If there’s one thing that solidifies just what a hot commodity a piece of pop culture is, it has to be it getting its own line of Funko Pops. Luckily for all you collectors out there, that’s just what’s happening to Netflix’s sleeper-hit Squid Game.
Netflix
After quickly becoming Netflix’s most-watched series of all time, the hyper-violent Korean drama centered around playing deadly children’s games is now getting its own line of child-like figurines. Most likely fast-tracked due to the show’s shocking success, the figures are already designed and ready for pre-order on both Amazon and Walmart’s websites though they won’t be officially released May 25, 2022.
All five of the available contestants (Abdul Ali, Kang Sae-byeok, Oh Il-nam, Cho Sang-woo, and Seong Gi-Hun), as well as the “circle” masked Red Soldier Funko Pop, are available to purchase at both stores. However, for those of you looking to pick up the Red Soldiers sporting the “triangle” and “square” masks, your only option is to order through Walmart, as Netflix has recently entered into an exclusive merchandising deal with the big box store.
Netflix
As of right now, the “square” masked soldier is being sold as a part of a set of four Pops that features the red-hooded assailant, a “circle” masked soldier, Ali, and Cho Sang-woo, while the “triangle” masked soldier is still unavailable to purchase. Each Funko Pop is being sold individually on Amazon for $10.99 each, or in bundles over on Walmart for anywhere from $26-35. There’s no telling how long the pre-orders will be live or just how many pre-orders Funko will be accepting, meaning the time to order is now if you’re seriously about collecting them all. It’s also worth mentioning that with a potential second season on the way, these figures could very well be hard to find in the coming years.
That’s right: A mansion that appeared in the pilot episode of Schitt’s Creek is for sale. Though it only appeared briefly in the pilot — the show’s opening shot, in fact — it’s the established home of the Rose family before things go haywire and they’re sent off to rural Ontario.
The “La Belle Maison” chateau, as the property is known, is located in St. Andrew-Windfields, one of Toronto’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Boasting 12 beds and 16 bathrooms, the three-story mansion is surrounded by landscaped gardens, a saltwater swimming pool and a heated driveway with space for up to 14 cars. Inside, the luxurious amenities include a wine cellar, aquarium, full-service elevator, indoor pool, billiards room and home theater.
Despite the architecture, the mega-mansion was actually built in Toronto in 2012 and reportedly inspired by the Palace of Versailles. And fittingly, the mansion was first listed at $11.8 million before getting relisted for nearly $16 million later in the year. Now, it’s apparently worth $17.7 million, or $21.88 million in Canadian funny money.
The home that was made famous in A Nightmare On Elm Street, meanwhile, will cost you considerably less and is a bit more practical for a normal person. But you’ll still have to be a millionaire if you want in on the real estate memorabilia train.
Months after releasing their 1994 breakthrough album Dookie, Green Day popped into the BBC’s Maia Vale Studios — less than a mile away from the equally famed Abbey Rd studio — for a wild four-song set. They played “She,” “When I Come Around,” “Basket Case,” and “2000 Light Years” (the latter off of their earlier album Kerplunk). Little did the Bay Area punk trio of Billy Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool know that they were on the brink of global stardom. And they probably also never imagined that this would be the first of four sessions over the next eight years that they’d lay down for the BBC at Maida Vale.
Now these four sessions are being released as the 16-track The BBC Sessions live album, out December 10th via Reprise. Along with that 1994 recording, is a 1996 session from the Insomniac run, a 1998 session from the Nimrod era, and finally a 2001 stop following the release of Warning. It’s the first time these recordings have been mastered, and a preview in the form of the “2000 Light Years” performance from that first session is out now, and it sounds well…flawless. All in all, this is a window into the lightning in a bottle that the band found early on and the magic they kept pulling out of the well as the years went on.
Listen to “2000 Light Years Away (BBC Live Session)” above, check out the album artwork and track list below, and see Green Day’s 2022 Europe tour dates here.
Green Day
1. “She” (Live at the BBC June 8 1994)
2. “When I Come Around” (Live at the BBC June 8 1994)
3. “Basket Case” (Live at the BBC June 8 1994)
4. “2000 Light Years Away” (Live at the BBC June 8 1994)
5. “Geek Stink Breath” (Live at the BBC November 3 1996)
6. “Brain Stew/Jaded” (Live at the BBC November 3 1996)
7. “Walking Contradiction” (Live at the BBC November 3 1996)
8. “Stuck With Me” (Live at the BBC November 3 1996)
9. “Hitchin’ A Ride” (Live at the BBC February 12 1998)
10. “Nice Guys Finish Last” (Live at the BBC February 12 1998)
11. “Prosthetic Head” (Live at the BBC February 12 1998)
12. “Redundant” (Live at the BBC February 12 1998)
13. “Castaway” (Live at the BBC August 28 2001)
14. “Church On Sunday” (Live at the BBC August 28 2001)
15. “Minority” (Live at the BBC August 28 2001)
16. “Waiting” (Live at the BBC August 28 2001)
The BBC Sessions is out 12/10/2021 via Reprise Records. Pre-order/save it here.
Green Day is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Christopher Osburn has spent the past fifteen years in search of “the best” — or at least his very favorite — sips of whisk(e)y on earth. He’s traveled to over 20 countries testing local spirits, visited more than 50 distilleries around the globe, and amassed a collection of bottles that occupies his entire basement (and infuriates his wife).
In this series, he cracks open his worn “tasting diary” and shares its contents with the masses.
What exactly is a “warming whiskey?” That’s a tricky question. Ultimately, the answer depends on your particular taste. To me, a warming whiskey is a higher proof spirit with the ability to “warm my bones” on a cool fall (or frigid winter) night. But for my palate, high proof alone doesn’t totally cut it. I wouldn’t really enjoy a 120 proof bottom-shelf bottle of swill that tastes more like it belongs in a lawnmower than in my glass.
There needs to be a nice ratio between high proof, warming ability (that famous “Kentucky hug“), and quality juice. A little bit hot, but… with nuance.
Today, I dug into my tasting notebook and selected eight bourbons known for their proof, warming nature, and overall quality. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re expensive (although some are). Also — and this should be very obvious — drinking high proof won’t actually warm you up. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. A nice tipple of corn-based whiskey might make you feel warmer inside and out, but it’s not a replacement for a knitted sweater, cozy jacket, or winter hat.
Okay, let’s dive in. As always, you can click on the prices to try these yourself!
Ask 10 bartenders for their favorite warming, high-proof bourbon and at least a few will say Wild Turkey Rare Breed. This cask strength, 112.8 proof bourbon touts itself as the “original small batch” barrel proof bourbon. It’s a blend of six, eight, and 12-year-old bourbons.
Tasting Notes:
For a high-proof whiskey, this bourbon’s nose is surprisingly sweet with hints of clover honey, vanilla beans, and rich toffee. The palate is loaded with caramel corn, cereal grains, sweet cream, and gentle, peppery spice. It all ends with a nice mix of heat and sweetness with a final note of cracked black pepper.
Bottom Line:
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better price-to-quality ratio on this list. For around $50 you can enjoy this gently spicy, vanilla sweet sipper.
MGP of Indiana is a massive distillery known for making whiskey for a ton of other brands, but Remus Repeal is one of its own expressions. The 2021 version is a blend of high-rye bourbons barreled between 2005 and 2008.
Tasting Notes:
A complex nose of caramel apples, sweet, corn, dried cherries, charred oak, and vanilla beans greets you. Then it’s time to dive into the flavors of oaky wood, butterscotch, clover honey, dried fruits, and just a hint of peppery rye. It all ends in a great deal of warmth and nutty, caramel sweetness.
Bottom Line:
There’s a good chance you’ve enjoyed MGP’s whiskeys before under different labels. The time is right to try one of its own brands. I promise, it’s totally worth it.
Over the past few years, a small-batch distillery in rural Wyoming has caught the attention of the whiskey world. While you can’t go wrong with Wyoming Whiskey’s small batch bourbon, if you really want to feel the warmth of a great whiskey, you’ll pick up a bottle of its Double Cask Bourbon.
First released in 2017, Wyoming Whiskey took its flagship five-year-old bourbon and finished it in Pedro Ximénez sherry butts.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of ripe berries, wood char, and butterscotch. The palate is highlighted by notes of fudge, toasted vanilla beans, dried cherries, more oaky wood, and gentle, peppery spices. The warming finish ends with notes of dried fruits, oak, and vanilla.
Bottom Line:
This limited-edition bottle isn’t always easy to find. But if you can get your hands on a bottle you’ll be pretty happy you did. It’s warming, sweet, and complex.
Drinkers love Larceny Barrel Proof because they know each bottle will be a new-ish flavor adventure. This is because, depending on the batch, the proof and flavor will be subtly different, based on the selected barrels. This a small-batch, wheated, blend of six to eight-year-old high-proof bourbons — released three times throughout the year.
Tasting Notes:
Aromas of maple syrup, cooking spices, caramel corn, and buttercream frosting are prevalent on the nose. Taking a sip reveals notes of dried fruits, butterscotch, vanilla beans, and candied pecans. It’s warming, mellow, and complex.
Bottom Line:
The high amount of wheat makes this high-proof bourbon surprisingly soft, mellow, and easy to drink. It’s helped by myriad sweet, complementary flavors.
Texas is becoming a go-to state for whiskey drinkers with the likes of Balcones and Garrison Brothers leading the charge. But definitely don’t sleep on Firestone & Robertsons’s TX, specifically its Straight Bourbon Barrel Proof. It’s uncut, unfiltered, and even has a “harvest date” to show when each barrel was selected.
Tasting Notes:
This bourbon gets a great start with a nose of cinnamon, caramel corn, maple candy, dried cherries, and rich, charred oak. Its palate is littered with flavors like vanilla beans, ripe berries, butterscotch, candy apples, and just a hint of peppery spice at the very finish to hold everything together.
Bottom Line:
After you’ve tried expressions from Balcones and Garrison Brothers, why not give this high-proof whiskey a try? It’s bold, sweet, well-balanced, and highly memorable.
Rabbit Hole is a fairly new name in the whiskey world, having opened in 2012. Since then, the distillery has garnered acclaim and awards for its whiskeys. One of its best is its Rabbit Hole Dareringer. This award-winning straight bourbon was aged in charred, American oak barrels before being transferred to Pedro Ximénez sherry butts for finishing.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is laden with scents of dried cherries, rich oak, butterscotch, and gentle, sweet sherry. The palate is filled with notes of ripe berries, vanilla beans, oaky wood, caramelized sugar, dried cherries, and gentle spices. The finish is dry, warming, and ends with a nice final hint of caramel and fruity sweetness.
Bottom Line:
Fans of scotch already know that finishing (or aging) in a former sherry cask only adds to the depth of flavor. This is especially true when it comes to high-proof whiskeys. This bourbon is complex and bold and gets added stewed fruit notes from ex-sherry butts.
FEW has made a name for itself in the spirits world in the last decade. Its Straight Bourbon just might be its best expression. While not as high in alcohol as some of the other expressions on this list, it’s made with corn, rye, and malted barley before being matured in charred, oak barrels.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is classic bourbon with aromas of oaky wood, butterscotch, dried cherries, maple syrup, and slight spice. The palate is swirling with caramel corn, vanilla beans, toffee, dried fruits, and baking spices. It all ends with a nice, dry, warming, slightly spicy finish.
Bottom Line:
While this bourbon might not have the name recognition of some of the “big boys,” it belongs on your whiskey shelf just like Wild Turkey, Jim Beam, and others.
If you can get past the fact that Weller bourbons are hard-to-find and often have inflated prices, you can acknowledge that this is a really good, warming whiskey. It’s a 114-proof, uncut, unfiltered, and bold bourbon that retains its smooth, soft quality due to its high wheat content.
Tasting Notes:
This nose is a bourbon lover’s dream with hints of dried fruits, butterscotch, toasted vanilla beans, and baking spices. The palate is rich, with hints of sticky toffee, fudge, wood char, ripe cherries, and caramelized sugar. It all ends with a nice, mellow, sweet finish of maple candy and cinnamon sugar.
Bottom Line:
If you can get your hands on a bottle of this high-proof, uncut whiskey at close to MSRP, you should buy it. It’s 114 proof, but you wouldn’t know it due to the soft, sweet, mellow, highly sippable flavor.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
The year 2018 was a pivotal one in the produce industry, the Red Delicious was supplanted as the most popular apple in America by the sweeter, crisper Gala.
It was only a matter of time. The Red Delicious looked the part of the king of the apples with its deep red, flawless skin. But its interior was soft, mealy, and pretty bland. The Red Delicious was popular for growers because its skin hid any bruises and it was desired by consumers because of its appearance.
But these days it’s having a hard time competing with the delectable crunch provided by the Gala, honeycrisp, and Fuji.
“It’s the beginning of the end,” Tom Burford, an apple historian, told The New York Times. “How are you going to market a tasteless apple when the consumer has tasted so many good apples?”
Science communicator James Dingley has documented the demise of the Red Delicious in a new video “Who Killed the Red Delicious?” that has over 135,000 views on YouTube. In the video he traces the development of the Red Delicious from farms in Kazakhstan 10,000 years ago and explains why it’s disappearing from supermarket shelves.
“Red Delicious. They used to be delicious, but not so much anymore. How did they go from spending 70 years as America’s favorite apple to today, where they’re not even stocked at my local supermarket?” Dingley asks in the video.
Give it a look and you’ll be the smartest person in the produce section of your favorite grocery store.
In Washington state, the vaccine mandate deadline—after which state employees who declined to get vaccinated for COVID-19 would be let go—arrived on October 18. There have been some high-profile holdouts in the state with the mandate, including the Washington State University (WSU) football head coach who was ousted this week from his $3.1 million-a-year position over his refusal to get the vaccine. And though many have gone ahead and gotten the shots, a handful of state employees have stood their ground on principle, choosing to give up their careers rather than comply with a government mandate in a public health emergency.
One of those employees is this Washington State Patrol officer who shared a video of his final sign-off on the mandate deadline. What I find interesting about this particular video is that he’s so calm and reasonable sounding. He’s not spouting conspiracy theories. He’s not cussing out the governor. He’s not ranting about tyranny. He’s simply stating that he’s taking “a moral stand for medical freedom and personal choice” and sharing words of thanks and encouragement to his fellow officers. His seemingly sane sincerity is almost enough to make me sympathetic.
And yet, ironically, everything he says makes it clear that his refusal of the vaccine makes zero sense.
The fatal flaw in this video is how the officer repeatedly talks about staying safe and coming home at the end of the day. He talks about how relieved his wife and kids are at the end of each shift. He makes it clear that an officer’s job is dangerous and he tells his fellow officers to “stay safe” and “take care of one another.”
Here’s the thing. The single greatest danger to police officers’ safety is COVID-19. That’s not a guess or assumption, it’s math.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, COVID-19 was the No. 1 cause of death for police officers in the United States in 2020, and so far in 2021 as well. And it’s not just No. 1 by a little bit. In fact, five times more officers have been killed by COVID-19 than by gunfire in the past two years. In Washington state specifically, half of the law enforcement officers who have died this year were killed by COVID-19. In 2020, it was more than half.
COVID-19 vaccines reduce the chance of getting and transmitting COVID-19 and greatly reduce the chance of death from the virus. So if this officer is truly as concerned about safety as he sounds, he’d get the vaccine. If he’s as concerned about his fellow officers as he sounds, he’d get the vaccine. If he wants officers to take care of one another, as he says, he’d get the vaccine—and he’d encourage others to do the same. If he cares about protecting and serving the people of Washington, he’d get the vaccine.
He talks about the number of officers and sergeants who will no longer be serving as of this week, due to their refusal to get vaccinated. But what about the officers no longer serving because they were taken by COVID-19? Many of those officers didn’t have a choice to get vaccinated because they died before vaccines were available. How would they feel about their fellow officers refusing to do the one simple thing that could have saved them from dying in the line of duty?
Police officers are required to do risky things in their job. Driving around in a patrol car carries a risk. Being armed with a gun carries a risk. Obviously, chasing down criminals carries a risk. Does getting vaccinated for COVID-19 carry a risk? Yes. But it’s a tiny one, and remaining unvaccinated is a far, far riskier choice for you and your colleagues and the people you swore to protect and serve.
The officer said he was taking a stand for medical choice, but he’s doing so without acknowledging 1) the public health emergency/global pandemic that prompted the need for the vaccine he’s refusing, and 2) the fact that caring about safety makes getting vaccinated the only logical choice.
But a choice it is. Losing your job over vaccine refusal during a public health crisis that has killed 700,000 Americans is a choice. And it’s one that doesn’t make any sense when the purpose of your job is to protect and serve the public.
Sir, I get the “medical freedom” argument, but you are refusing to take one small risk to minimize a known danger that has killed more of your fellow officers than every other line-of-duty cause of death combined in the past two years. Just seems like an odd hill to choose to die on.
When I was around 12 or 13, I finally saw Star Wars. At the time I was a little confused about what all the fuss had been about. I’d been hearing about Star Wars basically as long as I’d been sentient, playing with my older cousins’ toys and internalizing the concepts of droids, lightsabers, Darth Vader, “the force,” etc. without ever experiencing the source material. When I finally did, I couldn’t quite grasp what it was that had blown all those Gen Xers’ minds. After a decade of buildup maybe it was inevitable that it couldn’t live up to the hype. Or maybe I just should’ve started with The Empire Strikes Back instead of A New Hope.
Whatever the case, watching Dune, Denis Villeneuve’s new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel, has been in many ways the experience I had once hoped Star Wars would be. After years of never quite getting around to reading Dune, forgetting to watch Dune (1984) and Jodorowsky’s Dune, and pretending to understand memes about sandworms and the necessity of spice flowing, I now feel ready to jump into the world of imperial fiefdoms, Fremen prophesy, and Bene Jesserit tricks with both feet.
Yes, Dune, adapted by writers Jon Spaights, Eric Roth, and Villeneuve, is the first part of a planned serial and is essentially a movie without a third act. It might as well have a “TO BE CONTINUED” title card for an ending. But for this Dune virgin it was exactly what a Dune introduction needed to be: a compelling primer on the material that created a coherent universe, introduced intriguing characters, and left me wanting more. Fire up the thopters, we worm dance at dawn!
Like Star Wars, Dune is set in a dimension where technology has advanced to the point of intergalactic travel while politics have regressed to those of medieval Europe; authoritarian empires, warring clans, hereditary dynasties, even sword fighting (explained through invisible shielding devices that bullets can’t breach but blades can). Like Star Wars, the front line of imperial strife seems to be a desert planet. Dune though, offers greater narrative justification for this: the planet Arrakis is a rich source of “spice,” which for the locals is an ayahuasca-like sacred hallucinogen but for the rest of the empire is the driving energy force powering interstellar travel. Their “unobtanium,” say.
The Harkonnen have ruled Arrakis for years, growing wealthy on spice and treating the local Fremen brutally in the process, but the Emperor has recently dispossessed them. This remote, unintroduced Emperor has offered the fief instead to the rising Atreides clan, led by Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac), who thinks he can be a kinder, gentler kind of extractive steward, not just profiting from the spice but adding the Fremen to his coalition in the process. “Desert Power,” he calls this plan, about which his son, Paul (Timotheé Chalamet) and concubine Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) seem suitably skeptical, but cautiously hopeful that he can pull off.
Most of the film takes place during this transfer of power, as the Atreides move to Arrakis, a harsh environment where the war-like locals have learned to adapt both to water scarcity and to giant sandworms that can sense vibration and devour entire spice harvesters (think: offshore drilling platforms). Yes, the local Fremen have developed a little sand dance (my words) they do to avoid attracting the worms (Let’s do the worm dance agaaaaaaa-aaaain…).
The big question for the Atreides is whether the Emperor has given them Arrakis as a just acknowledgment of their rising power, or simply as a deliberate quagmire designed to ratfuck a potential rival. “The Emperor is a jealous man,” says Baron Harkonnen, played by Stellen Skarsgard in a CGI costume combining revolting corpulence with unchecked alopecia. A Scandinavian-coded race of villains, how about that.
Paul’s mother, meanwhile, comes from a race of pseudo-witches with mysterious mind-control powers in which she has been tutoring her son. The Fremen too think there may be something strange and prophetic about young Paul. “I think I recognize you,” says Stilgar (Javier Bardem), leader of Fremen cell, the first time they meet.
Again, it’s hard not to notice the Star Wars parallels in a story with a desert planet, giant worms, an ancient religion, and a potential messiah, among other things (and Star Wars has been accused of being a Dune ripoff for years). Yet whereas I never quite understood what I was supposed to get out of a battle between “the light” and “the dark side” in Star Wars, Dune turns on a valuable commodity (“spice” can be actual spice, it can be oil, it can be rare Earth minerals, etc) and the feuds between warring clans with conflicting dynastic pretensions all trying to curry favor with an authoritarian state. The allusions there are endless, both historical and contemporary. Not that Dune needs to be an allegory, its characters simply have recognizable motives and the story has coherent levers of cause and effect. Star Wars feels like it’s all stitched together with vague platitudes and childish generalizations by comparison. It’s fitting that Disney owns Star Wars now because it feels, in mid-20th century parlance, pretty Mickey Mouse.
Maybe this is all hopelessly remedial for the Dune scholars out there but it was exciting for me. This Dune being the first of a multi-part story may even play to Villeneuve’s strength. He has long been the best in the business at staging a scene, creating massive, immersive spectacles that have occasionally been a little weak on story structure. In Dune, he balances the book’s storylines deftly, staging spectacle always with an eye to suspense without the burden of closure and a cast that’s fairly perfect from top to bottom. I could watch Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson paint a house and it’s been wonderful witnessing the continued evolution of Jason Momoa as he plays more and more Momoa-like characters. It’s hard to tell whether Jason Momoa has become that much better of an actor or if Hollywood has just become that much better at recognizing what stories could benefit from some Jason Momoa. Either way, I’m happy. Give me all of the Momoa. The Momoa must flow!
Maybe I’m just happy that I can finally do Dune memes now. In some ways it’s a blessing that Dune doesn’t have an ending. It allows us to focus on all of the best parts of the material (I can only assume) married to the strongest aspects of Villeneuve’s filmmaking: it’s an immersive, transporting, intriguing, fully-realized world that we can enjoy spending time in without rating against our ideas of which characters should “win” in that world. I don’t know how this story plays out but for now I’m content to bask in the spice glow.
‘Dune’ is out now in theaters and on HBO Max. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.
Last year saw Ryan Pollie dive into a new project, adopting a distortion-heavy sound for music under the name Total Revenge. Here in 2021, though, he’s been getting back to releasing material under his own name. He dropped the multi-part “The Shore House” a month ago, and now he’s back with the upbeat and lighthearted “On The Nose.”
Pollie says of the track, “Inspired by summers seeing the Dead at outside theaters, pre-gaming in parking lots. Having fun in the car. Rob Dobson plays the lead guitar role of Jerry here, taking John Mayer to school. The lyrics grapple with getting older, missing shows and taking summer vacations for granted. We don’t get those anymore.”
Of his new music in general, he previously noted that while it touches upon his recent cancer battle, it’s actually upbeat: “Of course the music you’re going to be hearing from me has a bit to do with when I was sick and what I’ve been pondering about my own life and life in general since then. Looking back, regret, and the like. But this is certainly the most joyous material I’ve ever released — my sad boy 22-year-old self would be in disbelief!”
Watch the “On The Nose” video above and find the Stars tracklist below.
Forged Artifacts
1. “The Shore House”
2. “On The Nose”
3. “Harriton House”
4. “Our Of It”
5. “Don’t Lie”
6. “Best Love I Ever Had”
7. “Spine”
8. “Steal Away”
9. “The Thing”
10. “Market”
Stars is out 12/10 via Forged Artifacts. Pre-order it here.
Jason Momoa once described filming Dune as the most “beautiful” he’s ever felt on set, and now the actor is opening up even more about bringing the classic sci-fi epic to life with director Denis Villeneuve. In a new interview, Momoa delved into the fight training that was required for his role as Duncan Idaho. Granted, the actor is well-versed in big-budget action scenes thanks to his work on Aquaman, but the final battle in Dune required him to fight a massive amount of people. Yet despite the grueling fight preparation, Momoa revealed he tucked in a secret message to his son in the intricate fight. From a fun chat with IndieWire:
“We did a bunch of stuff like Kali,” which is a martial arts technique native to the Philippines. “I never really learned that. My son does that. There’s definitely these intimate moments where I’m signaling to my son. That’s a Kali move, where you put your hand on your heart and put it on your head. That’s to Timothée in the movie, but that’s to my son in real life.”
Momoa also revealed that when his agent called him to say Villeneuve specifically wanted him for the part, he had to literally race down from the top of a mountain to FaceTime the director, and it was worth the effort.
“Everyone was staring at me, and he had a whole book. It was this manifest. Pictures, everything. It was almost like he was pitching it to me, and I was taken aback,” Momoa said. “He asked if I would play Duncan. That’s never happened before.”
Dune is now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.
Ricky Velez’ publicist reached out to me 16 months ago to set up this interview ahead of him taping his HBO comedy special (which drops Saturday on HBO at 10PM) which was “set to shoot post-COVID” back when we thought such a thing was around the corner or even possible. I bring this up to illustrate an obvious point that Velez (who you may remember from King Of Staten Island, which he co-starred in and produced, collaborating with friend Pete Davidson and now frequent collaborator Judd Apatow, who also produced the special) speaks to in our conversation — the world of stand-up comedy got turned upside down by something that kept performers from the audiences that support and validate their professional existence.
How did that time away impact Velez’s work and relationship to a profession that he is confident he’ll do until the day he dies? We spoke about that, his willingness to open up and talk about his life on stage in pursuit of connection, and what he’s learned from observing some of his most frequent collaborators.
How do you stay sharp and get that fill-up kind of feeling from doing comedy during COVID when you’re kind of just stuck doing nothing.
Yeah. I was stuck, and I definitely use stand-up a lot… it’s something that I love to do. And I love being a part of it, but at the time, it was a good time to exercise a new muscle, which was writing. And I worked with Judd [Apatow] and Judah Miller through the whole pandemic. And that kept me sharp. And then we went right back on the road the moment it was safe to. The moment I had two vaccines in me and two weeks passed me, it was time to hit the road, and we hit it as hard as we could.
Beyond just the monetary side of things, I’m sure comedy also fills a specific need in terms of just talking through stuff, processing your life. Without that, where did you turn to kind of get that fix while not being able to do comedy?
You just stay in touch with the guys you know that are funny. That’s what I did. I mean, I have great friends that are really, really, really funny people. And we all helped each other out during that time. And they were there for each other. It was a really tough time for comics, I believe. Because, unlike any other art, you absolutely need an audience to even practice it. So it was a hard time, but we’re through it. And I’m so happy we are.
The special was in the works for a long, long time. How does your idea of what the material’s going to be for this special change over that period?
The world changed, as did I, right? My environment changed, the people I was around, the people I was seeing, the people that I was able to see, let alone the people that I got to. And that was very important when getting back out on the road, to make sure this was the way to do it. I just felt that I knew, going into my special, based on traveling and seeing the world and seeing how other people were taking everything in. [That] was very important.
I know I’d read an interview where you talked about kind of catching fire for some stuff that you had said on Larry Wilmore’s show back in the day. When you’re coming up with material, what is the do not cross point for you?
I think I just try to be funny, not to just one group or another. I try to be funny across the board. And I don’t like to limit myself, so I’ll try anything. But I mean, if I’m hurting somebody or feel like I am, I move away from it.
What role does the challenge of it play? The challenge in terms of, “I’m going to tell this joke, I’m going to walk a really tight rope, and I’m going to find the funny there, and I’m going to get everybody to laugh at this thing.” Is that a part of what drives you as well?
Yes. Yes. I think it is, it definitely is finding a way to go about something, to talk about either topics, or your family, or something that means something to you, and making a whole room understand it in a moment in time. It’s a thrill.
What do you think it is that pisses comics off so much about the idea of quote cancel culture and the notion that if they, while they’re trying to do this comedic alchemy… if they veer too far in one direction, they may not just alienate people, but just actively spoil any notion of people picking them up again?
I don’t know, I don’t. I don’t know. I think that comics don’t like to be told much, so they definitely don’t want to be told how to speak, but I don’t know. I truly don’t know.
But at the end of the day, I mean, that is part of the challenge too. Isn’t it? To be able to say something and essentially make an impact and get away with it.
No, I think, me personally, I don’t go for that as much as I go for I want to make this a fun experience. That’s how I think about it. And this is what I find funny, and this is what me and my friends that I grew up with and that I’m friends with now belly-laugh about. And hopefully, you guys can understand what we’re saying, what I’m doing.
In the special, you talk about your father and your childhood and being beat as a kid. Have you always been willing to open yourself up to talk about certain things you’ve gone through in your life or did that come over time?
I started writing more personal the more I started to realize how much I was connecting with other people and the things I was talking about, I no longer felt alone about it.
Is that something achieved through direct interactions with your audience and people actually telling you about their stories?
Yeah. I remember when I first started talking about anxiety, I was shocked about how many people were coming up to me and telling me their stories. Even when my mother passed away, I had numerous people come out and reach out to me that had been in my everyday life when it comes to comedy and the rest, telling me their stories. And I just had no clue. So I feel like so often you feel alone and there are people just like you right next to you, and you don’t even know.
How does the working relationship with Judd inform your comedy and what have you learned from working with him?
The work’s never done, that’s how I feel until it’s taped. That’s something I learned from Judd. A lot of work is good work. And be open and lose the ego, and you’ll be fine.
What have you learned from just working with and observing the world as it responds to Pete Davidson [in terms of tabloid coverage]?
I think good work always trumps all that noise. And if you continue to do good work, you’ll continue being great. And that’s what I’ve noticed from those guys.
Who’s in your internal focus group? Do you run material by your wife before it even gets to a crowd before it even gets to other comedians, are there people in your life that you kind of run material by, just to see if it’s hitting, if it feels off?
No, I don’t do that. I bring it straight to the stage. I trust the audience, and I put myself in situations that I can play with it and everybody and get honest reactions. The one thing about my wife, though, if you want to make fun of your wife on stage, you have to have it kill when she comes to see it. If you just have a joke that’s poking at her, whatever, just make sure when she sees it, it’s amazing.
What is up next for you?
Writing, more stand-up, and just keeping the projects that I have in motion, in motion, and just allowing myself to be open to opportunities that are around.
Is there ever an endpoint? I guess the question is, do you ever perfect the art of stand-up comedy, or is that something that you feel you’re just going to do it till you die?
Yeah. I think I would probably do stand-up until the day I die. It’s one of those things, it’s a puzzle that’s never done. It’s a lot of fun. And I got to make my job, my hobby and vice versa. And I just feel really lucky to be able to go do my job whenever I want now. And that’s the one thing I’ve taken away from COVID is how grateful I am to have audiences again. But yeah, this isn’t something, just one day you stop doing.
Nate Bargatze has a great joke about how you can never really quit. You can’t just call somebody and be like, “I’m done.” So it would always just linger. It would always just linger in the back of your head, I would believe. But yeah, that’s why you see people do this until the day they die because it’s an addiction. It’s definitely something that fills a void possibly for a lot of people. And I think it’s changed my life, and I don’t know where I’d be without it.
Ricky Velez’ ‘Here’s Everything’ premieres on HBO Saturday at 10PM ET
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