It seems as though Jimmy Fallon was still reeling from getting trounced by H.E.R. in a solo guitar battle a year ago, that he hadn’t picked up the axe since. That all changed last night when the host of The Tonight Show hopped on stage and lent a hand to country music superstar Chris Stapleton’s performance of “You Should Probably Leave.”
Fallon had some big shoes to fill in Stapleton’s usual guitarist Dave Cobb, who is not just a stellar player himself, but also the producer behind recent notable albums from Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Jade Bird, Barry Gibb, and Stapleton too. It helps that Stapleton is about as flawless and commanding of a frontman as they come and it’d be nearly impossible to notice if Fallon faltered, since who can really take their eyes and ears away from Chris Stapleton? But credit to Fallon, who totally held his own and even joined Morgane Stapleton on backing vocals.
Stapleton is having an extended moment to say the least. He leads the way with five nominations at this year’s Country Music Awards including Entertainer and Album of the Year (for Starting Over). He’s also in the midst of the extensive “All-American Road Show” Tour, which features special guests Sheryl Crow, Margo Price, Little Big Town, and more. See the full list of remaining dates here.
Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club weren’t the first movies to feature Molly Ringwald; that would be this largely forgotten modernization of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, in which she played John Cassavetes and Gena Rowland’s 13-year-old daughter. But they were the movies that made her an icon. Since the ’80s, they’ve endured as game-changing films that dared to take teenage life seriously. But they have their critics who don’t think they’ve aged well if they were ever good in the first place. And those include Ringwald herself, plus her 12-year-old daughter.
As caught by The Hollywood Reporter, Ringwald recently appeared on Andy Cohen’s Sirius show Radio Andy. There, she elaborated upon a New Yorker essay she wrote in 2018, in which she wrote discussed watching one of her Hughes films with her eldest daughter, Matilda. But instead of a nostalgia trip, she found she couldn’t overlook what she saw as their discriminatory and “troubling” elements. Three years later, she’s reluctant to repeat the experience with her younger daughter, Adele.
“It was such an emotional experience that I haven’t — I haven’t found that strength to watch it with my two other kids,” Ringwald told Cohen. She described 12-year-old Adele as “the most woke individual you’ve ever met,” which has prevented her from showing her movies with Asian stereotype jokes (Sixteen Candles) or a movie where a slacker (Judd Nelson) peeks at their mom’s underwear (The Breakfast Club).
“And I just don’t know how I’m gonna go through that, watching it with her and [her] saying, ‘How could you do that? How could you be a part of something, you know,’” Ringwald said.
Ringwald tried to wrestle with her complicated feelings about the films that made her name. “There’s elements of these films that I find homophobic. On the other hand, they’re also about people that felt like outsiders,” Ringwald said. “So they speak to a lot of people who feel — you know, they’re complicated.”
Ringwald admits that that complexity — their ability to be both problematic and relatable — isn’t necessarily a demerit. “I feel like that’s what makes the movies really wonderful, and it’s also something I wanted to go on record talking about — the elements that I find troubling and that I want to change for the future,” she elaborated. “But that doesn’t mean at all that I want them to be erased. I’m proud of those movies, and I have a lot of affection for them. They’re so much a part of me.”
You can watch a segment from Ringwald’s Radio Andy appearance in the video below.
Dave Chappelle’s six-show run for Netflix has mirrored a tumultuous period in American history. Over the last four years, Chappelle’s specials have covered the Trump presidency, social unrest following the murder of George Floyd and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wedged between the specials, in 2020, Chappelle delivered a solemn commentary on the death of Floyd entitled “8:46.”
Throughout his Netflix run, Chappelle has unapologetically tackled third-rail topics such as cancel culture, sexual abuse in Hollywood, race relations, the opiate epidemic among “poor whites” and LGBTQ issues.
And he’s often done it with brilliant humor and grace. This time? Not so much.
“Comedians have a responsibility to be reckless…” – Dave Chapelle in his new Netflix stand-up special, The Closer… https://t.co/sQD7j6sA6x
This string of specials has come during an uncertain time for comedy when social media and political correctness have had a chilling effect on what a comedian can say. Or, at least what some comedians say they are allowed to say. One of the main goals of comedy is to figure out where the line of appropriateness is at a given time and to prove it by leaping over it.
Comedians deserve a lot of leeway for what they say because their job—when done correctly—is essentially jumping off a cliff to give the rest of us a better understanding of the current state of humanity.
Chappelle’s Netflix specials have been refreshing because they’ve pushed the cultural envelope at a time when social media backlashes can ruin a career.
In 2017’s “Equanimity,” the comic begins by saying that he doesn’t, “as a policy,” feel bad about anything he says onstage. He later expounds on his point, saying:
Everybody gets mad because I say these jokes. But you have to understand this is the best time to say them. Now more than ever, I know there’s some comedians in the back—motherfuckers, you have a responsibility to speak recklessly, otherwise my kids might not know what reckless talk sounds like. The joys of being wrong. I didn’t come here to be right, I just came here to fuck around.
This week, Netflix released Chappelle’s final show in the series, “The Closer,” which promised to tie a bow around the entire project. The promise was enticing.
“I need you guys to know something, and I’m gonna tell you the truth, and don’t get freaked out: This is going to be my last special for a minute,” he said, later explaining that “The Closer” will complete his “body of work” for Netflix.
One brilliant riff about rapper DaBaby early in the show highlighted America’s lopsided view of race relations and LGBTQ rights. But it also kicked off a recurring theme that would haunt the rest of the performance: the idea that the Black and LGBTQ communities are pitted against one another in the fight for social justice.
Dave Chapelle once again hitting the nail on head with the truth about DaBaby and the LBGQT community situation🧐 Ne… https://t.co/9y3PNoG2ds
Ten minutes into the show he began an hour-long rant about gender where he hit back at critics who’ve called him transphobic.
“Any of you who have ever watched me know that I have never had a problem with transgender people. If you listen to what I’m saying, clearly, my problem has always been with white people,” he maintains.
This would make sense if all trans people are white. But that’s far from true.
“Gender is a fact,” he reasons. “Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. That is a fact. Now, I am not saying that to say trans women aren’t women, I am just saying that those pussies that they got … you know what I mean? I’m not saying it’s not pussy, but it’s Beyond Pussy or Impossible Pussy. It tastes like pussy, but that’s not quite what it is, is it? That’s not blood. That’s beet juice.”
Chappelle is wrong here, too. Gender and sex are two different things. Sex, according to the World Health Organization, refers to “the different biological and physiological characteristics of females, males and intersex persons”; whereas, gender is “the socially constructed characteristics of women and men—this includes norms, behaviors and roles.”
Over the next half hour or so he discusses hitting a lesbian woman in the breasts, confronting a trans woman who was bothered by his work and the “frumpy dykes” of the #MeToo movement.
In the end, he tries to claim a moral high ground and fly above the fracas he created by recalling a night he let an inexperienced trans woman, Daphne Dorman, open for him at a show in San Francisco.
After the show, they discussed his views on transgendered people.
“She said, ‘I don’t need you to understand me.’ She said, ‘I just need you to believe that I’m having a human experience,'” Chappelle said.
“I said, ‘I believe you, bitch.’ Because she didn’t say anything about pronouns. She didn’t say anything about me being in trouble. She said, ‘Just believe that I’m a person and I’m going through it,'” he continued.
Later, Dorman died by suicide. Chappelle doesn’t examine why she would have taken her own life. Or contemplate the fact that trans people are ten times more likely to attempt suicide than those who are not.
Instead, he tries to smooth things over by saying we all need to have empathy for one another and that means that LGBTQ people should take it easy on comedians such as himself and Kevin Hart who’ve been chastised for anti-LGBTQ jokes.
“Empathy is not gay. It is not Black. Empathy is bisexual. It must go both ways,” he said. “Will you please stop punching down on me, people?”
Yes, multimillionaire Kevin Hart may not have been able to host the Oscars for some homophobic jokes he made a decade ago. But that doesn’t equate to the type of discrimination that pushes many people like Dorman to die by suicide.
Chappelle is one of the rare comics who’s talented and honest enough to help us make sense of one of the most divisive eras in American history. Unfortunately, “The Closer” shies away from the job. Instead, we are treated to a man who professes not to care about his critics, going the extra mile to provide us with a muddled, sorry-not-sorry explanation for his jokes that fails to convince.
A comedy club is not a court of law and comedians should be able to win on an emotional appeal instead of making an intellectual argument. But Chapelle’s most recent special plays out more like an act of stubborn defiance than an honest assessment of gender in the United States.
If you’re looking for an intense wartime drama filled with friendship, betrayal, and a couple of powerhouse actors, you might just want to keep an eye on the upcoming limited-run series A Spy Among Friends. According to Deadline, the Cold War-era drama has officially found its lead actors in Band of Brother’s and Homeland star Damian Lewis and Mare of Easttown’s Guy Pearce, and has already begun filming ahead of its fall 2022 release date. The news comes a year after the series was first revealed last year, albeit with actor Dominic West attached to it. Instead, it is now Lewis who will be portraying notorious double agent Kim Philby, marking the actor’s next major role after departing Showtime’s Billions.
According to Deadline, A Spy Among Friends is based on the true story of the “defection of notorious British intelligence officer and KGB double agent, Kim Philby, played by Mare of Easttown’s Pearce” and follows him “through the lens of his complex relationship with MI6 colleague and close friend, Nicholas Elliott (Lewis). The show examines espionage through their friendship, the fallout of which affects East-West relations to this day.” Creator and executive producer Alexander Cary said he couldn’t resist “the opportunity to dramatize the true story” of the lifelong friends and examine the “larger universal themes of human behavior” inherent in spy stories.
“How could I resist the opportunity to dramatize the true story of Nicholas Elliott and Kim Philby — two spies and lifelong friends, one of whom was betraying the other all along?” said Cary. “A friendship that resulted in the gutting of British and American intelligence at the height of the Cold War and shaped the field of play for the dangerous game against Russia that we’re still trying to win today. Macintyre’s books about spies from recent history are relevant and exciting because they examine the larger universal themes of human behavior that drive individuals among us, and like us, to excel in the murky world of espionage and, for better or worse, leave a lasting impact on the world.”
In addition to Pearce and Lewis, Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland), Stephen Kunken (Billions), and Adrian Edmondson (Back to Life) are also set to star in the series, which began filming in London this week. A Spy Among Friends is being produced by Sony Pictures Television, ITV Studios and Veritas Entertainment Group, with Cary and Lewis serving as the show’s producers alongside ITV Studios’ Patrick Spence. The joint venture between the BBC and ITV is set to premiere next fall via Spectrum’s On Demand platform in the U.S., and BritBox in the U.K.
It happens every Friday around 5 pm: Someone posts a gif of Daniel Craig introducing The Weeknd on the March 7, 2020 episode of SNL. It might even be the most-watched thing the actor has ever done, outperforming even TNT reruns of Casino Royale. Not even Craig himself knew it would be a popular meme; in fact, he only recently found about its online ubiquity. But there was one person who foresaw it becoming a social media staple: His No Time to Die adversary Rami Malek.
Entertainment Weekly recently did a group interview with stars Craig, Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, and director Cary Fukunaga. In it, Malek informed his colleagues that Craig’s introduction — in which he simply says, “Ladies and gentlemen: The Weeknd” — is internet famous.
“You don’t know about this,” Malek told them. “It’s gone viral, his announcement of the Weeknd on that show, and it’s done so flawlessly that people pick it up because it’s unusual in the best way. It’s so unique. I was there that night in the audience watching it. I thought to myself at that moment, I looked over to my partner, and I said, ‘I think that’s the best introduction of a band I’ve ever heard on SNL and apparently…’”
“You were right,” Craig interrupted.
They also discussed one of Craig’s already well-known habits, in which he kisses his male costars after scenes. “I kiss lots of people,” Craig told them. “It’s like, I’m a very friendly guy, and I wouldn’t rank anybody. That would be a terrible, terrible thing to do, to rank the best kissers. I would just… how many people could I offend? Terrible. Thousands, thousands of people.”
Craig also said he used to kiss Malek at the end of every scene. But Malek says he did more than not mind: “I would just rush through scenes just to get to that moment that you would get kissed. ‘Cary, Cary, two takes, we’re good?’
Bad Sport: Season 1 (Netflix series) — Sports and crime intersect in this show, which dives into personal accounts from athletes, coaches, and law enforcement. Expect to see the 2002 figure skating scandal (out of Salt Lake City), a weed-smuggling scandal surrounding an Indycar driver, a horse hitman committing insurance fraud, a basketball point-shaving scheme, and more bad boys who fell from grace.
Among The Stars: Season 1 (Disney+ series) — This show takes space fans behind the a vital NASA mission of fixing the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), a tool that hopes to reveal the universe’s origins, although the job comes with a $2 billion price tag.
Baking Impossible: Season 1 (Netflix series) — Here’s the latest food competition series, and this one arrives with creative and innovative bakers who team up with engineers to build truly wild culinary creations. The judging criteria is tough, too, and it includes not only taste tests but also engineering stress tests. Yes, there’s an edible skyscraper involved.
The Wonder Years (ABC, 8:30pm) — This reimagining adopts a different perspective (from the Fred Savage-starring original show) with the focus on an African-American family and their home base in 1960s Montgomery, Alabama. Don Cheadle narrates the usual tween ordeals and also the experience of being part of a Southern Black family. This week, Dean finds some, uh, adult literature and takes it to school. Not good!
Riverdale (CW, 8:00pm) — A rough Riverdale year has led to a whole lot of pieces to pick up, and they’re looking toward even more local chaos after an incident at Pop’s.
Archer (FXX, 10:00pm) — Barry finds himself trapped (where else?) within Other Barry, all while Archer’s trapped elsewhere.
American Horror Story: Double Feature (FXX, 10:00pm) — A morally dubious deal troubles the president, and decisions must be made.
Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens (Comedy Central, 10:00pm) — Awkwafina’s semi-autobiographical series is deep into its second season, in which she gazes into the future with starry eyes. This week, life is anything but simple.
The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Anthony Anderson, Charli XCX
Late Night With Seth Meyers — Blake Shelton, Brett Goldstein, Cuco, Barrett Martin
In case you missed these streaming picks from last Wednesday:
The Chestnut Man (Netflix series) — This Danish psychological-thriller series (from The Killing‘s creator) finds its roots in Nordic noir. The story follows police (within a Copenhagen suburb) who discover a brutal murder, which is accompanies by (bizarrely enough) a small figure rendered with chestnuts. That accessory leads to the possibility of a serial killer at hand, which all might be tied to a politician’s daughter’s fate.
No One Gets Out Alive (Netflix film) — A young immigrant woman takes up residence in an American boarding house, which turns out to be a much more terrible deal than it seems. The low price arrives with disturbed tenants and nightmares for all and echoes from the basement, and soon enough, she realizes that the house is evil and a living nightmare, all where screams go unnoticed, including her own.
In a new interview with Complex, Tinashe addresses her new 333 Tour and fighting an ‘uphill battle’ for recognition for the past decade. One part of that battle was being put into a box by music journalists, labels, and fans. When asked about the labels that have been applied to her over her career, Tinashe explained why she “hated” being known as an R&B artist.
“I hated being called an R&B star,” she said. “I really, really had a strong aversion to that. I felt that created a ceiling to my art and my artistry that really turned me off in the early days. I didn’t want to be in that box that I felt had some type of inevitable lid on it. I’ve always honestly classified myself as a pop star. That’s always been what I see for myself, and then I think people’s interpretation of what that means is maybe where it gets convoluted because some people think pop means mainstream. Like, I don’t know, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, or something. But I think that’s not what that really means. To me, it’s more like what you embody more so than, I think, what it sonically sounds like.”
While she doesn’t explain whether her outlook has changed, she has continued to dabble in multiple sounds on her new album, 333. You can read Uproxx’s review here.
While promoting his new film, Cmon Cmon, Joaquin Phoenix responded to rumors about a possible Joker sequel now that the film is both a box office and award-winning success. Among those rumors has been speculation that Phoenix is not interested in a sequel, but that didn’t seem to be the case when he sat down with The Playlist. Granted, Phoenix didn’t have much in the way of information, he did seem game for another turn as Arthur Fleck:
Asked if there was any movement on the film to his knowledge or whether they’d ever make a sequel, Phoenix seemed to be very open to a sequel still — as he was at the time of the film’s original release—but appeared to be in the dark on any updates or whether the sequel will actually come to pass. “I mean, I dunno. From when we were shooting, we started to —you know, uhh, this is an interesting guy. There are some things we could do with this guy and could [explore] further. But as to whether we actually will? I don’t know.”
So, that settles that.
As director Todd Phillips revealed shortly after the film brought in a boatload of cash for Warner Bros., obviously, the studio is very interested in getting a second movie off the ground. So the question isn’t whether the studio is ready, but whether Phillips and Phoenix can arrive at a story that won’t make a return to the Joker well seem like your run-of-the-mill comic book movie sequel.
After all, Joaquin is correct. If nothing else, the Joker is certainly “an interesting guy.”
In Dave Chappelle’s new Netflix special The Closer, the veteran standup comic gives his perspective on the backlash against Charlotte rapper DaBaby in the wake of his homophobic comments at Rolling Loud. In one bit, Chappelle compares the reaction to DaBaby’s comments to a relatively muted after DaBaby allegedly shot and killed another man in a Walmart in self-defense: “In our country, you can shoot and kill a n***a but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings,” he summarizes.
While Chappelle’s bit elicited varied reactions from fans on social media, one notable person who approved of the bit is 50 Cent, who shared a clip on Instagram and offered some context from his unique perspective. “Dave Chappelle is a funny mother f*cker,” he wrote in the caption. “That was flawless. Hip hop loves things that are damaged, that’s the beauty of the culture. @dababy is on a new path. Music has changed everything. LOL” It seems in 50’s eyes rap provided a net positive for someone like DaBaby because although DaBaby has come under scrutiny, at least he’s not being assaulted in public (usually, he’s doing the assaulting, but that’s a different post).
Of course, 50 has been one of DaBaby’s staunchest supporters, even after the backlash. In an August interview, 50 compared DaBaby’s situation to that of Chris Brown, inadvertently highlighting the position that cancel culture doesn’t exist. Naturally, he says, as long as DaBaby keeps making hits, he should be able to bounce back from the awkwardly-worded call-to-action. History shows he might be right.
If you’ve been on TikTok at all in the past year, chances are you’ve heard one of PinkPantheress’ songs, even if you don’t know her name. PinkPantheress started making music in her college dorm at 3 a.m., in between work and classes as a creative outlet. After uploading some clips of her songs on TikTok, PinkPantheress absolutely blew up: Her song “Just For Me” has been used in over 2 million TikTok videos. After signing a record label deal, the 20-year-old UK musician is gearing up for her debut mixtape, To Hell With It.
After sharing a full-length version of her viral “Just For Me” track, PinkPantheress now delivers the sparkling new track “I Must Apologise.” Much like her other tracks, the instrumentals are built around a sample of a classic house track, Crystal Waters’ 1991 track “Gypsy Woman.” With her honeyed vocals, PinkPantheress urgently delivers lyrics about her relationship woes over cascading synths.
In a statement about the inspiration behind her new track, PinkPantheress said, “‘I Must Apologise’ is a fast-paced, upbeat track about someone telling lies all the time. It is a song that tells a niche tale underneath the synths of Crystal Waters’ track ‘Gypsy Woman.’”
Listen to “I Must Apologise” above.
To Hell With It is out 10/15 via Elektra Records/Parlophone Records. Pre-order it here.
PinkPantheress is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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