Category: Worldwide

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

South Park: The Pandemic Special (Comedy Central/MTV 8:00pm EST) — Trey Parker and Matt Stone are back with an hour-long episode to, uh, deal with the pandemic. It’s about time that someone dealt with it, right? Other than a “making of” video, the dynamic duo’s remained pretty close-lipped on what we’ll see tonight, but we can expect all of 2020 to hit the audience in the face.

American Murder: The Family Next Door (Netflix documentary film) — Director Jenny Poppelwell cobbled together a feature-length examination of what happened after Shanann Watts and her two young daughters disappeared in Colorado in 2018. In short, Chris Watts confessed to murdering his family, but he did so in a few different ways, and this film aims to give a voice to the victims of his crimes. Through archival footage, home videos and law enforcement accounts, Poppelwell paints a portrait of a collapsing marriage and the police investigation that followed.

The 100 (CW, 8:00pm EST) — Is this really the final battle? After loads of fighting and loss, it might be that time for Clarke and her friends.

Late Show With Stephen Colbert — John Lithgow, Jonathan Alter

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Julie Bowen, Travis Scott

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon — BTS, Chris Colfer

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Tyra Banks, Surfaces

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Taylor Schilling, Brian Stelter

And in case you wanted to catch up on what happened last Wednesday:

Enola Holmes (Netflix film) — Netflix loves Stranger Things‘ Millie Bobby Brown, who’s now making her turn as Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister Enola Holmes. As a bonus, The Witcher‘s Henry Cavill is onboard to play Sherlock with Sam Claflin stepping in as Mycroft Holmes, and between the two of them, they have the fancy hair and twirling-of-mustaches quotient covered. Fleabag director Harry Bradbeer should make this an even more interesting affair, especially given the story: after Enola’s mother (Helena Bonham Carter) disappears without a trace on her daughter’s sixteenth birthday. Sherlock and Mycroft determine to ship the teen off to finishing school, where she’d become a “proper” lady. She’s not having it and strikes out on her own find her mother.

After announcing the show over a year ago, Marvel has finally cast the lead for its upcoming Ms. Marvel series for Disney+. Newcomer Iman Vellani secured the coveted role and will be under the direction of Bad Boys for Life filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. Via Deadline:

Ms. Marvel first appeared in 2014 as Marvel’s first Muslim character to star in her own title, and she will become Marvel Studios’ first onscreen Muslim hero. Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has said that in addition to appearing on the small screen, Kamala Khan will be included in future Marvel films.

Vellani’s casting sparked an emotional response from Marvel’s Eternals actor Kumail Nanjiani who tweeted that he got “teary-eyed” after reading the news. “Your work is going to mean so much to so many people, myself included,” Nanjiani wrote.

Nanjiani has been a vocal supporter of seeing more diversity in superhero movies. Back in May, he revealed to a Variety virtual panel that he once turned down a role in a major comic book film after being asked to play up his accent. “So there was a really, really big movie, actually, that I auditioned for, and I was a taxi driver, and the director was like, ‘Hey, could you play up the accent a little bit?’ And I was like, ‘I’m sorry, I won’t.’” Nanjiani said. “And then the guy felt really bad.”

Nanjiani has also opened up about his risky gamble of turning down small Marvel roles until he was offered a chance to be an actual superhero, which finally happened with Eternals. After landing the part of Kingo, Nanjiani immediately got to work transforming his body because he knew how important this role would be for representation. “I’m playing the first South Asian superhero in a Marvel movie,” Nanjiani said. “I don’t want to be the schlubby brown guy—I want to look like someone who can hang with Thor and Captain America.”

(Via Deadline)

There are, at most, seven more games standing between us and the end of the weirdest NBA season of our lives. In a series that is ripe with intrigue for a handful of reasons, both in terms of what will happen in the coming games and the histories of a handful of individuals on both sides of things, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat will meet on the hardwood at the NBA’s Orlando Bubble.

That experiment has generally been a success, and as a result, we get to watch a Finals that pits LeBron James against one of his former squads. But before things tip off on Wednesday evening, we decided to fire up a copy of NBA 2K21 and see what the future might have in store.

I used the Playoffs mode on 2K, selected the Lakers and the Heat as my teams, and simulated to the Finals. While the path was left up to chance — i.e. there was no guarantee it would be exactly the same as the ones they went on based on the teams they beat and how many games they played — I did what I could to game the system by moving all of the sliders all the way in one direction or another as I simmed and putting the Simulator Difficulty down to 0. I also didn’t touch the rotations until I got to the Finals, because whatever, man. I also turned off fatigue and injuries, because the first time I did this, Anthony Davis got hurt and I felt like a big freakin’ idiot.

Here were the roads both teams traversed to the Finals:

Go Nets! Once this was all done, I set the difficulty to Hall of Fame, made all the sliders normal, tweaked the rotations to look as close as I could to what the minutes distribution has been during this postseason, and got to simming. Here’s how it went down.

Game 1: Miami 132, Los Angeles 113 (Heat lead, 1-0)

Despite Anthony Davis (42 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks) and LeBron James (31 points, six rebounds, six assists) having monster games, Miami was able to come out on top, bookending things with dominant first and fourth quarters. This was thanks to four Heat players absolutely exploding: Goran Dragic (32 points, seven assists, six rebounds, four steals), Tyler Herro (27 points, zero rebounds/assists/steals/blocks, strictly buckets), Jimmy Butler (24 points, seven assists, six rebounds), and Bam Adebayo (22 points, 19 rebounds, six blocks). As a team, Miami led by as many as 23 and hit 17 threes and got to the free throw line 30 times, converting 27 percent of their attempts.

Game 2: Los Angeles 124, Miami 93 (Series tied, 1-1)

The Laker defense, so porous in Game 1, extinguishes the Heat in Game 2. Miami could not get to the free throw line, getting seven total attempts from the charity stripe, while the team hit on just 33 percent of its threes. Davis (36 points, 16 rebounds, two assists, two steals, two blocks) was again magnificent, while James (19 points, 11 assists) took a more subtle role in the proceedings and Alex Caruso (15 points, four assists, two steals, two blocks) gave the team a boost off the bench. Dragic (24 points, nine assists) and Adebayo (21 points, eight rebounds, two blocks) were both solid, but Butler and Herro combined to score 24, nowhere near enough to topple a Laker side that was firing on all cylinders.

Game 3: Miami 96, Los Angeles 83 (Heat lead, 2-1)

An eight-point quarter! We don’t need a ton of details here, but everyone on the Lakers played horribly. Davis and James combined for 30 points on 11-for-34 shooting. As a team, L.A. shot 34 percent from the field, 31 percent from three, and shot 12 free throws. The Heat weren’t exactly stellar outside of Butler — 24 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and three steals — but this is the exact kind of game that probably had Pat Riley doing backflips from his private box in the Bubble. (Are they doing private boxes in the Bubble? I should look into this once this whole experiment ends.)

Game 4: Miami 117, Los Angeles 108 (Heat lead, 3-1)

Our biggest Adebayo-Davis battle of the series tilts towards Miami. Both were brilliant — Adebayo had 27 points, 15 rebounds, and four blocks, Davis scored 30, reeled in 16, and blocked two — but ultimately, the Heat were able to hit four more threes and five more free throws. It’s probably not all that much unlike what we can probably expect in the real version of this series, where Miami will have to rely on hitting more threes and getting to the line more in order to pick up the win. Oh, and having Adebayo helps a whole heck of a lot, too. Los Angeles absolutely hammered Miami on points in the paint, outscoring them 44-26, but Erik Spoelstra’s bunch did what they had to do to win better than Frank Vogel and co. As a result, they’re only one win away from a championship, although as the Golden State Warriors will tell you, beating a LeBron James team that is down 3-1 in the NBA Finals isn’t always easy.

Game 5: Los Angeles 125, Miami 105 (Heat lead, 3-2)

Hey, remember my last sentence? James had 43 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds. Things looked pretty bleak for the Lakers through three, then a monumental team effort in the fourth got them to a crucial Game 6. Davis was quite good (29 points, 11 rebounds), and Miami had five players in double-digits led by 25 points from Dragic, but you’re not beating a LeBron team if he goes for 43-8-7 in a Finals game. As such, the Heat have to wait another game to potentially secure a ring.

Game 6: Miami 119, Los Angeles 117 (Heat win series, 4-2)

A game fitting of a championship coronation. The Heat’s two veterans at the center of everything — Dragic (32 points, seven made threes) and Butler (24 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, three steals, a block) — ultimately get them over the line, while Herro gives them 19 off the bench and Adebayo stuffs the stat sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and three blocks. Davis (29 points, seven rebounds, two blocks, two steals, an assist) was once again magnificent, as was James (27 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, three steals), while the team shot a remarkable 34-for-40 from the free throw line. But once again, the three-point line was the equalizer: Miami hit 15 shots from deep, while Los Angeles shot nine. Oh, and go to back to the whole coronation thing to close, your NBA Finals MVP is Bam Adebayo, who played 38 minutes a game and went for 19 points, 13 rebounds, 3.2 blocks, 1.8 assists, and 1.2 steals a night while connecting on 54.1 percent of his shots from the field.

Around this time last year, Alabama Shakes leader Brittany Howard released her debut solo album, Jaime. In fact, the album just celebrated its one-year anniversary on September 20. Although Jaime isn’t exactly a new album anymore, Howard continues to promote it on TV, because she is just that undeniable of a performer.

She performed “Goat Head” on The Tonight Show in June, and she returned to late-night yesterday with a Late Late Show performance of “Baby.” Joined by a band on a stage in an empty concert venue, Howard nailed the soulful and bluesy ballad, once again flexing her otherworldly vocal chops and showmanship while also letter her band members shine during the song’s jammier sections.

The Jaime album has been out for a while now, but Howard is finding ways to keep it relevant. For example, she is fresh off the release of a two-pack of remixes of the album’s songs. She got some esteemed colleagues to help her out, too: Earthgang took on “Goat Head,” while Bon Iver took a stab at re-working “Short And Sweet.”

Meanwhile, Howard recently covered an all-time classic, Funkadelic’s “You And Your Folks, Me and My Folks,” as part of a Spotify Sessions release.

Watch Howard perform “Baby” on The Late Late Show above.

Last week, Rolling Stone compiled lists from over 300 music critics and professionals to create their comprehensive roundup of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time. Of course, many submissions were for veteran acts like Bob Dylan and The Beatles, but other honorable mentions had the Rolling Stone staff scratching their heads. Then, they realized: Beastie Boys‘ Ad-Rock had submitted a handful of completely made-up album names.

Of course, some of the artists on Ad-Rock’s list of 50 picks are unquestionably real. While many may not have heard of psych rockers Ultimate Spinach, the artist Phil Collins is sure to ring a bell. But staffers were confused to see names like Juan Epstein’s Boogaloo In Brooklyn or Dr. Funk-A-Dunk’s Out Of Bounds On The Dance Floor.

Ad-Rock has yet to respond to Rolling Stone out-ing his fake list, but he was sure to have had a chuckle after being the very first person to send in his picks.

Check out Ad-Rock’s full list below.

1. Macka B — Sign Of The Times
2. Grits and Gravy — Nuthin’ But The Good Stuff
3. The Frank Figueora Funk Ensemble — Double Bang Bang
4.Chirp — The City Ain’t Tough Enough
5.Sergeant Crikey — It Mek Dem Bubble
6. Hugo Strasser — TanzHits ’71
7. Ultimate Spinach — Ultimate Spinach
8. The Outta Controls — I Need New Friends
9. The Lover’s 2 — Slip Into Something More Fantastical
10. Merv Gelter — Unlinked Passages And Patterns
11. Danice Wilder — Funk Your Body Down
12. Strategic Orchestrations — My Suzuki Sierra Is Bumpin’
13. Jan Pfundt — Gekreuzte Drähte
14. Pops Willard — Bus Station Situation
15. Janice Montcrieff — Pour Me Another Glass Of Whine, You Baby
16. The Dapper Duo — Your Freaky Touch
17. Urszula Dudziak — Urszula
18. Miss Sally Murdoch — Turn Me On When The The Lights Go Off
19. The Cosmonauts (Featuring Shep Greenley) — Bump That Funky Bump
20. Digitz — Why Is That Again?
21. The Satin Velvettes — Sooth My Mood
22. Ebbet Maynfield — Flutes A Plenty
23. Video Kids — Woodpeckers From Space
24. The Pete Smith Quintet — Dynamism
25. Amy Cranterston — The Strength Of The Willow’s Shadows
26. Ruff-N-Ready — We Rhyme Right
27. Phil Collins — Dance Into The Light
28. Westbeth — Down In The Basement (Where The Funk Grows)
29. The Captain — 22lb Turkey
30. Monotony — Witness The Rampage
31. The Tremont High School Drum Line — Marching Band Favorites
32. Chip Button — Drums Are My Bag
33. Crabby Appleton — Rotten To The Core
34. Dr. Funk-A-Dunk — Out Of Bounds On The Dance Floor
35. Bridget Everett and The Tender Moments — Pound It
36. The Clarence Widley Orchestra — Boxcar Business (Original Soundtrack)
37. Melancholia — Exploration Interflection
38. Al Carlton — Too Smooth
39. Earl Wilson — Jr., Let My People Come (A Sexual Musical)
40. Khia — Thug Misses
41. The Dunes of Distance — Equanimity
42. General Echo — 12″ Of Pleasure
43. Aileen Mccullough — An Oiread Sin Báistí
44. Sweet Lou — Already On It
45. The T-Bones — No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach Is In)
46. Ladies And Lords — The Mod Way
47. Crianças Loucas — é Meu Agora
48. Juan Epstein — Boogaloo In Brooklyn
49. Little Marcy — Happy Day Express
50. Carmine Rittzi — Freak Your Way Out Of This One

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

The Miami Heat have had an incredible run thus far to the NBA Finals, taking out the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in five games and the third-seeded Boston Celtics in six to advance to their first Finals since their Big Three disbanded in 2014. Poetically, they get to go up against the man who left in LeBron James.

The Lakers are heavy favorites to win the series, but then again, Miami has been an underdog in their last two series and came out on top. To do so against the Lakers would require their best performance yet, something they’re well aware of as Jimmy Butler noted they’ll have to be “perfect” to beat LeBron and company. To accomplish that, there are three keys to this series that can help swing the series in favor of the Heat.

1. Goran Dragic has to continue to be stellar

The Heat have gotten tremendous play from Dragic, Jimmy Butler, and Bam Adebayo in the playoffs thus far, which has to continue in the Finals, but of those three the one that figures to have the most favorable matchup is Dragic. The Lakers have gotten quality play out of Rajon Rondo and Alex Caruso at the point guard spot this postseason, but neither have played to the level of Dragic. The Heat point guard has been sensational, averaging 20.9 points, 4.7 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game on a 45.2/36.3/81.4 shooting split and has outplayed his point guard opposition — Malcolm Brogdon, Eric Bledsoe, and Kemba Walker — in each series thus far.

In this series, he should pretty easily be able to win that matchup again, but the Heat will need him to be more than good. Caruso has proven to be an excellent on-ball defender who applies strong ball pressure, and while Rondo isn’t the defender he once was, he’s come up with some big steals late in games thanks to his aggressiveness and savvy. Dragic has been terrific at protecting the ball with just 2.5 turnovers per game, but he’ll encounter much more on-ball pressure in this series. The Lakers halfcourt offense is something you can slow down, but they are nigh impossible to handle in transition, and it’ll be incumbent on Dragic in particular to be smart with the basketball and not create fast break opportunities for the Lakers. He’s been, at times, Miami’s best player in this postseason, and if he can continue playing at that level against L.A., it will be the best positional matchup advantage the Heat have on the floor.

2. How effective will the Heat’s zone defense be?

Against Boston, Miami played an unbelievable amount of zone to great effect, particularly early in the series. While the Celtics would eventually figure some things out against the zone, it played into Miami’s strengths in terms of jumping passing lanes and having a number of players with great hands to force turnovers and get out in transition. No one hunts mismatches like LeBron James, and as such, I’d expect Miami to go to the zone a decent amount to try and keep him off balance and make L.A. execute some zone offense that might take the ball out of James’ hands more.

That said, the Lakers have spent the past few days watching Miami tape and have surely been devising a zone offense knowing they’re going to at least try that out early. The Heat love the zone especially when they have their best offensive lineups on the floor — those with Dragic and at least one of Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro — because it takes away the opportunity to try and get them in one-on-one situations. If Miami’s zone can slow down the Lakers and force them into jump shots, that’s a huge win for Miami and they’ll continue going to it throughout the series. If the Lakers are able to break them down by getting the ball into the middle of the zone with Anthony Davis — as Boston started to do with Daniel Theis — and their others are able to cut off the ball and create good looks at the rim that way, the Heat may have to deviate from the zone plan and play more man, which seems to be a big advantage for the Lakers.

3. Make this the series the Heat get hot from deep

The Heat were the second best three-point shooting team in the regular season, hitting 37.9 percent of their attempts from deep. In the playoffs, that’s dipped to 35.7 percent, which is just two-tenths of a percentage point higher than the Lakers (35.5 percent). As the underdog, they simply have to get hot from three, which they are more than capable of but haven’t yet done in the playoffs. Their biggest volume shooters have all shot the ball worse in the postseason than they did in the regular season, even if guys like Robinson (40 percent) and Herro (37.8 percent) are still shooting it well. Jae Crowder, who was a 44.5 percent shooter in his 20 regular season games in Miami, has fallen off a cliff, back to being a 34.4 percent shooter in the playoffs, while Kelly Olynyk, who hit 40 percent in the regular season, has likewise dropped off to a 31 percent clip in limited minutes this postseason.

In this series, they simply need their role guys to hit shots. While that’s something that every team benefits from, for Miami, it’s going to be critical if they’re to get past this Lakers defense that does such a good job of walling off the rim. There are open looks to be had for your secondary options, but they have to hit them. It’s something Denver and Houston’s shooters couldn’t do consistently enough, particularly in key situations, but Miami’s shooters are, when cooking, better. That Miami’s made it this far with pedestrian shooting is a testament to their what they’ve been able to do getting to the rim, but now is the time to get hot to really apply some pressure to the Lakers.

Fall is here, and with it comes a solid month or two of wildly variable weather. Some phantom hot days; a few surprisingly cold nights. That means variable beer drinking, too. It’s time to finish off your summery IPAs on the hotter days of the season and crack open your barrel-aged stouts on the chilly eves.

Since we cover IPAs aplenty, we’re turning our attention today to barrel-aged stouts. While we always enjoy a malty, roasted stout, the act of barreling only makes them richer and more flavorful. For those unaware, a barrel-aged beer is a beer that’s been aged for a few months (sometimes more) in a wooden barrel. Usually, an ex-bourbon barrel — where the effects of the maturation impart a silky sweet essence and rich flavors of vanilla and butterscotch into the beer.

Over the past decade, breweries all over the country (and the world) have tried their hand at barrel-aging stouts. To find out the best of the best, we decided to once again go to the pros — asking a handful of well-known bartenders to tell us their favorite bourbon barrel-aged stouts for fall.

Finkel and Garf Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

Jess Thorson, bartender at TORO Kitchen & Lounge at Viceroy Snowmass in Snowmass, Colorado

Finkel and Garf from Boulder, Colorado make a great Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. It is a strong /heavy stout but super smooth. It’s roasty, malty, and full of rich chocolate flavor.

Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout

Zach Wilks, bartender at Anthony’s Chophouse in Carmel, Indiana

Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout is my personal favorite barrel-aged stout. It’s aged in bourbon barrels, that also got used to age Maple Syrup. It’s an absolutely fantastic mixture of maple sweetness and vanilla-filled bourbon.

Great Divide Barrel Aged Yeti

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Great Divide barrel-aged their Yeti stout and it really caught my attention. The flavors of the Yeti Imperial Stout are only deepened and highlighted by the whiskey components introduced from the aging process.

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Jeremy Allen, bartender at MiniBar in Los Angeles

Founders in Michigan is one of the best breweries in the country, and their KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) truly is a world-class product. I can’t actually remember using the term “world-class” on beer before, but here you go.

Cave aged in bourbon barrels for a year, this one emerges as a potent (12.8%) chocolaty, maple-filled beast.

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout

Daniel Gamiño, assistant food and beverage manager at Banyan Tree Cabo Marques in Acapulco, Mexico

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout Barrel-aged Imperial Stout is the perfect pairing for a warm pumpkin pie with its notes of cinnamon, cocoa, and toasted nuts. It also feels like a warm hug, with every sip with its complete but balanced body. This particular stout has also voasts some sherry notes from the barrel — matching perfectly with a pumpkin pie.

2nd Shift Barrel Aged Black Noise

Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis

2nd Shift Barrel Aged Black Noise is one I genuinely enjoy. An imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels for five months and drinks at a high-ish ABV.

Sweet but balanced out by the rich and roasty profile. It’s noisy, but not loud.

Shepherd Neame Double Stout

Efren López Fernandez, bartender at Banyan Tree Mayakoba in Play del Carmen, Mexico

Shepherd Neame Double Stout. This is because I love the hops notes that are not so aggressive, at the same time the aromas of chocolate and coffee are really subtle

Writer’s Picks:

Firestone Walker Parabola

This 14 percent imperial stout was aged for a full year in ex-bourbon barrels. The result is a rich, subtly sweet, dark beer with hints of dark chocolate, toasted caramel, and pleasing vanilla.

Bell’s Black Note

They should have called this Bell’s two notes because this indulgent beer was made by combining the brand’s Expedition Stout and its Double Cream Stout before aging the liquid in ex-bourbon barrels for a few months.

Three Floyd’s Dark Lord

This 15 percent Russian Imperial Stout was made with Mexican vanilla, real coffee, and Indian sugar. It’s barrel-aged and eagerly awaited by its fans when it’s released every year on “Dark Lord Day.”

Fans learned just hours ago that Shawn Mendes is up to something. This morning, he wrote on twitter, “WHAT IS #WONDER.” A few hours after that, he shared a teaser video, which features him performing 90 seconds of a song in a magical apartment. At that point, it wasn’t exactly clear what was going on, but he quickly confirmed that he has a new song called “Wonder” dropping this Friday, October 2, and an album called Wonder coming out on December 4.

The full tracklist isn’t currently available, but pre-order links indicate that the album has 14 tracks and begins with an “Intro” track before moving onto the title track. Furthermore, Mendes also shared a link to whatiswonder.com, which features a 3D room (the one from the teaser video) that users can navigate from a fixed perspective. The interactive site features a piece of paper on the floor titled “Set list,” and it goes on to list out what are presumably 14 song titles: “The Intro,” “Wonder,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” “Lost In Japan!,” “Nervous,” “Never Be Alone,” “Look Up At The Stars,” “Lost Ones,” “305-745-7485,” “Why,” “Always Been You,” “Monster (w special guest),” “Higher,” and “Picture Of The Moon.”

Check out the Wonder album art below, and watch the teaser video above.

Wonder is out 12/4 via Island. Pre-order it here.

The Eric Andre Show is like if the Gremlins programmed a television show. It’s stupid and loud and chaotic, and I love every second of it. I also love that after a four-year break (not including specials), The Eric Andre Show is back next month. Adult Swim just released a trailer for the new season showing Andre destroying the set, as per usual, but also choking a clown with balloons, ripping his own head off and kicking it into a soccer goal, and getting shot, followed by his corpse crumbling into dust and bone.

Like I said, chaos.

“I waxed my entire body, got over 200 pounds, and slept in a tanning bed,” Andre told Entertainment Weekly about the new season. “I also got a new, super ‘expensive’ set that looks like Liberace f*cked a Japanese game show. This is the season of ultimate decadence.” As for celebrity drop-ins, Judy Greer, Blake Griffin, Luis Guzman, Omarion, Adam Rippon, Dermot Mulroney, Tia Carrere, Robin Givens, and Jai Rodriguez will look on in confusion as Andre and co-host Hannibal Buress talk about ladders, or whatever. The previously-announced musical guests include Lil Yachty, Joey Bada$$, Anderson .Paak, Toro y Moi, Big Freedia, Machine Gun Kelly, Odd Future’s Taco, and Grimes. (The thought of Elon Musk watching this is too much for me to handle.)

The Eric Andre Show premieres Sunday, October 25, at 12 a.m. EST on Adult Swim.

On Tuesday night, after watching that thing — it’s pretty tough to call it a “debate” — there was Stephen Colbert afterward waiting, live, to comfort us like a hot plate of macaroni and cheese. And that’s not to say Colbert wasn’t short-circuiting Tuesday night like a lot of us were, but what made it comforting was, away from the post-debate news analysis, it’s human nature to want to ask someone, “Hey, that was messed up, right?” And Colbert was there live last night to tell us, “Yes. Yes, it was.” Or, specifically, after CNN’s Dana Bash called the debate a “shit show,” Colbert pointed out that after a 90-minute poop, we usually feel better. The thing is, over the last six months Colbert’s show has felt comforting in a way I wasn’t expecting. I honestly can’t get enough of him right now.

Now, this is surprising to me because I wasn’t a huge fan of his show pre-pandemic. Sure, I loved The Colbert Report, but ever since Colbert took over The Late Show in 2015 there’s been a weird disconnect. He’s never seemed truly comfortable. (Remember when things were going bad enough there were rumors he was going to be replaced by James Corden? Could you imagine that now?) It’s hard to pinpoint, but it’s as if Colbert couldn’t quite figure out who he was performing for between his live audience and the at-home viewer. We have to remember, Colbert isn’t a standup comedian (like his predecessor David Letterman). He came from the world of sketch comedy. He’s a performer. His previous gigs as a host on The Colbert Report and a correspondent on The Daily Show were performances. Then he was basically being asked to go out there and be something that kind of went against his natural tendencies. And it was, at times, pretty awkward. During interviews, he’d sometimes drift back into his Colbert “character” almost as a defense mechanism, and what was funny on his old show now became rude. And, strangely, he’d then find himself going for the cheapest laugh possible to rile up his audience, then have to later apologize.

Look, he certainly got better over the last five years, but something just always seemed off. Like Colbert still didn’t quite know what to do and, frankly, that he wasn’t all together enjoying the experience. And then the pandemic hit…

Colbert was the first late-night host to start broadcasting from home. At first, it was crude, little snippets filmed on his phone to introduce some older clips. But, back then, god, it was great just to see anyone at all. To know there were other people out there stuck at home just like us. And I also know this put pressure on the other late-night shows to start producing shows at home. Shows that thought, without a studio, they’d just be off indefinitely. It wasn’t long before Colbert was holding what felt like fireside chats from his house. Even the nook of his house he chose as his backdrop was comforting. Colbert, free from having to make an in-studio audience laugh, suddenly found his voice. His natural instinct of performing for a camera was well-suited for his (and our) current situation. Colbert’s warmth and empathy, somehow often missing from his regular show, now became the focal point of what he was doing every night. Colbert became less an entertainer, less a character, and presented himself as a Stephen Colbert, human being. This late night show I used to find awkward and forced, now became something I had to watch every night – a strange beacon of hope and humanity in a dark, anxiety-filled time.

On his show, Colbert says he misses the audience, but I’m not convinced that’s true. Oh, sure, I suspect he does miss the applause when something lands, but I’m not convinced he misses having to cater the show around that. What we see now is the pure essence of what he wants to do and the show is better for it. He honestly seems happier – and not about the way the world is going or our current predicaments – but, as a host, he seems looser and enjoying himself much more. It’s hard to fake that. A thing he’s done is he leaves in a lot of his mistakes, and the subsequent laughter that follows. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him express as much joy as he does now.

Also, his interviews have improved drastically. It’s almost as if, before, he was more worried about entertaining the audience than conducting an interesting interview, which often wound up at odds with each other. Now, he’s somehow more focused and more freewheeling, willing to go down strange tangents, not worrying if the audience right in front of him understands or not. But, regardless, Colbert is actually talking to people now. He’s listening to what they are saying as opposed to thinking of a witty comeback, or whatever, to get the audience going. Even his nightly chats with Jon Batiste have taken on more importance. It felt like in the past he was just “checking in with the band,” as opposed to now when he genuinely wants to get Batiste’s opinions on current events. Batiste isn’t even in the same state as Colbert, yet he feels like a much bigger part of the show. Honestly, he’s a completely different host now.

Look, I want the world to go back to normal. Living in New York City these past few months have been, let’s say, “trying.” And with winter coming, I suspect things will get worse again before they ever get better. But the one exception is Stephen Colbert. I like this format. I don’t want it to go back to the way it was. He’s much better like this. It’s like cozying up to hang out with a fun, empathetic buddy every night. Or, again, like last night, to be comforted by someone saying, “Hey, you’re right, that was pretty nuts.” To sit there and agonize on-screen about what that chaotic debate — fueled by a seemingly feral President of the United States — means for the country. He was live every night during both conventions, trying to make sense of it all. And every night I watched, just happy to hear a sensible human voice. He wasn’t going for laughs (though he still had those) as much as he was going for some semblance of sanity. Over the last six months, Colbert has finally found his way as host of The Late Show, and it was just in time.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.