There are countless valid reasons for a person not to breastfeed their child. First of all, having a newborn is one of the most stressful events that one can experience and breastfeeding can be overwhelming.
Some people can’t breastfeed for physical or emotional reasons while others aren’t able to because of commitments to work or school. There is also a socio-economic component to breastfeeding.
A Department of Health report discovered that mothers in wealthier neighborhoods were 1.6 times more likely to exclusively breastfeed for the first five days of their baby’s life than were mothers in poorer neighborhoods.
The problem is that parents are bombarded with the “breast is best” message and want their kids to have the benefits of breastfeeding, so they feel they’re letting their child down by bottle-feeding.
This opens the door to feelings of guilt at a time that is already stressful. The stress associated with not breastfeeding can make someone more prone to postpartum mental health issues and feelings of deep shame.
No one should feel shame for doing what’s right for both themselves and their families.
via Pexels
A new study published in the journal PLOS Medicine should make parents who bottle-fed their children feel better about themselves. It found that breastfeeding has no impact on a child’s overall neurocognitive function by the time they reach the age of 16.
Improved cognitive function has long been seen as one of the greatest benefits of breastfeeding. A 2015 study published in The Lancet, concluded: “breastfeeding is associated with improved performance in intelligence tests 30 years later, and might have an important effect in real life, by increasing educational attainment and income in adulthood.”
However, the new study from PROBIT is the largest randomized controlled trial on human lactation with 13,557 participants and according to The New York Times is “a more rigorous type of study that better controls for socioeconomic and family variables.”
Breastfeeding and socioeconomic status are inextricably linked so it’s hard for researchers to pinpoint whether it’s breastfeeding or other factors such as education level that affect IQ results.
The study found that children who were breastfed had higher IQ scores at the age of 6.5 years. But found that by age 16, there was “little evidence of beneficial effects on overall neurocognitive function.”
That means that although breastfed children do get an early IQ bump, it will diminish by the age of 16. The study did find that breastfed children did receive “a modest benefit” when it comes to their verbal skills.
“Results of our findings at age 16 combined with results at age 6.5 years suggest that long-term effects of breastfeeding on neurocognitive development decrease in magnitude with advancing age, and the persistent benefit seems to be limited to verbal function,” the study says.
The bottom line is that although breastfeeding does provide more benefits for a child, parents who bottle-feed shouldn’t have to worry anymore if it will affect their SAT scores.
The other day I read an anonymous article written by a woman who had been raped repeatedly by her husband during their marriage. As terrible as the story was, the comments on the social media share of it were worse.
I was appalled to read comment after comment of women saying their spouses or long-time partners regularly forced or coerced them into sex. Many of those men basically claimed ownership of their partners’ bodies, believing they were entitled to sex whenever they wanted it. Some pushed ahead even after she had explicitly said no or begged him not to. Some women would wake up in the middle of being raped by the person who was supposed to love, honor, and cherish them. Sadly, some women thought this was normal.
Too many people seem to think saying “I do”—or saying yes to sex more than once—equals a blanket consent for sex whenever. News flash: It does not.
There is no such thing as blanket consent for sex. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a committed relationship. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been together. It doesn’t matter if you’ve said yes a hundred times in a row. If you don’t want to have sex, you don’t have to. Period.
Particularly disconcerting were the women who said they and/or their husbands were taught by their churches or religions that they had to submit whenever their husbands wanted sex. That it was their “duty” to please their husbands and that they couldn’t “deny” them. That they didn’t have ownership over their own body at all.
Others talked about how their partner would guilt them into sex, saying they “needed it” or “couldn’t help themselves.” How they would gaslight them or threaten to go get it elsewhere if they didn’t relent.
Comment after comment. Story after story, some describing outright abuse and others describing incredibly unhealthy dynamics surrounding sex and consent within the relationship.
I was horrified to read these stories—but even more horrified by the statistics that back them up. According to the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, between 10 and 14 percent of married women in the U.S. are raped by their husbands, and one-third of women report “having unwanted sex” with their partner. However, spousal rape also goes largely unreported.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising. After all, up until 1975, every state’s rape laws had an exemption for marriage, so legally speaking, married women (or men) couldn’t be raped by their spouses. Thanks to pressure from the women’s rights movement, all states changed their laws to acknowledge marital rape by 1993. But culture often takes longer to change than laws, and there are still far too many people who don’t understand that consent is the standard for everyone in every sexual encounter, regardless of relationship status.
While consent is straightforward, the dynamics of sex are unique to each relationship. In a loving, long-term relationship, sex can be a bit of a complex dance. Different people have different desires, intimacy means different things to different people, and life circumstances (babies, health issues, etc.) can impact a couple’s sexual activity. Each couple has to work out the hows and whens and how oftens of their sex life, but it should always be a mutual thing. A sexual relationship requires ongoing communication, and sometimes negotiations of sorts are necessary to make sure each partner feels heard and respected in their wants and desires.
The key is respect. There’s a world of difference between saying to your partner “I feel like our relationship needs more physical intimacy,” and saying “You need to be ready and raring to go whenever I’m feeling feel frisky.” The former is a conversation starter that can ultimately lead to greater connection and a stronger relationship. The latter is just a terrible attitude to take toward your loved one.
Some might say “enthusiastic consent” is necessary, but as someone who’s been in a healthy, happy marriage for 23 years, I’d say that’s not always reality. There may be times when one partner isn’t super into it at first, but they know they will be once they get started, so they say yes because they want to make their partner happy. (Not because their partner pressured them, but because they genuinely want to.) But consent to even head down the road to funkytown always needs to be there in the first place. Always. Every time.
No one should be made to feel like they’re a bad partner for saying no when they aren’t up for sex. No one should be pushed or pressured into it. No one should be demanding sex or taking it when it hasn’t been freely offered. Why would you even want to have sex with someone who actively doesn’t want to anyway?
No means no. “Stop” means no. Being asleep means no. Yes means yes. It’s really that simple.
I hope both women and men read this and recognize that anything short of that standard of consent is not okay. Everyone deserves a partner who respects their bodily autonomy and understands that sex is a mutually agreed-upon activity—every time, in every relationship.
FYI, this isn’t just a list, it’s an argument laid out in multiple parts that are trying to prove the point that Conan O’Brien is the greatest late-night host of all time. Someone who directly or indirectly influenced more than two generations of comedy writers, comics, actors, and nerds. To be sure, there are originators and other trailblazers worthy of serious consideration — the Carsons, Lettermans, Stewarts — but Conan and his merry gang have gone further, bigger, and bolder, setting a tone that shows it’s okay to stray from classic formats and the idea of what late-night comedy is supposed to be (both on-screen and as a business).
I may be way off base with this theory. I may be biased since I grew up watching Late Night, following from day one. Before you decide if there’s validity to this claim, I’d love for you to weigh the evidence while also basking in the amazing moments and genius characters that have defined these shows.
Some caveats: These moments and characters (and elements) are pulled from Late Night, The Tonight Show, and Conan. I’m trying not to double up on characters, which is why there’s only one Triumph sketch. Also, I brought in ringers. While they are not explicitly co-signing my claim about Conan’s number 1 all-time status (I didn’t ask), we have compiled a few anecdotes and quotes from former Conan guests, comics, and writers that will be sprinkled in here and there.
Now, let’s begin with the 25 best characters, moments, and elements from Conan’s 28-year run. Please know the pain it is causing me to know I’m surely forgetting things and the angst I have over leaving off things like the Year 2000, Conan’s trips to Ireland and South Korea, Clueless Gamer, The World’s Fastest Menorah, and the American Girls Doll Museum, as well as characters like Preparation H. Raymond, and Pimp Bot 5000. I am so sorry, Pimp Bot 5000.
25. The Extensive Cast
NBC
Conan’s writers were perpetually in the mix for on-screen time and many of them are going to get more specific call-outs below. More also needs to be said about the brief merge of the Upright Citizen’s Brigade into Late Night, and actors like Abe Vigoda, Nipsey Russell, and Mr. T. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out the other behind-the-scenes players that helped build the franchise without any on-camera experience or aspiration. People like announcer Joel Goddard, bandleader Max Weinberg, graphic designer Pierre Bernard, Conan’s assistant Sona, associate producer Jordan Schlansky, and prop master Bill Tull.
I interviewed Tull once and when I asked him about a specific sketch where they put ET in a wood chipper, he said, “we put a lot of things in the wood chipper in those days.” It remains the greatest sentence anyone has ever said to me.
24. Conan Gives His Staff Their Reviews
TBS
As stated before, Conan has a long history of pulling his staff into the show, and this bit, which follows other peeks into the office culture behind the show, is demonstrates the funny that can be found when Conan lovingly antagonizes the people he works with.
From Mo Mandel, comic and past guest:
“It just showcases how effortlessly likable Conan is because he’s just berating these poor people and being so mean but you totally love him and are on his side the whole time and know he’s in on the joke even though he’s playing it straight. That only comes from a person who is super nice in real life, so much so that even when they play angry you can tell they’re a sweetheart. People always talk about the self-deprecating Conan but he plays an equally good villain.”
23. The Impact On Stand-Up And Comedy
NBC
Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show stood out as the place where comedians met America in his era, and Conan took the mantle, focusing on the burgeoning alt-comedy scene of the ’90s doling out time to the likes of Marc Maron, Sarah Silverman, and others. As time went on, that continued with a new batch of comics in the 2000s and 2010s (Mike Birbiglia, Taylor Tomlinson, Mo Mandel), further establishing Conan as a sort of Godfather for comics. Which is to say nothing of the influence he has had on comedy culture, in general. Here’s Mike Birbiglia — comic, former guest, and former Late Night intern — hadto say something about that.
“The first time I was on the show, I was so nervous because the people who make the show were sort of like my older brothers or sisters or something. My sensibility was raised watching hundreds of hours of the show. And then Conan, Andy, the writers, and the producers have been nothing but absurdly nice and generous. And I feel very lucky to have learned what I learned from watching that show and watching people work behind the scenes on the show and then to have been lucky enough to be a guest on the show. Conan and Andy are just two people who I admire most in this whole insane field of comedy. When Bill Hader came on my podcast, we talked about how influential that show has been to an entire generation of comedians.”
22. The Late Night Debut and The Tonight Show Finale
NBC
Both of these full episodes showcase the defiance that Conan brought to the mix at very different moments in his career when various “experts” were already counting him out. In the first episode — a wall-to-wall cavalcade of wild ideas and comic weirdness that we once dubbed “punk comedy art” — O’Brien leaned into the crushing expectations of his new post and the resulting anxiety, creating one of late-night comedy’s singular hours of television.
As for The Tonight Show, O’Brien stayed on the air through the slow-rolling PR nightmare that was NBC’s horrific handling of the show’s hand-off from the Jay Leno disingenuous in denim experience to Conan and company. And he did it with class, fire, and irreverence, supposedly making NBC pay for ultra-expensive comedy bits (the Bugatti Veyron mouse and its Rolling Stones theme song!) as a means of attaining some hilarious revenge. At the close of his final episode, O’Brien played “Free Bird” with an in-costume Will Ferrell (and his very pregnant wife, Viveca Paulin, who gave birth hours later) after delivering a farewell address that pushed back on the notion of cynicism and showed us all, one more time, what a gaggle of schmucks NBC was.
21. Artie Kendall
NBC
A ghost who used to croon in Conan’s Late Night studio back during the depression played by writer Brian Stack, Kendall warbles on about being in a Russian brothel getting high on Thanksgiving and bashing in the heads of the unemployed (“crackedy skull!”). Truly, Late Night was ahead of its time in reminding us that the things our grandparents watched and listened to were utterly terrifying and often super sexist and/or racist.
20. The Slipnuts Open For Slipknot
NBC
There were probably 18,000 fans at that arena utterly confused by what they were watching. Maybe even pissed when a weird comedy trio came out to open for heavy metal giants, Slipknot. But there were probably 100 people who found out who the Slipnuts were and the point of the bit, and to them, it probably became the greatest thing they’d ever seen. Gone in an instant for everyone else, imprinted for a lifetime on those select few. The power of aiming for the passionate niche over more casual and fickle broad acceptance. The power of not being afraid of confusing the masses to find the ones who get it. Another Conanverse staple.
19. Conan Plays In The Snow
NBC
Similar to the Andy Blitz goes to Toronto moment, this “fishing expedition,” as show writer Michael Koman calls it, demonstrates the recipe for success for so many key bits. Go someplace (maybe a snowy street or to Cuba) with a microphone and the flexibility to go with whatever and whoever you find with Conan leaning on his amazing improv skills to create something genius, random, and real. In this case, the Blizzard of 2003 provides the setting, with Conan goofing off in the snow, climbing massive mounds, and discovering pure gold in the form of a very shouty old man (who would pop back up on the show a few more times).
18. Andy Blitz Takes A Taxi To Toronto
NBC
Conan going apartment hunting with Andy Blitz should be on this list, but I can’t not put this utterly genius concept where Blitz (a longtime writer on the show) takes a cab to Toronto. Ever take a really long Uber ride? Like really long? Imagine going 12 hours with an overnight stop.
“You wanna pull over and do trust falls?” It’s amazing the awkwardness and resulting comedy that comes from two strangers put into close proximity with each other. Nothing is forced, it’s just gentle weirdness and a flash field trip.
17. Late Night Goes Claymation
NBC
The show had dabbled with claymation before (a Christmas special, a Passover special — both as shortish bits), but in 2003 they repurposed a whole episode, spending untold amounts of money and months of production to create a truly imaginative and fun visual experience. The ambition of the show and the “why not?” attitude of the people making it is truly startling when you compare what they’ve done to, really, any other show. That’s no disrespect to Letterman (the only real competition in my opinion) and, in particular, his own version of Late Night which, of course, preceded Conan’s and plowed the field where all these experiments got their start (I’ll note Letterman also used to add neat touches to freshen up reruns). But it has to be said that the scale and commitment to big ideas outpaced even Letterman’s in his show’s prime (in a very different time with different technical capabilities and budgets).
16. The Rockefeller Center Fire Special
NBC
The Rockefeller Center Fire episode makes it on this list not just for the show’s willingness to change things up and record outside (with Sam Jackson in a Brookstone massage chair), but for its ability to do that so completely and in an instant when their studio was damaged by a fire. Sure, desperation plays a part, but there’s a supernatural level of confidence at play as well. As close as they got to being canceled in the early going while, at the same time, pursuing a kind of budget bin avant-gardism, the show survived. Maybe it’s a thing where, after a bunch of near-death experiences, they began to believe they were immortal and, thus, could do anything.
14. Christmas Shopping Desk Drive
NBC
There’s an innocence to the general concept of Conan and friends being able to go anywhere they can imagine thanks to a magical desk (and green screen tech). Like it feels fit for a kids show and you can’t help but grin and embrace the silliness of it. Vehicular manslaughter and Tickle Me Elmo theft be damned. But besides that, this is also the best example (alongside the Clutch Cargo sketches from the ’90s) of the inventive lo-fi ways the show used to make their budget work while still standing out and leaning on, in particular, the talents of Conan, Andy,and Smigel.
13. Interviews
TBS
There are far too many that should be on this list but Jennifer Garner and Conan warring over the word “snuck,” Mel Brooks paying tribute to Sid Caesar, and all the raucous and familiar chats with friends like Timothy Olyphant, Will Ferrell, Lisa Kudrow, Aubrey Plaza, Martin Short, and the always-in costume Adam Pally all come to mind as standouts.
Conan didn’t jump into the show as a natural interviewer, but he evolved quickly to find comfort and gain master status. His previous digital series Serious Jibber-Jabber and his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, all free him to have longer, more multifaceted conversations now, joining with the late era of Conan with its longer interviews to prove that he’s now become pop culture’s ultimate defender for the value of a good conversation. Here’s hoping that remains either with the podcast, HBO Max series, or otherwise.
From Joel McHale, a frequent guest:
“He would be just as thoughtful talking to Obama as he would a kid on the street. The first few times I went on, I had to really control myself because I’m such a big fan. I get giddy when I’m on his show. And the last time I was on, they just aired the whole 25 minutes. That’s really how we talk to each other. It’s a heightened version because we’re on camera and we’re slinging jokes, but our wives just roll their eyes at each other when we’re talking. I don’t know how to describe it other than he’s a lovely genius.”
13. DInner With Conan And Jordan
TBS
Conan and Jordan Schlansky are like the Odd Couple re-born, with Conan flummoxed and Jordan barely tolerating the incessant picking at his very specific way of being. And it’s never better than when they take their act on the road, specifically when Conan went with Jordan to the restaurant in Italy where he was a supposed big deal and when Conan took Jordan to an Olive Garden to more or less mock him, burning his nipples with a hot breadstick in the process. I don’t think they’re taking suggestions, but I’ll go ahead and say that at least part of the new show needs to be Conan and Jordan recreating Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s The Trip franchise.
12. Andy In The Wild
NBC
For a time in the early days of the show’s run, Andy Richter was a primary force with remotes for the show, going out to Woodstock, the NBA Finals, the Tonys and other places. And it’s all great. Richter has an approachability to him that masks his killer comedy instincts. He’s like a cherub with a pistol taped to his back. I’m using a couple of examples here. One is a trip working the press line at the VMA’s where he sells a sad-sack routine trying to sell his music videos. And then the bomb drops and we’re seeing an amazing recreation of Eddie Murphy’s “Party All The Time” video. Then there’s this one in a dive bar where he mines laughs in what could only be described as a depressive rendition of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.”
11. Conan Visits A Sick Writer
NBC
Writer Michael Koman felt bad about calling out of work so he sent in some material for the show, not realizing it would apparently read so weakly that Conan would feel the need to pop in at his apartment to make sure he was really sick. The result is an awkward and real exchange between a boss and a writer who told me he didn’t quite know how hard he could push back.
From Michael Koman, writer:
“Our general dynamic was that he would sort of lovingly anatomize me, and I would bumblingly try to do the same thing to him, but I would usually just say something way too blunt and mean. But I think that basic relationship is why it made some kind of sense for him to go to my apartment to see how I could possibly have been sick enough to justify the horrible page of ideas I had sent in that morning.”
Here’s an interesting detail: in the original episode, Koman makes a remark about his doorman letting Conan up which caused consternation with his Super resulting in him editing out the remark for reruns (at the Super’s suggestion).
If you love Interdimensional Cable on Rick And Morty, allow me to introduce you to Sattelite TV from Late Night, a recurring platform for bite-size bits too weird to live as full sketches. This includes a guy who starts every conversation singing a modified version of Men Without Hats’ “Safety Dance,” a court show where a potato judge presides, a golden retriever doing ventriloquism with a dog puppet, Amy Poehler and Matt Walsh as a dysfunctional married couple trying to deliver the news, and Mike Sweeney as Abraham Lincoln in “The Lincoln Money Shot Channel.” Every one of these could be an Adult Swim show. These are just the scraps, proving how next-level talented the show’s writing staff has been.
9. Jack McBrayer and Triumph Go To Weiner’s Circle In Chicago
As Mike Ryan alluded to in his talk with Smigel about Let’s Be Real, the velocity of Smigel’s mind is off the charts. That’s why Triumph is as good and as legit iconic as it is. But in this instance, it’s a whole other type of amazing watching Smigel’s mind work while getting back as good as he gives from the crew of the Weiner’s Circle in Chicago, a spot renowned for talking smack to their customers. It’s not people distracted by the puppet and the situation they’re in at a dog show or on line for a movie (each examples that would place high on any top sketch list if that was all this was). Here, sparks fly and the whole time you are physically frightened for gentle Jack McBrayer’s dear sweet disposition.
Of all the show’s brilliant one-note characters, the Masturbating Bear was the onanist. You knew what he was going to do, and yet, you laughed every single time because it’s the wildest god damn thing that it popped up on NBC just a few short hours after an episode of Wings. Here, the setup is everything. The Masturbating Bear’s mom is sick and he needs to enter a Million Dollar Money Box to save her life. You know what happens… magic.
A few inside tidbits from longtime Conan writer Mike Sweeney, Koman, his writing partner Andrew Weinberg, and propmaster Bill Tull. First, the Walker Lever exists somewhere in storage. Second, this all started because of the notion that the NBC/Universal merger meant the show had free reign to show clips from Walker Texas Ranger at will. They did not. Which is why they stopped eventually. But in its time, god damn was it magnificent. Such a simple premise: pull a lever, get a prize. And the prize was a seemingly random (though painstakingly discovered by Koman and Weinberg through hours and hours of research) clip of Chuck Norris getting dragged across a field or of a pre-Sixth Sense Haley Joel Osment matter of factly telling a group that he has AIDS. “We waited a year before we showed that clip,” Sweeney told me, reflecting on concerns about the censors. It’s not even technically a “lever” clip in the above video, but still a part of the legend. And while the bit eventually came to a close, they tried to walk away multiple times before it was finally shut down. Including after they had Chuck Norris on the show to add a meta send-off.
From Mike Sweeney, writer:
“We thought that would be the end of it. We’re like, okay, we’ve don’t it. I don’t know, 15 times? Doing something that many times, we felt like, okay, it’s run its course. Let’s end it and bring on Chuck Norris and we’ll never do Walker Texas Ranger Lever again. That’s it. It was a nice ride. […] I think nine months went by and we had two weeks off and Conan came back from break and he said, ‘All anyone’s saying to me everywhere I go is you’ve got to keep doing more. We need more Walker clips.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ I had to go to Michael and Andrew and I was like, ‘Guys, sorry to tell you, but you’ve got to screen more.’ They’re like, ‘There can’t be any more clips.’
But it was an endless supply. They went down and found more great clips and we ended up doing it again for another two months. Then we stopped again. The same thing happened again nine months later. Fans on the street were like, ‘Come on, show more clips.’ I think there was a third round of it.”
Save for some of the Clutch Cargo stuff from back in the day and monologue jokes across multiple decades, Conan has largely avoided being overtly political on the show. When I spoke with Andy Richter last year, he had a great line about why not: “Conan actually said to me once, ‘There are all kinds of people doing topical stuff and making political points,’ and he said, ‘It’s so much more interesting to me to just be silly and be absurd and explore the absurd, and ultimately I think it’s doing a greater service to humanity.’”
But with reports that President Trump called Haiti a “sh*thole” country, Conan seemingly took it as a challenge, prompting a herculean effort to quickly do a Without Borders from the country. The whole thing is funny, as per usual with the long, long history of Conan visiting other countries, but there’s an empathy that’s so palpable and paired with a want to cut through the mountains of nonsense. Conan isn’t the first person you think of when it comes to getting heavy and making a statement piece, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t done it or that it isn’t powerful. Reference remarks following school shootings, the aftermath of Robin Williams’ death, and the first episode following 9/11 where he plainly talked about not knowing how to do the job of being an ass and making people laugh in that exact moment. But with Haiti, he made more than a statement, he made an impact, taking a camera right to the spot and countering an idiot’s verbal diarrhea with a window into the vibrancy, resiliency, and nuance of a whole country.
You can’t be great at interviews if you aren’t open to going where the guest wants to go. Even if that means not so much an interview as a trip into the woods to “shoot guns and drink hard liquor” in the name of creating art with literary literal madman Hunter S. Thompson. What more needs to be said about this moment?
Much like the Masturbating Bear (which is an. aces way to start a sentence), we always knew what was going to happen when Paul Rudd popped up on any of the three iterations of Conan’s shows. He’d do the usual talk show stuff, everyone would laugh and then the time would come for a clip and you’d kinda forget. It was like setting a trap. It’s the perfect bit, made richer by the fact that it might be late night’s most enduring tradition.
There are times when Conan approaches a situation as something of a blank canvas to see what can be made. Those fishing expeditions. But then there are other times when it feels like he’s trying to either solve a puzzle or flip over the table that it’s on before laughing and pointing. That’s the takeaway from Old TIme Baseball, which might be universally regarded as among the top things he’s ever done. He walks onto the field like an Alien crash-landed and accumulating data: is there an accomplice? What can he learn about these people from their uniforms and how everyone is speaking and engaging like it’s really the 1860s? And then he tries to infiltrate, taking an at-bat, threatening to throw hands, and being scared of technology. It’s playful enough to be a little pointed and pointed enough to be hilarious. And wow, how many times has the show walked that line successfully?
Speaking of, Conan is calling upon many of the same superpowers here but he’s also got no clue what he’s going to find of comic value in Houston late in the night. Enter Buffalo, a big dude who seemed like he might be persuaded to chose violence and who didn’t seem like he’d be down to absorb Conan’s brand of playfulness or pointed remarks. It’s great when things work, it can be even better when they don’t workout and Conan wasn’t afraid to show those moments.
Additionally, going someplace in search of people who recognize you is such a great send-up of Hollywood phoneyness, affiliate relations torture, and a manifestation of the self-deprecating nature of the show and its host.
1. Conan Discovers Late Night Is An Undercover Sting Operation
There was a distinct vibe that the show was always running from the reaper in its early days. Perhaps that’s why this sketch lands so perfectly. Or perhaps it’s in the commitment level and the performances — particularly Richter, who carries the bulk of the story. I could have picked any number of moments or characters to top this list, but while so many favorites come together while they’re filming, there is something to be said for a truly great produced bit and something that is super well-coordinated and choreographed. Like a ballet, really.
The Conan team has, for the longest time (and I’m refusing to use the past tense here since the HBO Max show is coming and will still be late night to me), shown an ability to create comedy from nothing and to find a way to get laughs out of the most esoteric, 2 AM in the morning on a napkin bits of weirdness. All in their pursuit of a challenge, or expressing a wholly new idea, and in that pursuit of the cross-section of silly and stupid and magical that Conan talked about in the TBS series finale. It’s a huge part of their charm, but they are also master tacticians and craftspeople.
From the costumes to the props to the performances and the material, we’re getting an idea fully realized in moments like the above sketch where they refuse to settle for the passing grade. They want to take it to the end of the line and they do here, with an empty studio, Conan robbed of his life’s work, and being made fun of for still believing in his life.
Whether their commitment is for you or for them isn’t quite clear, maybe both? But it’s definitely for the sake of doing the thing right and making sure it sticks with you. And that thing, as well as all the other things expressed here, make Conan a multi-generational talent and, I feel, late night’s greatest host.
James Corden’s late-night talk show has a number of segments and bits that keep it in the mainstream pop culture landscape, but one is apparently looking at changes after complaints about cultural insensitivity. Corden was interviewed by Howard Stern earlier in the month and announced that his show’s “Spill Your Guts” segment would undergo an overhaul after users on social media pointed out issues with the nature of the segment’s use of ethnic foods.
The AV Club spotted the interview where Corden admitted the segment would be changing its perspective. The “Spill Your Guts” segment featured Corden asking celebrities pointed questions that would require tricky answers, with the alternative option of eating an unfamiliar food item instead of answering. But the segment struck many as troublesome, as highlighted by a viral TikTok video posted by Kim Saira, which pointed out that many of the foods described as “disgusting” were actually traditional Asian delicacies. The video featured a reaction to Corden’s segment with fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who said “wow, it all looks so terrible.” That video sparked a Change.org petition that netted more than 45,000 signatures in the days that followed.
“In the wake of the constant Asian hate crimes that have continuously been occurring, not only is this segment incredibly culturally offensive and insensitive, but it also encourages anti-Asian racism,” Saira said in the petition. “So many Asian Americans are consistently bullied and mocked for their native foods, and this segment amplifies and encourages it.”
Corden heard about the petition and responded, telling Stern, “We heard that story, and the next time we do that bit we absolutely won’t involve or use any of those foods. As you said at the start, our show is a show about joy and light and love, we don’t want to make a show to upset anybody.”
Corden said the segment will instead now focus on “fattening, diet-destroying” foods rather than foods from other cultures and parts of the world.
Through the whole #FreeBritney movement, one figure close to Britney Spears who has been publicly silent about the situation is her sister, Jamie Lynn Spears. Now, finally, Jamie Lynn has taken a moment to show support for sister and explain why it has taken so long for her to do so.
Jamie Lynn shared a video on her Instagram Story today in which she speaks to the camera and starts, “Hey everybody, I just want to take a second to address a few things. The only reason I haven’t before is because I felt like until my sister was able speak for herself and say what she felt she needed to say publicly, that it wasn’t my place and it wasn’t the right thing to do. But now that she’s very clearly spoken and said what she needed to say, I feel like I can follow her lead and say what I feel I need to say.”
Britney Spears’ sister Jamie Lynn Spears addresses Britney’s conservatorship following her court statement.
“I can assure you I’ve supported my sister long before there was a hashtag, and I’ll support her long after.” pic.twitter.com/BTHBQbz1tD
From there, she goes on to note that she doesn’t have a financial interest in what Britney does with her career, saying, “I don’t care if she wants to run away to the rain forest and have a zillion babies in the middle of nowhere, or if she wants to come back and dominate the world the way she has so many times before, because I have nothing to gain or lose either way.”
She also explained that her support for Britney has been in private, noting, “Maybe I didn’t support her the way the public would like me to, with a hashtag on a public platform. But I can assure that I have supported my sister long before there was a hashtag, and I’ll support her long after.”
Watch the video above and read a full transcript of it below.
“Hey everybody, I just want to take a second to address a few things. The only reason I haven’t before is because I felt like until my sister was able speak for herself and say what she felt she needed to say publicly, that it wasn’t my place and it wasn’t the right thing to do. But now that she’s very clearly spoken and said what she needed to say, I feel like I can follow her lead and say what I feel I need to say.
I think it’s extremely clear that since the day I was born that I’ve only loved, adored, and supported my sister. This is my freakin’ big sister before any of this bullsh*t. I don’t care if she wants to run away to the rain forest and have a zillion babies in the middle of nowhere, or if she wants to come back and dominate the world the way she has so many times before, because I have nothing to gain or lose either way. This situation does not affect me either way because I am only her sister who is only concerned about her happiness.
I’ve made a very conscious choice in my life to only participate in her life as her sister. […] Maybe I didn’t support her the way the public would like me to, with a hashtag on a public platform. But I can assure that I have supported my sister long before there was a hashtag, and I’ll support her long after. Note that. I mean, I’ve worked since I was 9 years old, I’ve paid my own frickin’ bills since I was 10 years old. Not that I owe the public anything because my sister knows I love and support her. That’s the only person I owe anything to. I’m not my family — I am my own person and I am speaking for myself.
I’m so proud of her for using her voice. I am so proud of her for requesting new counsel, like I told her to do many years ago. Oh, not on a big public platform, but just in a personal conversation between two sisters. So I’m very proud she’s taking that step.
If any of the conservatorship is flying to Mars or whatever the hell else she wants to do to be happy, I support that, 100 percent. Because I support my sister. I love my sister, always have, always will, as long as she’s happy. So, let’s keep praying, that’s all.”
Space Jam: A New Legacy has a stated mission of trying to create a movie that is able to stand on its own, while also paying homage to the original — not as a sequel but a reboot with LeBron James in the Michael Jordan role. That is a tricky needle to thread, and it’ll be interesting to see what the response to the movie is when it releases on July 16 in theaters and on HBO Max.
The premise is generally the same, with LeBron leading the Tune Squad against an evil alien/cyber squad of players with the skills of some of the NBA and WNBA’s best (this time called the Goon Squad rather than the Monstars). How they get to that game is different, though, and seems to have a bit more of a plot beyond “Michael Jordan gets sucked down a golf hole to help save the Looney Tunes.” Still, part of the reason to make a second Space Jam is to play into the nostalgia aspect, as it’s the 25th anniversary of the original that was for many of a certain age a childhood favorite.
They’re banking on the 30-something crowd to come watch along with kids being introduced to the franchise for the first time, and the merchandise around the movie is likewise straddling the line of leaning into nostalgia while trying to make something new. On the new side, there’s the LeBron 19, which Nike unveiled recently and James will debut in the film. On the nostalgia side, McDonald’s partnered with Diamond Supply Co. for a line of retro-inspired merch for the new movie, in honor of the original Space Jam Happy Meals with a shirt and sweatshirt as well as a jersey and shorts combo.
McDonalds
They are very clearly 90’s inspired from the style but updated with the look from the new movie. The collection will release on July 3 at 9 a.m. PT on Diamond Supply Co.’s website and store in L.A.
There are only so many ways to introduce a post about BTS’s “Butter” being the No. 1 song in the US. That’s been happening a lot lately, so let’s just get right to it: On the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated July 3, “Butter” is the top song for the fifth week.
Of the 54 songs that have ever debuted in the top spot on the Hot 100, “Butter” is just the 11th to spend at least its first five weeks at No. 1. The last song to do that is another recent hit, Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License.”
On a related note, the song has also sold at least 100,000 downloads in each of its first five weeks. The last song that pull that off was Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber’s “Despacito,” which did it for 12 consecutive weeks from May to August 2017.
.@BTS_twt‘s “Butter” has now sold at least 100,000 downloads in each of its first five weeks.
It’s the first song to do that since @LuisFonsi and @daddy_yankee‘s “Despacito,” featuring @justinbieber, cleared 100,000 in 12 consecutive weeks in May-August 2017.
Elsewhere in the top 10 are a bunch of familiar songs, including some former No. 1 singles: Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” (now at No. 1); Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar, and Giveon’s “Peaches” (No. 5); Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak)’s “Leave The Door Open” (No. 6), The Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s “Save Your Tears” (No. 7), and Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” (No. 8).”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
On Monday morning’s The View, Meghan McCain launched into a passionate rant praising Mumford & Son banjo player Winston Marshall’s decision to leave the band because he no longer wants to “self-censor” himself. Marshall had been on a leave of absence from the band after he tweeted support for controversial right-wing journalist Andy Ngo’s book, Unmasked, which accused Antifa of having a “radical plan to destroy democracy.”
Naturally, Meghan opened her remarks by criticizing The View for describing Ngo as a far right journalist and trotting out the usual conservative talking points about Antifa burning cities like Portland and Seattle. She painted Ngo as an intrepid reporter worthy of being labeled “brave” by Marshall, who she admired for “self-canceling” himself to protect the band. According to McCain, the 33-year-old Marshall represents a new line of thinking amongst millennial that independent thought and free speech are more important than money or careers. McCain also says she feels this way herself, which isn’t that bold of a statement coming from a millionaire daytime talk show host whose mother is a heiress to one of the largest beer fortunes in America.
You can see McCain’s defense of Marshall at the 2:00 mark:
MUMFORD & SONS SINGER EXITS BAND: Winston Marshall said he’s leaving the band after getting blowback for praising a book about Antifa, claiming he doesn’t want his views to bring down his bandmates and leaving is the only way he can speak freely — the co-hosts react. pic.twitter.com/3rb4f5Sg4C
In a Medium post written by Marshall, he explained that his decision to leave the band was to protect his bandmates from having to deal with any ensuing controversy from him speaking openly. “I could remain and continue to self-censor but it will erode my sense of integrity. Gnaw my conscience. I’ve already felt that beginning,” Marshall wrote. “The only way forward for me is to leave the band. I hope in distancing myself from them I am able to speak my mind without them suffering the consequences.”
Even a casual follower of the news over the last few years is likely to have encountered stories about research showing that digital technologies like social media and smartphones are harming young people’s mental health. Rates of depression and suicide among young people have risen steadily since the mid-2000s, around the time that the first smartphones and social media platforms were being released. These technologies have become ubiquitous, and young people’s distress has continued to increase since then.
Many articles in the popular and academic press assert that digital technology is to blame. Some experts, including those recently featured in stories by majornewsoutlets, state that excessive use of digital technology is clearly linked to psychological distress in young people. To deny this connection, according to a prominent proponent of the link, is akin to denying the link between human activity and climate change.
In an effort to protect young people from the harms of digital tech, some politicians have introduced legislation that would, among other things, automatically limit users’ time spent on a social media platform to 30 minutes a day. If the evidence is so definitive that digital technology is harming America’s youth in such substantial ways, then reducing young people’s use of these devices could be one of the most important public health interventions in American history.
There’s just one problem: The evidence for a link between time spent using technology and mental health is fatally flawed.
Researchers have recently begun to expose the discrepancy between self-reported and actual technology use, including for Facebook, smartphones and the internet. My colleagues and I carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of discrepancies between actual and self-reported digital media use and found that self-reported use is rarely an accurate reflection of actual use.
This has enormous implications. Although measurement isn’t a sexy topic, it forms the foundation of scientific research. Simply put, to make conclusions – and subsequent recommendations – about something you’re studying, you must ensure you’re measuring the thing you’re intending to measure. If your measures are defective, then your data is untrustworthy. And if the measures are more inaccurate for certain people – like young people or those with depression – then the data is even more untrustworthy. This is the case for the majority of research into the effects of technology use over the past 15 years.
Imagine that everything known about the COVID-19 pandemic was based on people giving their best guesses about whether they have the virus, instead of highly reliable medical tests. Now imagine that people who actually have the virus are more likely to misdiagnose themselves. The consequences of relying on this unreliable measure would be far-reaching. The health effects of the virus, how it’s spreading, how to combat it – practically every bit of information gathered about the virus would be tainted. And the resources expended based on this flawed information would be largely wasted.
The uncomfortable truth is that shoddy measurement, as well as other methodological issues including inconsistent ways of conceiving of different types of digital tech use and research design that falls short of establishing a causal connection, is widespread. This means that the putative link between digital technology and psychological distress remains inconclusive.
Social media has a lot to answer for, but in terms of time spent on them, the mental health of young people might not belong on the list. images.theconversation.com
In my own research as a doctoral student in social work, I found that the link between digital technology use and mental health was stronger when self-report measures were used than when objective measures were used. An example of an objective measure is Apple’s “Screen Time” application, which automatically tracks device use. And when I used these objective measures to track digital technology use among young adults over time, I found that increased use was not associated with increased depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts. In fact, those who used their smartphones more frequently reported lower levels of depression and anxiety.
From believer to skeptic
That the link between digital tech use and psychological distress is inconclusive would have come as a big surprise to me five years ago. I was shocked by the levels of depression and thoughts of suicide among the students I treated when I worked as a mental health therapist at a college counseling center. I, like most people, accepted the conventional narrative that all these smartphones and social media were harming young people.
Wanting to investigate this further, I left clinical practice for a Ph.D. program so I could research why these technologies were harmful and what could be done to prevent these harms. As I dove into the scientific literature and conducted studies of my own, I came to realize that the link between digital technology and well-being was much more convoluted than the typical narrative portrayed by popular media. The scientific literature was a mess of contradiction: Some studies found harmful effects, others found beneficial effects and still others found no effects. The reasons for this inconsistency are many, but flawed measurement is at the top of the list.
This is unfortunate, not just because it represents a huge waste of time and resources, or because the narrative that these technologies are harmful to young people has been widely popularized and it’s hard to get the cat back in the bag, but also because it forces me to agree with Mark Zuckerberg.
Getting at the truth
Now, this doesn’t mean that any amount or kind of digital technology use is fine. It’s fairly clear that certain aspects, such as cyber-victimization and exposure to harmful online content, can be damaging to young people. But simply taking tech away from them may not fix the problem, and some researchers suggest it may actually do more harm than good.
Whether, how and for whom digital tech use is harmful is likely much more complicated than the picture often presented in popular media. However, the reality is likely to remain unclear until more reliable evidence comes in.
Craig J.R. Sewall is a Postdoctoral Scholar of Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Pittsburgh.
This article first appeared on The Conversation. You can read it here.
Dexter had some good seasons, but only one unquestionably great season. That would be season four, where Dexter Morgan, played by Michael C. Hall, learns how to have a healthy work (forensic technician for the Miami Metro Police Department) / life (murdering people) balance from Arthur Miller, better known as the Trinity Killer. John Lithgow won an Emmy for playing the canny serial killer, and although — spoiler alert — he died in the season finale (although not before murdering Dexter’s wife, Rita), the actor will somehow reprise his role in the upcoming Showtime revival.
Deadline reports that Lithgow “is set to make a short but decisive appearance in the Michael C. Hall-led revival coming from Showtime this fall… Which begs the question: How will Lithgow’s Arthur Mitchell will return? Details are scant, but scribes on the Clyde Phillips-showrun 10-episode limited series have concocted a pathway for the Trinity Killer to come back that works within the larger Dexter narrative.” Lithgow’s cameo is only expected to take a day of filming, so he can quickly go back to screaming about gremlins, or whatever he does in his free time.
It’s unclear who else will return from the original run, outside of Hall and Lithgow. Julie Benz (Rita) won’t be back, but Jennifer Carpenter (Debra) was reportedly spotted on set. There’s also been speculation that lil’ Harrison, the “cereal spiller” himself, will show up. We’ll find out later this year when the Dexter limited series debuts on Showtime.
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