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Las Vegas festival Life Is Beautiful was forced to cancel its 2020 edition (of course), but it’s coming back strong in 2021 with an impressive lineup. Even if you can’t make it to the actual festival (which takes place from September 17 to 19), though, some additional “Life Is Beautiful Presents” performances will still pack quite the punch.

The festival announced the series of shows, at Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, today: Jacob Collier will perform on September 15, Brittany Howard (with Ant Clemons) on the 16th, San Holo on the 17th, and Ludacris (with Childish Major) on the 18th.

Those artists are also on the festival lineup, which is led by Billie Eilish, Tame Impala, ASAP Rocky, Green Day, Haim, Young Thug, St. Vincent, 6lack, Modest Mouse, Don Toliver, Lany, Earthgang, Purity Ring, Ashnikko, Shaed, Trevor Daniel, Still Woozy, Noah Cyrus, Yaeji, Remi Wolf, and Jamila Woods.

When announcing that lineup, organizers noted, “When curating the lineup for Life Is Beautiful this year, we challenged ourselves to stay grounded in the realities of the year that we just lived. The way we discover artists changed, the places we listened to music evolved, and the meaning of music deepened as we listened in new ways. This year’s lineup isn’t our 2019 lineup in 2021. It’s our 2021 lineup, and celebrates the artists, both established and emerging, who were the shining lights during our darkest days.”

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

What a week! Did I say that last week? Maybe! But it was. Every time you think, “Oh, summer must be winding down,” there it is to knock you over the head with a particularly bad bout of heatstroke, and it’s all your fault because you should know by now to wear a hat.

The summer vacations continued, are right now as I write this continuing, and they are quality vacays, people. More yachts, more guys jumping off them, more appearances of pro-wrestlers, more brushes with Old Beach (this can go), more sun, more fun.

Russell Westbrook

Russ played in the pool with his family on vacation (please scroll to slide 2, I beg of you) and also swam in the ocean.

Russ then did the Dodgers a solid by tossing out the first pitch and did the impossible by making baseball seem cool.

Rating: A solid week for the Brodie, all in all.

Jimmy Butler

I can admit I was starting to get a little nervous with the lack of Jimmy Butler summer updates but then I remembered the way Jimmy spends his summers, when not in Italy, Greece, or some other, beautiful far-flung locale, is by just playing dominoes either in his backyard or around Miami, in parks with old guys. It’s a nice reminder that if you do summer right, vacation is wherever you want it to be.

Rating: Couldn’t tell you whether this is a good batch of dominoes or what.

Luka Doncic

I’m very pleased to say this sighting came from a tip I received from a literal jetsetter, like someone flying at that very moment, so if you don’t think NBA SVW is as worldwide as the Illuminati, but less concerned with posturing than the proper body position to go down a waterslide with, what can I even tell you?

Anyway! According to the very prestigious Luka Updates Twitter account, Luka is in Greece huffing on a hookah, laughing, wearing a classic Ray-Ban aviator shade and a t-shirt with Michael Jordan dunking on it.

Rating: A lot of concerned reply guys furiously googling “hookah effect 3-pt percentage” right now.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis attended an AEW event where he loved the feeling of thinking himself as a little baby again, and enjoyed the company of Chris Jericho and Sting.

Rating: It’s good to have hobbies outside of work, especially in the summer. To me, while pretty clearly WORK, summer vacation is both a hobby and a lifestyle, so I have a good balance, in case you were worried.

Rudy Gobert

Rudy is still on vacation and still thinks he can elude me when it comes to pinning down exactly where. And you know what, he is! This is like when IG influencers go on vacation, or go anywhere, and post a series of pics designed to make it seem as if they are having a singular and completely unattainable experience. Also I’m sure we all have friends who do this. Someone comments, “Cool! Where are you?” And they never reply. Or worse, they toss a praying hands emoji. And you’re like, great, but I’d like to go swim here, too.

Rating: This isn’t getting to me at all.

Lou Williams

Lou is really having himself one! Actually several party platters worth of vacation, it seems. He spent a lot of time on and around this boat in the last week, as well as jumping off of it.

If I was more confident in Dime’s CMS I’d post a video of this entire thing, where Lou jumped off a boat to the perfect song, “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. Perfect because as we’ve been seeing for some weeks now, it’s not really the craziest thing to do. But you can recreate it here with these captured stills, like ancient man used to do with flickering firelight across cave drawings.

Rating: May you find the party platter of your dreams while summer’s still in sesh.

Serge Ibaka

Just when you think Serge is not on vacation anymore, he is! But Serge also lives a lifestyle where it’s very tough to tell sometimes what’s regular life and vacation, kind of like the thin veneer of waking life and sleeping for people who suffer from narcolepsy. While Serge has not said where he is, he is also not as mysterious as Rudy Gobert, and I’m going to say he’s in Mexico. Is that narrowing it down? It’s enough.

Rating: This guy remains absolutely fascinated by the sea, which scared him mere weeks ago. A draw we can all understand and a bravery we can only hope to achieve.

JaVale McGee

JaVale did a cool glitchy vacation vid featuring notorious summer vacation master Klay Thompson. They jump off a boat into the ocean, travel to and escape from Old Beach, and spend some time in… an engine room? The important thing is they both had fun.

If that wasn’t enough, JaVale also went golfing, which my knowledgeable colleague Robby Kalland broke down expertly here, but the only other thing to focus on is how mad Kyle Kuzma got in the comments over JaVale golfing barefoot.

Rating: I don’t like how many players are toying with the idea of finding Old Beach this summer because what if they actually do?

Buddy Hield

Remember what we talked about last week when we talked about deciding whether or not Buddy Hield being home counted as Buddy Hield on vacation? And what I said about the checklist? Here’s Buddy Hield standing patiently on a beach and waiting for you to get that it always counts as vacation when it comes to him.

Rating: Read the hat!

Josh Richardson

Josh has quickly become one of my standouts this summer, not just for the quality of vacations he’s been taking, but the joy he’s getting out of them, and the willingness he is to share and not be so clandestine about it.

He went to Disneyland, got stoked on being an Avenger, zoomed on some clowns, and asked the question we all would have been muttering in our minds about this weird bear thing.

Rating: It’s going to be time to start thinking about NBA SVW MVP, and I have a warning for everyone: Watch your backs because Josh Richardson is zoomin on u clowns.

D’Angelo Russell

This weird gathering consisted of A-Rod, Taurean Prince, D’Angelo Russell, and more smoking cigars in Miami. Since I first laid eyes on this unfortunate photo I’ve learned that’s not just a huge thing of glistening olives, but a huge thing of glistening Spanish limes, which are apparently good for the digestive tract, which we can all agree is too intimate a food to be serving like this and at such large quantities.

Rating: I’m rating this “Regular,” which is gross but what choice do I have?

Myles Turner

I also thought Myles was done with the mountains, like he’d come down from them, but it turns out he went back up just this week! Turner headed to Telluride, Colorado, to take in some more majestic vistas and icy cold creeks with friends.

Rating: The only thing colder than cold certified is Myles Turner’s mountain vacations. Don’t sue me Coors Light, it’s just the honest truth.

Boban Marjanović

Summer can be a nice time to experiment with looks, whether or not those looks stick around and make it into your regular life rotation is another story. Boban has grown what can only be described as an intriguing mustache and he would like you to know.

Rating: He doesn’t want to know what you think though, because he doesn’t care.

Isaiah Thomas

This is a pretty straightforward summer pic and one everyone can relate to. You ask your friend to take your picture because you are feeling good, but what they come back with is sort of whatever. Like, they didn’t get your full body. But still, the palms look great, the daybeds look relaxing, your new bucket hat is perched at an immaculate angle.

Rating: You let it go, knowing that there will be more, and better pictures of you, to come.

Evan Fournier

While technically this is Rudy Gobert’s begrudgingly pretty good troll, this is also Evan Fournier. Or, rather, the 2K approximation of him that was released this week and made Fournier pretty steamed, which is both understandable, because this doesn’t actually look like ANYBODY living on earth, but also funny, because it’s frightening as hell.

Rating: I’d like for the Knicks to put this on a shirt.

Terrence Ross

I waffled over whether this counts as a vacation, Terrence Ross being in NYC and all, but ultimately decided to pull the trigger because Ross being strangely beguiled (“Chills”) by driving by Epstein’s old apartment is, in itself, a weird but accurate depiction of something that happened in the offseason.

Rating: Look, they can’t all be winners. I’m an impartial journalist.

Justice Winslow

Justise wore a really rugged vest on a beach vacation and you have to commend him for committing to the look. He lighted it up with some neutral linens a little later, but more respect for anyone packing a vest.

Rating: Remember vests? Time to bring vests back.

Dwyane Wade

So, at least once every summer, Dwyane Wade takes a big friends trip with his and Gabrielle Union’s closest. Aside from how unattainable for the average person, they always look like a lot of fun. Sure, let’s rent a couple yachts for the crew, hit up the South of France before tootin’ along to Capri, Positano, Sardinia, and a few other stops, jump off the yachts, smoke cigars, unpack this gigantic inflatable slide for adults, dress strictly in silks, like who wouldn’t.

Rating: Probably not you or I, but you know what I mean.

Paul Pierce’s Place

I got some complaints and concerns at the lack of Paul Pierce appearances over the last couple weeks, so I’m happy to say that here comes our guy, rattling back into our hearts on this roller coaster for children, and looking completely thrilled about it.

Rating: No rating, just relief to have him back.

After collaborating together on Coming 2 America, which was a sizable hit for Amazon, Eddie Murphy and writer Kenya Barris are bringing a new comedy movie to Netflix, and Jonah Hill is coming along for the ride. Unlike Coming to America sequel, the untitled Netflix film will be directed by Barris from a script that he wrote with Hill. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

Plot details are being kept secret, but it is said to be an incisive examination of modern love and family dynamics and how clashing cultures, societal expectations and generational differences shape and affect relationships. Murphy and Hill will find themselves on opposite sides of some of those divides.

The announcement arrives just a few days after Hill was featured in a cover profile for GQ where he opened up about getting to meet Will Ferrell, a comedy great who came up through Saturday Night Live just like Murphy. According to Hill, his meeting with Ferrell and director Adam McKay was a chance encounter at a taco shop that blew the young actor’s mind while he was just coming to grips with the success of Superbad.

“There was a taco shop around the corner, and you and Will Ferrell were eating tacos,” Hill told McKay who was conducting the interview for GQ. “It must’ve been right before or after Superbad came out, but I remember that you guys wanted to talk to me. And I sat down and talked to you guys. And you guys were, like, talking to me. And I was like, This is the sickest! This is it! I get to talk to these people I’m obsessed with.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Josh Monroe has become one of the most popular educators on social media because of his unique TikTok videos that demonstrate how he supports his students’ emotional well-being. The fifth-grade teacher at Bryan Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska first went mega-viral after posting a video demonstrating how he handles sleepy children in his classroom.

The video is unique because it’s shot from the student’s perspective. It was a response to another teacher who shared a video about how they rudely wake up tired students.

“I watched it and it just kind of rubbed me the wrong way,” Monroe told Omaha.com. “So I created the same video but [showed] the way that I would react.”

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Monroe’s videos show that being a teacher isn’t just about teaching the three Rs. It’s about supporting the student as a whole person.

“In a time when teachers are criticized for nearly everything that we do, I think it’s important we put out the awesome things we do and ways we help students as a whole,” he said. “Not in the academic sense and just focusing on test scores, but how we help students be ready to inherit society.”

However, Mr. Monroe doesn’t do it all by himself. He has help from his dog Nala who provides emotional support for his students as well. “She’s my dog, but she’s there for the kids. She’s there for emotional support for kids who are having a rough time or a rough day,” he said.

A lot of Monroe’s videos show how problems in the classroom are often symptoms of something happening in the child’s life at home. So he urges his students to express their emotions and to work with him to find ways to correct their behavior, instead of simply issuing punishments.

He credits his approach to teaching to his wife.

“She’s kind of the reason I changed a lot of the ways I’ve viewed things over the years by the way she approaches people,” he said. “The way she looks for the good in people and loves people — that’s what caused me and my life to change.”

Here are some of Mr. Monroe’s most popular videos. They’re a great resource for teachers and a reminder for all of us to put compassion first.

Here’s how to handle a child who’s experiencing anxiety.

Here are some strategies for helping kids with ADHD.

How do you deal with a hungry student? Feed them.

How do you deal with a disrespectful student?

What do you do when students are always late?

Even when he’s off work, he’s still thinking about his class.

The can opener story.

Nala enjoys her summer break.

If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, Halsey’s new album made in collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails, is out today. Ahead of that, though, Halsey spoke with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about what it was like working with the pair, and the singer shared a story about Reznor trying to push her outside of her creative comfort zone.

Halsey explained:

“Trent said something to me that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life, where he was like, ‘Hey, the record is great how it is.’ He was like, ‘So you could not do this with us and put it out. Or, the way a lot of modern music is right now is it informs the listener not to pay attention. It says, ‘This song is safe.’ You can put it on a playlist. You can listen to it in a car. You can play it on a party, and it’s not going to f*ck up the vibe. It blends in with everything else. It’s a mood. It’s chill. But it informs you not to pay attention.’ He was like, ‘Your songs, I think, deserve better than that, and I think that they should make people pay attention to what you’re saying. So I’m going to make some really weird choices.’

I was like, ‘Please make weird choices. Make the weirdest choices.’ So he sent back two songs at first, him and Atticus, and they told me later on, they were like, ‘There’s no way she’s going…’ And Trent and Atticus told me later, they were like, ‘As soon as you were like, ‘These are amazing,” they were like, ‘All right, it’s go time. She wants to play.’ You know what I mean? Like, she wants to play. They wanted to know if I was willing to take the risk, and I was. I was willing to take the risk, and I also felt like I had earned it, at that point, to be able to, where it’s like, I feel like every artist on their fourth, fifth, whatever album, especially pop artists, are always like, ‘I really want to do something experimental.’”

She also noted that before working with Reznor, he already had an influence on her music, saying, “I’ve wanted to work with Trent for years. When I was making Badlands, that language and that thesis of song-making, that theology of song-making, was in every song on the record. It was like, you know, those industrial drums. You can hear it on ‘Castle,’ on the first track. It’s that kind of like stripped bare, minimalist, industrial sound, and I abandoned it afterwards.”

There’s always a big risk in two artists coming together for a collaborative album. Even if the respective acts have spent ample studio time with each other, testing the waters and seeing how their collaborations fair in the public eye is important. Some things are better together, others better separate. It’s why Drake and Future’s What A Time To Be Alive was a success and why Travis Scott and Quavo’s Huncho Jack was a huge disappointment. While a joint project between DVSN and Ty Dolla Sign wasn’t specifically requested by their fans, it seemed set to be a match made in heaven. Both are inspired by ‘90s R&B and thrived in the genre thanks to originality through said inspiration. With that being said, Cheers To The Best Memories should have been an R&B lover’s dream, right? Yes, but the two acts missed the mark for such a title.

In a recent sit-down with Interview Magazine, Ty Dolla Sign and DVSN’s Daniel Daley and Nineteen85 spoke about the ins and outs out of the album, and in this discussion, they revealed the bar they set for Cheers To The Best Memories. “We cooked up a bit then and then we looked up like, ‘Yo, we’re kinda sitting on a few joints. It would be funny if we did some R&B Watch The Throne-type sh*t,’” Daley said. Jay-Z and Kanye West’s prized 2011 album has been, and still is, the bar to reach for modern artists who decided to join forces and make the best of the chemistry they have together and while the quality of the project and how well it aged are up for debate, there’s no denying the hip-hop moment it created and left behind. However, that came with time. Years of solo work from the respective rappers and years of collaborations together, and the latter, which Ty and DVSN lack, hurt them the most with Cheers To The Best Memories.

The records on Cheers To The Best Memories aren’t bad at all, but that’s simultaneously the issue at hand. The catalogs of DVSN and Ty boast records that are far past the descriptor of “not bad at all,” especially in the realm of bedroom symphonies and sensual soliloquies. Brighter moments that are delivered through the album’s spirited opener, “Memories,” and its closing tracks “Wedding Cake” — which is cut from the cloth of Ty’s “R&B” — and “I Believed It” are undercut by YG’s odd placement on “Can’t Tell.” Furthermore, Ty’s “Rude” interlude contradicts the album’s seemingly cheerfully nostalgic theme, as it arrives as nothing short of spiteful and disgruntled. Its placement makes even less sense next to DVSN’s pleading call towards his skeptical partner on his interlude, “Better Yet.” Lastly, while this writer is a fan of the song, “Somebody That You Don’t Know” is sonically out of place on the album and probably would’ve fit better on DVSN’s A Muse In Her Feelings.

Realistically Cheers To The Best Memories is the artists’ own attempt at duplicating Drake and Future’s What A Time To Be Alive more so than Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne. For starters, their titles are similar in the sense that they both seek to relish and recall the atmosphere that surrounds them. Additionally, DVSN and Ty bring both of their styles to the table while either party leads the way as the other uses their talents to fill the missing piece in the puzzle. They even allow moments for each other to shine individually. The success Drake and Future achieved with What A Time To Be Alive can also be credited to time. Their first song together arrived four years before the project, and in between that came multiple collaborations. While, of course, there are exceptions to every rule, Watch The Throne and What A Time To Be Alive worked in large part because of the chemistry the pair of rappers spent years working on.

DVSN and Ty Dolla Sign’s joint project leaves listeners second-guessing the expectations they set for the project. Maybe the bar was set too high, and maybe we got carried away with the expectations for it, but that leaves far too little blame on the artists. DVSN’s A Muse In Her Feelings and Ty’s Featuring Ty Dolla Sign were both highlight R&B efforts in 2020, leaving it more than reasonable that a strong body of work was expected from the two. With Cheers To The Best Memories, the world deserved something along the lines of DVSN on Ty’s “Everywhere” or “Slow It Down.” It was also worthy of Ty on “Greedy” or “For Us.” It’s theoretical records like these that would’ve helped push Cheers To The Best Memories to the level of quality we hoped for it to be. Hopefully, if Ty and DVSN choose to create a project once again, they learn from this and give the world something more impactful.

Cheers To The Best Memories is out now via OVO Sound/Warner. Get it here.

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

Making an uncomfortable situation that much ickier, a representative for Marilyn Manson has confirmed that the shock-rocker — who is currently under investigation by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for accusations of domestic abuse — features on Kanye West’s forthcoming album, Donda. “Marilyn Manson’s voice is featured on Donda, and he will continue to conceptually collaborate with Ye on the Donda project,” a spokesperson for Manson told Billboard, who picked the story up from Newsweek.

Last night, Kanye prompted fan backlash when he brought Manson and DaBaby onstage with him during his third Donda listening party at Chicago’s Soldier Field. During the event, Kanye premiered a new version of “Jail” that replaced a Jay-Z verse with one from DaBaby, who has been under fire for making homophobic comments onstage during Rolling Loud.

Earlier this year, actress Evan Rachel Wood came forward to name ex-partner Manson as her alleged abuser, whom she accused of terrorizing her during their relationship, which began in 2007 (when she was 18 and he was 36) and ended in 2010. At the time, Wood accused Manson of both “grooming” and “horrifically” abusing her. After that, at least ten more women came forward to make similar accusations against the singer, including Game of Thrones actress Esme Bianco, who had previously testified alongside Wood in support of California’s Phoenix Bill, which is aimed toward lengthening the statute of limitations for crimes involving domestic violence. Bianco eventually sued Manson for sexual assault and battery. Following the accusations, Manson’s label, Loma Vista, dropped him from their roster.

Manson has denied the allegations, posting a statement to social media in February: “Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality… My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how — and why — others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth.”

Jonathan Majors is having a very good 2021: he stole the show in Loki; he was announced to play Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; his Western movie (The Harder They Fall) with Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Lakeith Stanfield, Delroy Lindo, and Regina King comes out in November; and he was nominated for his first Emmy. The one blemish on an otherwise-amazing year: the HBO show that he was nominated for, Lovecraft Country, was canceled after one season.

“I was in a strange situation because I had no assurance that Atticus was even going to be in a potential season 2. I had made peace with not being with my Lovecraft family again. [So being nominated] is a Lovecraft-ian situation, to be living two realms with it,” Majors told Entertainment Weekly about learning he was up for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series after Lovecraft was axed. “But all in all, I’m most excited the work is being seen and appreciated and honored with the nominations, not just mine but everyone else’s.”

If Lovecraft Country had returned for another season, it would have been set “in a new world, and that new world sits precisely where the United States used to sit.” Instead, creator Misha Green is making a Tomb Raider movie, Jurnee Smollett will star in a Black Canary movie (directed by Green!), and Majors will continue to have a very good year.

(Via EW)

Ken Jennings may get another shot at guest-hosting Jeopardy! following Mike Richards’ tenure blowing up on the launchpad, but now we have a better idea of why Jennings didn’t get the nod initially: his tweets might have disqualified him from the job.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday about the lengthy and disastrous search for a full-time host of Jeopardy! following the death of Alex Trebek. The details about Richards and his return to his executive producer gig are particularly juicy, but so is confirmation that Jennings’ own controversy while guest-hosting the show ended his hopes of actually winning the job himself.

Jennings scored the best ratings of any guest Jeopardy! host and got the longest stint behind the podium, though his six weeks ended abruptly, reportedly due to some Mike Richards-related chicanery. But when it came time to actually pick a host, multiple reports have indicated it was Mayim Bialik and then Richards, in that order, who got the job offer.

Left out in the cold was fan favorite LeVar Burton, but also Jennings. And many speculated that some controversy over past offensive tweets — and a haphazard defense of Bean Dad, you know, a thing that also happened in this year — was what torpedoed his odds. According to the report, that was exactly the case.

While Mr. Jennings didn’t have much experience hosting, the executives at Sony and producers at “Jeopardy!” were confident that he would grow into the role. He was a fan favorite and already a familiar face to the “Jeopardy!” machine from working as a consultant on the show since 2020.

Then came the old tweets.

The old tweets, in this case, were jokes the Jeopardy! GOAT made on social media that he apologized for when they resurfaced as his guest-hosting appearance kicked in early this year. They’re offensive, for sure, and were apparently enough to change his perception among focus groups the show convened as part of their selection process.

“Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair,” read one of the tweets from 2014. Mr. Jennings apologized, but the succession plan started unraveling.

Reaction to the tweets gave Sony executives pause, said people familiar with the selection process. Focus groups also didn’t react well to Mr. Jennings afterward, one of the people said.

Jennings’ tweets were bad, but it’s curious that his online missteps weighed heavier than an actual lawsuit Richards was involved in, as well as his own controversial comments on a podcast. It took all of that, and outrage over the influence he had on the selection process, to finally sink the embattled executive producer who somehow, as of now, still plays a role in the day-to-day operations of the show.

What happens next is, well, entirely unclear. And while Jennings paid the price for his bad tweets, it’s possible he may reemerge as an option to at least guest host again as the show struggles to find a path forward.

[via WSJ]

The Other Two went on a forced, seemingly short-term break from production in March 2020. In March 2021, they finally returned to set, becoming one with nasal swabs to do their show their way, which means weaving New York City and its unique side characters into the mix. Not in the mix? COVID storylines. This isn’t that show. According to star Heléne Yorke, The Other Two (whose second season begins today on HBO Max) is meant to be a comfort. Just one where you feel better watching people poke fun at celebrity and social-first culture while speaking directly to the frustrations of trying to find your way through a world where everyone seems as outwardly perfect as you are internally awkward.

This isn’t the same show as it was in season 1, though. Well, not exactly. All of the above still factors in, but Brooke and her brother Cary (Drew Tarver) seem to be in a better place with their careers while no longer being attached to the hull of their Bieber-esque brother’s viral fame. Well, not quite as attached. But subtle evolutions can still be scary and the characters still fall flat, freak out, and hilariously misread moments and other people around them. “She’s still Brooke,” says Yorke when we spoke about the new season. “I think she’s trying to find her way through the surprise of being actually capable at something.”

We spoke with Yorke about Brooke’s growth, fitting in with the comedy cool kids who run the show, Tarver’s bold pandemic facial hair choices, becoming the patron saint of the put-upon Zoom call participant, and why falling asleep to her show is the ultimate compliment.

Is it intimidating to work with a pair of showrunners like Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, where they have so much experience working together and, obviously, an established pattern and dynamic?

It’s a great question. When I went in for it and had an audition, I met them, and I was like, “I’ll never get this. I’m not a cool …” Like these are the head writers of SNL, they have an arsenal of cool, funny people at their disposal. I was this theater kid that had run around and done some various other things, but it sort of felt like getting admitted to an amazing club, like being asked to come work with them. And what’s so amazing about Chris and Sarah is that they’re incredibly disarming. They’re lovely people. And so it doesn’t feel like, “Oh, I can’t put my own stamp on this.” They’re smart because they celebrate the actors they work with. And I think that they got so much experience of that through doing SNL, having all these wonderful comedians that they worked with and tailoring sketches to them… specifically Kate [McKinnon] and Aidy [Bryant].

I think Brooke was written with Sarah in mind. We had shot the pilot, and then what’s so incredible and flattering is that as it goes on, I noticed the character gets… It’s tailored to me, which makes it very easy to play. Like friends of mine, family, they’re all like, “I just feel like I’m watching you.” Which is both flattering for the acting accolades and also terrifying to know that I am actually this kind of a mess. That it’d be that believable that I’d be flailing in this way. Thanks, guys.

“It’s like a documentary. Wow!”

Yeah, exactly. But I think I spent the entire pilot terrified because I was a fan, and plus like Drew (Tarver) is an improviser, and everybody worked on SNL. I remember this one day Beck [Bennett] was on set, and it was like watching a ping pong match. And I’m kind of sitting there wanting to stick my hand in the spokes of the wheels and say something funny and just knowing that you’ll never step up to the shit that just comes out of their faces naturally.

Contrast that with how it is when you’re filming season two. How’s your comfort level?

That’s the thing, I think there’s a shorthand. Sarah will come up to me and she’ll just say, “You know, that thing that you do?” I’m like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” So it’s just these notes that are non-notes that I just know how to interpret based on how they know. Sarah directed a couple of episodes this season, and she gave me a literal note, which was, “Can you do that thing that your face does?” And I knew exactly what she was talking about.

And so the shorthand, when you do a season two, is just so nice. Also Drew and I got so much closer. We were in touch all during the pandemic. He was down in Georgia refurbing an Airstream and growing mutton chops. I was in New York trying to force myself to ride my Peloton enough to burn off the booze and cheese. Trying to keep it tight for my career! [Laughs]

No mutton chops for you?

No mutton chops for me. Well, I shave them and wax them. I keep that shit correct.

I hope you screenshotted Drew’s mutton chops for blackmail purposes.

It wasn’t even a mutton chop. I’m sorry, it was a mullet and basically mutton chops. Then they made a T-shirt of his profile of that time. He loves it. He was very proud, he has a time-lapse of when he shaved it all off. Trash.

It’s a timeless look.

Yeah, timelessly bad. [Laughs]

Obviously, the nature with any show is to sort of evolve or die. When you’re reading these pages to start, is there any apprehension that they’re going to move away from the thing that you just got really good at?

What was great about reading the pages for season two is that it was a build on where she was and where she’s going. But what I loved about it is that it wasn’t a departure from who she is. She’s still kind of clueless. She’s still in a mode of trying to see 50 dicks, but it’s a little bit of a fancier situation now. [Laughs] So it’s Brooke, but in better clothes and actually being able to find somewhere to live. I honestly, and again, it’s flattering and also terrifying to realize that I get compared to this a lot. I think that you look at people that have status or are doing really well… That their lives are completely together and you’re like, “No, I still need to run out and figure out how I’m going to get fucking toilet paper, like a full pile of trash.”

I’m trying to put this eloquently: you’re always who you are. No matter where you find yourself, you’re always who you are. Your anxieties are the same. And I think that that’s universally true for everybody. And what I love about what Chris and Sarah did was, I think, what they touch on with the character is thinking like, “Oh.” You look at how evolved people are about stuff, like there is a journey for Brooke about figuring out her own place in feminism, you know what I mean? Like thinking, “Oh my god, I need to be this woman who’s totally realized, and really, I’m just trying to figure myself out.” And I think that it’s relatable, it’s like a meme that you’re like, “Oh my god, me too.” I feel that is how Brooke was written.

Do you realize how much of a folk hero you’re about to become because of the Zoom revenge scene this season?

The small talk that you all endure all the time. I know, I was telling a friend of mine who has what I call a real job. And I was saying like, “Oh my god, I’m on all these back-to-back Zooms on Thursday.” And she was like, “Oh my god, relax. You have Zooms on a Thursday. How dare you complain?”

I was on a call yesterday. It was like the first call of the day. And somebody asked somebody how they were doing. And they were like, “Oh, I’m good” in a sort of unexcited way. And the other person sarcastically said, “Wow. Way to bring the enthusiasm.” And that was the most offensive thing.

Oh my god, I’m doing my best to give you literally anything! You know, I keep getting sick of like… I got invited to Zoom baby showers. And everybody’s there trying to figure out who’s talking at what time. I find that I scream at the computer. I’m constantly losing my voice because I’m trying to emote and connect to somebody through a screen. So my voice is 10 times louder and I’m gesticulating wildly. I’m exhausted by the end of it. Yeah, trying to make jokes, like what am I doing? I once did a reading of a play over Zoom and the director was like, “Are you okay?” And I’m like, “I’m not,” I’m pushing everything, trying so hard to be funny.

They were telling me before that this is the first call of the day for you.

I’m literally yelling at you already.

You’re going to be burned out by number 10. The guy from TVFunWire or whatever is not going to get the same quality discourse that I’m getting. Oh well.

No, you’re dealing with me and my brain fog of like, “Who is Brooke? She is this for you. This is the show. Please watch. We like it. Doing my best! Please watch The Other Two. Please.” [Laughs]

That’s fine. Nobody ever really gives a full plug. That’s the full honest plug.

It’s so funny, friends of mine, or people that I meet, ask me what I’m doing. I tell them about it and I’m like, “Watch it, you’ll like it.” It’s the easiest thing I’ve been in to recommend to other people. Trust me, I have been in shit where I’m like, “You don’t have to watch it, or you don’t have to come see me in this,” or whatever. But with this, I’m like, “Oh, just fucking watch it, you’ll like it.”

A friend of mine paid the best compliment I’ve ever heard about the show. She was like, “It’s the thing I put on when I want to go to sleep at night,” which to me is not I’m boring, she’s falling asleep. It’s like she’s watched it so many times, it’s good, she has it on in the background. It makes her happy, it’s where she wants her subconscious to be in her dream state. It’s like people have been falling asleep to Seinfeld for 20 years. It’s like that’s the ultimate compliment. I told Chris and Sarah and they’re like, “She’s sleeping to it? That’s rude.” And I was like, “No, you don’t get it. This is the ultimate praise.”

‘The Other Two’ is streaming now via HBO Max.