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If you’re going to preview a new song, a commercial for headphones might be the perfect place to do it. Singer Normani joins the likes of Diddy, Saweetie, and Vince Staples in using a business partnership to prime a new music release. In this case, it’s “Candy Paint,” Normani’s first single in a year, which she previewed in a clip promoting Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds II and QuietComfort 45 Headphones.

In the clip, Normani practices dance moves and scribbles in a notebook while surrounded by magazine clippings and other inspirational, mood board-esque trappings. In a voiceover, she addresses some of the criticisms against her, saying, “People sometimes confuse my commitment to the craft with perfectionism.” However, she rebuts, “I don’t strive for perfection… I strive to be the most authentic version of myself… I strive to create work that moves my spirit.”

Meanwhile, in a Billboard interview about the new song and commercial, Normani revealed her inspirations for “Candy Paint.” “I really wanted to create a record that allowed me to show my personality,” she said. “I feel like there’s a misconception; it probably has everything to do with my social media. [Laughs] I think that people think I’m so serious, which is the complete opposite [of me]. Anybody that really knows me knows that I’m really funny. I’m a goofball! I love to twerk. [Laughs] I’m just regular. I really wanted to create a record that encompassed that and allowed my personality to shine. It’s a performance record first, which I know my fans have been waiting for, for a very long time. It’s fun, energetic, bossy. It’s bold. It’s sassy but assertive, and yeah, I’m really excited to shoot the music video.”

Normani previously rebutted her online critics in a blunt tweet after one commenter accused her of being “comfortable” and asserted “you’re not HUNGRY anymore.” “Just shut the f*ck up,” Normani replied, cutting straight to the chase. It’s not like she hasn’t been working, after all; earlier this year, she voiced a character much like herself on The Proud Family: Louder And Prouder and partnered with Fabletics (which also produces Lizzo’s Yitty line) for a limited-edition clothing line of performance wear.

Meanwhile, the description for the Bose ad — which you can watch above — says Normani’s debut album is “finally on the cusp,” so it looks like fans’ patience will pay off soon enough.

Pat Sajak, the host of Wheel of Fortune since 1983, a full 40 years now, announced this week that he will step down at the end of the current season. This means two things, primarily. The first is that we have now pretty much completed our longtime game show host turnover, with Drew Carey in at The Price Is Right for Bob Barker and the Jenning/Bialik team in at Jeopardy for Alex Trebek. It truly is the end of an era there. It’s a little weird to think about.

This brings us to the second thing: We, uh, need a new host for Wheel of Fortune. And I have some ideas. Are they good ideas? I mean… kind of. To me. Maybe not to you or the people actually conducting the search, but still. You guys should get your own pop culture column and write about it if you think you’re so great.

I’m sorry for snapping. I get excited. Here we go…

Ryan Seacrest

Seacrest is the oddsmakers’ favorite so far. He has hosting experience galore and a big hole in his schedule after leaving Kelly Ripa to handle the mornings herself and he had a long history with Merv Griffin, whose company owns the whole show. It doesn’t take a leap of imagination to picture him doing it, either. Close your eyes now and imagine him standing in Sajak’s spot, with a suit on and some cards in his hands. It plays. Maybe not the most exciting option on the board, but I don’t think “excitement” is what the Wheel crowd is looking for anyway.

It looks like the ball is rolling in that direction, too.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … Ryan is an option to replace Pat and he’s been talking to Sony about potentially taking over for the retiring host. We’re told Ryan has some time in his schedule now to possibly make this work, as he’s no longer on “LIVE with Kelly and Ryan.”

Which is, like, fine. I don’t know. There’s not really too much to add here beyond what is already in front of our faces, so let’s just go ahead and post the tweet where Sylvester Stallone implied Seacrest can beat up Jean-Claude Van Damme.

The ending of this tweet — “ASK STEVE AUSTIN, he knows” — is maybe the most fascinating collection of words I have ever seen.

Whoopi Goldberg

Seacrest might be the favorite because of his credentials hosting big events and competitions, but Whoopi is arguably more qualified just on the basis of being an EGOT winner. I like to think that’s her whole application for the gig. Just a picture of her holding all four statues. And make no mistake: Whoopi wants this job. You can tell because she literally said “I want that job” on an episode of The View earlier this week.

When the women asked him for his thoughts on Sajak’s retirement — having stepped into the shoes of an equally iconic host when Alex Trebek died — Jennings joked that “hopefully ‘Wheel’s’ got an envelope somewhere that says ‘What to Do When Pat Packs It In.’”

At that, host Joy Behar chimed in that “Whoopi wants the job,” and the moderator was quick to piggyback on it.

“I want that job,” she confirmed. “I think it would be tons of fun.”

Whoopi would be more fun than Seacrest and it opens the door to one of the other ladies from The View — Joy Behar, let’s say — replacing Vanna White, which would really just be very funny and confusing for the home viewers. Plus, if it happens, the announcement could result in more celebrities accidentally mangling her name via autocorrect, which would be a blast for me.

Let’s keep this option on the table.

Guy Fieri

Guy Fieri pulling up to the wheel in a classic convertible at the beginning of every episode.

Vanna White in the passenger seat, hair blowing.

Lots of food-based puzzles now, like “BACON DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER” and “DISCO FRIES.”

He does every show in a bowling shirt and cargo shorts.

The prize puzzles now are trips to various diners around the country.

It could work.

Sam Richardson

I do not actually want this because I prefer having Sam Richardson free to do a slew of other projects (The Afterparty, various sketches where he plays a game show host on I Think You Should Leave, etc.), but I don’t think there is any denying that the man would be incredible at it. Get him in there with Patti Harrison turning the letters. Go full chaos. Let’s have some fun.

Me

My qualifications are as follows:

• I know all of the letters
• I am very good at the kind of small talk the host does at the beginning of each segment, and please take a short elevator ride with me sometime if you doubt that
• One time in Atlantic City, a lady sitting next to me won like $500 on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine
• I like it when things spin and/or light up
• I love bloopers (see above)

Please consider.

Joe Tessitore and Rob Riggle

A few small changes…

• The wheel is now surrounded by water
• The contestants have to putt a golf ball onto it as it spins and get whatever prize or dollar amount it lands on
• When they want to solve the puzzle, they have to try to run across the spinning wheel without splashing into the moat around it

I realize this is basically just Holey Moley but with puzzles. I know that. But, in my defense… I really do want to see it.

Joe Pera

Joe Pera is a very sweet and very funny man who has a wholesome face and desert-dry delivery and I think it would be a lot of fun to watch the nanas of the world react to him hosting their favorite game show.

The Muppets

Any Muppet will do, really. Kermit as host with an increasingly cranky Miss Piggy turning the letters and doing the little bouncy thing she does when she walks. Gonzo in a little suit grabbing the wheel to give it a final spin and getting stuck in the pegs and whipping around at 1000 miles per hour until he flies off and into the studio audience. Statler and Waldorf up in the balcony mocking the contestants when they get a wrong answer. These are all good ideas.

The funniest would be the Swedish Chef, though, just ARGLE-BARGLING his way through the hosting duties, making no sense, causing mass confusion. Animal is Vanna now. Sometimes we cut to the board and it’s just on fire. You would watch.

Beyonce

I don’t know. I just think it would be funny if we all woke up tomorrow and saw a headline like “Beyonce Agrees To Be The New Host Of Wheel Of Fortune.” That would be wild. People would lose their minds a little bit.

Maybe we do Guy Fieri and Beyonce, where she hosts and he turns the letters. That could work. Let’s not rule it out.

Lindsey Graham stopped by Fox News on Wednesday night to do what he does best lately: get emotional about Donald Trump. The South Carolina has made a habit of growing teary-eyed about the former president’s growing legal problems, and Graham’s appearance on Hannity was no exception.

“They’re trying to destroy his life, it’s not going to work,” Graham said before raising concerns that Trump could be facing an indictment for the January 6 attack on top of the federal charges for mishandling classified documents.

Via Mediaite:

Watch for an indictment in Washington, D.C. You could convict any Republican in America of anything in Washington, D.C. He got 5% of the vote. Here’s what I worry about – that [Special Counsel Jack] Smith will indict President Trump for January 6th activity in Washington, D.C. If he does that, that means he has no confidence in the Florida case. I hope and pray that Mr. Smith will not do that, because that will tear this country apart.

After setting the stage with the threat of another indictment for Trump, Graham was near tears as he whined about the treatment of the former president. However, Graham’s performance only earned him a tepid round of applause from the Fox News studio:

“President Trump has been treated unlike anybody I’ve known in this business and I’ve been around since 1995. What they hate about him the most, he’s broken through to working people,” Graham ranted as he called Trump “a threat to the left unlike anybody since Ronald Reagan.”

“Mr. President, President Trump, talk about the future, pal,” Graham said. “We’ve got your back.”

(Via Mediaite)

Miguel always knew he was destined for greatness. Amid shoddy record deals, less-than-perfect auditions, and false starts, he was always willing to place bets on himself. And now, nearly 20 years since he made his debut as an artist in his own right, he continues to set records with his songs that have proven to stand the test of time. But with four albums under his belt, and even more new music on the way, one of his earliest songs always seems to come back around.

At the time of writing, Miguel’s breakthrough single “Sure Thing” sits at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached this peak back in May, nearly 13 years after the song’s proper release, though many fans remember hearing the song earlier than 2010.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Miguel first shared “Sure Thing” with the world. A version credited to Miguel Jontel with a slightly different mix can be found on YouTube, with a posting date of 2008. In a recent interview with NME, Miguel revealed that he wrote the song in 2007, for consideration for Usher’s 2008 album, Here I Stand.

“I was a struggling artist here in LA, not making any money but trying to get on however I could,” he said. “Writing was one of the things allowing me to get into rooms and to start writing for artists but I had no real placements at the time.”

He shared the song with Mark Pitts, who, instead of giving the song to Usher, flew Miguel out to New York and signed him to Jive.

Around that same time, the song surfaced on MySpace, however, tracking the metrics would prove rather difficult. In 2019, it was reported that over 50 million songs that were uploaded to MySpace before 2015 were lost. But according to a 2014 Vibe article, “Sure Thing” had “over 4.5 million hits when it came out.”

But before “Sure Thing” was conceptualized, Miguel’s sound and aesthetic was completely different. In 2004, he auditioned to be part of R&B and hip-hop group Fatty Koo, however, was not chosen as a member. Shortly after, he signed a deal with independent label Black Ice Records. One of his earliest singles dates back to 2006, in the form of the rhythmic “Getcha Hands Up.” A video was shot, and premiered on BET’s 106 & Park video countdown program, and features Miguel rocking a baggy shirt and jeans.

Upon signing the deal with Jive in 2007, Miguel was sued by Black Ice Records for breach of contract, which would delay the release of his debut album All I Want Is You until 2010, when the case was eventually settled.

When All I Want Is You finally arrived — on November 30, 2010 — “Sure Thing” still sounded fresh and made Miguel one of the pioneers of the alt-R&B wave popularized by artists like himself, and his contemporaries, The Weeknd and Frank Ocean.

All I Want Is You also arrived around the time of the “blog era,” during which time, blogs like 2DopeBoyz, DJBooth, and HotNewHipHop were key players in highlighting new artists. Artists like J.Cole, Wale, Wiz Khalifa – all of whom, Miguel collaborated with – were some of the rappers to emerge during that time. With these collaborations, Miguel garnered much attention for music of his own.

Through the summer of 2011, “Sure Thing” was a hit on hip-hop and R&B radio. Though All I Want Is You had only been out for a few months, the song was about four years old when it was breaking through. In an interview with YouKnowIGotSoul conducted during that summer, Miguel said he felt that “Sure Thing” was a “dated record,” but was overjoyed that people were discovering it and loving it.

“Now that it’s on the radio, it’s just cool to know that the music stood the test of time,” he said.

“Sure Thing” maintained its momentum through 2011, becoming a vital component of the blog era. It reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B And Hip-Hop Songs for that year.

Migue’s story, of course, did not end there. Over the course of the following decade, each of his following albums would offer equally considerable, if not surpassing, hits. 2012’s Kaleidoscope Dream boasted “Adorn” and “How Many Drinks?”, while 2015’s Wildheart included “Coffee” and “Simple Things.” And his most recent album, 2017’s War & Leisure featured the Travis Scott-assisted “Sky Walker.”

And even when Miguel isn’t on an album cycle, most superfans know that he will toy around with a song multiple times for years until he gets it right. The version of “Candles In The Sun” on Miguel’s Art Dealer Chic, Vol. 3 EP features a John Lennon audio soundbite that isn’t on the Kaleidoscope Dream version. The first iteration of “Simple Things,” which appeared on the second soundtrack for HBO’s Girls has a different drum pattern than the final version that appears on Wildheart. Three versions of “Coffee” exist — one featuring Wale, one that replaces the references to coffee with the word “f*cking,” and the solo version that served as Wildheart‘s lead single.

“Sure Thing” is no different, and that became clear as it began to gain popularity on TikTok this past January.

There’s no particular challenge or dance routine for “Sure Thing” as it lives its third life via TikTok, however, a sped-up version of the song is often used in video montages of couples on date nights, makeup influencers’ “get ready with me” videos, and therapeutic home cleaning clips. This particular version marks “Sure Thing’s” third known mix, and has over 3.8 million loops on the video-sharing platform.

Meanwhile, the song was finally sent to pop radio in its normal speed this past February, more than 12 years after its major label release.

As “Sure Thing” has held up during nearly all of the vital eras of modern music – the MySpace era, the blog era, and now, the content era – the song’s newfound success comes as a full circle moment for Miguel. In an interview with Apple Music 1’s The Chart Show, he expressed gratitude for the fans who helped grow “Sure Thing” from an underground staple to a pop culture phenomenon.

“I think it’s an opportunity for people to, hopefully for anyone who likes that song specifically, just get into the journey of it,” he said. “I think there’s something dope about that, that we don’t really get to do, especially because my career started as social media began as well.”

Charlie Puth owes three of his four Grammy nominations to “See You Again,” his ubiquitous 2015 ballad with Wiz Khalifa from the Furious 7 soundtrack.

The Fast And Furious franchise couldn’t end without another contribution from Puth.

On Thursday, June 15, Puth teamed with BTS’ Jimin, JVKE, and Muni Long for “Angel Pt. 2” for the Fast X soundtrack. Yet again, it’s a ballad meant to tug at the heartstrings, building on the original “Angel Pt. 1” from BTS’ Jimin, JVKE, Kodak Black, NLE Choppa, and Muni Long, which came out with the film in May.

The chorus paints a visceral picture: “Angel, don’t fly so close to me / I’ll pull you down eventually / You don’t wanna lose those wings / People like me break beautiful things.”

“I owe so much to this franchise and have always been so proud to be a part of the Fast Family,” Puth said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to come back and collaborate with all of these fantastic artists on ‘Angel Pt. 2.’”

On Wednesday, June 14, Puth took to TikTok (his favorite hobby) to tease the single.

https://www.tiktok.com/@charlieputh/video/7244686661840276779

Other releases from the Fast X soundtrack thus far have included “Gasolina (Safari Riot Remix) featuring Myke Towers within an April trailer of the film and “Won’t Back Down” by Bailey Zimmerman, Dermot Kennedy, and YoungBoy Never Broke Again.

Listen to “Angel Pt. 2” above.

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

Being a Taylor Swift fan is a lot of work. Getting tickets to The Eras Tour was famously difficult, and her Midnights merch gave fans almost too many items to choose from. However, if you couldn’t afford a colored vinyl or a seat at her concert, there’s another option for you.

Confetti from The Eras Tour is being sold by Swifties, according to The Messenger. Ranging from $10 to $200, the confetti is selling at a competitive rate and Swifties are profiting. “Everybody wants everything, but it’s impossible,” a confetti-selling fan named Shelley told the publication. “She makes everything special, and she’ll only put out a certain amount or only certain people can get it. Only floor seats and maybe some of the 100 sections can even get confetti.”

“Taylor Swift has created an insane business model. People are getting mad that I’m selling confetti at like $30. But what’s crazy is that A) people are buying it, and B) you’re in denial thinking Taylor Swift is not a capitalist,” another seller named Jen said. Along with confetti, she resold two crewnecks for The Eras Tour, flipping the $65 pieces for $200 each. She added that Swift has “created a capitalist empire that’s easy for people to jump on.”

Since Heidi Gardner‘s debut on Saturday Night Live in 2017, she’s been pretty clear about her rooting love for her hometown Kansas City Chiefs – often appearing in the show’s sendoff/finale (aka the “goodnights”) dressed head-to-toe in Chiefs gear. Already a standout cast member, this past season Gardner took on an even bigger role with the show after the departure of eight cast members. In fact, of the current cast who appear in sketches, Gardner is now third in seniority (only behind Kenan Thompson and Mikey Day). Gardner had a terrific season, and as she says ahead, it was for her, the most creatively satisfying season of her career.

But, her shining achievement this season just might have been the Travis Kelce episode. Kelce, the star tight end for the Chiefs, had just won his second Super Bowl and has a reputation of being a, let’s say, lively personality and is actually pretty funny (unless you’re a fan of whatever team Kelce is playing that week, then it’s a little less funny). Gardner, as she tells us ahead, had been pitching Kelce for the last two years thinking he’d be a great host. On March 4th, Gardner finally got her wish … and then felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility. What if it didn’t go well? What if Kelce wasn’t having fun? What if she didn’t get on the show that week? Finally, as she tells us, she just had to let go and just enjoy the ride. (By the way, Kelce was incredible and Gardner appears in almost every sketch. And as I mention ahead, I was at the dress rehearsal that night and it was obvious even from the audience what all this meant to Gardner.)

How did you pull off Travis Kelce hosting? How did you even mention this in the first place?

I just usually say that I just did a good job of never shutting my mouth about it. It was probably about two years ago, I think I had just worked with Travis on something, like the ESPYs, and also I just noticed his persona during games and I was like, he’s really funny. He’s charming. He’s personable. I saw him on other telecasts and he seems very comfortable in front of the camera. Every couple of years SNL has an athlete host and I always feel like that’s one of the most exciting types of hosts because no one expects them to be great. So if they are, it’s very cool and very fun for everyone. Something to me just said: Travis Kelce’s the next. I was saying that, it was after the Chiefs had won their second Super Bowl ever…

In 2020, Super Bowl LIV…

Yeah. Then they lost to the Bucs. And then they didn’t win the AFC Championship the next year. It was just in this weird time where I think everyone was like, “Well yeah, we’re beginning to know who Travis Kelce is, if you’re not a football fan. But it sure would be nice if the Chiefs win the Super Bowl.” Then this year the Chiefs were just picking up a lot of momentum. To the ladies who work in the talent department, I would be like, “I really think Travis should host, I really think Travis should host.” They’re like, “Yeah, Lorne does too. It’s just, he has to win the Super Bowl.” And I wasn’t sure if that was actually true or not…

Right. Because J.J. Watt hosted and he didn’t win the Super Bowl.

Yeah. I think they were just messing with me because they were like, “If he doesn’t beat the Bengals this week and we’re asking Joe Burrow.”

Oh, no.

I don’t think any of that’s true. I think they were just messing with me. But when the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, I think the offer was out that next day. Everybody was very on board. It was literally just me running my mouth for two years straight. That’s all I say. I don’t know, I think a lot of other people are responsible for it. I think Travis Kelce is responsible for his talent. I just never shut up.

I love Patrick Mahomes, and I think he’d be good. But, Kelce seems on another level…

Yeah. I was also trying to pitch them as a combo.

Oh, wow…

But I also think if you start to watch Patrick from his latest Jimmy Kimmel interview after they won this last Super Bowl…

I did watch that. Yes.

Yeah, I think he is getting really comfortable in front of the camera. I will also be campaigning for him to host. This is all I do there now, I try to get Chiefs to host SNL.

I’m looking forward to five years now when Harrison Butker hosts SNL.

[Laughs] I’m just getting maybe season tickets by that point.

How was this last season for you? The season before a lot of people left. It felt like you kind of took charge after that.

It was so cool. Yeah. I just felt like we did have the biggest exodus I’d ever experienced at SNL. We hadn’t had anything like that prior from my time there. I just … I thought this year would be a rebuilding year. I thought that’s what it would be categorized as and so I really had no idea for me or the rest of the cast how it would read. Just because we had so many people leave, I thought that would be the story … and that was a story. But then also, just by default, I just feel like I got passed the ball a lot more. Personally, for me, it was a very creatively fulfilling season. When you just feel useful, it just felt busy. Also, I think when you’re doing more at SNL just consistently, then so much pressure isn’t just on your one sketch or your chance to shine every three weeks. It’s like, “Well, I’m active throughout the show. I’m doing a lot. I’m not holding anything too tight. It’s all just fun.” That energy, I really felt that this season. I just got to do so much that I got to be a lot more loose and free and that felt great.

You mentioned more creatively fulfilling and being loose and free. Even the year before, season 47, you still didn’t feel quite that way?

I think I was having a lot more fun in season 47. I just think, and I’m trying to think back, it’s hard. They all blend together. No, I just did feel a bigger difference this year. It just felt more creative. There was just more to do and that felt great. It was a difference.

I feel like the Kelce show was your crown jewel of this past season. You made this happen, you’re in almost every sketch. Before that show, did you feel more pressure since this is what you’ve been wanting?

I felt like I was just having fun talking about it for the last two years. Just being like, “This should happen. This should happen.” I would say it to Travis all the time. I only knew him a little bit. Then once the week of the show started and I suddenly realized, oh… hosting SNL is a huge responsibility. Like, oh my God, I hope he is having fun. And, oh my God, I hope the show all goes well. I suddenly felt this massive responsibility that I had not planned on. But, for me, I was like, okay, the only way for me to have fun this week is actually to let go of that responsibility and be like, “Everyone’s an adult. Everyone can take care of themselves. Heidi don’t.” But also make sure, just like with any host that comes in, that I’m also helping take care of the host and make sure we welcome them into our home.

With Travis, it was really cool, since I’m such a fan and I love sports so much. I was asking him, “What’s your game day routine?” He was like, “Oh, you wouldn’t believe it. But I eat Uncrustables. Before the game and even during the game to keep my energy up.” So on Saturday I bought three boxes of Uncrustables. I made sure he had those.

Oh, that’s great.

It was funny. It was during dress rehearsal, we were in a sketch together and he leaned over before it started and he was like, “I’ve been pounding those Uncrustables all day. Thank you.” And I was like, “Good!” That was just such a fun show. But I also tried to make sure everyone knew that show was so special to me. But even when I got asked to do – not the Thursday promo, I did do that – but the Tuesday promo. I just politely declined. I was like, “I know everyone knows this is really special to me. I don’t want this week to be about me.”

You’ve made it clear during the goodnights what team you root for on a weekly basis. I think people knew.

That was the first week I don’t think I wore a Chiefs thing. Because I was like, I’ve made it abundantly clear and this is the cherry on top. I don’t need to wear full head-to-toe Chiefs this week.

Did he agree to just anything? Because even the “American Girl” sketch, I can’t believe he agreed to that.

I know he was so down for everything. Also, I had to give myself a talk to my inner child self at the beginning of the week that was like, “Hey, I know you want this week to be perfect, but there is a chance, like sometimes happens at SNL, where you might be blamed for a show. You might not get in a sketch. Hope that you are, but just a very realistic, take your ego out of it no matter what. This is so cool. A Kansas City Chief is hosting the show.” Also, my brother Justin was there, my younger brother was there. I had friends fly in from Kansas City. I threw a tailgate in my dressing room and I told myself, “If you’re not in the show this week, you get to watch it with your entire family and that’s really cool too, and we can all just be Chiefs fans.” Then the Kelce brothers came before the live show and they tailgated and ate barbecue. I was like that’s so cool. “I know for a fact you’re the only host that’s ever tailgated before a show.”

There were a lot of Chiefs fans in the crowd, which surprised me. Your brother told me you had something to do with that with a charity auction.

Yeah, it just so happened, this charity that I’m a part of, the Big Slick, I had auctioned off two tickets to SNL the summer before. It just so happens those people picked that March 4th date to come to the show. Because I never do it dependent on a host because I don’t know the host. When they came back to my dressing room, I was like, “Can you believe you picked this date?” And they were like, “No!” It just couldn’t have been more Kansas Citian perfect.

People in my circles know I am a big Chiefs fan. If he wasn’t good, I would have heard about it. Even Eagles fans I know have come up to me, begrudgingly, “Yeah, he was good.”

Here’s why I knew he’d be good. SNL is its own beast. Then once you’re in it and you’re reading all these sketches, you’re learning to read cue cards, you’re learning to go back and forth with your eye line between cue cards. I started to feel like, oh my God, this is so overwhelming. It’s even overwhelming for me sometimes. Okay, I’m looking at Ego here, Bowen at this set of cue cards and just remembering all that. But when he was getting notes like that from writers, producers, all these things, I was like, “Oh man. That’s a lot to remember.” And then I was like, wait, this man gets adjustments an entire game. Just remembering full on plays. And he’s also on live TV every week. I was like, “wait, this is all going to come together.” I just had this moment before the live show where I was like, “He’s so good. He’s going to be just fine. It’s his job.” That’s what I think can really make an athlete shine and where our jobs are kind of similar.

He seemed to have great chemistry with Bowen in “Straight Male Friend.”

I think there was. I think also, I heard some stories from the set. In that scene where he’s eating the Buffalo Wild Wings? Either you have prop food or it’s like no one wants to eat those. Travis was just going through the wings and I think the director was like, “Dude, you don’t have to eat those.” And he is like, “I’m hungry.” I was like, so “football player.” Perfect.

Okay, so what other show stands out for you this past season?

That show and the Steve Martin, Martin Short one. Because those are just, that was my whole childhood with older movies. I just really felt like the kid in me was like, “A Chief is hosting SNL and my favorite actors from my childhood are hosting SNL.” And I just couldn’t not be so happy.

Also, we had a couple of new writers at the show this year. Jimmy Fowlie, we shared an office together and he is an old friend of mine and I felt like I had a lot of fun writing with him. Ceara O’Sullivan, I worked with her on a couple “Updates,” actually a few “Updates” that I’m really proud of. Towards the end of the season, we did the mom who has three daughters and one son. Then we did the busy coworker doing seemingly nothing. Those “Updates” for me are a couple of my favorites ever.

But is the Kelce episode your favorite? It has to be.

I think it is, for the Chief’s reasons, for sure. I can’t imagine my world’s colliding in a more beautiful way than that and having my family there. It was very sweet.

No, trust me, I’ve talked to a lot of people in Kansas City. You’re very popular there now.

I think it might be because of that episode.

Well, wherever you were at before, it doubled because of that episode because everyone knows how involved you were…

Yeah, I think it helped.

I heard a story that during the Chiefs’ bye-week last season he was in New York and showed up at the after-after party and sang “My Way.”

I think he just wanted to come to the show. It was the Jack Harlow show and it was really fun seeing him out there watching from the floor. Then I actually didn’t go to that after-party, or maybe I didn’t go to the after-after, but I’m sure he probably did sing that. But I do know on Monday it was as if, when I got to work, it was as if my best friend had been at the after party and everyone was coming up to me, “We love them. Oh my God!” Everyone was reporting back to me and I was like, “Well that’s great to hear.” We’re not that close. I didn’t want to false represent, but it was just like, you could tell everyone was like, “He would be a good host. You’re not crazy.”

Well, it’s not false representing, like you said, you pushed for this for two years. If you’re not in the cast, he probably doesn’t host. That’s a fair statement, right?

I don’t know if that’s a fair statement because I just want to give the talent department credit that they’re always looking for interesting, cool hosts. Whether they be entertainers, athletes, or both. I would assume he would be on their radar? I don’t know, maybe it’s my Midwest modesty.

Okay, yes, I would’ve said the same answer. But even from the audience, I could tell how much that show meant to you.

That was really cool. Yeah, thanks for reliving that with me.

Anyway, I look forward to Chris Jones hosting next season.

I’ll get them all! Gotta catch them all, to come on.

Andy Reid, I think he needs his shot.

Oh, he would be fantastic!

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Fan fiction happens. With a franchise as enduring as The Walking Dead, it would be unheard of to not see people wistfully hoping that characters would hook up while living through the ongoing gasps of the apocalypse. For example, the “Jaaron” whispers (not the greatest word for me to use, given how one of these characters died) of Jesus and Aaron possibly hooking up make a lot of sense. And surely, some people have thought about what would have happened if Jesus walked in on Rick and Michonne with different results.

There are also, if you care to look them up, fanfics about Negan’s love affair with his baseball bat, Lucille. The barbed-wire aspect makes this sound, well, unfeasible to achieve, but what makes even less sense is the suggestion that Maggie would ever decide to get busy with Negan. Yeah, that would never happen, or a bigger contingent of fans would certainly rage. Granted, Negan did at one point reveal that he wished to get down with “the widow,” but Maggie was rightfully full of nothing but contempt for the Saviors’ leader.

Yet jokingly or not, the fanfic beast did come for Maggie and Negan, and ahead of The Walking Dead: Dead City, here’s what an “amused” Jeffrey Dean Morgan (and apparently Lauren Cohan) offered on the subject:

“I am incredibly amused by it. I find it fascinating that people are shipping them because when I watched the show and when we were playing these scenes, what’s really fascinating is that she might kill me at any minute, or he may kill her. I thought that was more interesting than anything else. But other people look at it like, “Oh, hey, they should be together.” We both are very amused by the whole thing.”

Good god, a Maggie and Negan hookup would be an abomination. He essentially ruined her life and shattered her family (and broke the spirit of Rick Grimes) while beating the hell out of Glenn in the show’s most brutal death scene. Redemption arc or not, there is no place for any warm or fuzzy feelings between these two. Yikes.

The Walking Dead: Dead City premieres on June 18.

(Via Collider)

As Donald Trump stares down a damning indictment over his mishandling of classified documents, a common refrain is that the former president has no one to blame but himself. Throughout the entire process, Trump rebuffed the government’s requests to return the documents stored at his golf clubs in both Florida and New Jersey. That refusal prompted the infamous raid of Mar-a-Lago and a public spectacle that now includes photographs of documents stacked ceiling high in a bathroom.

However, a new report claims that Trump dug his own hole even deeper thanks to taking the advice of some guy who’s not even a lawyer. According to The Washington Post, Trump’s legal team attempted to broker a settlement with Attorney General Merrick Garland that could’ve avoided the prosecution of a former president. Hell-bent on keeping his “boxes,” Trump reportedly rebuffed legal advice and opted to battle it out with the Department of Justice due to the advice of a right-wing activist with no legal training:

Trump time and again rejected the advice from lawyers and advisers who urged him to cooperate and instead took the advice of Tom Fitton, the head of the conservative group Judicial Watch, and a range of others who told him he could legally keep the documents and should fight the Justice Department, advisers said. Trump would often cite Fitton to others, and Fitton told some of Trump’s lawyers that Trump could keep the documents, even as they disagreed, the advisers said.

The Post reports that several of Trump’s advisors blame Fitton for filling the former president’s head with false hopes of keeping his “boxes,” which put Trump in the crosshairs of one indictment and possibly another in New Jersey.

(Via The Washington Post)

There’s only one head coach in the history of the Denver Nuggets who has led the team to an NBA championship, and unsurprisingly, he’s having some fun in the aftermath. Michael Malone appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday to discuss the team’s 5-game series win over the Miami Heat, and at one point, he was asked about how the conversation following their Western Conference Finals win over the Los Angeles Lakers focused on the team that got swept.

Malone ended up giving a pretty good answer — he specifically pointed out the discourse following Game 1 of the series, which revolved around L.A. figuring things out by having Rui Hachimura guard Nikola Jokic — but before that, he cracked a joke at the expense of LeBron James.

“Well, a really good question, and speaking of the Lakers: I just want you guys to know, this is breaking news, I’m thinking about retiring, so don’t tell anybody,” Malone said at the 14:14 mark of the above video. Malone, of course, stressed that he was kidding, largely because he doesn’t want the Kroenke family to start looking for a new coach and that he’s not going anywhere.

In the aftermath of the Lakers getting swept, James was complimentary of Jokic and the Nuggets, but also dropped a few hints that he’d consider retiring this offseason. Over the next few days, reports began to circulate that those aware of James’ situation would be stunned if he actually did call it a career.