Download the mp3 here.

Every year, the fine folks over at Name Of The Year Draft release their March Madness bracket of the funniest real humans’ names that they’ve discovered over the course of the past year. Here at the Frotcast, we’ve been doing an annual name of the year draft based on those names for… God, at least eight or nine years now. Maybe a decade. Anyway, Name of the Year released their 2020 bracket this past week. It’s our favorite time of the year by far, and this year we brought back one of our Founding Frotters, Brendan, who gets more joy out of silly names than probably any human alive. Also joining for the draft is Laremy Legel, who has been guesting since Whoop Dreams.

Other topics include: Laremy’s vast tracts of lands, getting quarantine haircuts from your significant other, and your voicemails. But let’s be honest, you’re here for the name draft. Here are the squads:

Team Brendan
Rembertus Beerepoot
Mathdaniel Squirrel
Nazareth Pantaloni III
Carmelo Mustaccio
Gimadiah Scrogum
(from Vince) Dr. Floun’say Caver

Team Vince
Katie Smrcka-Duffy Fudd
Learjet De La Cruz
Hannah Moody-Goo
Gravity Goldberg
Dudley Onderdonk
(from Laremy) Robespierre Bolivar

Team Laremy
Kokaine Mothershed
Dhanmite Slappey
Lowell Snorff III
Courvoisier Dingle
Green Wix Unthank
(From Matt) Rod Ghods

Team Matt
Smoki Bacon
Zebulon Vermillion
Gennaro Bizzaro
Adolphus Hailstork
Stetson President
(from Brendan) Fatjon Cake

EMAIL us at [email protected], leave us a voicemail at 415-275-0030.

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The chase for Vandegrift High School prospect Greg Brown took on a heightened focus in recent weeks as the NBA G League targeted Brown for its new Select Team in southern California. Rather than opt for the uncertainty around that program, Brown committed on Friday afternoon to the University of Texas, which has become a bridge for talented big men to become NBA first-round picks.

Since Shaka Smart took over at Texas in 2015, the program has turned Jarrett Allen, Mo Bamba, and Jaxson Hayes into high draft picks. Brown will hope to follow in their footsteps.

“Their message to me was to just come in and be that alpha player they need for next year and I know coach [Shaka] Smart can help me develop my game for the next level,” Brown told Yahoo Sports.

The player development aspect is the most important part of Brown’s decision. The G League Select Team still does not have a coaching staff or a roster outside of Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd, two other extremely talented recruits who took the plunge. Brown could not know for sure that the Select Team would be a good environment in which he could improve his game, whereas Texas has a clear track record, particularly with big men.

After playing high school ball outside of Austin, Brown will stay within the familiar confines of the city for college. He will join a squad that improved during Big 12 play and finished 19-12, with upperclassmen Andrew Jones and Matt Coleman returning to fill out the starting backcourt.

“I got over having mono like three days before Coachella, so this feels a bit like deja vu,” recalls Wallows vocalist/lead guitarist Braeden Lemasters. With all three members of the band raised in California, Wallows’ Coachella debut in 2019 was a watershed moment for the fledgling indie band. However, a year later, instead of celebrating their continued success the road, the group is relegated to reliving their big moment from their couch as part of Warner Music Group’s PlayOn Fest. Playing throughout the weekend on the Songkick YouTube channel, the virtual festival revisits outstanding live performances from recent years, in support of the World Health Organization.

“It’s so funny because this was actually the first proper show of tour after our debut record came out,” explains drummer Cole Preston. “It was our first time playing new gear, first time using in-ear monitors. There were a million firsts happening at once.” Additionally, while the average viewer might not notice a different, Coachella was the first time the band was playing many of the songs from their debut album Nothing Happens live. “Realistically, I wish they had Weekend Two footage,” vocalist/rhythm guitarist Dylan Minnette says with a laugh.

When PlayOn Festival started to take shape, the band jumped at the opportunity to be involved. “It was important to us to do something for the people who care,” says Minnette. “Plus, we’re in really good company,” adds Preston, a nod to the festival’s massive multi-day lineup that includes Green Day, Paramore, The War On Drugs, Death Cab For Cutie, and many more.

Stuck in their homes, the band’s main focus is to continue writing their second album. Fans are chomping at the bit for new Wallows material. Just after the world went into lockdown, the band shared the single “OK,” their first new music since the release of Nothing Happens. The song was streamed upwards of one million times in its first week. “In a way, it’s sort of nice to do nothing but write. We’re writing a ton of songs,” says Preston. “We’re inspired to put something out during this time,” Minnette adds. “We’re asking ourselves, ‘what can we do right now to give people something.’”

Of course, having the luxury of space to write can’t replace the electricity of a live show. Watching their Coachella set again later this weekend, Wallows will be reminded of what they are missing on the road. “I can’t wait to go back,” Minnette declares. “I can’t wait to play again.”

Check out Wallows performance as part of PlayOn Fest here on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. EST.

Top Dawg Entertainment is closing out TDE Appreciation Week with a bang as fiery Del Amo-based label member Reason puts his own spin on a hip-hop classic with an animated video for “Might Not Make It.” Reason borrows the concept of the 1997 Mase posse cut “24 Hours To Live” to ponder what he might do with his last day on Earth.

The original Harlem World classic, which featured Black Rob, DMX, and The Lox, was half paranoid fantasy, half horrorcore nightmare as Mase and his guests hypothesized that they’d do things like giving financial advice in the hood, leaving money for their families, play the lottery, have a lot of sex, and commit acts of terrorism (seriously, DMX raps about blowing himself up in the middle of Wall Street).

Reason tones it down, but only a little. The sex fantasies remain intact — Reason name-checks Lori Harvey, Rihanna, and the Kardashians — while he limits his terrorism to assassinating Donald Trump, leaking labelmate Kendrick Lamar’s unreleased music, and killing fake rappers who perpetrate a thuggish image with tattoos and gold teeth. The animated video — directed by Egomeli Hormeku and animated by Emonee Larussa –plays out Reason’s lyrics as cartoonish graphics on his phone, scrolling through an Instagram-inspired social media app.

TDE Appreciation Week — the label’s way to pay homage to founder Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith — kicked off on Monday with Ab-Soul’s “Dangerookipawaa Freestyle” for Top Dawg’s birthday. It also included the return of another long-lost member of the crew, Isaiah Rashad, with his song “Why Worry” and the announcement that Top Dawg had paid the rent for over 300 residents of his hometown.

Watch the video for “Might Not Make It” above.

Earlier this year, Bright Eyes signaled a triumphant return by relaunching their social media accounts. Shortly after revving up their online presence, the band released the lead single “Persona Non Grata” as their first new material in nearly a decade. Bright Eyes unveiled a handful of tour dates across North America, accompanied by Japanese Breakfast and Lucy Dacus. However, after the onset of the global pandemic, Bright Eyes have decided to postpone all upcoming US tour dates.

Making the sullen announcement on social media, Bright Eyes said they have to “re-think” their upcoming tour. In a handwritten letter, the band thanked fans for their patience and gave an update to their 2020 tour dates.

“Thank you for your patience,” the band wrote. “Regretfully, yet predictably, we have had to re-think many of our upcoming tour dates. We hope to be in a better position to gather and celebrate at a later date. Regarding all US tour dates: existing tickets are valid for rescheduled and postponed dates. Refunds are available for all shows — canceled or not.”

Bright Eyes ended the message by urging fans to stay safe: “Take care of yourselves. Take care of others. Hope to see you on the road.”

Read Bright Eyes’ full message above.

While appearing on The Today Show, Hugh Jackman opened up about agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in his “feud” with Ryan Reynolds. The Wolverine actor says his main concern is Blake Lively, and not so much Reynolds, who Jackman couldn’t resist taking a few jabs at. Here’s what he said on TODAY:

“It is not over. But look, we’re in extraordinary times. [My wife] actually said to me, really, this is a time to rethink all that and maybe it’s time to build a bridge. I wasn’t ready for that, but then Blake [Lively] reached out. Blake and Deb have been brokering this thing and we came up with participating in the All In Challenge. “We’ve been reaching out to Blake, we talked to her, ’cause can you imagine quarantine, stuck in the house with Ryan? It must be brutal for her. So we’re really reaching out.’

You can watch the full clip below:

Earlier in the week, Jackman and Reynolds announced that they’d be pausing their feud to take part in the #ALLinCHALLENGE. The two have offered to run a lemonade stand together for one randomly chosen bidder who donates to the efforts to make sure America’s most vulnerable communities are still being fed during the pandemic.

The #ALLinCHALLENGE has been netting big name stars left and right ever since Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro joined forces to offer one lucky fan a walk-on role in their upcoming Martin Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon. They were quickly joined by Ellen DeGeneres, who’s auctioning off a chance to be her co-host for the day and Matthew McConaughey who will hang with one lucky fan at a University of Austin football game. With Jackman and Reynolds getting in on the act, it’s only a matter of time before even more celebrities start going “all in.”

(Via CBR)

When the news cycle and ridiculous current timeline of real life starts getting to you, where do you turn? Animal videos, of course. Give us allllll the animal videos. Cute ones, funny ones, mind-blowingly unbelievable ones. All the animals all the time, please.

The Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary Facebook page shared a video montage of animals hugging and kissing and dancing with their human friends, and it’s just the injection of pure joy we could all use right now.

Come on, the bee with the high five? The oh-so-snuggly duck? The seal who decided to use a camerawoman as a mattress? So precious.

(Note: We wanted to point out a caveat to the sweetness and fun of the video. There is a brief scene that shows orangutans in human clothing, which is obviously not a natural state for them. Though it looks like they are having fun interacting with people, there’s no way to know if or how they were trained to behave. We don’t condone training wild animals to interact with or perform for humans.)

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We all need little wins here and there to get through a life of social distancing and heartbreak during the coronavirus pandemic, but one lucky Wheel of Fortune winner doing important work in the real world got a special surprise from Vanna White.

The letter-toucher and occasional host of Wheel of Fortune went the extra mile to celebrate one winner from an episode the show taped earlier in the year before the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to safely tape new Wheel episodes. That winner, Arzo Mehdavi, took down a bonus puzzle worth $37,000 in an episode that aired on Thursday night.

The show posted a special thank you video for Mehdavi once it aired because she’s an emergency room nurse from Hayward, California, and happened to take home $57,000 on the night. She also got a special guest from White as a result. According to People, White dropped into Mehdavi’s watch party to thank the nurse for her work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The show’s co-host White surprised Mehdavi and her crew with the virtual drop-in visit, to congratulate the winner and chat with her guests.

“If I can bring her any kind of joy for all the hard work and dedication she has given to so many, I would do it a thousand times,” White, 63, tells PEOPLE. “It’s just overwhelming what they are doing, so it makes me feel so good to give back just a touch. It’s nothing for what they do for us.”

To pull off the socially distant surprise, White used Zoom. “It’s the next best thing, right?” she says.

It’s a really nice gesture from White, especially during a time where celebrating little things has become difficult. Watching yourself appear on a game show is cause for celebration that might include a big house party, something that simply isn’t safe right now. But a visit from Vanna, even via Zoom, is a pretty cool consolation prize.

Oh, and the $57,000 probably helps a bit, too.

To help Marvel fans pass the time as large swaths of the population is trapped indoors, director James Gunn hosted a Quarantine Watch Party on Twitter for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. on Thursday night. Not only did Gunn live-tweet hilarious and insightful behind-the-scene facts, but he also spent hours graciously fielded questions about the fan-favorite sequel. In fact, he’s still answering as of the writing, but to save you time of sifting through Gunn’s entire Twitter account, here are some of the best takeaways from the GOTG Vol 2. Watch Party.

The Mary Poppins Line Was Almost R-Rated

One of the favorite and most quotable lines from the film is when Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) are slowly descending from an exploding ship. When Quill notices that Yondu looks like a certain British nanny with his arm extended like he’s holding an umbrella, Yondu yells out, “I’m Mary Poppins, y’all!”

Well, it turns out that line almost came out very differently.

Kurt Russell Could Not Get Star-Lord’s Name Right

Landing Kurt Russell to play Quill’s dad Ego was a huge get for both Gunn and Pratt, who couldn’t believe they scored a chance to work with the legendary actor. But as filming began, Russell apparently struggled with saying the characters’ names, specifically the most important one.

Why Ego Told Quill That He Killed His Mother

During the climactic moment when Ego reveals that he murdered Quill’s mother, Gunn reveals that this scene reinforces that Quill “truly is an outlaw” because he “doesn’t hesitate for a moment to shoot his own father in the face.” But what fans want to know is why Ego revealed the dark secret in the first place, and Gunn was ready with a two-part answer.

The Theme Of Family And Fatherhood Was Very Personal To Gunn

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is often lauded for its emotional underpinnings as the film centers around Quill finally meeting his biological father only to finally realize that Yondu was his “real” father all along, which makes the ending even more devastating. As Gunn candidly reveals, his own parents were in the film during the Earth scene when Ego’s seed activates. Unfortunately, Gunn’s father recently passed away, and Gunn wanted to make sure everyone knows that the Guardians sequel was dedicated to his late dad.

The Funniest Moment On Set

Considering how many jokes and humorous moments are jam-packed into the Guardians movie, you’d think Gunn would be hard-pressed to have a favorite. But the director specifically remembers one scene that left him unable to contain himself.

Like Easter Eggs? Here’s Where To Look

While the Marvel movies are known for hiding Easter Eggs for eagle-eyed fans to spot, Gunn is practically a master at tucking them into his films and daring fans to find them all. Only this time around, he’s being a tad more generous and telling fans that there’s one particular scene that’s loaded with hidden goodies, and the replies are already loaded with guesses.

Happy hunting!

(Via James Gunn on Twitter)