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Will Ferrell is one of the best comedic actors of his time, and according to his former boss he was so good on Saturday Night Live that his work makes Lorne Michaels break his own rules about ranking all-time castmembers. Ferrell has since moved on to a lucrative career in Hollywood, but his stint on NBC’s late night mainstay is legendary at this point.

And though he’s returned as a frequent host in the years since, Michaels says Ferrell’s work while he was working in Studio 8H is among the best he’s ever seen. Which is a big deal because, well, he’s hired them all. Asked about Ferrell as part of a Hollywood Reporter feature, the SNL creator and showrunner described the superstar as the most annoying newcomer” when he joined the cast in 1995. But that soon became a moniker he wore with pride on his way to being, in Michael’s opinion, one of the best in show history.

From the outside, whatever contingency planning was going on should have come to an end in 1995, when Lorne Michaels hired him on Saturday Night Live — even if one prominent critic had called Ferrell “the most annoying newcomer,” which he wore like a badge of honor. In fact, Ferrell had the descriptor mounted on a nameplate and hung on his office door. “You have a choice with that stuff: to read it and believe it,” he says, “or to just laugh at it but also kind of dig in and go, ‘Oh, you hate me? You haven’t even begun to hate me.’ And that’s my competitive side, that, ‘Oh, just wait, I’m going to go at it even harder.’” (For the record, Michaels never wavered on his pick: “I never rank, but Will’s definitely in the top two or three that have ever done the show,” he says. “There’s no question.”)

It’s certainly high praise considering the long list of legends who appeared in the show’s golden years, let alone the heavy hitters who joined Ferrell in the show’s late 90s resurgence. But it’s one of the many high compliments Ferrell gets in the piece, which is certainly worth a full read just to see very famous people all saying very nice things about Will Ferrell.

[via The Hollywood Reporter]

Right on the heels of announcing a massive 2022 world tour, Conan Gray is back with another beloved pop banger. The Gen Z star, who has been effusive in his praise for Taylor Swift, like any good Gen Z songwriter, is back on his upbeat anthem tip today. After his latest single, the gently vulnerable “People Watching,” this new one, which is called “Telepath,” is much more in line with another early 2021 track called “Overdrive.” Although, that song was a loved up, blissful ode to falling in love, and this one is about the predictability of getting dumped.

Written with Julia Michaels, Ilya, and Caroline Ailin, “Telepath” fights back against the casual cruelty of being dumped, predicting that the fickle lover will be back for more very soon. Last year, Gray released his debut album, Kid Krow, just before the pandemic rearranged life as we know it, especially for touring musicians. And despite the constantly shifting environment, Gray has steadily released hit after hit since the record dropped. When we spoke about his career for a profile piece last year, though, Gray admitted he’s still a little bit in shock about how things turned out. “I would tell seven-year-old Conan that he successfully tricked millions of people into thinking that he was good at writing songs,” he laughed, thinking of what he would say to his past self. “I’d be like, ‘You did it, you did it! You tricked them.’ But I think I’m still very much in a state of wanting to do a good job, you never know when things like this will disappear.”

Well, based on this latest single, that definitely won’t be anytime soon. Check it out above.

2021 has been good to Baby Tate. After announcing her name change earlier this month — dropping from the “Yung” from Baby Tate — the rapper is celebrating a transition to a new record label with a brand new single and video. Previously signed to Issa Rae’s Atlantic-backed Raedio label, Tate will now be releasing music through Warner Records, and her first new song is a celebration of all things petty. A play on the word “Pedi,” as in short for pedicure, the rapper twerks and interrupts plenty of events throughout the chaotic video. “I’m pettier/pedier than my toes,” she raps on one of the verses sandwiched between the song’s speedy hook.

Earlier this year she told Uproxx in a cover story that helping others feel comfortable with themselves is part of why she puts herself out there so boldly. “I’ve always been a bold, out in the open person as long as I feel comfortable. I’ve always wanted to allow other people to know that it’s okay to be themselves too. I just like to laugh and make people laugh and have a good time in life because YOLO.”

YOLO indeed! Check out the new video for “Pedi” above and look out for a lot more coming from this young talent very soon.

The Arizona Cardinals entered Week 8 as the NFL’s only remaining undefeated team, and Kliff Kingsbury’s group wasn’t doing it with smoke and mirrors, leading the league with a +111 point differential. However, the Cardinals faced a real test against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers on Thursday evening, and Arizona trailed by a 24-14 margin in the fourth quarter. Arizona managed to bounce back to create a seemingly favorable situation in the final seconds, though, trailing by only three points and matriculating to Green Bay’s five-yard line with 15 seconds remaining.

Then, Arizona’s unbeaten campaign vanished into thin air in bizarre fashion when Kyler Murray was intercepted on a pass intended for AJ Green in the end zone. A game-sealing interception is brutal, of course, but the wild part was that Green seemingly never saw the ball and never turned around in an attempt to catch it.

Green Bay’s Rasul Douglas made a strong play to first deflect, then snatch the interception, but the headliner here is an apparent miscommunication. FOX analyst Troy Aikman struggled to decipher what could have happened in this instance given there were only 15 seconds left on the clock and no timeouts for Arizona, but Green is a well-known veteran that seemingly had no idea the ball was headed in his direction.

There was no guarantee that the Cardinals would score a touchdown, or even a game-tying field goal, in that spot, but Arizona’s win expectancy was substantial until the moment Douglas corralled the pass. It will be interesting to see what kind of postgame comments emerge from this one but, in short, the Packers picked up an upset victory and the Cardinals have to be kicking themselves for the way the game ended.

PJ Tucker had a winding path to sticking in the NBA. He was a second round pick in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Raptors, appearing in 17 games before leaving the league to play overseas until an eventual return to the NBA in 2012.

Appearing on The Old Man & The Three Podcast, Tucker got into why ending up in Toronto was a bad spot for him and how he didn’t help his own cause with how he handled it. Talking to hosts JJ Redick and Tommy Alter, Tucker noted how he was drafted on a team that already had a lot of wings and didn’t have the infrastructure to help him acclimate to the league.

“Nobody was helping me, right?,” Tucker said. “It was like I was competition. And I didn’t play, so that was tough for me not really getting a chance to play because because coming from college you’re an All-American, you’re all these things and you go to the NBA think about what you’re going to do here and then you don’t. I did not react to that well. I didn’t. I was terrible.”

“I was really bad,” Tucker continued. “I would show up right before practice. I was just doing whatever I wanted. I’m not playing, I don’t care not knowing that they’ll cut you and let you go. It’s funny now because I try to help so many of the young guys when I see them acting like me I’ll be all over ’em, not letting them go down that path.”

Tucker went on to detail getting called into a meeting by Toronto’s brass after returning from a G League (then the D-League) stint just as the NBA playoffs were about to start. He recounted everyone sitting in there from the organization, including the general manager, team president and head coach. In the meeting, they showed him clips of him before, during and after the game just on the bench.

“To this day, it makes me sick to my stomach,” Tucker said. He noted that it wasn’t because of anything the Raptors did — it was all about he acted and conducted himself.

“That was the best thing that ever happened to me in my life,” he said. “It’s probably why I’ve never told this story because, like, I couldn’t tell my mom that. Like, no. Like, come on. Nobody can judge me harder than myself and that was the first time I’ve ever seen myself in that light.”

Tucker finished by saying that it wasn’t intentional and went back to the reality that it wasn’t an environment that was right for him as he tried to find his place in the NBA.

“I didn’t have vets on the team, guys over there grabbing me like how we do younger guys now,” he said. “If I had someone, maybe I wouldn’t have. But I didn’t know because nobody told me. It just wasn’t like that.”

Speculation about Grammy voting and nominations is at a all all-time high right now, as early ballots are being submitted and fans are left to wonder how the awards will shake out this year. Over the last decade or so, the backlash against seemingly-random nominations and wins that are completely out of step with critical and commercial success has grown. Artists like The Weeknd have opted not to submit their work to the Recording Academy at all, and one of the most popular rappers in the world, Drake, has also been vocal about his disappointment with the selections in the past. So fans were interested to see what, if anything, he would submit off this year’s Certified Lover Boy, and the answer is? None of the big categories for any single track, like Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year.

According to a report from Variety, Drizzy submitted “Way 2 Sexy” for best rap performance, “Girls Want Girls” for best melodic rap performance, and “No Friends in the Industry” for best rap song. He also submitted Certified Lover Boy for Album Of The Year, so he’s still in the game for that big award, just not the song ones. Check out more of Variety‘s unpacking of Grammy submissions process here.

Joakim Noah is a Chicago Bulls franchise legend and he received a hero’s welcome in his return to Chicago on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Noah was named a franchise ambassador by the Bulls with the team announcing plans to honor him at tonight’s game. With former teammates with Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Carlos Boozer, and Brad Miller with him in the stands, the Bulls took a moment to honor Noah in-game in front of the United Center crowd.

As the video shows, Rose took a moment to gesture towards Noah, as did Gibson. Thibodeau, meanwhile, looked very much like Thibodeau in seemingly not being aware of what was going on.

https://twitter.com/cwmwrites/status/145389263525770854

The Bulls also created a tribute video for Noah, featuring comments from Rose, Thibodeau, Kirk Hinrich and others that aired in arena.

Perhaps the coolest part about this, though, is that it came on a night where the Bulls were hosting a Knicks team that is coached by Tom Thibodeau (Noah’s coach in Chicago when he was at his apex) and features former teammates in Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson. Noah also played for the Knicks, spending two years in New York before finishing out his career with stints with the Grizzlies and Clippers.

According to a report from People, Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik’s relationship has ended rather dramatically. Though the young couple have been through ups and downs in the public eye before, the pair now share a child, Khai, together, and have been going strong for the last few years. A recent incident that involved Zayn arguing with Gigi’s mother, Yolanda, seems to have been the catalyst for a real break between the co-parents.

TMZ reported earlier today that Yolanda was considering filing a police report against Zayn because of an incident where he “struck” her. Malik categorically denied the story telling TMZ: “I adamantly deny striking Yolanda Hadid and for the sake of my daughter I decline to give any further details and I hope that Yolanda will reconsider her false allegations and move towards healing these family issues in private.”

He also shared a lengthy statement on Twitter about the matter:

“As you all know I am a private person and I very much want to create a safe and private space for my daughter to grow up in. A place where private family matters aren’t thrown on the world stage for all to poke and pick apart. In an effort to protect that space for her I agreed to not contest claims arising from an argument I had with a family member of my partner’s who entered our home while my pattern was away several weeks ago. This was and still should be a private matter but it seems for now there is divisiveness and despite my efforts to restore us to a peaceful family environment that will allow for me to co-parent my daughter in a manner in which she deserves, this has been “leaked” to the press. I am hopeful though for healing for all involved with the harsh words shared and more importantly I remain vigilant to protect Khai and give her the privacy she deserves.”

Gigi released a short statement through her rep to E! news: “Gigi is solely focused on the best for Khai. She asks for privacy during this time.”

Phew. Anyone who has watched Yolanda on Housewives has a lot of thoughts right now… best of luck to Zayn and Gigi to keep a peaceful co-parenting situation going.

Olivia Rodrigo has plenty of punk-rock and ferocity in her pop songs, and that might be due to hearing some unexpected music growing up. The teen prodigy appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week to talk all things Sour, and what she’s been up to during a pretty hectic year. After letting fans know about the bizarre gift that President Biden gave her when she visited the White House, she also filled everyone in on some Rodrigo family knowledge. When Kimmel asked Olivia about whether her mother is concerned when she includes curse words in her songs, the world got a funny bit of information about Mrs. Rodrigo. Apparently, she loves listening to death metal and punk, which suddenly makes Olivia’s cursing seem far more restrained.

“My mom’s actually really funny though, my mom is like a third grade teacher from the midwest,” Olivia begins, “And she’s very sweet, but her favorite music is like death metal and punk music. She’s the sweetest woman, and she’ll turn on like Motorhead. She has some edge to her. I remember being really young and she’d wake me up and she’d put a record on, and she’d put on a Motorhead record to like wake me up.”

So don’t be surprised if we get an “Ace Of Spades” cover from Olivia on LP number two. Watch the whole interview with Kimmel above.

The final Daniel Craig film in the James Bond canon is still making an impact in theaters, and one No Time To Die‘s biggest stars may have their next action project already lined up. Ana de Armas, who stole the show in the oft-delayed release, may have landed herself a spot in another big action series.

As Deadline revealed on Thursday, Ana de Armas is “in talks” to headline Ballerina, a John Wick-universe spinoff project as part of that franchise’s big expansion.

Knives Out and No Time To Die star Ana de Armas is in talks to take the lead role in anticipated John Wick spinoff Ballerina, about a young female assassin who seeks revenge against the people who killed her family.

The character made a fleeting appearance in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum as a ballerina who is also training to be an assassin.

As we previously revealed, Len Wiseman (Underworld) is aboard to direct the action-thriller, whose script comes from Shay Hatten, known for Zack Snyder’s Army Of The Dead and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

De Armas taking the title spot here would certainly be intriguing for action movie fans who loved her work in No Time To Die, as many have raved about her action sequence as a highlight of the movie. The report mentions speculation about who else may appear in the film, including Keanu Reeves as Wick himself. But as far as potential anchors for action franchises go, there’s no hotter name in Hollywood right now.

[via Deadline]