GoneTrending

Throughout the summer, comedian Dave Chappelle has been hosting social distance-friendly stand-up shows through his “Dave Chappelle & Friends: A Talk with Punchlines” series in his home state of Ohio. That’s where his powerful 8:46 special came from last month, and earlier this week, Chris Rock dropped by to perform for 100 lucky people.

According to Consequence of Sound, “The privacy of the shows has been part of their charm, and little has leaked in the way of photos or clips. It was Rock who broke the embargo, sharing two pictures from the secretive event on Instagram.” He also revealed the night’s secret guest, writing, “So I went to Ohio and did a Covid tested show with Dave and Jim Carrey on FaceTime. Crazy year indeed. Jim closed the show. It’s been a horrible year but this was definitely a bright spot.”

I’m not sure if this technically counts as Carrey’s return to stand-up after he claimed in 2017 that he had “no” interest in doing so, but for those in attendance, it must have been a treat to see the Ace Ventura star returning to his comedy roots. Sure, it was through an app on a phone (the only working phone in the venue), but still! Here’s another look.

No word on if he answered the call by saying “hello” through his butt.

(Via Consequence of Sound)

Seth Rogen’s not afraid to upset countries (see: North Korea back with 2014’s The Interview), and now, he’s speaking his mind on Israel. In HBO Max’s upcoming An American Pickle movie, Rogen portrays a 1920s Jewish immigrant who falls into a pickle vat and wakes up a century later to meet his grandson, also played by Rogen. The outspoken U.S.-Canadian actor, who is Jewish, visited with Marc Maron (also Jewish) on the WTF Podcast. Over the course of the hour, they dug deep into The Pineapple Express actor’s views (with which Maron agrees) on Israel.

While addressing his childhood, Rogen (whose parents met in Israel) revealed that he was never told (while attending Jewish camp) that the Jewish state had been created on land where Palestinians were living at the time. Rogen and Maron candidly discussed the subject with Maron pointing out that “we’re gonna piss off a bunch of Jews.” Rogen wasn’t deterred, stating that “I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel my entire life.” He maintained that he was never told that Palestinians occupied the land, and his schooling made “it seem like it was just like sitting there, like the fucking door’s open.” Rogen then questioned why Israel exists at all:

“If it is for truly the preservation of Jewish people, it makes no sense, because again, you don’t keep something you’re trying to preserve all in one place — especially when that place is proven to be pretty volatile, you know? ‘I’m trying to keep all these things safe, I’m gonna put them in my blender and hope that that’s the best place… that’ll do it.’ It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Maron, who realized that there would be backlash coming their way, pointed out that “I get frightened to talk about it.” To that, Rogen exclaimed, “I’m afraid of Jews! I’m 100% afraid of Jews.” Certainly, the conversation won’t ease any tensions between Israel and many North American Jews. Rogen’s perspective aligns with a refugee crisis that remains unresolved, given that during the 1948 war, a mass exodus occurred (numbering around 700,000 Palestinians) from Israel. The exiting families and their descendants now number several million people.

The Jerusalem Post‘s Lahav Harkov has responded to Rogen in a tweet thread, in which she claims that his “comments are made from a position of really, really great privilege – and ignorance – if he can’t understand why Israel makes sense to millions of Jews around the world. I just hope he appreciates it.”

Rogen and Maron did also talk about An American Pickle during their hour-long chat. In doing so, Rogen revealed that he and Simon Rich first envisioned it back in 2007 when Rogen first hosted SNL. While speaking to the movie’s long gestation, he revealed, “It was a hard movie to crack, the tone is weird and it’s something that I wanted to spend a lot of time making sure we got right.” The HBO Max movie streams on August 6.

(Via WTF Podcast)

At the moment, Megan Thee Stallion is recovering following surgery to remove bullets from her feet. Since the shooting, Megan has received some lovely gifts from two of her peers in music: Rihanna and Lizzo.

Megan shared a couple photos yesterday of herself wearing Fenty lingerie, and the third photo in the post was of flowers and a card that Rihanna and to her. The card reads, “Wishing you a full and speedy recovery, Meg! Just know you’ve got a whole crew over here sending good vibes your way! Love, Rihanna and the Fenty Corp gang.” Megan captioned her post, “Love y’all @savagexfenty @badgalriri.”

Megan also took to her Instagram Story to show off some goods that Lizzo sent her way. Sharing a video of a plush dog filled with candy, Megan says, “Ah Lizzo, I love you! What the hell? This whole thing is filled up full of Lucas [Mexican candy brand] and my favorite sh*t!” In a follow-up video, it’s clear that Megan’s dog doesn’t like the toy pooch as much as she does.

In another recent post, Megan revealed what she plans on getting up to during her recovery. She shared a photo of herself in bed with a sketch pad and a notebook. That same post featured another photo of three sticky notes, which say, “pray,” “take care of skin!!!,” and, “write music.”

When asked about possibly working with Rihanna in a recent interview, Megan said, “Rihanna is that girl, and I always wear Fenty, so… Oh my God, that would blow my mind! If I could collab with Rihanna, I would honestly be super happy.” There were rumors in 2019 that Megan and Rihanna were collaborating, but Rihanna said that news was “a lie.”

As for Megan and Lizzo, they had a pretty unforgettable meet-up last year:

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

The NBA season will restart on Thursday in Orlando, as a four-month layoff comes to an end and the eight-game race to the playoffs begins. Teams will jockey for playoff position and, particularly in the West, the race for the 8-seed is quite interesting given the league’s introduction of a play-in series if the ninth place team is within four games of eighth.

There is going to be a lot of basketball happening over a relatively short period of time, and so we’ve gathered the most important games from each day on the schedule so you can do your best to plan around which games to watch. For the most part, these games have the opportunity to impact races for seeding, although there are some days without much in the way of key battles and for those days we’ve simply selected the game that should be the most entertaining.

Unsurprisingly, the league’s national TV partners have plucked a number of these games for their broadcasts, but some will require a League Pass subscription to dial in on.

Thursday, July 30

Clippers vs. Lakers (9 p.m. ET, TNT)

The first game of the restart, Jazz-Pelicans, is helped by the fact that Zion Williamson appears slated to suit up, but the nightcap was always going to be the marquee attraction. The expected Western Conference Finals preview happening in the first real game back for both teams will be fascinating to watch, particularly with regards to how aggressively each side will approach this matchup given the circumstances.

Friday, July 31

Grizzlies vs. Trail Blazers (4 p.m. ET, NBA TV): This game could decide the Blazers fate in the race for a play-in game. A win pulls them to within 2.5 games of Memphis, while a loss drops them to 4.5 back. It is a huge matchup for both teams out of the gate and should give us an early indicator of where each team is as far as playing form to start the restart.

Celtics vs. Bucks (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): Another potential conference finals preview that will serve as one of a few stiff tests for this Bucks team. How much we can read into the outcome of this one really relies on where guys like Eric Bledsoe and Pat Connaughton, both of whom entered the bubble late, are at physically. Still, it’s a great litmus test for both teams early on.

Rockets vs. Mavericks (9 p.m. ET, ESPN): Like Grizz-Blazers, this game is very important for potential seeding. A Mavs win would give them a shot at shedding the 7-seed and moving up, which is huge for their chances to make it out of the first round. If you gave every team in the West the choice of facing the Clippers or the Nuggets, they’re all taking their chances with Denver, despite how good that team is at full strength. A Mavs win moves them to just a half game behind Houston for sixth, and sets up a very intriguing race to avoid the Clippers.

Saturday, August 1

Sixers vs. Pacers (7 p.m. ET, League Pass): The best game of this day will be Lakers-Raptors, but that will have no bearing on seeding, so Sixers-Pacers gets the nod here as those two teams are currently tied for fifth in the East (with Indy currently holding the tiebreaker) and the winner will get some early separation.

Sunday, August 2

Spurs vs. Grizzlies (4 p.m. ET, League Pass): Like Saturday, the best game here figures to be Bucks-Rockets, but Spurs-Grizzlies will, like Grizzlies-Blazers, be an early chance for Memphis to either separate themselves from a contending squad or for San Antonio to reel closer to a play-in. The Spurs being without LaMarcus Aldridge makes their path more difficult, and this will give an early indicator of whether they’re going to factor into this race for real.

Monday, August 3

Grizzlies vs. Pelicans (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): It’s rather incredible that the schedule worked out to pit the Grizz against their three closest challengers in the first three games of the restart. If they can somehow go 3-0, they’ll have themselves a substantial cushion — and might set themselves up to avoid a play-in series altogether. If they slip up against any or all, things get far more interesting. On top of that, this should be another Zion-Ja matchup, and that is always fun.

Tuesday, August 4

Celtics vs. Heat (6:30 p.m. ET, TNT): It’s highly unlikely the Heat catch Boston for the 3-seed, but it’s possible if the Celtics drop their opener to the Bucks and Miami starts off hot with two wins over the very good Nuggets and Raptors. If that happens, this game gets real interesting, as avoiding the 4-seed (which likely means facing the Sixers and then Bucks to open the playoffs) is very important for Boston’s hopes of coming out of the East.

Wednesday, August 5

Thunder vs. Lakers (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): This is a possible conference semis preview, and it’s always fun to see LeBron and Chris Paul square off. This will be a week in to the proceedings and as such, I’d expect this to be when teams like the Lakers start really trying to put the pedal down and get the playoff kick going, which should make for some fun basketball.

Thursday, August 6

Heat vs. Bucks (4 p.m. ET, TNT): TNT has a truly spectacular triple-header on this Thursday, starting with a possible conference semis preview of Heat-Bucks, where Miami represents a real threat to Milwaukee given their ability to get scalding hot from three-point range. I would expect Miami, at the very least, to take this game seriously and try to make a statement, it just remains to be seen if Milwaukee will be interested in going into fifth gear for this one.

Clippers vs. Mavericks (6:30 p.m. ET, TNT): Right now, this would be a first round preview, and the Mavs will, like Miami, be looking to send a message with their performance here. Like Milwaukee, we’ll see if L.A. is interested in going all out in this one.

Lakers vs. Rockets (9 p.m. ET, TNT): The Rockets small-ball stuff is really fun to watch when they go up against a big team. If you recall, their first game of the small-ball era was a thrilling win over this Lakers team. It’ll be a fun watch and, depending on how Houston does, could be a conference semis preview.

Friday, August 7

Celtics vs. Raptors (9 p.m. ET, TNT): It’d be pretty shocking if these teams didn’t meet in the second round of the playoffs. There’s a chance this is the best game of the restart, because we’ll be a full week in and these are two teams that can’t help but go all out at all times. There may be some delaying of flipping the proverbial switch for the Lakers, Clippers, and Bucks, but that’s just not really a thing with these two. I expect this to have playoff intensity.

Saturday, August 8

Jazz vs. Nuggets (3:30 p.m. ET, TNT): Like Boston-Toronto, this game ought to have some juice to it. Denver is 1.5 games up on Utah for third so this could be very meaningful for seeding. On top of that, these two have a bit of a rivalry going given they’re the best of the West that don’t reside in L.A. and have followed similar trajectories in recent seasons thanks to tremendous internal development of homegrown talent.

Sunday, August 9

Spurs vs. Pelicans (3 p.m. ET, ABC): This might be an elimination game for that 9-seed race. One would think Zion would be playing at about full strength by this point, although his lack of a pre-bubble slate might complicate thing. Both teams figure to need this win desperately to have any hope of a play-in game so, hopefully, that leads to a competitive matchup.

Monday, August 10

Bucks vs. Raptors (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): Milwaukee plays each of the other top four teams in the East, with Toronto as the final one of those and this might serve as a dress rehearsal for the playoffs for each team. Both of these teams have the luxury of going into the playoffs with what should be very easy first round matchups against the Nets, Magic, or Wizards, and as such they might take advantage of this tilt to ramp things up to 10 and test themselves. That’s the hope anyways, and if they do, this could be a lot of fun.

Lakers vs. Nuggets (9:00 p.m. ET, ESPN): Likewise, I could see the Lakers doing the same with a good Denver team that they may or may not see in the postseason. Denver, at the very least, will come out looking to notch a huge win, and I wouldn’t be surprised if LeBron and co. see this as an opportunity to put their playoff rotation to the test.

Tuesday, August 11

Blazers vs. Mavericks (5:00 p.m. ET, League Pass): A weird day of games, none of them especially meaningful other than maybe Nets-Magic, but I cannot in good conscience recommend that to you lovely readers. As such, let’s go with Blazers-Mavs, as Portland figures to have plenty to play for, while Dallas could be in a battle for the 6-seed. Dame vs. Luka, if both are playing normal minutes at this point, will be fun.

Wednesday, August 12

Raptors vs. 76ers (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): The first of two possible second round matchups on ESPN is Toronto-Philly, which seems unlikely as most expect Philly to leapfrog the Pacers into the fifth spot, but either way this should be a slugfest between two teams with a healthy distaste (but respect) for one another after last year’s conference semi.

Clippers vs. Nuggets (9:00 p.m. ET, ESPN): This is more likely to actually be a playoff preview, and might be where the Clippers put their playoff rotation through a test run after facing the Blazers and Nets in the two previous games. Denver getting the L.A. back-to-back is a tough pull, and might mean they’re fighting to hold onto the 3-seed here.

Thursday, August 13

Bucks vs. Grizzlies (TBD): There is not really much intrigue on the final Thursday of the season the way the schedule fell, and as such we’ll put Bucks-Grizzlies on the watch guide because Ja Morant might try a ridiculous dunk on Giannis and fire the MVP up.

Friday, August 14

Thunder vs. Clippers (TBD): OKC likely will have something to play for in this one as far as seeding, possibly trying to avoid a first round matchup with this very Clippers team. Could be fun! Honorable mention goes to Nuggets-Raptors, as if both of those teams care, that should be a really good game.

John Krasinski and Jenna Fishcher played one of the more iconic couples in TV history in Jim Halpert and Pam Beesley, a.k.a. Jam, but apparently unbeknownst to a lot of The Office viewers, they’re not together in real life. He’s married to actress Emily Blunt, and she’s been hitched to writer Lee Kirk since 2010. On an episode of An Oral History of The Office podcast, Fischer compared the experience of letting fans know that Krasinki isn’t actually the J to her PB to telling a kid that Santa isn’t real (but Belsnickel is).

“People don’t know how John and I are not a couple in real life,” she told host (and target of the longest joke set-up in TV history) Brian Baumgartner. “They don’t understand it. I don’t know how to explain it, because it’s a little bit like telling kids there’s no Santa… The bottom line is that we were playing characters, but I know that if people think of us as John and Jenna, then it’s destroying some of the magic of Jim and Pam.” To be fair, I think season nine of The Office destroyed a lot of the magic of Jim and Pam:

Fischer, 46, explained that she feels like she has to “justify” why she and Krasinski, 40, aren’t “actually in love.”

The actress added that Jim and Pam relationship’s even doubled as inspiration for many real-life couples. “A lot of people say things to me like, ‘I think I found my Pam, I think I found my Jim,’ you know, using us as like… a noun for love,” she said.

Tired: “I think I found my Jim / my Pam.”
Wired: “I think I found my Phyllis / my Bob Vance.”

You can listen to the entire An Oral History of The Office episode here.

(Via People)

Phoebe Bridgers’ new album, Punisher, really ends with a bang thanks to the epic “I Know The End.” Now, the musician has shared a visual for the track, and it’s equally eventful.

In the cinematic clip, Bridgers begins almost fully submerged in a tub. She emerges, wearing her now-signature skeleton outfit and heads to a locker room full of them. A young girl rolls an apple to Bridgers, who takes a bite from it, drops the fruit, and during the song’s climax, runs to an empty stadium. There, she joins her band in performing the rest of the song. At the end of the clip, Bridgers approaches an older woman (who looks like she could be future version of Bridgers) enjoying the performance. They grab each other’s faces, scream, and kiss.

Bridgers told Uproxx about the track in a recent interview, saying, “It’s my first end of the world song. Conor Oberst and I were joking about how he’s been writing apocalyptic songs since the beginning of time. And now his material’s going to feel like old news. I was imagining a giant tornado, or California separating from the rest of the United States. It definitely feels relevant, but in my brain it was just an invention. […] I was talking to a friend the other day about what separates the millennial generation from other generations, and for the most part, we’re the first generation to not really be living for the next generation. So many people fought for a better world before us, like our parents. And now we’re just fighting to even stay alive. People have stopped romanticizing the future. I just feel like I could never imagine a time beyond now. I used to know what my life would look like in eight months, now I certainly don’t. ”

Watch the “I Know The End” video above, and read our recent interview with Bridgers here.

Yesterday, Taylor Swift shared the original voice memo of Folklore highlight “Cardigan,” which Swift sent to collaborator Aaron Dessner (of The National) back in April. To celebrate that, Dessner pulled the curtain back even further by sharing the text conversation where Swift sent him the voice memo.

Posting the screenshot, Dessner wrote, “Looking back at @taylorswift13’s text with her original voice memo of Cardigan…still surreal.” In the text, Swift writes, presumably in response to Dessner sending her instrumentals, “Oh my god I’m already writing over one of them.” She adds, “This is so exciting I’m freaking out.” Dessner responded with three exclamation marks and a smiling emoji.

Dessner previously noted in a recent interview, “I sent [the file] at 9 p.m., and around 2 a.m. or something, there was ‘cardigan,’ fully written. That’s when I realized something crazy was happening. […] I think we both realized that this was a bit of a lightning rod for a lot of the rest of the record.”

Indeed, Swift’s response arrived on Dessner’s phone at 2:23 a.m. on April 28: She shared an audio file of “an idea,” as she described it, and wrote the lyrics. The song really did seem to arrive at a near-finished state quickly, as the lyrics she shared along with the audio are the same ones that are on the final version of the song.

Read our review of Folklore here.

Folklore is out now via Republic. Get it here.

When Netflix scores winning connections with actors, they know how to keep things going. Such is the case with both Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) and Jason Bateman (Ozark). The former is already about to star as Sherlock Holmes’ rebellious teen sister in September’s Enola Holmes, and now, Brown will star in a film adaptation of Tess Sharpe’s novel The Girls I’ve Been with Bateman in a producing chair. Will he also appear onscreen? One never knows, given that he moved behind the camera to direct episodes of The Outsider and Arrested Development while doing his thing onscreen, so fingers are duly crossed.

In Brown’s case, the 16-year-old actress will portray a con-artist, who’s also (of course) an impersonator and happens to be bisexual. It sounds rather complicated, but this is a “twisty, exhilarating thriller,” according to Deadline’s description of the film. Brown’s character, Nora, must figure out how “get herself, her girlfriend, and ex-boyfriend free during a hostage situation at a bank.”

Even though Brown’s still a teenager, she’s also playing a producing role for this film, which is a staggering thing to consider. When I was sixteen, I was hoping to pass trigonometry and attempting to hit the correct yard-line during a halftime dance routine. So yep, hats off Stranger Things‘ Eleven, especially since she claimed to learn an American accent from none other than Miley Cyrus.

(Via Deadline)

More than ten days ago, word broke that Los Angeles Clippers big man Montrezl Harrell left the NBA’s bubble in Orlando to tend to a personal matter. As the team’s first seeding game approaches on Thursday against the Los Angeles Lakers, however, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports brings word that Harrell will not be available to play, with the addendum that it is “unclear” when Harrell will be back in Orlando with the Clippers.

According to the report, Harrell has tested negative for COVID-19 on a daily basis since leaving Orlando and, if that continues, his quarantine period could be quite short upon his return. Still, the Clippers are already without Lou Williams for the opener against the Lakers as a result of his 10-day quarantine, and it will be interesting to see how Doc Rivers and company approach the near term.

From a big-picture standpoint, the Clippers won’t be playing with a tremendous level of urgency in the early portion of the NBA’s restart, simply because the team is already in prime position to make a deep run in the postseason. L.A. is viewed as a high-level title contender and, while the seeding games can be used to fine tune in advance of the playoffs, Harrell and Williams will be needed for the long haul.

Harrell, who is set to enter unrestricted free agency at the conclusion of the 2019-20 season, averaged 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game prior to the NBA’s hiatus. He is a leading candidate for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award this season. Presumably, with Ivica Zubac getting back into shape following a bout with COVID-19, minutes should be plentiful for Joakim Noah.

Emmy nominations were the talk of Hollywood on Wednesday, and those lucky enough to be nominated had plenty to be thankful for. Bojack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg, for example, had the same thought as many people currently struggling to remember the date in what’s become the longest year on record.

But perhaps the best reaction came from Betty Gilpin, though. The Glow star was nominated for her third consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series on Tuesday, and continued a now-tradition of giving an extremely relatable reaction to the news. Gilpin called the nomination a “threat” to her quarantine diet and called for Breonna Taylor’s killers to be arrested among other things.

“To the Television Academy — how dare you. I really can’t stress enough how much of a threat this nomination is to my current quarantine brand of pasta and sad,” Gilpin said in part. “In the Time Before, being born with a healthy protective emotional wall missing meant I got to channel that into pretend time in exchange for health insurance and claps.”

The statement went over very well online, now adding to a list of charming celebrations of humility and praise. Here’s what Gilpin said last year, via Entertainment Weekly.

“Having spent 32 years basing my personality on fear and sarcasm, the unbridled Shirley-Temple-on-crack joy I feel today is a massive inconvenience for me. I’m so grateful to the Television Academy for this honor, and to Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch for making dreams I didn’t even know I had come true. I am a humbled, teary mess, and also thank you Mom.”

And also according to Entertainment Weekly, here’s how she reacted in 2018.

“Greetings from a shock and denial paralysis on my living room floor. Thank you to the Television Academy for making me throw my phone across the room as if it was made of lava needles. I am so overwhelmed and grateful to be a part of a show where women are allowed to be their weirdest, loudest, bravest selves. I’ll probably self-sabotage in a bold and creative way before the ceremony, so I hope everyone has a lovely autumn. Thank you, thank you, thank you. What. Is. Happening.”

It seems that she’s getting better at this, even in what’s been a weird year for entertainment and good news.