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Bob Odenkirk‘s career arc from SNL writer to sketch comedy legend to Emmy-nominated star of arguably the best drama (if not show) on television is pretty remarkable. He’s a triple threat, and as we know, triples is best.

Odenkirk never considered trying something other than comedy — until he worked with his good buddy Chris Farley.

“I was on stage with Chris Farley and Jill Talley at Second City, and we were improvising a scene, and Chris was so funny,” the Better Call Saul star recalled on Tuesday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers. In the middle of the scene, his mind was drifting (it happens when you do seven shows a week) when he had a thought: “I should be in a drama.” Odenkirk was “loving [Farley’s] presence so much and he was so wonderful and I thought, ‘I can’t compete with that.’ So put me in a drama and I’ll be so funny,” he said.

Odenkirk didn’t make the immediate leap to drama, and even his role as Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad initially leaned towards comedy. But as the seasons went on, he was given the opportunity to flex his dramatic acting muscles (and later, actual muscles in Nobody). If performing with Farley hadn’t put the “I should be in a drama” thought in his head, he might not have accepted the part on Breaking Bad, and therefore, there might be no Better Call Saul. A world without Kim Wexler? No thanks.

You can watch the Late Night with Seth Meyers interview above.

Original Percy Jackson star Alexandra Daddario has voiced her support for Leah Jeffries‘ casting as Annabeth Chase following public statements by author Rick Riordan that called out racially-charged trolling. Daddario, who played Annabeth in the films, backed Jeffries after Riordan caused #LeahIsOurAnnabeth to trend with his strongly worded rebuke.

“Leah Jeffries is going to be an incredible Annabeth!!!” Daddario tweeted.

In a lengthy post on his official website, Riordan pushed back on detractors who criticized Jeffries taking over the role for the Disney+ series. Riordan said the casting decision was his, and as the author of the Percy Jackson books, he knows what’s best for the characters:

If you have a problem with this casting, however, take it up with me. You have no one else to blame. Whatever else you take from this post, we should be able to agree that bullying and harassing a child online is inexcusably wrong. As strong as Leah is, as much as we have discussed the potential for this kind of reaction and the intense pressure this role will bring, the negative comments she has received online are out of line. They need to stop. Now.

The author didn’t hold back in his remarks and made sure to directly point out what was happening. “You are judging her appropriateness for this role solely and exclusively on how she looks. She is a Black girl playing someone who was described in the books as white,” Riordan wrote. “Friends, that is racism.”

(Via Alexandra Daddario on Twitter)

A few weeks ago, Post Malone took to Instagram Live to share quick previews of some upcoming music. One of those was “Cooped Up,” a collaboration with Roddy Ricch. Now, Malone has offered a more official teaser and noted the song is coming this week.

The 30-second teaser video doesn’t reveal much: None of the song can be heard and it mostly features footage of Malone smoking in the dark. The caption is where the info comes from, as Malone offers the song’s release date, writing, “Cooped Up with @RoddyRicch Thursday 12pm ET.”

The song is a meeting of chart champions, as Malone has four No. 1 singles to his name, his latest being 2019’s “Circles.” Ricch had his first (and so far, only) No. 1 single the next year when “The Box” topped the Hot 100. This won’t be their first collaboration, as Ricch (and Tyga) featured on a remix of Malone’s “Wow.”

The new single is set to appear on Twelve Carat Toothache, which currently has a June 3 release date. That’s not the only major life event Posty has on the horizon: He’s getting ready to perform on Saturday Night Live and become a father.

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

Tove Lo has been unveiling shimmering songs, like the recent bombastic “No One Dies From Love” and the dark pop anthem “How Long” for Euphoria. But yesterday the Swedish singer decided to bring an Olivia Rodrigo song to her P3 Session, performing her own rendition of “Good 4 U.”

The “Habits (Stay High)” singer makes the hit her own by making it piano-driven, transforming it into a heartfelt ballad. Deeper in, the song is imbued with synths that are first haunting and then more danceable. It’s an emotional rollercoaster. People note in the comments that, by the end, this version of “Good 4 U” sounds like it’s all hers.

A while ago, Tove Lo introduced Crypto Tits, a collection of artwork made with crypto artist Blake Kathryn and featuring new music from Tove Lo herself. The title is a nod to her 2017 track “Disco Tits,” and a portion of the proceeds from the collection with benefit the organizations Black Girls Code and Carbon 180. She explained, ‘I’ve been exploring the NFT space for a while now and it’s super inspiring to me. Blake’s creations feel like new and different worlds to me and I love to create immersive experiences around my albums and shows, so this process was just awesome and mind expanding.”

Ah yes, the coveted Donald Trump endorsement. Several years ago, no one could have ever dreamed that a U.S. president who lost a reelection campaign (and spurred on an insurrection) would inspire such a far-right frenzy to nab his approval, but we’ve never seen anything quite like MAGA devotion. However, all Trump touches does not turn to (gaudy) gold. The streak (a 55-0 one) is finally broken with the loss of a Kentucky gubernatorial candidate who Trump persisted in supporting despite sexual harassment allegations from several women.

This news does not bode well for Dr. Oz (whose Trump endorsement actually inspired a MAGA mutiny) or J.D. Vance (who Trump reportedly endorsed after Tucker Carlson passed on word of a rival’s “disgusting” sex life) or Lauren Boebert (who Trump endorsed the day after her House rebuke for a string of Islamophobic remarks). What happened in Kentucky, though? The Trump-endorsed Charles Herbster got defeated in the GOP primary by Jim Pillen (a vet and “hog producer”), even after Trump decided to keep endorsing Herbster despite the red flags of eight women who alleged that Herbster either groped or forcibly kissed them at political events. Via Mediaite, Trump addressed those accusations and defended his guy:

Trump endorsed Herbster last year, before the allegations surfaced. Nevertheless, Trump held a rally for the businessman earlier this month and defended his pick.

“He’s been maligned, he’s been maligned, he’s been badly maligned and that’s a shame,” Trump said. “That’s why I came out here it would have been easier for me to say I’m not coming out but I defend people when I know they’re good. He’s a good man.”

And thus, an endorsement streak is no more, even after Herbster demonstrated the ultimate loyalty (as revealed in the above campaign billboard) of adding a “Trump won” (obviously, he did not win) to his campaign paraphernalia. So watch out, Dr. Oz. And the same may even go for the Trump-endorsed Marco Rubio, who must be sweating like crazy against a real contender of a Senate rival, Val Demings in Florida.

(Via Mediaite)

Danny Boyle was the original choice to direct the 25th film in the James Bond franchise, which later became No Time to Die. But the Oscar-winning filmmaker left the project due to “creative differences” and was replaced by Cary Joji Fukunaga (who has since been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women). In an interview with Esquire UK, Boyle revealed what his “topical” Bond film would have been about out.

“I remember thinking, ‘Should I really get involved in franchises?’ Because they don’t really want something different. They want you to freshen it up a bit, but not really challenge it, and we wanted to do something different with it,” Boyle said. “Weirdly — it would have been very topical now — it was all set in Russia, which is of course where Bond came from, out of the Cold War. It was set in present-day Russia and went back to his origins, and they just lost, what’s the word… they just lost confidence in it.”

Boyle noted that No Time to Die used a similar plot device as the scrapped script he wrote with John Hodge. “The idea that they used in a different way was the one of [James Bond’s] child, which [Hodge] introduced [and which] was wonderful,” he explained. Would Boyle be interested in directing a future 007 movie? “I don’t think so.” There goes the Sex Pistols chance to sing the theme song.

(Via Esquire UK)

Olivia Rodrigo is one of today’s biggest pop stars, but she got to that position thanks in large part to the influence that rock has played on her music. She has been eager to show appreciation to her rock forebearers (like with all the covers she’s been busting out on tour) and she did so again yesterday after meeting Jack White.

Rodrigo shared some photos and videos from their meeting, including a clip of her gleefully crying while hugging White. She wrote, “got to meet my hero of all heroes today. still crying. thank u @officialjackwhite for being so kind to ur biggest fangirl. everyone go listen to fear of the dawn!!!!!” White later re-shared Rodrigo’s post and wrote, “I had the chance to meet a talented singer and musician today named @OliviaRodrigo, she’s very cool, very real and very much a lover of music. She’s also introducing another set of youth to the love of vinyl records as well. Respect. -jack white III.”

To White’s point, Rodrigo put a significant focus on vinyl during the Sour album cycle; Ahead of the album’s release, she shared a video of herself giddily seeing the detail-filled vinyl edition of the album for the first time. She also wrote, “I’ve discovered so many of my favorite albums through vinyl records and it’s the coolest thing in the world to get to hold one with songs I wrote.”

It paid off, too: The album had one of the biggest vinyl sales weeks of the past 30 years, which helped propel the album back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

The Phoenix Suns opened the Western Conference Semifinals with a pair of home wins over the Dallas Mavericks, taking control of the proceedings as the No. 1 overall seed. Dallas responded in kind with back-to-back home victories in Game 3 and Game 4, including a three-point shooting barrage on Sunday that evened the series at 2-2. With the scene shifting back to Phoenix, the pressure was back on the Suns but, after a bit of an uneven start, Devin Booker and company took care of business in a 110-80 victory to take a 3-2 series advantage.

Following a 37-point explosion in the first quarter of Game 4, the Mavericks threatened a repeat at the outset of Game 5. Dallas zoomed to a 10-3 run out of the gate, and the Mavericks led for the lion’s share of the first half.

https://twitter.com/dallasmavs/status/1524210798762987520

The pace was quite slow in the first quarter, leading a modest-looking affair on the scoreboard. Both teams shot well in side the arc, though, and Devin Booker scored 12 points in the opening quarter to bring Phoenix back within three.

Dallas pushed its lead back to as many as eight points in the second quarter, even with Luka Doncic on the bench following a 12-minute stretch on the floor to begin the game. The Suns did answer, however, and Phoenix tied the game after a 10-2 run.

The Suns snuck into halftime with a three-point lead, offsetting the impressive start from Dallas. Booker was a huge part of the success with 16 points, and while Doncic had 18 points before the break, he needed 17 shooting possessions to achieve that production. Overall, the second quarter was far less efficient for both offenses, but the Suns were poised for a breakout.

Phoenix put together a 17-0 run early in the third quarter, taking a 68-50 lead in the process that doubled as the first double-digit advantage for either side. On one end, the Mavericks failed to score for more than five full minutes, going ice-cold at an inopportune time. On the other, Booker continued to operate at a high level, scoring 24 points on his first 15 shooting possessions, and the rest of the Suns got into the act with high-level play.

The Suns weren’t done there, with the onslaught continuing. Overall, Phoenix out-scored Dallas by a 27-4 margin over an extended run, turning a one-point lead into a 24-point advantage late in the third quarter. The Suns eventually led by 22 at the end of the third period and, generally speaking, the damage was done.

Phoenix’s third quarter was awe-inspiring and dominant on both ends. The Suns shot 54 percent from the floor and scored 16 points in the paint with only two turnovers, taking advantage of a huge edge in the possession battle. That was prompted by Phoenix forcing 12 (!) turnovers in the quarter, made even more notable by the fact that Dallas is normally elite in ball security.

The fourth quarter never became competitive, leaving extended garbage time and a comfortable win for Phoenix. The Suns shot 49.4 percent from the floor in the game and also attempted 16 more shots from the field, maximizing the possession game through offensive rebounding and turnover avoidance. Booker finished with 28 points, with Chris Paul adding 10 assists and Deandre Ayton producing 20 points and nine rebounds.

On the other side of the floor, the Suns held the Mavericks to 38 percent shooting and created 18 turnovers in the game while keeping Dallas away from the offensive glass. Doncic scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, but it was not an elite performance by his lofty standard, and the Mavericks finished with only nine assists as a team.

Phoenix now appears to be in complete control of the series, simply by nature of a 3-2 lead and the advantage of Game 7 at home. Still, the Mavericks will have a chance to stay alive with a Game 6 win on Thursday, and Dallas was a different team at home during the series’ first trip to American Airlines Center.

Here is a thing that Bill Simmons said on his podcast back on April 13 about his first-team All-Rookie ballot:

“I put [New Orleans Pelicans forward Herbert Jones] first-team All-Rookie,” Simmons said, per SI. “I put him over Jalen Green. F*ck Jalen Green. I don’t care you’re scoring 40 points and your team’s 19–60. Congratulations. I’m sorry, I like winning players.”

It’s a quote that led to Simmons coming under some scrutiny, with Draymond Green joining the chorus of folks who had a huge issue with how Simmons presented his argument. Green posted a picture of Simmons on his Instagram Story and asked “How is it that this guy has a voice in deciding if Jalen Green will qualify for a super max deal?” Green wrote on Instagram. “He clearly says F Him, which sounds very personal btw. But he has a say in what someone earns? What work has he done in this life that qualifies him to have a say in an NBA players salary? @NBA.”

As we learned on Tuesday night, Draymond isn’t the only current player who didn’t like this. Joel Embiid spoke to the media after the Philadelphia 76ers got thrashed by the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. It was the first game since we learned that Embiid lost out to Nikola Jokic for the league’s Most Valuable Player award, and Embiid was asked about the decision.

After stressing that he knew this was coming and praising Jokic for his season, Embiid went after Simmons for what he had to say about the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.

“I don’t know how to explain it, but I go back to what I heard on a podcast, Bill Simmons basically saying … it sounded like he had a grudge against somebody saying ‘F Jalen Green,’” Embiid said. “If you’re going to allow these type of people to vote on these awards, that’s not fair. What if Jalen Green was in a position to earn a supermax, or, I don’t know, or an All-Star appearance? You’ve got someone sounding like that, and he has a lot of power, he can sway a lot of other media members, and you got someone saying that type of stuff. I don’t think it’s fair, I don’t think it’s ok.”

Embiid is the latest player to express that they don’t like how award voting can be tied to whether or not a player becomes eligible for some additional type of compensation — for example, Jayson Tatum brought this up during an appearance on JJ Redick’s podcast. This, of course, has an additional level to it, because while Simmons was talking about how he dislikes Green’s game, using this type of language to justify where you’re placing someone on some sort of ballot is always going to go over poorly.

At any given moment, you’ll most likely catch Gucci Mane with a neck and/or wrist flooded with diamonds. The Atlanta trap star has never been shy to show off his collection of jewelry and extremely expensive watches. So it would make sense that Gucci would be quite grateful if he lost one of those items all for it to be swiftly returned to him, and that’s exactly what happened at a recent show of his. During a past club appearance, Gucci decided to turn up with the crowd, but it was during this time that he lost one of his jewelry bracelets.

Luckily for Gucci, the bracelet was returned to him by a good samaritan not too long after he lost it, and he showed his gratitude with a generous gift. After the bracelet was given to him, Gucci took out $5,000 in cash to give to the fan as a way to show his appreciation. “I was f*cked up when I felt like it came off my wrist,” Gucci said at one point during the night.

Gucci’s display of appreciation comes as he’s turned up his activeness on the music front. It’s highlighted by a collection of songs he’s dropped this year: “Rumors” with Lil Durk, “Publicity Stunt,” “Blood All On It” with Young Dolph and Key Glock, and “Serial Killers.”

You can view a fan-captured video of Gucci dishing out the cash to the fan.

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