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Living cardboard cutout Mike Pence doesn’t share much in common with his brashly gregarious former boss, but if the former vice president did learn anything from Donald Trump, it might just be how to make a total buffoon of yourself in public. On Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t wait to play the evidence of this shared trait, which was on full display during Pence’s recent CNN Town Hall with Jake Tapper.

“The former video poodle has been making the rounds promoting his new book and wowing the world with his Robin Williams-caliber charisma,” Kimmel said, before sharing a clip of the stone-faced politician-turned-author interacting with the audience during a Q&A. First up was an independent voter named Andrea Barber-Dansby, who Pence then addressed as “Barbara.” OK, so maybe the last name tripped him up. Fortunately, “Barbara” responded to Pence’s wooden attempt at small talk with a simple “It’s Andrea.”

“It happens,” Kimmel said of the interaction. “Honest mistake. You know, he usually isn’t allowed to talk to women, so he got nervous. I’m sure it won’t happen again.”

Sure enough, when Indiana University student Daniela Moloci stood up to ask a question, Pence made it clear to “Michelle” that he cared about her and her concerns.

“Maybe the reason he calls his wife ‘Mother’ is because he can’t remember her name,” Kimmel suggested. Which certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

You can watch the full clip here.

The White Lotus became an unexpected hist last year when the comedy-drama introduced the world to the strange but lovable White Lotus hotel universe. The show was initially ordered as a limited series, but by popular demand, the show was renewed for a second season which premiered last month with a whole new cast of characters… and returning player Jennifer Coolidge. Now, fans will be able to take another beautiful destination vacation as the series was just picked up for a third season (!!!!).

According to a press release, the third season will feature a new cast of quirky characters who will undoubtedly have some sort of haunting secret or dramatic monologue, along with a brand new location. Season one took place in Hawaii, while season two took a new crew to Italy. This begs the question: where will season three take place? France? Spain? South Philadelphia?

There has been no casting news yet, but it would be nice for the only constant character to be Coolidge, who won an Emmy for her portrayal in season one. Creator Mike White said, “There’s no place I’d rather work than HBO and there’s no people I’d rather partner with than Casey Bloys, Francesca Orsi, Nora Skinner and their incredible team. I feel so lucky to get this opportunity again and am excited to reunite with my amazingly talented collaborators on The White Lotus.”

Alongside Coolidge, season two features Aubrey Plaza, Theo James, F. Murray, Abraham, Michael Imperioli, and Haley Lu Richardson as a group vacationing around Italy, sometimes totally naked. Everyone can thank Theo James for that!

The White Lotus is currently streaming on HBO Max. New episodes air Sundays at 9 pm on HBO.

Icy girl season is officially upon us, and it has nothing to do with the impending East Coast blizzard: Bay area representor Saweetie is back with new music. Traditionally, the self-proclaimed “icy mami” tries her best to avoid making the headlines. However, on her new EP, The Single Life, Saweetie is addressing the rumor mill head-on… or so fans think.

On “Don’t Say Nothin,” one of the six songs featured on the project, Saweetie seems to be breaking her silence regarding her supposed romantic involvement with Atlanta rapper Lil Baby. Late last year, reports began to circulate alleging that the pair were secretly dating, which he’s denied on several occasions.

The Rance 1500-produced track opens with a mock phone call. Saweetie is being made aware of the online discourse surrounding her dating life. During the conversation, Saweetie reacts to when the rumors reached social media. Fans believe one line is a direct shot a Lil Baby: “Look at Twitter for what? What the f*ck! These big mouth-ass blogs and big mouth-ass n****s. Shut the f*ck up.”

When asked about the inspiration behind the song, Saweetie told Rolling Stone, “[This song] is for my single women who are upset with the violation of privacy. If you give someone an intimate moment, keep it on hush mode.”

The “Drip Too Hard” rapper wasn’t the only person fans think Saweetie has set her sights on. She also took a warranted dig at ex-boyfriend, former Migos member Quavo.

On the line, “Post a pic in his sweatshirt / I bet it have my ex hurt / that’s what I get for kissin’ on these frogs / he got mad and told my business to the blogs,” Saweetie seemingly alleges that out of jealousy, Quavo attempted to damage her public image.

This isn’t the first time the pair took jabs at one another. Back in October, in the music video for his single “Messy,” Quavo reenacts a tussle in an elevator with his former lover after the footage leaked on Twitter.

Listen to the full track above.

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

Earlier this year, Elton John and Britney Spears released their highly anticipated collaborative song “Hold Me Closer,” which was Spears’ first new material in six years, as well as her first since becoming free from her conservatorship. The pair returned today with an acoustic version of that hit.

Though the original “Hold Me Closer” was infectious with its exuberant and booming sound, this acoustic, piano-driven rendition sheds light on the emotional intensity of the track, as well as the beauty in both of their voices, especially when they harmonize together. Their chemistry is more palpable than ever.

In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in September, Elton John expressed his previous worry for Spears about the collaboration. “She did it so well and so easily, and I’m sure a lot of people thought, ‘Well, can she still sing?’” he said, “Well, I knew for a start that she could sing because if you go back and look at the old footage, she was the biggest artist in the world and she could sing, she could dance, she could do everything. So I wasn’t worried about that. What I was worried about is if she would be so nervous because she hadn’t done it for a while, but she came through it with flying colors.”

Listen to the acoustic version of “Hold Me Closer” above.

From his days as one of America’s most celebrated athletes to his current reinvention as God-loving senatorial wannabe, Herschel Walker has been called many things: Hero. Legendary. Dad. Dad? Dad?! Dad?! One adjective you’ve probably never heard, however, is “coherent” (unless it was in the context of the word “incoherent”). While Walker may have a tendency to go off on bizarre tangents that would even have Donald Trump confused, Trevor Noah thinks the Heisman Trophy-winner deserves a place in the history books for his political speeches. Specifically, the one he gave the other day — which may or may not have been about Fright Night.

From what we can make out of the speech, Walker “was watching a movie called Fright Night, Freak Night, some kind of a night” that was about vampires. And one thing he learned from it was that “a werewolf can kill a vampire,” which really blew his mind (the same one that once doubled as a tackling dummy). “Did you know that?!,” Walker wanted to know, perhaps not realizing that both are mythical creatures. “I never knew that, so I didn’t want to be a vampire anymore, I wanted to be a werewolf,” he stated, making it clear that, yep, he definitely thinks vampires and werewolves are real.

Somehow, this random thought ended up morphing into a parable about faith. Though how he got there? Who the f**k knows! But Noah was clearly impressed:

Step aside, Gettysburg Address! America has the new greatest speech of all time! ‘Cause you tell me the last time you heard a speech about vampires, werewolves, faith, politics, AND garlic!

And I don’t know if Herschel Walker should be a U.S. senator, but he should definitely be elected as America’s official movie reviewer. Did you hear that? I want to watch that movie! I don’t even know what it was. He should do this for every movie!

You can watch the full clip — including that history-making speech/movie review — above, beginning at the 4:10 mark.

Millie Bobby Brown became famous at an improbably young age. It’s why she wants to play Britney Spears, who also appeared on magazine covers when she was a teenager, in a biopic. Thankfully, the Emmy nominee has adjusted to her celebrity better than many child actors; it helps that she had the support of her older Stranger Things co-stars, like David Harbour, Winona Ryder, and Matthew Modine.

“Over the course of my career, the young actors and actresses whose lives were destroyed by that kind of fame and money and everything. It can be very destructive and disorienting,” Modine, who plays “Papa” on the Netflix series, said on The Jonathan Ross Show. “I just wanted to do everything I could to make sure she was safe and she understood that a career is a roller coaster, that there’s ups and downs to it.”

Stranger Things co-creator Ross Duffer previously told Harper’s Bazaar how Ryder helped her young co-stars adjust to fame, especially Bobby Brown. “She’s talked to the kids about what celebrity is like and how the press can be and the anxiety and confusion that comes along with celebrity,” he said. “I think she’s really helped them. I know she’s specifically helped Millie a lot to work through that. And that’s something that no one else can help with, really, because so few people have experienced it. It’s not something I understand. It’s not something that, you know, even a parent would understand.”

Stranger Things will return for its fifth and final season in 2024 (hopefully).

(Via Insider)

Live Life Fast Always leave them wanting more. That’s what Roddy Ricch did Wednesday night (November 11) at the finale of his and Post Malone’s Twelve Carat Toothache Tour at the Crypto.com arena (formerly and always Staples Center to the locals) in Los Angeles. His impressive set illustrated the effectiveness of simplicity, highlighted the breadth of his talents, and proved that he’s more than ready to be headlining arenas on his own.

The Compton rapper’s set was so ruthlessly efficient in touching on his biggest hits that it seemed the hour of material he did perform was not enough. Although he hit the mainstays – “The Box,” “Die Young,” “Ballin’,” and “Racks In The Middle” – it felt like he could have done at least 30 more minutes before the audience was satisfied. Indeed, with a brand-new project releasing just days later, it would have been an opportune moment to preview a few new songs.

Even without those, there were albums worth of material he didn’t perform, which is in itself more than enough reason to extend his set, even if he did show up late, joking that he drove “110 [mph] on the 110 [freeway]” to make it. Tapping his two albums, Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial and Live Life Fast, as well as both Feed Tha Streets mixtapes (not to mention his slew of features), he could easily pull together a set every bit as dynamic as the one he did.

There’s something to be said for the sort of curation he did for this set, though. His instincts, honed through his early study under the mentorship of industry vets like Meek Mill and Nipsey Hussle, serve him well on stage – not a movement is wasted, and he engages with the crowd like a champ. He also knows how and when to turn up and blow out the restrained production to accentuate what he’s doing rather than distract from it.

While it’s just him and the microphone for the most part, when he does add to the staging, it’s an impressive embellishment, not a meaningless accouterment. When he performed “Late At Night” as a gentle piano ballad, he played the piano (a magnificent baby grand that seemed to simply materialize from nowhere on the stage) himself. Likewise, a prodigious choir joined him for the gospel-tinged “War Baby,” while “Die Young” was accompanied by a video tribute to hip-hop’s fallen heroes – including the most recent addition to those rolls, Takeoff.

While watching Roddy, I was reminded of the other concerts I’ve seen at Staples (again, now and forever) in the past year, particularly the openers for Tyler The Creator, and Kendrick Lamar’s headlining set. I remembered being somewhat disappointed with the stripped-down staging for performers like Vince Staples and Baby Keem, who didn’t make as much use of the arena space as I might have hoped (it worked for Staples, who at least gave a compelling and visible performance from a mid-floor platform that lit up).

K. Dot’s arena show was especially underwhelming because of all the unnecessary props and messy narrative building that felt more confusing than awe-inspiring. Roddy, on the other hand, weaponized those expectations as well as utilizing the space, punching things up just when I started to get bored with his relatively low-key performance style. He didn’t play up the props too much, but the accessories grew from the music itself which made them feel necessary and of piece with everything else.

I will say that the surprise guests felt… weird. YG popped out to perform a verse from his song “Big Bank,” and Wiz Khalifa showed up to rap a bit of “Young, Wild, And Free,” but these appearances felt only loosely connected to Roddy himself (like Roddy, YG hails from Compton, but Wiz is merely a good industry friend). Neither has music with him – yet – so there was nothing to tie them into what was already happening onstage. But if that’s my only quibble, it’s a minor one and it was fun to see the effect Wiz had on the very bro-y, millennial crowd anyway.

None of this focus on Roddy is to say that Post Malone is a slouch, though. Everything from set design to lighting, with flying circular rigs that nodded to his admitted fascination with UFOs, accentuated his own relatively straightforward approach. His voice sounds great live, he’s a magnanimous, grateful, charming presence on stage, and his dance moves are genuinely hilarious (I had no idea he was so zesty). Post’s show felt like a hangout with a friend, and by the time I left, I definitely wanted to continue hanging out.

But Roddy I wanted to watch. By the time he strolled off the stage – after playing “Ballin’” rather than “The Box,” which seems an odd choice, but I get it if he’s tired of that one after all this time – I wanted nothing more than for him to come back and do an encore. After all, there were still so many songs of his left to perform (he did return to the stage to perform “Cooped Up” with Post) and he’s proven that it’s worth the extra time.

Roddy Ricch is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Atlanta’s Rich Home Quan has come a long way since the commercial success of his 2013 single “Type of Way,” 2015’s “Flex,” and his effort on Rich Gang’s 2014 single “Lifestyle.” We can’t forget that Quan’s debut album Rich As In Spirit debuted at No. 32 on the US Billboard 200, stamping him as a force to be reckoned with out of ATL.

Jumping forward almost ten years since his debut, his 2022 EP Family & Mula made waves on streaming services with lead singles like “Krazy” and “Risk Takers,” amassing over 15M streams. Today, he brings his track “Spin” to the bathroom set, backed by a soulful beat and assisted by Quan’s energetic ad-libs. It’s safe to say the performance is lively, as the Atlanta rapper’s delivery is animated, even sipping on a cup of tea during the Sessions. Between his high-energy and thorough delivery, Rich Homie Quan still got it.

Watch Rich Homie Quan perform “Spin” for UPROXX Sessions above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

While R. Kelly languishes in prison preparing to appeal his conviction for a variety of sex crimes, the men and women who helped him get away with those crimes for over two decades are facing consequences of their own. According to Rolling Stone, Donnell Russell, who describes himself as Kelly’s manager, was sentenced to 20 months in prison in a hearing on Thursday, November 17 for stalking and harassing one of the singer’s victims in an effort to get her to change her testimony against him.

Russell had previously pled guilty to those charges in July, after also being convicted of making terroristic threats against a screening of Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly series. According to the Department of Justice, Russell sent emails and text messages and made phone calls threatening the anonymous victim with explicit photos of her unless she withdrew her complaint against R. Kelly. “Pull the plug or you will be exposed,” he wrote in one text. He later posted those photos on a Facebook page as Surviving R. Kelly aired.

Meanwhile, another associate of R. Kelly, Michael Williams, was sentenced last year to eight years in prison for arson and witness intimidation after setting another woman’s car on fire. Kelly himself was found guilty on charges of child porn in a second trial in Chicago after previously being convicted of sex trafficking in New York last year.

John Slattery recently reunited with his Mad Men co-star and name twin Jon Hamm for the charming crime/comedy film Confess Fletch, but it seems like he had been holding a grudge against Hamm for quite some time.

Slattery admitted that he has initially auditioned for the rold of of the very dapper Don Draper, so he was a little hurt when he didn’t get the part. He went on to play Roger Sterling, a sly womanizer (and heavy drinker) who later became Draper’s firm partner.

Despite wanting to live that Draper lifetstyle, Slattery said that as soon as he saw Hamm as the suave main character, he knew that they made the right choice. “[Jon Hamm] claims I was in a bad mood the whole time we shot the first episode because of this, but I don’t think that’s true,” Slattery told The Independent in a new interview. “Eventually I saw him, and I was like, ‘Oh — they sure do have that guy.’” Not only did they have the guy, but he was often leaving fellow cast and crew speechless due to his charming personality and uh, above average looks.

Slattery explained that Hamm was often distracting people by being the most handsome guy in the room. “When Hamm walked into a room in that get-up, people would just go catatonic. Guest stars would sometimes walk up to him and their lines would go right out of their heads. They just wouldn’t know what to do. It happened on more than one occasion.”

Of course, Hamm is nothing compared to Christina Hendricks, who played the incomparable Joan Harris in the hit series. “Christina Hendricks would walk into the room and people would sh*t themselves,” Slattery added. “It was amazing.” Maybe that’s why Colin Hanks was in so few episodes? He just couldn’t handle it.

(Via IndieWire)