acting, she did a video showing her amazing ability to do accents.

Nearly two years after his death, three Aurora, Colorado police officers and two paramedics have been indicted by a grand jury and will face criminal charges for the killing of 23-year-old Elijah McClain. According to The Denver Post, the five individuals face charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for their roles in violently detaining McClain and injecting him with the sedative ketamine, leading to his death.

McClain’s killing rocked the nation in the midst of the biggest racial justice movement the U.S. has seen since the Civil Rights era. His life mattered, and his death was a tragic example of the injustice of police brutality. The officers were originally cleared of all wrongdoing, so this grand jury indictment is one step toward accountability.

Read our story published on 6.24.20, contrasting Elijah McClain’s gentle life with his unnecessarily brutal death, below.

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Elijah McClain was a massage therapist who played violin for shelter kittens on his lunch break in his hometown of Aurora, Colorado, because he thought the animals were lonely. If that detail alone doesn’t conjure up a picture of a gentle soul, Colorado Music described McClain as a young man who was “quirky, a pacifist, a vegetarian, enjoyed running, and known to put a smile on everyone’s face.”

According to The Cut, McClain’s sister says he sometimes wore a ski/runner’s mask because he was anemic and would often get cold. One night last August, he was walking home from the convenience store with his mask on when the police approached him, responding to a call about “a suspicious man” in the area. What ensued was “a struggle” according to police, which was only partially caught on body camera, as all of the officers’ body cameras allegedly fell off during the incident.

McClain was held in a carotid hold, a controversial restraint technique banned in some cities for its potential danger, and was also given a shot of ketamine by paramedics. He had a heart attack on the way to the hospital and died there three days later, after having been declared brain dead.

He was unarmed. He was only 23. And his last words as the officers held him down are heartbreaking.

Unknown

The full body camera footage of the entire evening’s events was posted on YouTube by the Aurora Police Department in November, three months after McClain’s death. (Discretion is advised.)

Body Worn Camera Regarding the In-Custody Death of Elijah McClainwww.youtube.com

After the body camera footage was released, according to the Sentinel, District Attorney Dave Young sent a letter to Aurora police chief Nick Metz stating, “Based on the investigation presented and the applicable Colorado law, there is no reasonable likelihood of success of proving any state crimes beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. Therefore, no state criminal charges will be filed as a result of this incident.”

The officers were cleared of all wrongdoing.

However, the public outcry over the case has grown into a tsunami of calls for accountability. More than 2.2 million people have signed a Change.org petition calling for a more in-depth investigation into McClain’s death.

On June 9, City Manager Jim Twombly agreed to an independent investigation of McClain’s death. But even that investigation has hit snags, as the initial attorney commissioned to lead the investigation was a former police officer who specialized in defending police departments in liability cases.

“Unfortunately, an attorney with a long career in law enforcement that specializes in defending municipal police departments from liability claims doesn’t qualify, in our minds, as a neutral review,” the Aurora city council said in a statement.

Some policy changes have taken effect in Aurora this month. According to CBS Local in Denver, Interim Police Chief Vanessa Wilson has announced that officers can no longer use the carotid hold, they must give warnings before shooting, must intervene if they see an offer using excessive force, and relieve other officers when a use-of-force incident occurs. They will also be trained to not assume a person is suspicious based off of a 911 call.

Victims of police brutality don’t need to be angels. What’s wrong is wrong. But when a demonstrably tender and sweet soul like Elijah McClain is killed from a police encounter and no wrongdoing is found, it’s long past time to examine the rules that govern the entire system. No one in their right mind can say this young man shouldn’t be alive right now, playing violin for lonely kittens on his lunch hour.

The Grit N’ Grind era of Grizzlies basketball was the high point of the franchise’s history, as Memphis became a perennial playoff team and a thorn in the side of just about every opponent they faced in the postseason, win or lose. The Grizzlies were led by a quartet of players that defined that era, with Marc Gasol and Mike Conley as the stars, but equally important in creating a culture as well as producing on the court were Tony Allen and Zach Randolph.

Those two were the tone-setters, with Allen providing some of the best perimeter defense the NBA’s seen in the last two decades, and Randolph being the OG of the team, who in his prime was a walking double-double. It has been long acknowledged that those two will eventually see their jersey numbers hanging in the rafters of the FedEx Forum one day, but it’s been awhile since that was initially announced back in 2017.

Four-plus years later, that will happen in actuality as the team announced on Wednesday that on December 11 (against Houston) Zach Randolph’s No. 50 will go up in the rafters, followed by Tony Allen’s No. 9 on January 28 (against Utah and old friend Mike Conley).

It’s a fitting tribute to a pair of Memphis legends and they will surely be greeted with an overwhelming amount of love from the Grizzlies faithful on these two nights. To have Allen’s jersey retired with Conley in town will be very cool, as one day Conley and Gasol’s numbers will surely join them as the Core Four from the Grit N’ Grind era deservedly will be remembered forever for pushing the Grizzlies franchise to new heights.

NBC’s latest live musical production is turning into an Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt reunion thanks to the recent addition of Jane Krakowski. The actress joins her Kimmy Schmidt co-star Tituss Burgess in Annie Live!, a musical special that’s set to premiere in early December. The pair will join Taraji P. Henson as Miss Hannigan, Harry Connick Jr. as Daddy Warbucks, Nicole Scherzinger as Grace, and Celina Smith who recently joined the cast as Annie, according to Deadline:

As the larger-than-life Lily St. Regis, Krakowski teams up with Burgess’ conniving Rooster Hannigan as a greedy duo that schemes to abduct Annie and pose as her parents to land a big reward. The role of Lily was created on Broadway in 1977 by Barbara Erwin and portrayed in the 1982 film version by Bernadette Peters.

Krakowski and Burgess reunited last year for a choose your own adventure-style Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt interactive special that couldn’t have come at a better time as the world descended into the early throes of the pandemic.

“The timing clearly was not planned, but when I actually tried out the technology of this special for the first time, I did feel that,” Krakowski told Uproxx. “This colorful candyland of escapism — it feels lovely to revisit these characters, and what a time.”

Unfortunately, Annie Live! will not be interactive, but if you wait to watch it on streaming, you can fast forward through “Tomorrow” so it’s not stuck in your head. That’s kinda like choosing your own adventure.

Annie Live! premieres December 2 on NBC.

(Via Deadline)

Rico Nasty‘s debut album Nightmare Vacation is less than a year old, but lately, it feels as though she’s already building up to its inevitable follow-up. Within the last two months, she’s released a pair of polished singles, “Magic” and “Buss,” and just weeks after releasing the video for the former, she’s already back with a new video for “Buss.”

The video brings plenty of visual flair to its rather plain concept, embellishing Rico’s frantic performances with sizzling neon lights and sending bright bolts of vibrantly colored electricity shooting across the screen and around Rico’s body. Whatever it is she happens to be working toward, it would appear to line up with the version of Rico first introduced on her candy-coated Sugar Trap mixtapes, returning to the synth-heavy, SoundCloud-friendly production style and cocky, straightforward raps she used to cross over in the first place — as opposed to the more experimental, hyperpop-laced material on her album.

In the meantime, she’s been semi-enjoying the “bittersweet” moments of motherhood, such as sending her five-year-old off to kindergarten, and contributing to her friend IDK’s No Label Academy at Harvard University.

Watch Rico Nasty’s “Buss” video above.

Rico Nasty is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.