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This state-sponsored \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pop/tag/the-hunger-games\">Hunger Game\u003c/a> is the new low for a government depleted of funds. Meanwhile, the local TV news chipperly announces a few new billionaires every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My principle disappointment with \u003cem>Jackpot!\u003c/em> is that they didn’t go with a title like \u003cem>Mega Murders\u003c/em> or its original name: \u003cem>Grand Theft Lotto\u003c/em>. This is a very high concept for a comedy, one that Feig and screenwriter Rob Yescombe lean into to craft a mildly entertaining, streaming-only comedy that’s only a touch less disposable than a losing Powerball ticket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mostly, \u003cem>Jackpot!\u003c/em> is an action-comedy vehicle that pairs Awkwafina and John Cena for a romp through a few clever economic inequality gags and a lot of cartoonish mayhem. At the least, it’s a more satirical, silly take on a dystopian genre that usually receives more somber treatments. \u003cem>Mockingjay — Part 1\u003c/em> certainly never had John Cena trying to stomp out a groin on fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkkQYR9yYZo\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jackpot!\u003c/em>, which debuts Thursday on Prime Video, stars Awkwafina as Katie Kim, a former child actor who, out of midlife desperation, has returned to Los Angeles in 2030 to try to break back into the movie business. A Hollywood where half the town is out for blood is, of course, not such a far-fetched, futuristic concept. That backdrop of raging competitiveness is a running gag in \u003cem>Jackpot!\u003c/em> Katie is at an audition when she’s announced as the lottery winner, immediately sending the other auditioning actors after her head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the quickly forming mob closes in on Katie, a pinstripe suit-clad man comes to the rescue, pledging to protect her for a 10% fee. Noel Cassidy (John Cena) is his name, and, as the two make their getaway, a buddy comedy ensues. Aside from the main task of staying alive, the abiding tension of the movie is how much Katie can trust Noel, and why this very sincere special agent is so dedicated to saving lives. Not only does Noel keep Katie from harm, he makes sure to put a helmet on anyone’s head before kicking them out of a moving car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13962666']Awkwafina’s sarcasm plays well off Cena’s nice-guy earnestness. In one scene, she says he looks like “a bulldog that a witch cast a spell on and turned into a human.” Any comedy with her in the lead role has a fairly high floor, yet \u003cem>Jackpot!\u003c/em> never pays off. It’s amiably disordered but the high-concept always feels like a ridiculous goof, and its predictable machinations grow increasingly tiresome. Still, this is the rare film where you can say Machine Gun Kelly (whose panic room comes in handy for Katie and Noel) is a surprisingly perfect tonal fit. (Later, a turtlenecked Simu Liu turns up as the smarmy head of a larger, better funder protection agency.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Feig, the director of \u003cem>Bridesmaids\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Spy\u003c/em>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/122753/the_heat_is_absolutely_revolutionary_for_being_mostly_ordinary\">\u003cem>The Heat\u003c/em>\u003c/a> and 2016’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pop/30573/why-are-we-treating-the-new-ghostbusters-like-a-cult-classic-on-opening-weekend\">\u003cem>Ghostbusters\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, may be more adept at balancing broad comedy and action sequences than any other working filmmaker. But the big-screen comedy heyday he was once so central to has largely faded in recent years, as studios have grown disappointingly reluctant to gamble with laughs in theaters. It’s hard not to see \u003cem>Jackpot!\u003c/em> — which pales next to Feig’s better films — as an example of this diminished era for theatrical comedies. Then again, as Awkwafina notes in \u003cem>Jackpot!\u003c/em> Hollywood stardom isn’t what it once was. Now, she says, even wrestlers and YouTubers can do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Jackpot!’ begins streaming on Prime Video on Aug. 15, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Awkwafina’s sarcasm plays well off Cena’s nice-guy earnestness. In one scene, she says he looks like “a bulldog that a witch cast a spell on and turned into a human.” Any comedy with her in the lead role has a fairly high floor, yet \u003cem>Jackpot!\u003c/em> never pays off. It’s amiably disordered but the high-concept always feels like a ridiculous goof, and its predictable machinations grow increasingly tiresome. Still, this is the rare film where you can say Machine Gun Kelly (whose panic room comes in handy for Katie and Noel) is a surprisingly perfect tonal fit. (Later, a turtlenecked Simu Liu turns up as the smarmy head of a larger, better funder protection agency.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Feig, the director of \u003cem>Bridesmaids\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Spy\u003c/em>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/122753/the_heat_is_absolutely_revolutionary_for_being_mostly_ordinary\">\u003cem>The Heat\u003c/em>\u003c/a> and 2016’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pop/30573/why-are-we-treating-the-new-ghostbusters-like-a-cult-classic-on-opening-weekend\">\u003cem>Ghostbusters\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, may be more adept at balancing broad comedy and action sequences than any other working filmmaker. But the big-screen comedy heyday he was once so central to has largely faded in recent years, as studios have grown disappointingly reluctant to gamble with laughs in theaters. It’s hard not to see \u003cem>Jackpot!\u003c/em> — which pales next to Feig’s better films — as an example of this diminished era for theatrical comedies. Then again, as Awkwafina notes in \u003cem>Jackpot!\u003c/em> Hollywood stardom isn’t what it once was. Now, she says, even wrestlers and YouTubers can do it.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Jackpot!’ begins streaming on Prime Video on Aug. 15, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "a-pressing-question-about-tim-walz-and-jd-vance-who-should-play-them-on-snl",
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"content": "\u003cp>Now that Tim Walz has been named the Democratic candidate for vice president, it’s time to tackle the most pressing question left in media and politics: Who will play the earnest ex-schoolteacher-turned-governor-turned-dad jokes magnet on \u003cem>Saturday Night Live\u003c/em>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One favorite has already dropped out: comic actor Steve Martin told \u003cem>The Los Angeles Times\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2024-08-07/steve-martin-will-not-play-tim-walz-on-saturday-night-live\">he turned down an offer\u003c/a> from SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels to play the Minnesota governor, a fellow balding, white-haired guy with a wide smile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13955101']“I said, ‘Lorne, I’m not an impressionist,’” Martin told \u003cem>Times\u003c/em> columnist Glenn Whipp. “You need someone who can really nail the guy.’ I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fans had been circulating pictures of Martin online with \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> alum Maya Rudolph, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/07/23/nx-s1-5049585/maya-rudolph-kamala-harris-snl\">adding to buzz\u003c/a> she may reprise playing Vice President Harris — this time as the Democratic presidential nominee — when the show returns to new episodes this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Why this discussion matters\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Excitement over Martin reminded me of the moment Sarah Palin was named a vice presidential candidate in 2008, prompting loads of comedy nerds to send around emails noting how much Palin looked like another \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> alum, Tina Fey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fey’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSOLz1YBFG0\">impression of Palin\u003c/a> eventually dominated pop culture so much, people believed the politician — then Alaska’s governor — really said, “I can see Russia from my house,” a line that Fey actually dropped during \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em>’s season premiere in September 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSOLz1YBFG0&t=118s\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Images of Gerald Ford as a clumsy doofus, George H.W. Bush as a patrician so stiff his words sounded like gibberish, and Al Gore as a stuffy know-it-all obsessed with the word “lockbox,” all come from devastating \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> parodies. So who plays Walz — and how — may affect how history remembers him more than anything he actually does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Ditto for GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance, whose selection didn’t quite inspire the same level of \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> fancasting online).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I sympathize with purists who insist one of the show’s castmembers should get a shot at playing new figures like Walz or Vance — in the same way James Austin Johnson has electrified viewers with his amazing take on former President Donald Trump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izukxr-SfsM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Michaels discovered long ago that stunt casting celebrities brings attention and ratings. Even if they don’t really bother trying to imitate the people they’re playing, like Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller (as Robert Mueller and Michael Cohen, respectively).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So here’s my short list of the folks left who Michaels should consider casting as Walz — along with a couple recommendations for Vance. Because teaching us how to laugh at these people just might help us understand them — or at least learn to tolerate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Jim Gaffigan\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS: \u003c/strong>He’s a brilliant standup comic, with multiple Grammy nominations and specials aired or about to debut on Netflix, Prime Video and Hulu. He’s from the Midwest — raised in Indiana, championed by fellow Hoosier David Letterman — with bits centered on being a father of five, married to a wife so devout he calls her a “Shiite Catholic.” He’s got the stocky build and blonde, thinning hair, along with acting chops from loads of TV and film work, including TV Land’s \u003cem>The Jim Gaffigan Show\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Law & Order\u003c/em> and, recently, pal Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix movie \u003cem>Unfrosted\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13886669']\u003cstrong>CONS:\u003c/strong> He doesn’t seem to be down with the \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> crew; despite a long career in comedy, he’s never hosted the show.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Tracy Letts\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS:\u003c/strong> A consummate actor and playwright who has won Tony awards and a Pulitzer prize, he’s better known for his self-described specialty playing “a—holes in suits” in films and TV shows like \u003cem>Ford v. Ferrari, Lady Bird\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Winning Time\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS:\u003c/strong> Though he had early roles in sitcoms like \u003cem>Seinfeld \u003c/em>and \u003cem>The Drew Carey Show\u003c/em>, he’s not really known for comedy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Melissa McCarthy\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS:\u003c/strong> Hear me out. She’s a brilliant comedic actor with a long history of guesting on the show. And she delivered a sidesplitting take on Trump’s former spokesperson Sean Spicer that perfectly captured his clueless bluster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWuc18xISwI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS:\u003c/strong> Despite his Big Dad Energy, Walz is such a masculine guy — hunter, former football coach ex-military — that, funny as it might be to see McCarthy give it a shot, \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> may just want a guy in the role.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Will Ferrell\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS:\u003c/strong> Amazing at improvisational and sketch comedy, he’s an SNL alum who has played everyone from George W. Bush to former Attorney General Janet Reno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS:\u003c/strong> His oddball energy is a little eccentric and sharp for playing a guy who comes off as America’s goofy father figure.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The ghost of Chris Farley\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13961732']\u003cstrong>PROS:\u003c/strong> The \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> star had an over-the-top exuberance, unkempt blonde hair and talent for self-deprecating humor that seemed like a cartoonishly exaggerated version of Walz’s vibe — perfect for a parody sketch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS: \u003c/strong>Just another reminder of what the comedy world lost in 1997 when he died at age 33 after an overdose. (Though his younger brother, comic and actor Kevin Farley, might also be an able contender).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Jason Sudeikis — as Walz and/or Vance\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS:\u003c/strong> An alum of the show, he knows his way around sketch comedy and political impressions — he played Joe Biden and Mitt Romney at different times. He’s also got a facility with corny, dad-style humor, as evidenced by his time playing the earnest, fictional coach on \u003cem>Ted Lasso\u003c/em>. Anyone who remembers his work as one half of a self-centered yuppie couple in the “Two A-holes” sketches (with another \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> ace, Kristen Wiig), also knows he has a knack for playing haughty, entitled white guys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUCaOV5nbyk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS\u003c/strong>: He doesn’t quite look like Walz — frankly, he’s a little too thin and good looking. And his success as Vance might be directly proportional to the quality of the fake beard and hairpiece they can slap on him.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>My first choice for Vance: Zach Galifianakis\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS\u003c/strong>: He’s got the bushy brown beard, the shock of thick hair and a talent for playing clueless egotists honed on his interview parody show, \u003cem>Between Two Ferns\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS:\u003c/strong> He’ll be so good we may forget how odd Vance is in real life.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Another great Vance: Jon Hamm\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS: \u003c/strong>An ace dramatic actor whose secret weapon is a sharp knack for comedy (see \u003cem>30 Rock, Bridesmaids\u003c/em>), he’s also great at making audiences love difficult people (see \u003cem>Mad Men\u003c/em>). His turn as a cult leader on \u003cem>The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt\u003c/em> proves he can make great comedy out of playing quirky big shots. And he’s also a friend of \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em>, hosting the show three times and making cameos in multiple skits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS: \u003c/strong>Hamm will also need a convincing wig or two to make this work. And given all the other cool roles he’s been in recently — from \u003cem>Fargo\u003c/em> to \u003cem>The Morning Show\u003c/em> — \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> might have to work hard to keep him in the mix.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Now that Tim Walz has been named the Democratic candidate for vice president, it’s time to tackle the most pressing question left in media and politics: Who will play the earnest ex-schoolteacher-turned-governor-turned-dad jokes magnet on \u003cem>Saturday Night Live\u003c/em>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One favorite has already dropped out: comic actor Steve Martin told \u003cem>The Los Angeles Times\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2024-08-07/steve-martin-will-not-play-tim-walz-on-saturday-night-live\">he turned down an offer\u003c/a> from SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels to play the Minnesota governor, a fellow balding, white-haired guy with a wide smile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I said, ‘Lorne, I’m not an impressionist,’” Martin told \u003cem>Times\u003c/em> columnist Glenn Whipp. “You need someone who can really nail the guy.’ I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fans had been circulating pictures of Martin online with \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> alum Maya Rudolph, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/07/23/nx-s1-5049585/maya-rudolph-kamala-harris-snl\">adding to buzz\u003c/a> she may reprise playing Vice President Harris — this time as the Democratic presidential nominee — when the show returns to new episodes this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Why this discussion matters\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Excitement over Martin reminded me of the moment Sarah Palin was named a vice presidential candidate in 2008, prompting loads of comedy nerds to send around emails noting how much Palin looked like another \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> alum, Tina Fey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fey’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSOLz1YBFG0\">impression of Palin\u003c/a> eventually dominated pop culture so much, people believed the politician — then Alaska’s governor — really said, “I can see Russia from my house,” a line that Fey actually dropped during \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em>’s season premiere in September 2008.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/vSOLz1YBFG0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/vSOLz1YBFG0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Images of Gerald Ford as a clumsy doofus, George H.W. Bush as a patrician so stiff his words sounded like gibberish, and Al Gore as a stuffy know-it-all obsessed with the word “lockbox,” all come from devastating \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> parodies. So who plays Walz — and how — may affect how history remembers him more than anything he actually does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Ditto for GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance, whose selection didn’t quite inspire the same level of \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> fancasting online).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I sympathize with purists who insist one of the show’s castmembers should get a shot at playing new figures like Walz or Vance — in the same way James Austin Johnson has electrified viewers with his amazing take on former President Donald Trump.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Izukxr-SfsM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Izukxr-SfsM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>But Michaels discovered long ago that stunt casting celebrities brings attention and ratings. Even if they don’t really bother trying to imitate the people they’re playing, like Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller (as Robert Mueller and Michael Cohen, respectively).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So here’s my short list of the folks left who Michaels should consider casting as Walz — along with a couple recommendations for Vance. Because teaching us how to laugh at these people just might help us understand them — or at least learn to tolerate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Jim Gaffigan\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS: \u003c/strong>He’s a brilliant standup comic, with multiple Grammy nominations and specials aired or about to debut on Netflix, Prime Video and Hulu. He’s from the Midwest — raised in Indiana, championed by fellow Hoosier David Letterman — with bits centered on being a father of five, married to a wife so devout he calls her a “Shiite Catholic.” He’s got the stocky build and blonde, thinning hair, along with acting chops from loads of TV and film work, including TV Land’s \u003cem>The Jim Gaffigan Show\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Law & Order\u003c/em> and, recently, pal Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix movie \u003cem>Unfrosted\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS:\u003c/strong> He doesn’t seem to be down with the \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> crew; despite a long career in comedy, he’s never hosted the show.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Tracy Letts\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS:\u003c/strong> A consummate actor and playwright who has won Tony awards and a Pulitzer prize, he’s better known for his self-described specialty playing “a—holes in suits” in films and TV shows like \u003cem>Ford v. Ferrari, Lady Bird\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Winning Time\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS:\u003c/strong> Though he had early roles in sitcoms like \u003cem>Seinfeld \u003c/em>and \u003cem>The Drew Carey Show\u003c/em>, he’s not really known for comedy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Melissa McCarthy\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS:\u003c/strong> Hear me out. She’s a brilliant comedic actor with a long history of guesting on the show. And she delivered a sidesplitting take on Trump’s former spokesperson Sean Spicer that perfectly captured his clueless bluster.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/UWuc18xISwI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/UWuc18xISwI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS:\u003c/strong> Despite his Big Dad Energy, Walz is such a masculine guy — hunter, former football coach ex-military — that, funny as it might be to see McCarthy give it a shot, \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> may just want a guy in the role.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Will Ferrell\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS:\u003c/strong> Amazing at improvisational and sketch comedy, he’s an SNL alum who has played everyone from George W. Bush to former Attorney General Janet Reno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS:\u003c/strong> His oddball energy is a little eccentric and sharp for playing a guy who comes off as America’s goofy father figure.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The ghost of Chris Farley\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS:\u003c/strong> The \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> star had an over-the-top exuberance, unkempt blonde hair and talent for self-deprecating humor that seemed like a cartoonishly exaggerated version of Walz’s vibe — perfect for a parody sketch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS: \u003c/strong>Just another reminder of what the comedy world lost in 1997 when he died at age 33 after an overdose. (Though his younger brother, comic and actor Kevin Farley, might also be an able contender).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Jason Sudeikis — as Walz and/or Vance\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS:\u003c/strong> An alum of the show, he knows his way around sketch comedy and political impressions — he played Joe Biden and Mitt Romney at different times. He’s also got a facility with corny, dad-style humor, as evidenced by his time playing the earnest, fictional coach on \u003cem>Ted Lasso\u003c/em>. Anyone who remembers his work as one half of a self-centered yuppie couple in the “Two A-holes” sketches (with another \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> ace, Kristen Wiig), also knows he has a knack for playing haughty, entitled white guys.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/gUCaOV5nbyk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/gUCaOV5nbyk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS\u003c/strong>: He doesn’t quite look like Walz — frankly, he’s a little too thin and good looking. And his success as Vance might be directly proportional to the quality of the fake beard and hairpiece they can slap on him.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>My first choice for Vance: Zach Galifianakis\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS\u003c/strong>: He’s got the bushy brown beard, the shock of thick hair and a talent for playing clueless egotists honed on his interview parody show, \u003cem>Between Two Ferns\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS:\u003c/strong> He’ll be so good we may forget how odd Vance is in real life.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Another great Vance: Jon Hamm\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PROS: \u003c/strong>An ace dramatic actor whose secret weapon is a sharp knack for comedy (see \u003cem>30 Rock, Bridesmaids\u003c/em>), he’s also great at making audiences love difficult people (see \u003cem>Mad Men\u003c/em>). His turn as a cult leader on \u003cem>The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt\u003c/em> proves he can make great comedy out of playing quirky big shots. And he’s also a friend of \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em>, hosting the show three times and making cameos in multiple skits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CONS: \u003c/strong>Hamm will also need a convincing wig or two to make this work. And given all the other cool roles he’s been in recently — from \u003cem>Fargo\u003c/em> to \u003cem>The Morning Show\u003c/em> — \u003cem>SNL\u003c/em> might have to work hard to keep him in the mix.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s an election year, which can mean only one thing: Everyone is miserable. Whether you’re stressed about the candidates, sick of being forced to talk about politics, or tired of having your social media swamped by annoying opinions, elections are draining AF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In honor of this most wretched of seasons, I considered putting together a list of election movies so twisted and filled with corruption they might make dejected voters feel more motivated to hit the ballot box. That list would’ve been full of manly movies about men doing man things, like \u003cem>The Best Man\u003c/em>, \u003cem>All the King’s Men\u003c/em>, \u003cem>All the President’s Men\u003c/em> and maybe even \u003cem>The Manchurian Candidate\u003c/em>. Then I realized that what we probably need right now is a reminder of just how absurd the political process can be at every single level, so we might as well get a laugh out of all this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here then, are 10 movies featuring the wackiest election-related content ever committed to film.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Shampoo’ (1975)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzjggCHJSF4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Shampoo\u003c/em> is a movie Warren Beatty co-wrote that enabled him to put his mouth and body on the mouths and bodies of Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Carrie Fisher and Lee Grant. Beatty — his character’s name is George, not that it matters — and his springy, helmet-shaped head of hair ride around Los Angeles on a motorcycle doing haircuts and also ladies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After an hour of (remarkably joyless) romping and bank meetings (not even joking), the action moves to … a Nixon reelection party? That all of these sexy women also happen to be attending. And at which, out of the clear blue sky, a sex act takes place underneath a packed dinner table. This movie is jarring on many levels, but it’ll also help you forget all about Harris vs. Trump. Instead, you’ll just spend the next few days wondering what the hell they put in Beatty’s hair to turn it into this gravity-defying pouf for the ages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Shampoo’ is available to rent on Apple TV+ and Prime Video.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Dave’ (1993)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taDreDT3E6A\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Dave\u003c/em> is the kind of late-20th century movie that absolutely stopped being made because our tolerance for adults being cutesy went way down after 9/11. (Terrorists ruin literally everything.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Dave\u003c/em> is about a jovial, sandwich-obsessed man named Dave (Kevin Kline) who bears an incredible resemblance to President William Mitchell (also Kevin Kline, naturally) so is hired to act as his double when the real president is off having sex with Laura Linney. (Not worth talking about, honestly.) When the leader of the free world has a massive stroke, rather than passing his job to the vice president, the Secret Service hands the reins to the entirely unelected Dave. And — wouldn’t ya know it? — Dave ends up being a better president than the president. In other words, this movie is utterly preposterous on every conceivable level. Sigourney Weaver, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Dave’ is available to rent on Amazon Video, Apple TV+ and Fandango.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Head of State’ (2003)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4bzzfEernw\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Head of State\u003c/em> is a movie that opens with Nate Dogg singing in front of Mount Rushmore and just gets more entertaining from there. The script is packed with zingers, Chris Rock is at his very best and the cast is near-perfect. (Tracy Morgan’s role amounts to selling meat from a shoulder bag in a gas station, and it’s still perfect.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plot goes like this: After the presidential and vice presidential nominees are killed in a crash, their party is resigned to losing the election. With an eye on building support with minority voters for future ballot battles, Rock’s Mays Gilliam — an alderman from a crime-ridden D.C. neighborhood — is chosen as the nominee. (His rival’s biggest selling point is being Sharon Stone’s cousin, a running joke that never gets old.) Predictably, as soon as Gilliam stops following professional guidance and starts being himself, his popularity increases. You all know where this is going, but embracing this escapist nonsense can and will make you feel better about the world. (As will Nate Dogg.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Head of State’ is streaming on Paramount Plus, Hoopla and Tubi.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The Dead Zone’ (1983)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxJp_VQ5VUk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One night, school teacher Johnny (a perfectly creepy Christopher Walken) is in a horrible car accident and winds up in a coma. When he wakes up five years later, he has the ability to see future disasters just by touching people. He knows when a nurse’s house is on fire! He knows when a student he’s tutoring is in imminent danger! He’s basically the worst dinner guest in history!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he’s not working with cops to try and catch a serial killer, Johnny shakes the hand of Senator Greg Stillson (a perfectly smarmy Martin Sheen) and sees the apocalyptic disaster that will befall mankind if Stillson gets elected president. Johnny is then tasked with, oh, I don’t know, just trying to change the entire course of fated history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Cronenberg’s adaptation of this Stephen King novel is quantifiably nutty for sure, but still totally compulsive viewing. It’s also a handy reminder to try and not vote for a future autocrat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘The Dead Zone’ is available to stream on Paramount Plus, Prime Video and MGM.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Napoleon Dynamite’ (2004)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHDi_AnqwN4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ah, yes. The reason every third person at the mall was wearing a Vote for Pedro shirt in 2005. (Thanks for everything, Hot Topic.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I realize this movie is as much about tetherball, ligers and LaFawnduh as it is about Pedro’s campaign to get elected class president, but \u003cem>Napoleon Dynamite\u003c/em> has the power to transport us to another time. A time of peak MySpace usage. A time of youthful optimism in the face of impossible odds. A time when even misfits had a shot at presidential success, and doing dance routines to Jamiroquai in public was a thing to be celebrated. Reach for the stars, indeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Napoleon Dynamite’ is streaming on Hulu.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Bulworth’ (1998)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWca7MI-RBs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Bulworth\u003c/em>: Come for Halle Berry being the coolest, most beautiful woman on Earth. Stay for Warren Beatty as Senator Bulworth, a white Democratic senator having a very public nervous breakdown that makes him say racially inappropriate things in public, drink from flasks on television and suddenly care about racist cops. Oh also, by the by, he’s hired someone to assassinate him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This movie is completely bonkers from start to finish, not least because we’re supposed to believe that Berry’s character is romantically interested in Bulworth. But — aside from some \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id0cqNWZ50Y\">almost intolerable scenes of Beatty rapping\u003c/a> — \u003cem>Bulworth\u003c/em> is also full of pertinent commentary about systemic racism, the American political system, as well as late-stage capitalism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Bulworth’ is available to rent on Amazon Video, Apple TV+ and Fandango.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Black Sheep’ (1996)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7e0AMm5QCw\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Black Sheep\u003c/i> is unapologetically as dumb as a bag of rocks. The plot is the thinnest possible — Steve (David Spade) is hired to keep Mike (Chris Farley) out of the public eye while Mike’s brother Al campaigns to become governor. Steve fails, hijinks ensue. Events include but are not limited to: getting into altercations with a violent hermit played by Gary Busey, boulders almost destroying buildings and a plane taking off with a man attached to the outside of it. Oh, and Mudhoney shows up at one point, which feels super random but is probably the result of \u003cem>Black Sheep\u003c/em> being directed by Penelope Spheeris. (Yes, old punks, the same Penelope Spheeris who made \u003cem>Suburbia\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Decline of Western Civilization\u003c/em>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you love Farley and Spade together, consider this a wonderful distraction for an election year. If you hate that whole slapstick vs. straight man combo, feel free to hate-watch it while enjoying Gary Busey and only Gary Busey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Black Sheep’ is streaming on Pluto TV and Paramount Plus.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Election’ (1999)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBgM_Kw6PSM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behind every sweater vest and perfectly brushed ponytail is a Type A sociopath whose ambition knows no limits and whose moral compass is lying in a dumpster somewhere in the rearview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick embodies all of these qualities in \u003cem>Election\u003c/em> — an absolutely unhinged movie about a high school election, a couple of morally shady teachers, one good-natured twit who’s not cut out for politics and an anarchic lesbian with several vendettas. By the end of it, you will be driven half mad by Flick’s underhanded exploits and the creepy secret desires of teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick). Either way, you won’t be thinking about the real-life election going on in our midst, so yay!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Election’ is available to rent on Amazon Video, Apple TV+ and Fandango.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Dick’ (1999)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33ALTtt4SIY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Dick\u003c/em> is what happens directly after movies like \u003cem>Clueless\u003c/em> (1995) and \u003cem>Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion\u003c/em> (1997) do well. In this quintessentially ’90s lark, 15-year-old BFFs Betsy (Kirsten Dunst) and Arlene (Michelle Williams) unwittingly find themselves right on the edge of the Watergate scandal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s full of very fun fashion, lessons about not underestimating girls and Bruce McCulloch from \u003cem>The Kids in the Hall\u003c/em> doing a supremely entertaining impersonation of legendary \u003cem>Washington Post\u003c/em> journalist Carl Bernstein. \u003cem>Dick\u003c/em> is incredibly silly, but unabashedly so. Roll with the fun of it all and find your brains delightfully turned off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Dick’ is available to rent on Amazon Video and Apple TV+.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Betty Boop for President’ (1932)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClplCxUVfFw\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let’s close this out with a six-minute fever dream of a cartoon that emerged almost a century ago but depicted a woman becoming president. How does Betty Boop pull off this landmark feat? By offering everyone kisses and free ice cream, of course! Also, by inventing umbrellas huge enough to cover entire cities, putting lipstick on the incarcerated, and morphing her own visage into the cigar-smoking man-faces of two prominent politicians of the era, Herbert Hoover and Al Smith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t know how many drugs people were on in the 1930s, but if \u003cem>Betty Boop for President\u003c/em> is any indicator, the answer is a lot. Like, \u003cem>a lot\u003c/em>, a lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Betty Boop for President’ is streaming on YouTube.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s an election year, which can mean only one thing: Everyone is miserable. Whether you’re stressed about the candidates, sick of being forced to talk about politics, or tired of having your social media swamped by annoying opinions, elections are draining AF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In honor of this most wretched of seasons, I considered putting together a list of election movies so twisted and filled with corruption they might make dejected voters feel more motivated to hit the ballot box. That list would’ve been full of manly movies about men doing man things, like \u003cem>The Best Man\u003c/em>, \u003cem>All the King’s Men\u003c/em>, \u003cem>All the President’s Men\u003c/em> and maybe even \u003cem>The Manchurian Candidate\u003c/em>. Then I realized that what we probably need right now is a reminder of just how absurd the political process can be at every single level, so we might as well get a laugh out of all this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here then, are 10 movies featuring the wackiest election-related content ever committed to film.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Shampoo’ (1975)\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/NzjggCHJSF4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/NzjggCHJSF4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Shampoo\u003c/em> is a movie Warren Beatty co-wrote that enabled him to put his mouth and body on the mouths and bodies of Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Carrie Fisher and Lee Grant. Beatty — his character’s name is George, not that it matters — and his springy, helmet-shaped head of hair ride around Los Angeles on a motorcycle doing haircuts and also ladies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After an hour of (remarkably joyless) romping and bank meetings (not even joking), the action moves to … a Nixon reelection party? That all of these sexy women also happen to be attending. And at which, out of the clear blue sky, a sex act takes place underneath a packed dinner table. This movie is jarring on many levels, but it’ll also help you forget all about Harris vs. Trump. Instead, you’ll just spend the next few days wondering what the hell they put in Beatty’s hair to turn it into this gravity-defying pouf for the ages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Shampoo’ is available to rent on Apple TV+ and Prime Video.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Dave’ (1993)\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/taDreDT3E6A'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/taDreDT3E6A'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Dave\u003c/em> is the kind of late-20th century movie that absolutely stopped being made because our tolerance for adults being cutesy went way down after 9/11. (Terrorists ruin literally everything.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Dave\u003c/em> is about a jovial, sandwich-obsessed man named Dave (Kevin Kline) who bears an incredible resemblance to President William Mitchell (also Kevin Kline, naturally) so is hired to act as his double when the real president is off having sex with Laura Linney. (Not worth talking about, honestly.) When the leader of the free world has a massive stroke, rather than passing his job to the vice president, the Secret Service hands the reins to the entirely unelected Dave. And — wouldn’t ya know it? — Dave ends up being a better president than the president. In other words, this movie is utterly preposterous on every conceivable level. Sigourney Weaver, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Dave’ is available to rent on Amazon Video, Apple TV+ and Fandango.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Head of State’ (2003)\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Z4bzzfEernw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Z4bzzfEernw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Head of State\u003c/em> is a movie that opens with Nate Dogg singing in front of Mount Rushmore and just gets more entertaining from there. The script is packed with zingers, Chris Rock is at his very best and the cast is near-perfect. (Tracy Morgan’s role amounts to selling meat from a shoulder bag in a gas station, and it’s still perfect.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plot goes like this: After the presidential and vice presidential nominees are killed in a crash, their party is resigned to losing the election. With an eye on building support with minority voters for future ballot battles, Rock’s Mays Gilliam — an alderman from a crime-ridden D.C. neighborhood — is chosen as the nominee. (His rival’s biggest selling point is being Sharon Stone’s cousin, a running joke that never gets old.) Predictably, as soon as Gilliam stops following professional guidance and starts being himself, his popularity increases. You all know where this is going, but embracing this escapist nonsense can and will make you feel better about the world. (As will Nate Dogg.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Head of State’ is streaming on Paramount Plus, Hoopla and Tubi.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The Dead Zone’ (1983)\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/qxJp_VQ5VUk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/qxJp_VQ5VUk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>One night, school teacher Johnny (a perfectly creepy Christopher Walken) is in a horrible car accident and winds up in a coma. When he wakes up five years later, he has the ability to see future disasters just by touching people. He knows when a nurse’s house is on fire! He knows when a student he’s tutoring is in imminent danger! He’s basically the worst dinner guest in history!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he’s not working with cops to try and catch a serial killer, Johnny shakes the hand of Senator Greg Stillson (a perfectly smarmy Martin Sheen) and sees the apocalyptic disaster that will befall mankind if Stillson gets elected president. Johnny is then tasked with, oh, I don’t know, just trying to change the entire course of fated history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Cronenberg’s adaptation of this Stephen King novel is quantifiably nutty for sure, but still totally compulsive viewing. It’s also a handy reminder to try and not vote for a future autocrat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘The Dead Zone’ is available to stream on Paramount Plus, Prime Video and MGM.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Napoleon Dynamite’ (2004)\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/ZHDi_AnqwN4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ZHDi_AnqwN4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Ah, yes. The reason every third person at the mall was wearing a Vote for Pedro shirt in 2005. (Thanks for everything, Hot Topic.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I realize this movie is as much about tetherball, ligers and LaFawnduh as it is about Pedro’s campaign to get elected class president, but \u003cem>Napoleon Dynamite\u003c/em> has the power to transport us to another time. A time of peak MySpace usage. A time of youthful optimism in the face of impossible odds. A time when even misfits had a shot at presidential success, and doing dance routines to Jamiroquai in public was a thing to be celebrated. Reach for the stars, indeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Napoleon Dynamite’ is streaming on Hulu.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Bulworth’ (1998)\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/PWca7MI-RBs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/PWca7MI-RBs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Bulworth\u003c/em>: Come for Halle Berry being the coolest, most beautiful woman on Earth. Stay for Warren Beatty as Senator Bulworth, a white Democratic senator having a very public nervous breakdown that makes him say racially inappropriate things in public, drink from flasks on television and suddenly care about racist cops. Oh also, by the by, he’s hired someone to assassinate him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This movie is completely bonkers from start to finish, not least because we’re supposed to believe that Berry’s character is romantically interested in Bulworth. But — aside from some \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id0cqNWZ50Y\">almost intolerable scenes of Beatty rapping\u003c/a> — \u003cem>Bulworth\u003c/em> is also full of pertinent commentary about systemic racism, the American political system, as well as late-stage capitalism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Bulworth’ is available to rent on Amazon Video, Apple TV+ and Fandango.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Black Sheep’ (1996)\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/j7e0AMm5QCw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/j7e0AMm5QCw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ci>Black Sheep\u003c/i> is unapologetically as dumb as a bag of rocks. The plot is the thinnest possible — Steve (David Spade) is hired to keep Mike (Chris Farley) out of the public eye while Mike’s brother Al campaigns to become governor. Steve fails, hijinks ensue. Events include but are not limited to: getting into altercations with a violent hermit played by Gary Busey, boulders almost destroying buildings and a plane taking off with a man attached to the outside of it. Oh, and Mudhoney shows up at one point, which feels super random but is probably the result of \u003cem>Black Sheep\u003c/em> being directed by Penelope Spheeris. (Yes, old punks, the same Penelope Spheeris who made \u003cem>Suburbia\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Decline of Western Civilization\u003c/em>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you love Farley and Spade together, consider this a wonderful distraction for an election year. If you hate that whole slapstick vs. straight man combo, feel free to hate-watch it while enjoying Gary Busey and only Gary Busey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Black Sheep’ is streaming on Pluto TV and Paramount Plus.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Election’ (1999)\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/tBgM_Kw6PSM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/tBgM_Kw6PSM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Behind every sweater vest and perfectly brushed ponytail is a Type A sociopath whose ambition knows no limits and whose moral compass is lying in a dumpster somewhere in the rearview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick embodies all of these qualities in \u003cem>Election\u003c/em> — an absolutely unhinged movie about a high school election, a couple of morally shady teachers, one good-natured twit who’s not cut out for politics and an anarchic lesbian with several vendettas. By the end of it, you will be driven half mad by Flick’s underhanded exploits and the creepy secret desires of teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick). Either way, you won’t be thinking about the real-life election going on in our midst, so yay!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Election’ is available to rent on Amazon Video, Apple TV+ and Fandango.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Dick’ (1999)\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/33ALTtt4SIY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/33ALTtt4SIY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Dick\u003c/em> is what happens directly after movies like \u003cem>Clueless\u003c/em> (1995) and \u003cem>Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion\u003c/em> (1997) do well. In this quintessentially ’90s lark, 15-year-old BFFs Betsy (Kirsten Dunst) and Arlene (Michelle Williams) unwittingly find themselves right on the edge of the Watergate scandal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s full of very fun fashion, lessons about not underestimating girls and Bruce McCulloch from \u003cem>The Kids in the Hall\u003c/em> doing a supremely entertaining impersonation of legendary \u003cem>Washington Post\u003c/em> journalist Carl Bernstein. \u003cem>Dick\u003c/em> is incredibly silly, but unabashedly so. Roll with the fun of it all and find your brains delightfully turned off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Dick’ is available to rent on Amazon Video and Apple TV+.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Betty Boop for President’ (1932)\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/ClplCxUVfFw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ClplCxUVfFw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Let’s close this out with a six-minute fever dream of a cartoon that emerged almost a century ago but depicted a woman becoming president. How does Betty Boop pull off this landmark feat? By offering everyone kisses and free ice cream, of course! Also, by inventing umbrellas huge enough to cover entire cities, putting lipstick on the incarcerated, and morphing her own visage into the cigar-smoking man-faces of two prominent politicians of the era, Herbert Hoover and Al Smith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t know how many drugs people were on in the 1930s, but if \u003cem>Betty Boop for President\u003c/em> is any indicator, the answer is a lot. Like, \u003cem>a lot\u003c/em>, a lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Betty Boop for President’ is streaming on YouTube.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Third-Act Friendship Comedy ‘The Fabulous Four’ Is a Refreshing Summer Treat",
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"content": "\u003cp>Scheduling a movie’s release date is an imperfect science and occasionally an art. Just look at the masterpiece that was “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13931677/barbenheimer-barbie-oppenheimer-box-office-greta-gerwig-christopher-nolan\">Barbenheimer\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While most are open to experimentation in figuring out just what audiences want and when in the wild west of modern theatrical moviegoing, there’s also an unwritten rule that it’s best to leave big superhero movie weekends clear of competition. But whoever thought to open the third-act female friendship comedy \u003cem>The Fabulous Four\u003c/em> alongside \u003cem>Deadpool & Wolverine\u003c/em> deserves a raise. Because if any audience is being underserved on the opening weekend of an oxygen-sucking, violent and self-referential superhero mashup, it’s women over 60.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13961301']So, what better way to escape the merc with a mouth than a trip to Key West with Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Megan Mullally?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the vein of \u003cem>80 for Brady\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Book Club\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Fabulous Four\u003c/em> may not be a great movie, but it’s also better than it looks. Although it strains for raucousness with edibles and a parasailing expedition gone wrong, there is something admirably sane about it too even if you don’t believe a single moment. It begins, as many of these kinds of films do, with a somewhat tortured explanation of why these women became friends in their youth. Though it nods at a slight age difference between college peers Lou (Sarandon) and Marilyn (Midler) and the two gals they met in New York, Alice (Mullally) and Kitty (Ralph), it’s better to not do the math.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides, the more interesting question is not why four single girls in the same building became friends, but rather how they maintained that closeness over the decades. This big life mystery goes largely unexplored, instead focusing on the 40-year estrangement between Lou (now a heart surgeon) and Marilyn. It’s a drama that for utterly incomprehensible reasons Alice (a rock star, seriously) and Kitty (a cannabis entrepreneur grandma) are still entangled in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marilyn, recently widowed, is newly engaged and desperately wants Lou to be at her wedding. Alice and Kitty lure Lou to Key West under false pretenses, telling her that she’s won a polydactyl (six-toed) cat and can visit the Hemingway House. They don’t have anything more elaborate in store in this lie. Their plan, it seems, is just to roll up to Marilyn’s house and surprise their unwitting hostage. This seems misguided at best but becomes retroactively cruel when the cause of the fallout is finally revealed. Why meddle now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10pY_gSrWZo\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The movie was directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, the Australian filmmaker behind great and varied female-focused films like \u003cem>How to Make an American Quilt\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Dressmaker\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Muriel’s Wedding\u003c/em>, and written by Jenna Milly and Ann Marie Allison. And it never quite harmonizes. These characters, fabulous as they may be individually or on paper, aren’t greater together somehow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13961266']As Marilyn and Lou dance around this ancient feud, you start to feel bad for Alice (mostly there to be a quip machine) and Kitty, who would have much more fun ditching them and going off on their own adventure. Midler plays Marilyn so big and broad that she’s more parody than person, although there is a grain of intrigue in the 70-something who gets engaged two months after her beloved husband dies and becomes obsessed with creating TikToks. Sarandon’s Lou is the most thoughtfully developed character, as a rule-abiding woman whose life is in desperate need of a shakeup. She has some cringey moments too (the aforementioned edibles), but also several charming flirtations with the bachelors of Key West (Bruce Greenwood and Timothy V. Murphy).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is a movie that should have probably leaned far less on wild hijinks with diminishing returns and more into the smaller moments of what it means to be friends for 40 years. But it’s not without its charms, either. I’m not going to argue with them breaking into song out of nowhere. That kind of break from reality, especially with this cast, is always welcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘The Fabulous Four’ is released nationwide on July 26, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>So, what better way to escape the merc with a mouth than a trip to Key West with Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Megan Mullally?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the vein of \u003cem>80 for Brady\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Book Club\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Fabulous Four\u003c/em> may not be a great movie, but it’s also better than it looks. Although it strains for raucousness with edibles and a parasailing expedition gone wrong, there is something admirably sane about it too even if you don’t believe a single moment. It begins, as many of these kinds of films do, with a somewhat tortured explanation of why these women became friends in their youth. Though it nods at a slight age difference between college peers Lou (Sarandon) and Marilyn (Midler) and the two gals they met in New York, Alice (Mullally) and Kitty (Ralph), it’s better to not do the math.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides, the more interesting question is not why four single girls in the same building became friends, but rather how they maintained that closeness over the decades. This big life mystery goes largely unexplored, instead focusing on the 40-year estrangement between Lou (now a heart surgeon) and Marilyn. It’s a drama that for utterly incomprehensible reasons Alice (a rock star, seriously) and Kitty (a cannabis entrepreneur grandma) are still entangled in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As Marilyn and Lou dance around this ancient feud, you start to feel bad for Alice (mostly there to be a quip machine) and Kitty, who would have much more fun ditching them and going off on their own adventure. Midler plays Marilyn so big and broad that she’s more parody than person, although there is a grain of intrigue in the 70-something who gets engaged two months after her beloved husband dies and becomes obsessed with creating TikToks. Sarandon’s Lou is the most thoughtfully developed character, as a rule-abiding woman whose life is in desperate need of a shakeup. She has some cringey moments too (the aforementioned edibles), but also several charming flirtations with the bachelors of Key West (Bruce Greenwood and Timothy V. Murphy).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is a movie that should have probably leaned far less on wild hijinks with diminishing returns and more into the smaller moments of what it means to be friends for 40 years. But it’s not without its charms, either. I’m not going to argue with them breaking into song out of nowhere. That kind of break from reality, especially with this cast, is always welcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘The Fabulous Four’ is released nationwide on July 26, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "June Squibb Is Delightful as a Grandma on a Mission in ‘Thelma’",
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"content": "\u003cp>There are a lot of bad comedies about, and supposedly for, senior citizens. It’s especially depressing because the worst offenders, the ones that don’t just feel cheap and lazy but exploitative too, often feature our finest actors. They can take on the air of an unintentional horror film — and not the fun kind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thelma\u003c/em>, starring June Squibb, is not one of those.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her first lead film role, she plays a 90-something who gets scammed out of $10,000 and goes on a mission to get it back. Revenge stories aren’t often (or ever, really) described as sweet, but that’s the magic of \u003cem>Thelma\u003c/em>, the feature debut of writer-director Josh Margolin that opens in theaters this week. It is charming, genuinely funny and a breeze to watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13959577']Perhaps it works so well on a fundamental level because Margolin wrote it with his own grandmother (also named Thelma) in mind. Though there is something inherently silly and goofy about the idea of a grandmother on a \u003cem>Mission: Impossible\u003c/em>-style journey, \u003cem>Thelma\u003c/em> transcends its on-paper limitations and becomes something wholly unexpected. Kind of like its main character. This isn’t not just an idea of an old person slotted into a high concept gag. It’s specific and at least somewhat realistic. The scooter she and the late Richard Roundtree (as her friend Ben) ride might be slower than Tom Cruise on foot, but the energy is high and infectious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Squibb is absolutely wonderful at the center of the film, with impeccable comedic timing and full command of her character. Thelma is living alone at 93. She lost her husband a few years prior. Lots of her friends are gone already. But she doesn’t yet see herself in an assisted living situation, or even wearing a life monitor in case she falls. “If I fall I’m toast,” she deadpans. “That’s why I don’t fall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And she’s managing pretty well. Her doting 20-something grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger of the first season of \u003cem>The White Lotus\u003c/em>) visits often to help with the computer and just hang out. When he’s gone, she fills her days with all her tasks: Sorting pills, doing her stationary bike exercises, watching YouTube videos, attempting to comment, attempting to backspace and revise typos and accidentally posting blurry photos of nothing to her Instagram stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is until she gets a panicked phone call from someone claiming to be her grandson. He was in an accident, he says, and she needs to send $10,000 in cash to bail him out. By the time the family starts answering the phone, the money is in the mail, and the police are telling them there’s nothing that can be done. Her family, including Daniel’s mom Gail (Parker Posey) and dad (Clark Gregg), basically wash their hands of it. But Thelma has nothing but time, and she wants to do something about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyE_hYkZPPE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Margolin’s film was made independently. It debuted earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and was picked up for a theatrical release. But he had his team have made it look and feel commercial and buttoned up with a fun ‘60s-inspired score by Nick Chuba.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13959801']Things really come to life when Roundtree (terrific, in his last role) enters the picture as her reluctant accomplice on their trip from the Westside of Los Angeles to Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley. She doesn’t drive and needs his refurbed scooter that he’s been going on about — but he’s not about to let her take it on her own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have a great rapport — an inspired pairing. The Posey/Gregg/Hechinger trio isn’t too shabby either spouting comedic banter that makes them instantly believable as a family unit. One standout sequence involves one of those dreaded Waze-directed Los Angeles left turns across a busy four lane throughway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this is ultimately Squibb’s show and she delivers, like she always does. She should have been leading pictures the whole time and finally did something about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Thelma’ is released nationwide on June 21, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>There are a lot of bad comedies about, and supposedly for, senior citizens. It’s especially depressing because the worst offenders, the ones that don’t just feel cheap and lazy but exploitative too, often feature our finest actors. They can take on the air of an unintentional horror film — and not the fun kind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thelma\u003c/em>, starring June Squibb, is not one of those.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her first lead film role, she plays a 90-something who gets scammed out of $10,000 and goes on a mission to get it back. Revenge stories aren’t often (or ever, really) described as sweet, but that’s the magic of \u003cem>Thelma\u003c/em>, the feature debut of writer-director Josh Margolin that opens in theaters this week. It is charming, genuinely funny and a breeze to watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Perhaps it works so well on a fundamental level because Margolin wrote it with his own grandmother (also named Thelma) in mind. Though there is something inherently silly and goofy about the idea of a grandmother on a \u003cem>Mission: Impossible\u003c/em>-style journey, \u003cem>Thelma\u003c/em> transcends its on-paper limitations and becomes something wholly unexpected. Kind of like its main character. This isn’t not just an idea of an old person slotted into a high concept gag. It’s specific and at least somewhat realistic. The scooter she and the late Richard Roundtree (as her friend Ben) ride might be slower than Tom Cruise on foot, but the energy is high and infectious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Squibb is absolutely wonderful at the center of the film, with impeccable comedic timing and full command of her character. Thelma is living alone at 93. She lost her husband a few years prior. Lots of her friends are gone already. But she doesn’t yet see herself in an assisted living situation, or even wearing a life monitor in case she falls. “If I fall I’m toast,” she deadpans. “That’s why I don’t fall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And she’s managing pretty well. Her doting 20-something grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger of the first season of \u003cem>The White Lotus\u003c/em>) visits often to help with the computer and just hang out. When he’s gone, she fills her days with all her tasks: Sorting pills, doing her stationary bike exercises, watching YouTube videos, attempting to comment, attempting to backspace and revise typos and accidentally posting blurry photos of nothing to her Instagram stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is until she gets a panicked phone call from someone claiming to be her grandson. He was in an accident, he says, and she needs to send $10,000 in cash to bail him out. By the time the family starts answering the phone, the money is in the mail, and the police are telling them there’s nothing that can be done. Her family, including Daniel’s mom Gail (Parker Posey) and dad (Clark Gregg), basically wash their hands of it. But Thelma has nothing but time, and she wants to do something about it.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/lyE_hYkZPPE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/lyE_hYkZPPE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Margolin’s film was made independently. It debuted earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and was picked up for a theatrical release. But he had his team have made it look and feel commercial and buttoned up with a fun ‘60s-inspired score by Nick Chuba.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Things really come to life when Roundtree (terrific, in his last role) enters the picture as her reluctant accomplice on their trip from the Westside of Los Angeles to Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley. She doesn’t drive and needs his refurbed scooter that he’s been going on about — but he’s not about to let her take it on her own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They have a great rapport — an inspired pairing. The Posey/Gregg/Hechinger trio isn’t too shabby either spouting comedic banter that makes them instantly believable as a family unit. One standout sequence involves one of those dreaded Waze-directed Los Angeles left turns across a busy four lane throughway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this is ultimately Squibb’s show and she delivers, like she always does. She should have been leading pictures the whole time and finally did something about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Thelma’ is released nationwide on June 21, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘Laughter Is Disarming’: A New Documentary Traces Generations of LGBTQ Comedy",
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"content": "\u003cp>“Comedy’s always a reflection of the culture, good and bad,” says Page Hurwitz. Her new Netflix documentary about the history and current state of LGBTQ comedy is proof. Through archival footage, performances and interviews, \u003cem>Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution\u003c/em> spans nearly a century of LGBTQ comedy, including the milestones and setbacks for queer comedians pursuing careers making people laugh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13959601']A multigenerational who’s who of comedy fills this documentary. Lily Tomlin, Rosie O’Donnell, Eddie Izzard, Sandra Bernhard, Billy Eichner, Fortune Feimster, Tig Notaro and Solomon Georgio are among the many performers who recount their personal stories of developing their comedic styles and grappling with homophobia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurwitz began her career doing stand-up in the late 1990s in San Francisco’s Castro district. Today, she writes, produces and directs comedy specials and TV series. When she started putting the documentary together, she knew there was something she had to get right: “We’re the gays, so I wanted to make it dynamic. There’s nothing worse you could be than banal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEZX9LNX3BA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To ensure her documentary had some dazzle, Hurwitz organized a massive event at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles featuring a marquis lineup of LGBTQ comedians. She turned the event into its own \u003ca href=\"https://www.netflix.com/title/81170956\">special for Netflix\u003c/a> and interspersed footage from it throughout the documentary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the revelatory moments in \u003cem>Outstanding\u003c/em> are interviews with comedians who might’ve been more famous had they not come out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13958101']Robin Tyler, one of the first comedians to come out on national television, says she was never in the closet. “Closets are vertical coffins,” she declares in the film. “All you do is suffocate to death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler’s comedy career suffered when she included jokes about Anita Bryant in her act. Bryant, the former beauty pageant winner, singer and Christian, was one of the most active voices in the anti-gay crusade. One such joke declared that Bryant “is to Christianity what paint-by-numbers is to art.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why no one knows her name,” says Hurwitz of Tyler, “And she should be a household name because she’s so funny and so talented.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959921\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1084px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959921\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM.png\" alt=\"An older woman is viewed in profile, sitting in a chair in a dimly lit room.\" width=\"1084\" height=\"722\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM.png 1084w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM-800x533.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM-1020x679.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM-768x512.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1084px) 100vw, 1084px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robin Tyler in ‘Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution.’ \u003ccite>(Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hurwitz and a small staff pored over hundreds of archival performances and news footage to show how, from one decade to the next, queer comedians either made strides or suffered, depending on the political and cultural climate of the day. There’s Moms Mabley playing an openly gay character in a movie from the 1930s and the so-called \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/cold-war-lavender-scare-and-lgbtq-activism.htm#:~:text=In%201953%2C%20President%20Eisenhower%20signed,losing%20their%20jobs%20and%20reputations.&text=This%20is%20now%20known%20as%20the%20Lavender%20Scare.\">Lavender Scare\u003c/a> during the Cold War.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13959827']As comedian Scott Thompson puts it in the documentary, “I just thought life can change on a dime and society can change on a dime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson points to an “embrace” of gay culture in the 1970s — think disco and Village People — to a complete about-face in the 1980s with the AIDS epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It went back 30, 40 years, instantly, almost overnight,” he says. “Gay men in those days were considered vile.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959922\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1130px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959922\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM.png\" alt=\"A dapper man sits in front of a purple curtain, smiling and raising a cocktail.\" width=\"1130\" height=\"792\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM.png 1130w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM-800x561.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM-1020x715.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM-160x112.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM-768x538.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1130px) 100vw, 1130px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scott Thompson/Buddy Cole at The Greek Theatre for Netflix Is A Joke Fest. \u003ccite>(Beth Dubber/Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Comedy at that time was incredibly homophobic,” says Hurwitz, “and we had a lot of well-known comedians who were choosing to turn that tragedy into fodder for their hackneyed comedy acts. So, whether it was Andrew Dice Clay or Sam Kinison or frankly, for that matter, Eddie Murphy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But comedians know how to counterpunch and during the AIDS crisis, Sandra Bernhard’s politically charged, cabaret-style performances were a force. As she explains in the documentary, “This became like the next wave of having to be there and jump in full throttle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13958734']Comedian and actor Joel Kim Booster, who’s interviewed in the documentary, says he was “floored” when he saw the final cut of \u003cem>Outstanding\u003c/em>. He says it made him grateful to all of the queer comedians who blazed a trail for his generation. “We were not the ones who busted down the door. We just walked through it,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Outstanding\u003c/em> shows how there are still challenges for gay performers, most significantly transphobic material by big-name comedians. But Page Hurwitz says that LGBTQ comedians will continue to take the stage, make people laugh and change the culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re sharing who you are with the audience and it’s so powerful,” she says, “because laughter is disarming. You make the personal universal, so we can realize that actually, we’re more alike than we are different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959923\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1172px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959923\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM.png\" alt=\"Two drag queens perform at the front of a stage, while a chorus sings behind them.\" width=\"1172\" height=\"790\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM.png 1172w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM-800x539.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM-1020x688.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM-768x518.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1172px) 100vw, 1172px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bob The Drag Queen, Trixie Mattel, Rosie O’Donnell at The Greek Theatre for Netflix Is A Joke Fest. \u003ccite>(Beth Dubber/Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The audio and digital versions of this story were edited by Ciera Crawford. The audio story was produced by Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento. The digital was produced by Beth Novey.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>“Comedy’s always a reflection of the culture, good and bad,” says Page Hurwitz. Her new Netflix documentary about the history and current state of LGBTQ comedy is proof. Through archival footage, performances and interviews, \u003cem>Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution\u003c/em> spans nearly a century of LGBTQ comedy, including the milestones and setbacks for queer comedians pursuing careers making people laugh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A multigenerational who’s who of comedy fills this documentary. Lily Tomlin, Rosie O’Donnell, Eddie Izzard, Sandra Bernhard, Billy Eichner, Fortune Feimster, Tig Notaro and Solomon Georgio are among the many performers who recount their personal stories of developing their comedic styles and grappling with homophobia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hurwitz began her career doing stand-up in the late 1990s in San Francisco’s Castro district. Today, she writes, produces and directs comedy specials and TV series. When she started putting the documentary together, she knew there was something she had to get right: “We’re the gays, so I wanted to make it dynamic. There’s nothing worse you could be than banal.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/dEZX9LNX3BA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/dEZX9LNX3BA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>To ensure her documentary had some dazzle, Hurwitz organized a massive event at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles featuring a marquis lineup of LGBTQ comedians. She turned the event into its own \u003ca href=\"https://www.netflix.com/title/81170956\">special for Netflix\u003c/a> and interspersed footage from it throughout the documentary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the revelatory moments in \u003cem>Outstanding\u003c/em> are interviews with comedians who might’ve been more famous had they not come out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Robin Tyler, one of the first comedians to come out on national television, says she was never in the closet. “Closets are vertical coffins,” she declares in the film. “All you do is suffocate to death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tyler’s comedy career suffered when she included jokes about Anita Bryant in her act. Bryant, the former beauty pageant winner, singer and Christian, was one of the most active voices in the anti-gay crusade. One such joke declared that Bryant “is to Christianity what paint-by-numbers is to art.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why no one knows her name,” says Hurwitz of Tyler, “And she should be a household name because she’s so funny and so talented.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959921\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1084px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959921\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM.png\" alt=\"An older woman is viewed in profile, sitting in a chair in a dimly lit room.\" width=\"1084\" height=\"722\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM.png 1084w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM-800x533.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM-1020x679.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.15.12-PM-768x512.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1084px) 100vw, 1084px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robin Tyler in ‘Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution.’ \u003ccite>(Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hurwitz and a small staff pored over hundreds of archival performances and news footage to show how, from one decade to the next, queer comedians either made strides or suffered, depending on the political and cultural climate of the day. There’s Moms Mabley playing an openly gay character in a movie from the 1930s and the so-called \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/cold-war-lavender-scare-and-lgbtq-activism.htm#:~:text=In%201953%2C%20President%20Eisenhower%20signed,losing%20their%20jobs%20and%20reputations.&text=This%20is%20now%20known%20as%20the%20Lavender%20Scare.\">Lavender Scare\u003c/a> during the Cold War.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As comedian Scott Thompson puts it in the documentary, “I just thought life can change on a dime and society can change on a dime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson points to an “embrace” of gay culture in the 1970s — think disco and Village People — to a complete about-face in the 1980s with the AIDS epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It went back 30, 40 years, instantly, almost overnight,” he says. “Gay men in those days were considered vile.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959922\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1130px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959922\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM.png\" alt=\"A dapper man sits in front of a purple curtain, smiling and raising a cocktail.\" width=\"1130\" height=\"792\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM.png 1130w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM-800x561.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM-1020x715.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM-160x112.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.19.24-PM-768x538.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1130px) 100vw, 1130px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scott Thompson/Buddy Cole at The Greek Theatre for Netflix Is A Joke Fest. \u003ccite>(Beth Dubber/Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Comedy at that time was incredibly homophobic,” says Hurwitz, “and we had a lot of well-known comedians who were choosing to turn that tragedy into fodder for their hackneyed comedy acts. So, whether it was Andrew Dice Clay or Sam Kinison or frankly, for that matter, Eddie Murphy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But comedians know how to counterpunch and during the AIDS crisis, Sandra Bernhard’s politically charged, cabaret-style performances were a force. As she explains in the documentary, “This became like the next wave of having to be there and jump in full throttle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Comedian and actor Joel Kim Booster, who’s interviewed in the documentary, says he was “floored” when he saw the final cut of \u003cem>Outstanding\u003c/em>. He says it made him grateful to all of the queer comedians who blazed a trail for his generation. “We were not the ones who busted down the door. We just walked through it,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Outstanding\u003c/em> shows how there are still challenges for gay performers, most significantly transphobic material by big-name comedians. But Page Hurwitz says that LGBTQ comedians will continue to take the stage, make people laugh and change the culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re sharing who you are with the audience and it’s so powerful,” she says, “because laughter is disarming. You make the personal universal, so we can realize that actually, we’re more alike than we are different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959923\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1172px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959923\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM.png\" alt=\"Two drag queens perform at the front of a stage, while a chorus sings behind them.\" width=\"1172\" height=\"790\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM.png 1172w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM-800x539.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM-1020x688.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM-160x108.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Screen-Shot-2024-06-17-at-2.21.41-PM-768x518.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1172px) 100vw, 1172px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bob The Drag Queen, Trixie Mattel, Rosie O’Donnell at The Greek Theatre for Netflix Is A Joke Fest. \u003ccite>(Beth Dubber/Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The audio and digital versions of this story were edited by Ciera Crawford. The audio story was produced by Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento. The digital was produced by Beth Novey.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Dakota Johnson Brings Her Winning Authenticity to Sweet Comedy ‘Am I OK?’",
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"content": "\u003cp>We start — why not? — with a veggie burger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucy (Dakota Johnson) and Jane (Sonoya Mizuno), besties in their 30s, have been so close for so long that when they meet at the diner, Jane can just recite Lucy’s regular order: Veggie burger and sweet potato fries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13958959']And so when, late into \u003cem>Am I Ok?\u003c/em>, Lucy goes rogue and orders a tomato and spinach omelet, there’s a look of subtle hurt that flits across Jane’s face. It seems silly — it was just a veggie burger — but to Jane it signifies something familiar and comforting that’s now gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are similarly sweet, subtle touches peppered through this debut directorial effort by Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne — touches that land much better than the occasional attempts at broad humor that feel forced, or at least like a different movie (for example, the dialogue given to Jane’s boss, played by Sean Hayes).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And of course, there’s Johnson herself, the obvious focus of the lingering camera throughout, and for good reason: her always-winning authenticity, shining through in film after film even at times when the material around her feels thin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story here is simple and heartfelt. It’s a coming-out tale, but with the twist that the person coming out is 32, a decade (or even two) later than in most stories we see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This particular story belongs to the film’s writer, Lauren Pomerantz, who came out when she was 34. Her closeness to the proceedings is evident in a few startlingly poignant moments — for example, the pain that Lucy feels when a straight woman toys with her emotions (and more). It’s one of the most moving passages in the film.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80FbdimIHs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After an opening montage that establishes the female friendship at the core of the movie, we begin at the aforementioned diner, with Jane telling Lucy (over the aforementioned veggie burger) that she really needs to get together with a certain cute male friend who obviously likes her: “Just do it,” she says. Lucy can’t explain why she doesn’t want to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13958855']Meanwhile, Jane, the more professionally advanced of the two, has a major life change coming. Her boss offers her the chance to leave Los Angeles and set up a London office. Plus, her very nice boyfriend (Jermaine Fowler, not given enough to work with for too much of the film) is coming along. But for Lucy, this news is devastating — and you can tell by the unconvincing way she keeps saying “Awesome!” when Jane tells her one evening over drinks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After lots of tequila, the two friends end up crying together, as close friends do (at least in the movies) in the bathroom while peeing, and then later, on a sleepover. There, Lucy finally tells Jane that she likes girls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jane is nothing if not supportive. In fact, ever ambitious, she tells Lucy she’ll be “the star of the lesbian community.” And she resolves to help her find a woman, starting with an excursion to a gay bar. However, it’s Jane who winds up kissing a woman on the dance floor. Lucy flees, embarrassed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s this sensuous masseuse (Kiersey Clemons) at the spa where Lucy’s a receptionist. Brittany is flirting like crazy with Lucy, who finally gets up the courage to respond. She brings Lucy out of her shell, but with ultimately disheartening results. And Lucy’s on the outs now with Jane, normally the first person she’d call with any heartache.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This movie may be about a pair of friends, but witnessing the supremely watchable Johnson navigate uncertainty and sadness, it’s Lucy’s life you’ll find yourself caring about most. A last-minute obstacle to Jane’s well-laid plans for her trip to London rings a bit false — or maybe it just seems wedged in as if to say, well, both women have issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13958728']In any case, It’s been a good month for female buddy comedies. While Pamela Adlon’s comedy \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em>, went all in for the raunch inherent in childbirth, \u003cem>Am I OK?\u003c/em> goes for a sweeter, soulful vibe. It feels good that we end up where we began — back at that table in the diner, hashing stuff out. The ultimate message here may be simple, but it’s comforting: friendships may change but can still adapt, withstand and survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when a veggie burger yields to an omelet.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Am I OK?’ begins streaming on Max on June 6, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The story here is simple and heartfelt. It’s a coming-out tale, but with the twist that the person coming out is 32, a decade (or even two) later than in most stories we see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This particular story belongs to the film’s writer, Lauren Pomerantz, who came out when she was 34. Her closeness to the proceedings is evident in a few startlingly poignant moments — for example, the pain that Lucy feels when a straight woman toys with her emotions (and more). It’s one of the most moving passages in the film.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/b80FbdimIHs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/b80FbdimIHs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>After an opening montage that establishes the female friendship at the core of the movie, we begin at the aforementioned diner, with Jane telling Lucy (over the aforementioned veggie burger) that she really needs to get together with a certain cute male friend who obviously likes her: “Just do it,” she says. Lucy can’t explain why she doesn’t want to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Meanwhile, Jane, the more professionally advanced of the two, has a major life change coming. Her boss offers her the chance to leave Los Angeles and set up a London office. Plus, her very nice boyfriend (Jermaine Fowler, not given enough to work with for too much of the film) is coming along. But for Lucy, this news is devastating — and you can tell by the unconvincing way she keeps saying “Awesome!” when Jane tells her one evening over drinks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After lots of tequila, the two friends end up crying together, as close friends do (at least in the movies) in the bathroom while peeing, and then later, on a sleepover. There, Lucy finally tells Jane that she likes girls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jane is nothing if not supportive. In fact, ever ambitious, she tells Lucy she’ll be “the star of the lesbian community.” And she resolves to help her find a woman, starting with an excursion to a gay bar. However, it’s Jane who winds up kissing a woman on the dance floor. Lucy flees, embarrassed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s this sensuous masseuse (Kiersey Clemons) at the spa where Lucy’s a receptionist. Brittany is flirting like crazy with Lucy, who finally gets up the courage to respond. She brings Lucy out of her shell, but with ultimately disheartening results. And Lucy’s on the outs now with Jane, normally the first person she’d call with any heartache.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This movie may be about a pair of friends, but witnessing the supremely watchable Johnson navigate uncertainty and sadness, it’s Lucy’s life you’ll find yourself caring about most. A last-minute obstacle to Jane’s well-laid plans for her trip to London rings a bit false — or maybe it just seems wedged in as if to say, well, both women have issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In any case, It’s been a good month for female buddy comedies. While Pamela Adlon’s comedy \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em>, went all in for the raunch inherent in childbirth, \u003cem>Am I OK?\u003c/em> goes for a sweeter, soulful vibe. It feels good that we end up where we began — back at that table in the diner, hashing stuff out. The ultimate message here may be simple, but it’s comforting: friendships may change but can still adapt, withstand and survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when a veggie burger yields to an omelet.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Am I OK?’ begins streaming on Max on June 6, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The U.S. Justice Department filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment on Thursday, accusing them of running an illegal monopoly over live events in America — squelching competition and driving up prices for fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, was brought with 30 state and district attorneys general, and seeks to break up the monopoly they say is squeezing out smaller promoters, hurting artists and drowning fans with endless fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s time for fans and artists to stop paying the price for Live Nation’s monopoly,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday. “It is time to restore competition and innovation in the entertainment industry. It is time to break up Live Nation, Ticketmaster. The American people are ready for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='forum_2010101892062']The Justice Department accused Live Nation of a slew of tactics — including threats and retaliation — that Garland said has allowed the entertainment giant to “suffocate the competition” by keeping a stronghold on virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing. The impact on consumers is seen in an “endless list of fees on fans,” the attorney general said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Live music should not be available only to those who can afford to pay the Ticketmaster tax,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “We are here today to fight for competition so that we can reopen the doors to the live music industry for all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Live Nation has for years denied that it is violating antitrust laws and said Thursday that the lawsuit “won’t solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11718499\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline.jpg\" alt=\"A large concert venue with people sitting on the lawn.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"849\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11718499\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline-400x283.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline-800x566.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline-768x543.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline-1180x835.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline-960x679.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View is one of hundreds of concert venues operated by Live Nation, which merged with Ticketmaster in 2010.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment,” Live Nation added, stating that most service fees go to venues and that outside competition has “steadily eroded” Ticketmaster’s market share. The company said it would defend itself “against these baseless allegations” and push for other reforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 70% of tickets for major concert venues in the U.S. are sold through Ticketmaster, according to data in a federal lawsuit filed by consumers in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Live Nation owns or controls more than 265 of North America’s concert venues and dozens of top amphitheaters, according to the Justice Department. In the Bay Area, those include The Fillmore, the Shoreline Amphitheater, the Masonic, August Hall, the Toyota Pavilion at Concord, and the comedy clubs Cobb’s and the Punch Line. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Live Nation also contracts regularly with most commercial concert venues in the Bay Area. Those include large venues like Oracle Park, the Chase Center, the SAP Center and the Oakland Arena; theaters like the Paramount Theatre and the Rio Theater; and an increasing number of smaller clubs like the Chapel and Cafe du Nord.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13926475']The Justice Department said Live Nation’s anti-competitive practices include using long-term contracts to keep venues from choosing rival ticketers, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers and threatening venues that they could lose money and fans if they don’t choose Ticketmaster. The Justice Department says Live Nation also threatened to retaliate against one firm if it didn’t stop a subsidiary from competing for artist promotion contracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit is the latest example of the Biden administration’s aggressive antitrust enforcement approach targeting companies accused of engaging in illegal monopolies that box out competitors and drive up prices. In March, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging that the tech giant has monopoly power in the smartphone market. The Democratic administration has also taken on Google, Amazon and other tech giants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ticketmaster, which merged with Live Nation in 2010, is the world’s largest ticket seller. During its annual report last month, the company said that Ticketmaster distributed more than 620 million tickets through its systems in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13923059']Ticketmaster sparked outrage in November 2022 when its site crashed during a presale event for a Taylor Swift stadium tour. The company said its site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots, which were posing as consumers to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites. The debacle prompted congressional hearings and bills in state legislatures aimed at better protecting consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Justice Department allowed Live Nation and Ticketmaster to merge as long as Live Nation agreed not to retaliate against concert venues for using other ticket companies for 10 years. In 2019, the department investigated and found that Live Nation had “repeatedly” violated that agreement and extended the prohibition on retaliating against concert venues to 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ticketmaster has clashed repeatedly with artists and fans over the years. Pearl Jam took aim at the company in 1994, although the Justice Department ultimately declined to bring a case. More recently, Bruce Springsteen fans were enraged over high ticket costs because of the platform’s dynamic pricing system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ticketmaster has also had disputes with its industry competitors. In 2015 StubHub sued Ticketmaster and the Golden State Warriors, alleging it unfairly required fans looking to resell tickets to use Ticketmaster’s resale exchange. StubHub alleged in the lawsuit that the organizations prevented fans from deciding how they want to resell tickets and artificially drove up ticket prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Grantham-Philips reported from New York. AP Reporters Michelle Chapman and Maria Sherman also contributed from New York. KQED editor Gabe Meline provided additional reporting. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Justice Department accused Live Nation of a slew of tactics — including threats and retaliation — that Garland said has allowed the entertainment giant to “suffocate the competition” by keeping a stronghold on virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing. The impact on consumers is seen in an “endless list of fees on fans,” the attorney general said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Live music should not be available only to those who can afford to pay the Ticketmaster tax,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “We are here today to fight for competition so that we can reopen the doors to the live music industry for all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Live Nation has for years denied that it is violating antitrust laws and said Thursday that the lawsuit “won’t solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11718499\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline.jpg\" alt=\"A large concert venue with people sitting on the lawn.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"849\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11718499\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline-400x283.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline-800x566.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline-768x543.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline-1180x835.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Shoreline-960x679.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View is one of hundreds of concert venues operated by Live Nation, which merged with Ticketmaster in 2010.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment,” Live Nation added, stating that most service fees go to venues and that outside competition has “steadily eroded” Ticketmaster’s market share. The company said it would defend itself “against these baseless allegations” and push for other reforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 70% of tickets for major concert venues in the U.S. are sold through Ticketmaster, according to data in a federal lawsuit filed by consumers in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Live Nation owns or controls more than 265 of North America’s concert venues and dozens of top amphitheaters, according to the Justice Department. In the Bay Area, those include The Fillmore, the Shoreline Amphitheater, the Masonic, August Hall, the Toyota Pavilion at Concord, and the comedy clubs Cobb’s and the Punch Line. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Live Nation also contracts regularly with most commercial concert venues in the Bay Area. Those include large venues like Oracle Park, the Chase Center, the SAP Center and the Oakland Arena; theaters like the Paramount Theatre and the Rio Theater; and an increasing number of smaller clubs like the Chapel and Cafe du Nord.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Justice Department said Live Nation’s anti-competitive practices include using long-term contracts to keep venues from choosing rival ticketers, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers and threatening venues that they could lose money and fans if they don’t choose Ticketmaster. The Justice Department says Live Nation also threatened to retaliate against one firm if it didn’t stop a subsidiary from competing for artist promotion contracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit is the latest example of the Biden administration’s aggressive antitrust enforcement approach targeting companies accused of engaging in illegal monopolies that box out competitors and drive up prices. In March, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging that the tech giant has monopoly power in the smartphone market. The Democratic administration has also taken on Google, Amazon and other tech giants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ticketmaster, which merged with Live Nation in 2010, is the world’s largest ticket seller. During its annual report last month, the company said that Ticketmaster distributed more than 620 million tickets through its systems in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ticketmaster sparked outrage in November 2022 when its site crashed during a presale event for a Taylor Swift stadium tour. The company said its site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots, which were posing as consumers to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites. The debacle prompted congressional hearings and bills in state legislatures aimed at better protecting consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Justice Department allowed Live Nation and Ticketmaster to merge as long as Live Nation agreed not to retaliate against concert venues for using other ticket companies for 10 years. In 2019, the department investigated and found that Live Nation had “repeatedly” violated that agreement and extended the prohibition on retaliating against concert venues to 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ticketmaster has clashed repeatedly with artists and fans over the years. Pearl Jam took aim at the company in 1994, although the Justice Department ultimately declined to bring a case. More recently, Bruce Springsteen fans were enraged over high ticket costs because of the platform’s dynamic pricing system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ticketmaster has also had disputes with its industry competitors. In 2015 StubHub sued Ticketmaster and the Golden State Warriors, alleging it unfairly required fans looking to resell tickets to use Ticketmaster’s resale exchange. StubHub alleged in the lawsuit that the organizations prevented fans from deciding how they want to resell tickets and artificially drove up ticket prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Grantham-Philips reported from New York. AP Reporters Michelle Chapman and Maria Sherman also contributed from New York. KQED editor Gabe Meline provided additional reporting. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "In Pursuit of Radical Honesty, ‘Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show’ Delivers Ambiguity",
"headTitle": "In Pursuit of Radical Honesty, ‘Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show’ Delivers Ambiguity | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Peruse any online thread discussing \u003cem>Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show\u003c/em>, the disquieting HBO series created by and starring the titular comedian and filmmaker, and colorful descriptors like “pretentious,” “mega narcissist,” and “self-righteous piece of [\u003cem>redacted\u003c/em>]” are bound to appear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This show seems kinda invasive,” one observer noted\u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/JerrodCarmichael/comments/1brcpr5/jerrod_carmichael_reality_show_kinda_weird_to/\"> on Reddit\u003c/a>. “… I’m not sure what the obsession is with public humiliation … About a year ago, I was very much a fan of his honesty and what seemed to be [a] down to earth personality but it looks like it’s morphed into the narcissistic cry for help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carmichael earned a lot of good will from his 2022 breakout standup special\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/04/11/1091748272/jerrod-carmichael-rothaniel-standup-special-hbo-comes-out\"> Rothaniel\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, in which he — among other things — came out publicly as gay and processed his mom Cynthia’s devout homophobia. It launched him into the “mainstream”; that is, a stratosphere where one wins prestigious awards, guest hosts \u003cem>Saturday Night Live\u003c/em>, and makes headlines for\u003ca href=\"https://variety.com/2024/film/news/jerrod-carmichael-regrets-dave-chappelle-criticism-trans-jokes-1235974314/\"> easily agitating\u003c/a> the ever-crotchety elder statesman Dave Chappelle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13957959']He was easy to root for because he treated the performance like a therapist’s couch, a safe space where he could break through the silence that encourages shame and deceit. It was different from, but in the lineage of,\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUUCnt0Jexg\"> Richard Pryor’s recounting of his own drug addiction\u003c/a> in \u003cem>Live on the Sunset Strip\u003c/em> — confessional, blunt, and refreshingly relatable to those who’ve shared a similar experience, delivered in the way only a gifted and self-aware comedian can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>practices an entirely different mode of candor. On camera, Carmichael cheats on his boyfriend Mike and later lies about it during their couples therapy session. He misses a friend’s wedding because he makes a pit stop to get a hot dog along the way. (He was supposed to be the best man.) He goads his parents Joe and Cynthia into having raw, painful discussions about their once-private lives and tightly held beliefs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this is done in service of what he sees as a greater good: radical honesty, which he in turn hopes will lead to stronger bonds with his loved ones. Yet for some, the show has morphed the perception of him from that of an artist valiantly speaking the truth to an exhaustingly selfish crusader for a very specific truth — his own. And whether or not he succeeds at repairing his fractured relationships is only partially answered by \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>‘s finale, which aired Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Jly91mvGA\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Reality Show\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> stands apart\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>If \u003cem>Rothaniel \u003c/em>was presented as catharsis, \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>arguably functions as exploitation. It’s one thing to process grief, pain, and pathos through your art; it’s utterly baffling to directly involve the sources of that pathos in your artistic process, particularly when they seem formidably resistant to even acknowledging themselves as the source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This isn’t the first time. In 2019, Carmichael released two HBO documentary specials that also featured him in conversation with his family, \u003cem>Home Videos \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Sermon on the Mount. Home Videos \u003c/em>is where he first tested the waters to see how his mom would react to him coming out to her. On camera, he offhandedly dropped in an admission that he’s hooked up with men but stopped short at identifying as gay. Cynthia barely acknowledged the unexpected disclosure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Carmichael told Dave Holmes for\u003ca href=\"https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a60341676/jerrod-carmichael-reality-show-profile-2024/\"> \u003cem>Esquire\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the silence from his parents after coming out is what pushed him to create \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>in the first place: “The lack of acknowledgment is what made me go, ‘Okay, I’ll turn the volume up.’ How do I make it as extreme as possible? It’s testing the limits of their cognitive dissonance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The extremities make up a strange gumbo: One-part old-school docu-style reality TV (in a different era, this could’ve been \u003cem>True Life\u003c/em>: “My Mom’s a Homophobe”); a dash of trashy celeb-reality (think \u003cem>Being Bobby Brown\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Britney & Kevin: Chaotic\u003c/em>); and another part self-referential prestige experiment (Sarah Polley’s \u003cem>Stories We Tell\u003c/em> or \u003cem>How To with John Wilson\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13957624']For all its cross-cultural parallels, though, \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>stands apart. To his credit, while he has near-total creative control as the creator, co-executive producer, and star, he’s willing to show himself being challenged by his own cognitive dissonance. Within the first few minutes of \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>, he makes his MO plain: “Cameras make me feel more comfortable, I like this — it seems permanent, and it feels really dumb to lie.” And yet, we later watch him lie on camera about being monogamous during a couples therapy session with Mike, proving he struggles to adhere to his own ethos, at least at first. (As the season carries on, he and Mike try out non-monogamy together, and seem to find that it works for them.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reality TV genre feeds heartily upon the judgmental instincts of its viewers. It needs audiences to engage with it as gossip fodder and opinion-generator, encouraging those who tune in for the “real”-ish drama to scoff at the foolish personalities, cheer on the likable heroes, and boo the flamboyant antagonists. Carmichael clearly understands the format — unscripted in theory, though manipulated and edited to make the “real” fit more neatly into a dramatic arc — and bends it to his will. And while the crudest entries in the reality genre tend to bring up social issues and prejudices either unintentionally or superficially, with \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>, Carmichael chooses to purposefully expose the issues in the name of raw, unfiltered honesty.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>“I think this will be good for you”\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In the mid-2010s, he co-created and starred in the loosely autobiographical network sitcom \u003cem>The Carmichael Show\u003c/em>. Far more subversive than its multi-camera, live studio audience format let on, it positioned him as a nihilistic provocateur who revels in frank, multi-generational conversations on an assortment of hot-button issues with his fictional family: abortion, assisted suicide, mass shootings, depression. (It’s frequently, and aptly, been referred to as a modern-day \u003cem>All in the Family\u003c/em>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Season 2 episode focuses on Jerrod’s dad Joe (David Alan Grier) as he prepares to deliver a eulogy for his own father, who was abusive and abandoned the family long ago. Jerrod doesn’t understand why Joe would want to honor him — “Am I the only one who remembers what a deadbeat that man was?” — but Joe feels bound by the tradition of never speaking ill of the dead. Jerrod counters that if Joe is going to give the eulogy, he should at least tell the truth about who the man was: “I think it will be good for you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAM0GQW-Q04&t=3s\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video\">\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That line could’ve been the tagline for \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>, which finds Carmichael butting up against the people in his life — many of them older — who bristle at his desire to revisit painful memories from the past. In the fourth episode, Jerrod attempts to have a straightforward conversation with his real dad Joe, and pelts him with a rapid-fire series of questions about the double life Joe led for years, which included having a secret second family with another woman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Would you say you loved [the other woman]? Or was it just like, sexual, or was it — ’cause it was a long time, what – like, 40 years of a relationship? Was it hard every time? Did you feel like a bad person?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13956944']Joe, clearly uncomfortable, begins to shut down and insist that the past is the past, but Jerrod keeps pressing him. Joe snaps back: “Why are you digging into this so deep, son?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I think it will be good for you\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is this gonna be on your special?” Joe wearily asks. “This is hard for me to discuss on cameras.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doing this in front of cameras is the only way Carmichael, a late-30s millennial who came of age in the early years of oversharing — \u003cem>The Real World\u003c/em>, blogging, Facebook — knows how to have (or force, really) these conversations. It’s telling that, spliced throughout some of the episodes, \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>includes footage from the Carmichael family’s home videos going back decades, some of which Jerrod himself shot as a kid with a camcorder. The grainy images root the present-day points of conflict firmly in an “authentic” past, suggesting that this project was predestined, something this artist has unintentionally been working toward for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your option is \u003cem>no\u003c/em> option,” Jerrod snaps back at Joe around that campfire, “so don’t criticize the way I do it. If the cameras help me, then they f—— help. But your way is nothing\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>your way is silence\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>your way is death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Joe is tapped out. “You’ve expressed yourself … can I go home?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The camera gives Jerrod courage, a security blanket to wear while attempting to address the distance between him and Joe, yet it’s not yielding the results he’s looking for. It’s hard not to wonder if the cameras are actually hindering him in the long run, keeping him stuck on the false hope that others around him — who have thus far only proven rigid in their stances — might open up to him the way he wants them to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958132\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1789px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958132\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7.jpg\" alt=\"Close up on a young Black man's face and shoulders. He is glancing downwards and smiling.\" width=\"1789\" height=\"1078\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7.jpg 1789w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7-800x482.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7-1020x615.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7-160x96.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7-768x463.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7-1536x926.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1789px) 100vw, 1789px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jerrod Carmichael in ‘Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show.’ \u003ccite>(HBO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Bending his truth for his mom\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>At the core of \u003cem>Reality Show,\u003c/em> nestled beneath the layer of a mission for radical truth, is Carmichael’s determination to radically alter worldviews. “Could my mom \u003cem>change\u003c/em>?” he ponders at one point. He surmises, “It’s reason to keep fighting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not going to sit here and lie to you,” his uber-Christian mom Cynthia insists in the finale, while repeating yet again that she’d “prefer” that he isn’t gay. (In an earlier episode, she likened homosexuality to being a murderer.) Cynthia might be the most authentic of all the figures in \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>, unapologetically herself. His impasse with her has less to do with avoiding the truth than it does the fact that \u003cem>her\u003c/em> truth stands in direct opposition to \u003cem>his\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13957776']She visits Jerrod and Mike in New York City for Mother’s Day weekend, and he takes her to a queer-friendly Harlem church, where the pastor pushes back against her insistence that the Bible condemns homosexuality. Later they meet with a queer therapist for joint counseling. Neither of these experiences sees her budging from her stance: “I’d like for him not to be gay,” she tells the therapist during one-on-one time, adding matter-of-factly, “I can go further [with my acceptance], I just choose right now not to … I don’t want to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, when she reiterates her desire for him to find a woman to settle down with, he tries meeting her on her terms: He consents to letting her attempt to pray away the gay in front of him. She’s truly giddy; it might be the happiest she appears in the entire show. “I love you. That blessed my heart,” she says, satisfied. She’s completely unaware (or unbothered?) by how her son’s body seems to recoil out of deep discomfort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an effective bit of dramatic editing, the prayer immediately cuts to Carmichael remarking on the moment during a standup performance. “She was so happy that I let her do it. I immediately regretted it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958135\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1290px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958135\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM.png\" alt=\"A Black man wearing a red shirt leans forward and smiles towards a microphone. He has one arm raised next to him.\" width=\"1290\" height=\"722\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM.png 1290w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM-800x448.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM-1020x571.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM-768x430.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carmichael in ‘Rothaniel,’ his 2022 special. \u003ccite>(HBO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Throughout \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>, Carmichael imagines standup snippets as if they were a more elevated version of a confessional booth, that reality TV convention where the cast members get to narrate their perspective of the story unfolding. It’s devastating watching him concede to her, to allow her this delusion. But there’s life as-it-happens and life as reflected upon later. And it’s important to note this doesn’t come out of nowhere; this has been years in the making, with long periods of absence and occasional heated exchanges, some of which were captured on camera. Through his extravagant attempts at familial reconciliation, Jerrod’s ultimately realized he has to bend his truth a little to maintain some sort of relationship with Cynthia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I think it will be good for you.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know what I realized I need is a reason to believe everything will be OK,” he adds. “I’m always looking for that. When I was young, I found it in my mother. And now, I’m finding a lot of that in [Mike].” As he says this, a montage of images flurry by: Cynthia packing her bags in her hotel room to go back home to North Carolina; a younger Cynthia smiling for the camera in a home video; Mike teaching Jerrod how to swim in a pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A revelatory viewing experience\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>And yet the finale also suggests a small but perceptible shift in Jerrod’s relationship with Cynthia, and proves the show is more than a masochistic, navel-gazey affair (though it’s certainly that, too). This is soap opera verité in its most anarchic state — almost certainly a terrible idea for everyone involved, but quite possibly a learning experience for those observing from the outside looking in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The post-credits sequence is jarringly optimistic. The final image is of Mike and Cynthia laughing together in her kitchen in North Carolina a few months later; she even places her hand affectionately on his back for a quick moment. We have no idea if Cynthia still believes Jerrod and Mike are on equally sinful footing with murderers, though the scene implies something within her has softened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13957264']It’s unclear what we’re supposed to make of this — that maybe Jerrod’s persistence has actually helped him reconnect with his family? If so, it’s worth considering \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>a success for what he’s said he wanted out of this project, even if there’s reason to be disappointed in the concessions he may have had to make to get there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The impulse to question why any of this needed to happen in such a public manner doesn’t completely recede with this conclusion, though maybe it makes the show’s existence easier to digest. In any case, the ending is hardly pat — real life plays out on its own terms away from the cameras — and \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>‘s frank depiction of a Black queer man attempting to push back against his family’s culture of silence moves the needle even further than \u003cem>Rothaniel \u003c/em>did. He’s provided viewers with an imperfect guide for how to have difficult but necessary conversations with the people they care about (preferably without dropping a camera crew in the mix).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oddly enough, \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>shares a bit in common with the most recent season of the absurdist Netflix dating series \u003cem>Love Is Blind\u003c/em>, which featured Clay, a young Black man who also dealt with unresolved trauma stemming from his own dad’s infidelities in a very public manner. The show’s silly “social experiment” — above all designed for maximum gawking and entertainment — inadvertently stumbled into a candid and relatively honest discussion about Black masculinity and generational trauma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/05/17/love_is_blind_n_s6_e12_00_39_17_08rc.jpg-love_is_blind_n_s6_e12_00_39_17_08rc_custom-77d3eee5e4f32c0f5926a2d07484a391247d72ea.jpg?s=1200&c=75&f=jpeg\" alt=\"A young Black man in a smart suit walks arm-in-arm with an older Black woman who is wearing a green formal dress and yellow shoulder wrap.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"707\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clay and his mom Margarita on ‘Love is Blind.’\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At Clay’s doomed wedding ceremony to AD, his mom Margarita, no longer married to his dad Trevor, gave the series its truest moment thus far, when she explained to Trevor how his actions were affecting their son all these years later. “Your past and things that you witness, it’s part of your DNA. It’s part of your inside. And if you don’t get freakin’ help, you bring that s— into the next thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clay brought his baggage into \u003cem>Love Is Blind \u003c/em>and Jerrod brought his into \u003cem>Reality Show. \u003c/em>Disarray ensued and feelings were hurt. There’s a silver lining though: In making highly questionable decisions for all the world to see, they forced conversations that need to be had but often aren’t, and perhaps some viewers may come away feeling inspired to confront similar issues in their own lives. Even amid all the mess, some honesty managed to break through the silence.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Season 1 of ‘Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show’ is streaming now on Max.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Peruse any online thread discussing \u003cem>Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show\u003c/em>, the disquieting HBO series created by and starring the titular comedian and filmmaker, and colorful descriptors like “pretentious,” “mega narcissist,” and “self-righteous piece of [\u003cem>redacted\u003c/em>]” are bound to appear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This show seems kinda invasive,” one observer noted\u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/JerrodCarmichael/comments/1brcpr5/jerrod_carmichael_reality_show_kinda_weird_to/\"> on Reddit\u003c/a>. “… I’m not sure what the obsession is with public humiliation … About a year ago, I was very much a fan of his honesty and what seemed to be [a] down to earth personality but it looks like it’s morphed into the narcissistic cry for help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carmichael earned a lot of good will from his 2022 breakout standup special\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/04/11/1091748272/jerrod-carmichael-rothaniel-standup-special-hbo-comes-out\"> Rothaniel\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, in which he — among other things — came out publicly as gay and processed his mom Cynthia’s devout homophobia. It launched him into the “mainstream”; that is, a stratosphere where one wins prestigious awards, guest hosts \u003cem>Saturday Night Live\u003c/em>, and makes headlines for\u003ca href=\"https://variety.com/2024/film/news/jerrod-carmichael-regrets-dave-chappelle-criticism-trans-jokes-1235974314/\"> easily agitating\u003c/a> the ever-crotchety elder statesman Dave Chappelle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He was easy to root for because he treated the performance like a therapist’s couch, a safe space where he could break through the silence that encourages shame and deceit. It was different from, but in the lineage of,\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUUCnt0Jexg\"> Richard Pryor’s recounting of his own drug addiction\u003c/a> in \u003cem>Live on the Sunset Strip\u003c/em> — confessional, blunt, and refreshingly relatable to those who’ve shared a similar experience, delivered in the way only a gifted and self-aware comedian can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>practices an entirely different mode of candor. On camera, Carmichael cheats on his boyfriend Mike and later lies about it during their couples therapy session. He misses a friend’s wedding because he makes a pit stop to get a hot dog along the way. (He was supposed to be the best man.) He goads his parents Joe and Cynthia into having raw, painful discussions about their once-private lives and tightly held beliefs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this is done in service of what he sees as a greater good: radical honesty, which he in turn hopes will lead to stronger bonds with his loved ones. Yet for some, the show has morphed the perception of him from that of an artist valiantly speaking the truth to an exhaustingly selfish crusader for a very specific truth — his own. And whether or not he succeeds at repairing his fractured relationships is only partially answered by \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>‘s finale, which aired Friday.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/r5Jly91mvGA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/r5Jly91mvGA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch3>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Reality Show\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> stands apart\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>If \u003cem>Rothaniel \u003c/em>was presented as catharsis, \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>arguably functions as exploitation. It’s one thing to process grief, pain, and pathos through your art; it’s utterly baffling to directly involve the sources of that pathos in your artistic process, particularly when they seem formidably resistant to even acknowledging themselves as the source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This isn’t the first time. In 2019, Carmichael released two HBO documentary specials that also featured him in conversation with his family, \u003cem>Home Videos \u003c/em>and \u003cem>Sermon on the Mount. Home Videos \u003c/em>is where he first tested the waters to see how his mom would react to him coming out to her. On camera, he offhandedly dropped in an admission that he’s hooked up with men but stopped short at identifying as gay. Cynthia barely acknowledged the unexpected disclosure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Carmichael told Dave Holmes for\u003ca href=\"https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a60341676/jerrod-carmichael-reality-show-profile-2024/\"> \u003cem>Esquire\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the silence from his parents after coming out is what pushed him to create \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>in the first place: “The lack of acknowledgment is what made me go, ‘Okay, I’ll turn the volume up.’ How do I make it as extreme as possible? It’s testing the limits of their cognitive dissonance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The extremities make up a strange gumbo: One-part old-school docu-style reality TV (in a different era, this could’ve been \u003cem>True Life\u003c/em>: “My Mom’s a Homophobe”); a dash of trashy celeb-reality (think \u003cem>Being Bobby Brown\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Britney & Kevin: Chaotic\u003c/em>); and another part self-referential prestige experiment (Sarah Polley’s \u003cem>Stories We Tell\u003c/em> or \u003cem>How To with John Wilson\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For all its cross-cultural parallels, though, \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>stands apart. To his credit, while he has near-total creative control as the creator, co-executive producer, and star, he’s willing to show himself being challenged by his own cognitive dissonance. Within the first few minutes of \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>, he makes his MO plain: “Cameras make me feel more comfortable, I like this — it seems permanent, and it feels really dumb to lie.” And yet, we later watch him lie on camera about being monogamous during a couples therapy session with Mike, proving he struggles to adhere to his own ethos, at least at first. (As the season carries on, he and Mike try out non-monogamy together, and seem to find that it works for them.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reality TV genre feeds heartily upon the judgmental instincts of its viewers. It needs audiences to engage with it as gossip fodder and opinion-generator, encouraging those who tune in for the “real”-ish drama to scoff at the foolish personalities, cheer on the likable heroes, and boo the flamboyant antagonists. Carmichael clearly understands the format — unscripted in theory, though manipulated and edited to make the “real” fit more neatly into a dramatic arc — and bends it to his will. And while the crudest entries in the reality genre tend to bring up social issues and prejudices either unintentionally or superficially, with \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>, Carmichael chooses to purposefully expose the issues in the name of raw, unfiltered honesty.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>“I think this will be good for you”\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In the mid-2010s, he co-created and starred in the loosely autobiographical network sitcom \u003cem>The Carmichael Show\u003c/em>. Far more subversive than its multi-camera, live studio audience format let on, it positioned him as a nihilistic provocateur who revels in frank, multi-generational conversations on an assortment of hot-button issues with his fictional family: abortion, assisted suicide, mass shootings, depression. (It’s frequently, and aptly, been referred to as a modern-day \u003cem>All in the Family\u003c/em>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Season 2 episode focuses on Jerrod’s dad Joe (David Alan Grier) as he prepares to deliver a eulogy for his own father, who was abusive and abandoned the family long ago. Jerrod doesn’t understand why Joe would want to honor him — “Am I the only one who remembers what a deadbeat that man was?” — but Joe feels bound by the tradition of never speaking ill of the dead. Jerrod counters that if Joe is going to give the eulogy, he should at least tell the truth about who the man was: “I think it will be good for you.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/oAM0GQW-Q04'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/oAM0GQW-Q04'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video\">\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That line could’ve been the tagline for \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>, which finds Carmichael butting up against the people in his life — many of them older — who bristle at his desire to revisit painful memories from the past. In the fourth episode, Jerrod attempts to have a straightforward conversation with his real dad Joe, and pelts him with a rapid-fire series of questions about the double life Joe led for years, which included having a secret second family with another woman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Would you say you loved [the other woman]? Or was it just like, sexual, or was it — ’cause it was a long time, what – like, 40 years of a relationship? Was it hard every time? Did you feel like a bad person?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Joe, clearly uncomfortable, begins to shut down and insist that the past is the past, but Jerrod keeps pressing him. Joe snaps back: “Why are you digging into this so deep, son?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I think it will be good for you\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is this gonna be on your special?” Joe wearily asks. “This is hard for me to discuss on cameras.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doing this in front of cameras is the only way Carmichael, a late-30s millennial who came of age in the early years of oversharing — \u003cem>The Real World\u003c/em>, blogging, Facebook — knows how to have (or force, really) these conversations. It’s telling that, spliced throughout some of the episodes, \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>includes footage from the Carmichael family’s home videos going back decades, some of which Jerrod himself shot as a kid with a camcorder. The grainy images root the present-day points of conflict firmly in an “authentic” past, suggesting that this project was predestined, something this artist has unintentionally been working toward for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your option is \u003cem>no\u003c/em> option,” Jerrod snaps back at Joe around that campfire, “so don’t criticize the way I do it. If the cameras help me, then they f—— help. But your way is nothing\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>your way is silence\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>your way is death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Joe is tapped out. “You’ve expressed yourself … can I go home?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The camera gives Jerrod courage, a security blanket to wear while attempting to address the distance between him and Joe, yet it’s not yielding the results he’s looking for. It’s hard not to wonder if the cameras are actually hindering him in the long run, keeping him stuck on the false hope that others around him — who have thus far only proven rigid in their stances — might open up to him the way he wants them to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958132\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1789px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958132\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7.jpg\" alt=\"Close up on a young Black man's face and shoulders. He is glancing downwards and smiling.\" width=\"1789\" height=\"1078\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7.jpg 1789w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7-800x482.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7-1020x615.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7-160x96.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7-768x463.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/jerrod-carmichael_custom-67d8224a2611e29d2511ebe6abc728591a1f07f7-1536x926.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1789px) 100vw, 1789px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jerrod Carmichael in ‘Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show.’ \u003ccite>(HBO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Bending his truth for his mom\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>At the core of \u003cem>Reality Show,\u003c/em> nestled beneath the layer of a mission for radical truth, is Carmichael’s determination to radically alter worldviews. “Could my mom \u003cem>change\u003c/em>?” he ponders at one point. He surmises, “It’s reason to keep fighting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not going to sit here and lie to you,” his uber-Christian mom Cynthia insists in the finale, while repeating yet again that she’d “prefer” that he isn’t gay. (In an earlier episode, she likened homosexuality to being a murderer.) Cynthia might be the most authentic of all the figures in \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>, unapologetically herself. His impasse with her has less to do with avoiding the truth than it does the fact that \u003cem>her\u003c/em> truth stands in direct opposition to \u003cem>his\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>She visits Jerrod and Mike in New York City for Mother’s Day weekend, and he takes her to a queer-friendly Harlem church, where the pastor pushes back against her insistence that the Bible condemns homosexuality. Later they meet with a queer therapist for joint counseling. Neither of these experiences sees her budging from her stance: “I’d like for him not to be gay,” she tells the therapist during one-on-one time, adding matter-of-factly, “I can go further [with my acceptance], I just choose right now not to … I don’t want to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, when she reiterates her desire for him to find a woman to settle down with, he tries meeting her on her terms: He consents to letting her attempt to pray away the gay in front of him. She’s truly giddy; it might be the happiest she appears in the entire show. “I love you. That blessed my heart,” she says, satisfied. She’s completely unaware (or unbothered?) by how her son’s body seems to recoil out of deep discomfort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an effective bit of dramatic editing, the prayer immediately cuts to Carmichael remarking on the moment during a standup performance. “She was so happy that I let her do it. I immediately regretted it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958135\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1290px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13958135\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM.png\" alt=\"A Black man wearing a red shirt leans forward and smiles towards a microphone. He has one arm raised next to him.\" width=\"1290\" height=\"722\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM.png 1290w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM-800x448.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM-1020x571.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-20-at-10.44.03-AM-768x430.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carmichael in ‘Rothaniel,’ his 2022 special. \u003ccite>(HBO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Throughout \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>, Carmichael imagines standup snippets as if they were a more elevated version of a confessional booth, that reality TV convention where the cast members get to narrate their perspective of the story unfolding. It’s devastating watching him concede to her, to allow her this delusion. But there’s life as-it-happens and life as reflected upon later. And it’s important to note this doesn’t come out of nowhere; this has been years in the making, with long periods of absence and occasional heated exchanges, some of which were captured on camera. Through his extravagant attempts at familial reconciliation, Jerrod’s ultimately realized he has to bend his truth a little to maintain some sort of relationship with Cynthia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I think it will be good for you.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know what I realized I need is a reason to believe everything will be OK,” he adds. “I’m always looking for that. When I was young, I found it in my mother. And now, I’m finding a lot of that in [Mike].” As he says this, a montage of images flurry by: Cynthia packing her bags in her hotel room to go back home to North Carolina; a younger Cynthia smiling for the camera in a home video; Mike teaching Jerrod how to swim in a pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A revelatory viewing experience\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>And yet the finale also suggests a small but perceptible shift in Jerrod’s relationship with Cynthia, and proves the show is more than a masochistic, navel-gazey affair (though it’s certainly that, too). This is soap opera verité in its most anarchic state — almost certainly a terrible idea for everyone involved, but quite possibly a learning experience for those observing from the outside looking in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The post-credits sequence is jarringly optimistic. The final image is of Mike and Cynthia laughing together in her kitchen in North Carolina a few months later; she even places her hand affectionately on his back for a quick moment. We have no idea if Cynthia still believes Jerrod and Mike are on equally sinful footing with murderers, though the scene implies something within her has softened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It’s unclear what we’re supposed to make of this — that maybe Jerrod’s persistence has actually helped him reconnect with his family? If so, it’s worth considering \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>a success for what he’s said he wanted out of this project, even if there’s reason to be disappointed in the concessions he may have had to make to get there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The impulse to question why any of this needed to happen in such a public manner doesn’t completely recede with this conclusion, though maybe it makes the show’s existence easier to digest. In any case, the ending is hardly pat — real life plays out on its own terms away from the cameras — and \u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>‘s frank depiction of a Black queer man attempting to push back against his family’s culture of silence moves the needle even further than \u003cem>Rothaniel \u003c/em>did. He’s provided viewers with an imperfect guide for how to have difficult but necessary conversations with the people they care about (preferably without dropping a camera crew in the mix).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oddly enough, \u003cem>Reality Show \u003c/em>shares a bit in common with the most recent season of the absurdist Netflix dating series \u003cem>Love Is Blind\u003c/em>, which featured Clay, a young Black man who also dealt with unresolved trauma stemming from his own dad’s infidelities in a very public manner. The show’s silly “social experiment” — above all designed for maximum gawking and entertainment — inadvertently stumbled into a candid and relatively honest discussion about Black masculinity and generational trauma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/05/17/love_is_blind_n_s6_e12_00_39_17_08rc.jpg-love_is_blind_n_s6_e12_00_39_17_08rc_custom-77d3eee5e4f32c0f5926a2d07484a391247d72ea.jpg?s=1200&c=75&f=jpeg\" alt=\"A young Black man in a smart suit walks arm-in-arm with an older Black woman who is wearing a green formal dress and yellow shoulder wrap.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"707\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clay and his mom Margarita on ‘Love is Blind.’\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At Clay’s doomed wedding ceremony to AD, his mom Margarita, no longer married to his dad Trevor, gave the series its truest moment thus far, when she explained to Trevor how his actions were affecting their son all these years later. “Your past and things that you witness, it’s part of your DNA. It’s part of your inside. And if you don’t get freakin’ help, you bring that s— into the next thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clay brought his baggage into \u003cem>Love Is Blind \u003c/em>and Jerrod brought his into \u003cem>Reality Show. \u003c/em>Disarray ensued and feelings were hurt. There’s a silver lining though: In making highly questionable decisions for all the world to see, they forced conversations that need to be had but often aren’t, and perhaps some viewers may come away feeling inspired to confront similar issues in their own lives. Even amid all the mess, some honesty managed to break through the silence.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Season 1 of ‘Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show’ is streaming now on Max.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘Babes’ is a Giddy, Raunchy, Moving and (Very) Gooey Look at Childbirth and Friendship",
"headTitle": "‘Babes’ is a Giddy, Raunchy, Moving and (Very) Gooey Look at Childbirth and Friendship | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13957964\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13957964\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-15-at-5.38.43-PM-e1715820056416.png\" alt=\"A pregnant Black woman talks to a shorter white woman outside a restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1139\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Buteau and Ilana Glazer in ‘Babes.’ \u003ccite>(Gwen Capistran/ Neon via AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You know what? It’s true. They never do tell you about the placenta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let us explain. But first, let’s also point out that if you’re already queasy at the mention of “placenta,” well, \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em> — director Pamela Adlon’s brash, chaotic, hilarious and occasionally overly gooey (in so many ways) childbirth comedy — may not be your thing. Just saying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyway! Somewhere late into \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em>, Eden (Ilana Glazer) is giving birth. We’ve seen most of this before in countless comedies: the outlandish obstacles, the tense trip to the hospital, the traffic — oh, the traffic — all melting away in that glorious moment when baby arrives and everyone starts happy-crying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='pop_96171']We get all that in \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em>, too, but then the doctor says “Start pushing” — again — and Eden asks, “What, is there another baby?” And she’s told no, it’s the placenta, aka the afterbirth. Ugh! “They don’t tell you about this part,” notes her friend, Dawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is funny, but also basically true. And there are lots of other pregnancy-related things people don’t mention, let alone depict in movies. Like: secretions. \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em>, written by Glazer with Josh Rabinowitz, loves bodily secretions of any kind. Not showing them, thank heavens, but talking about them. No wonder some are calling \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em> the \u003cem>Bridesmaids\u003c/em> of childbearing. Or \u003cem>Knocked Up\u003c/em> without the Seth Rogen part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking of the men in \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em>, well, the title should give you a sense of how important they are to the narrative. This is a film about two women, Eden and Dawn, lifelong buddies, and how pregnancy and childbirth change them. Side note: When we speak of goo, we’re referring both to actual goo — as referenced earlier — but also narrative goo. As in, schmaltz. No obstacle ever arises for long. Everybody basically hugs and cries it out whenever things get complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But hey, most of this can be forgiven when a film is this well acted — especially by Glazer, a gifted comedian. Both she and Michelle Buteau as Dawn, are nothing but authentic and moving, but Glazer in particular will have you howling one minute and wiping those misty eyes the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAfS15DIyEY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We begin early on Thanksgiving morning, at the multiplex, because Thanksgiving morning movies are a tradition for Eden and Dawn. The wrinkle here is that Dawn is pregnant with her second kid. Very pregnant. Very, very pregnant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='pop_11483']In fact, she goes into active labor as the movie starts. But instead of going to the hospital as directed by her doctor, Dawn requests a big meal at a restaurant, because you’re not allowed to eat in the hospital — leading to a high-slapstick scene at a posh eatery that includes Eden examining, amid bites, whether Dawn is dilated (we told you these are very good friends).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually we’re at the hospital, where Dawn crawls down the corridors in pain, and we learn about more gross things that happen during childbirth (the movie does not crawl toward grossness — it runs headlong into it). We also meet Dawn’s husband, Marty (Hasan Minhaj). Marty is supportive and patient — to the point of utter implausibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eden heads out to buy everyone sushi. In one of many Manhattan vs. Queens jokes, she buys it at a fancy place in Manhattan (she herself has remained in Queens, while Dawn has moved to the Upper West Side) and the bill comes to nearly $500. Unfortunately this IS plausible. It leads to a wonderful sequence where, on three or four subway trains back to Queens (we’re on a holiday schedule), Eden shares this sushi spread with a cute actor (Stephan James) she meets, dressed in a burgundy tux, who’s just left a film shoot where he played “Sexy Black Waiter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A one-night stand ensues. And then, Eden discovers she’s pregnant. This will radically shift the balance of her relationship with Dawn — and we don’t need to update you on any other relationships, because THIS is the one that matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s much here that rings true. Adlon, Glazer and Rabinowitz know how to get across the intensity of female buddyship, with the added complexity — not often explored in comedies — that these relationships can hurt, at bad times, perhaps even more than romantic ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13872209']Though there are occasional lapses in narrative logic, on a deeper level the filmmakers clearly know of what they speak. At a recent screening, Adlon and her stars related a few personal childbirth anecdotes in a pre-show talk, and sure enough, at least three of these anecdotes could be found in the movie. (The funniest, though not in the film, came from moderator Julia Louis-Dreyfus — involving a starstruck nurse exclaiming “Elaine!” at a very embarrassing moment.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Breast pumps. Raging pregnancy hormones that make even produce look sexy. A male obstetrician (John Carroll Lynch, funny) who overshares. A birth plan with, why not, a “prom” theme. All these elements, wacky or not, come together in a charming mishmash that adds something ultimately very important to the childbirth comedy genre: the message that childbirth is profound, yes, and full of wonder. But also, like life, it can be funny — and a bit of a mess.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Babes’ is released nationwide on May 17, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A great addition to the childbirth comedy genre, courtesy of Ilana Glazer as a woman who gets pregnant after a one-night stand.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13957964\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13957964\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/Screen-Shot-2024-05-15-at-5.38.43-PM-e1715820056416.png\" alt=\"A pregnant Black woman talks to a shorter white woman outside a restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1139\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Buteau and Ilana Glazer in ‘Babes.’ \u003ccite>(Gwen Capistran/ Neon via AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You know what? It’s true. They never do tell you about the placenta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let us explain. But first, let’s also point out that if you’re already queasy at the mention of “placenta,” well, \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em> — director Pamela Adlon’s brash, chaotic, hilarious and occasionally overly gooey (in so many ways) childbirth comedy — may not be your thing. Just saying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyway! Somewhere late into \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em>, Eden (Ilana Glazer) is giving birth. We’ve seen most of this before in countless comedies: the outlandish obstacles, the tense trip to the hospital, the traffic — oh, the traffic — all melting away in that glorious moment when baby arrives and everyone starts happy-crying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>We get all that in \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em>, too, but then the doctor says “Start pushing” — again — and Eden asks, “What, is there another baby?” And she’s told no, it’s the placenta, aka the afterbirth. Ugh! “They don’t tell you about this part,” notes her friend, Dawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is funny, but also basically true. And there are lots of other pregnancy-related things people don’t mention, let alone depict in movies. Like: secretions. \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em>, written by Glazer with Josh Rabinowitz, loves bodily secretions of any kind. Not showing them, thank heavens, but talking about them. No wonder some are calling \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em> the \u003cem>Bridesmaids\u003c/em> of childbearing. Or \u003cem>Knocked Up\u003c/em> without the Seth Rogen part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking of the men in \u003cem>Babes\u003c/em>, well, the title should give you a sense of how important they are to the narrative. This is a film about two women, Eden and Dawn, lifelong buddies, and how pregnancy and childbirth change them. Side note: When we speak of goo, we’re referring both to actual goo — as referenced earlier — but also narrative goo. As in, schmaltz. No obstacle ever arises for long. Everybody basically hugs and cries it out whenever things get complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But hey, most of this can be forgiven when a film is this well acted — especially by Glazer, a gifted comedian. Both she and Michelle Buteau as Dawn, are nothing but authentic and moving, but Glazer in particular will have you howling one minute and wiping those misty eyes the next.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/rAfS15DIyEY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/rAfS15DIyEY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>We begin early on Thanksgiving morning, at the multiplex, because Thanksgiving morning movies are a tradition for Eden and Dawn. The wrinkle here is that Dawn is pregnant with her second kid. Very pregnant. Very, very pregnant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In fact, she goes into active labor as the movie starts. But instead of going to the hospital as directed by her doctor, Dawn requests a big meal at a restaurant, because you’re not allowed to eat in the hospital — leading to a high-slapstick scene at a posh eatery that includes Eden examining, amid bites, whether Dawn is dilated (we told you these are very good friends).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually we’re at the hospital, where Dawn crawls down the corridors in pain, and we learn about more gross things that happen during childbirth (the movie does not crawl toward grossness — it runs headlong into it). We also meet Dawn’s husband, Marty (Hasan Minhaj). Marty is supportive and patient — to the point of utter implausibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eden heads out to buy everyone sushi. In one of many Manhattan vs. Queens jokes, she buys it at a fancy place in Manhattan (she herself has remained in Queens, while Dawn has moved to the Upper West Side) and the bill comes to nearly $500. Unfortunately this IS plausible. It leads to a wonderful sequence where, on three or four subway trains back to Queens (we’re on a holiday schedule), Eden shares this sushi spread with a cute actor (Stephan James) she meets, dressed in a burgundy tux, who’s just left a film shoot where he played “Sexy Black Waiter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A one-night stand ensues. And then, Eden discovers she’s pregnant. This will radically shift the balance of her relationship with Dawn — and we don’t need to update you on any other relationships, because THIS is the one that matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s much here that rings true. Adlon, Glazer and Rabinowitz know how to get across the intensity of female buddyship, with the added complexity — not often explored in comedies — that these relationships can hurt, at bad times, perhaps even more than romantic ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Though there are occasional lapses in narrative logic, on a deeper level the filmmakers clearly know of what they speak. At a recent screening, Adlon and her stars related a few personal childbirth anecdotes in a pre-show talk, and sure enough, at least three of these anecdotes could be found in the movie. (The funniest, though not in the film, came from moderator Julia Louis-Dreyfus — involving a starstruck nurse exclaiming “Elaine!” at a very embarrassing moment.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Breast pumps. Raging pregnancy hormones that make even produce look sexy. A male obstetrician (John Carroll Lynch, funny) who overshares. A birth plan with, why not, a “prom” theme. All these elements, wacky or not, come together in a charming mishmash that adds something ultimately very important to the childbirth comedy genre: the message that childbirth is profound, yes, and full of wonder. But also, like life, it can be funny — and a bit of a mess.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Babes’ is released nationwide on May 17, 2024.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>nic feliciano will find a way to creatively express herself, no matter what.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>feliciano (who also goes by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/cocomachetz/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Coco Machete\u003c/a>) contains multitudes. She’s a fashionista who currently resides in Berkeley, but was born in the Philippines and spent her teenage years in Southern California. After moving to the East Bay for school two decades ago, she’s grown into a playwright, chef, thespian and — as she says — “a master of fun.” She’s also a former MC and member of the Bay Area-based hip-hop group \u003ca href=\"https://hottuboakland.bandcamp.com/album/3-the-hard-way\">HOTTUB\u003c/a>, which made Miami Bass–inspired rap songs from roughly 2006 to 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to her work, there are two important things to understand: first, she incorporates her Filipina identity into everything she creates. Second, her “work” isn’t really work at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956529\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13956529 size-medium\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-800x1207.jpg\" alt=\"A woman poses in a squat stance with her left hand holding her chin. She wears neon green clogs, black tights and a zebra print skirt. In the background are shelves holding recycled water jugs and plastic pots.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1207\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-800x1207.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-1020x1538.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-1018x1536.jpg 1018w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-1358x2048.jpg 1358w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-1920x2896.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-scaled.jpg 1697w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">nic feliciano is a writer, performer and cook based in Berkeley by way of the Philippines. \u003ccite>(Kate Buenconsejo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>feliciano proudly maintains flexible daytime employment to pay her bills, while letting her creative juices flow during the evening hours. This separation allows her to stay inspired, penning funny sketches that she performs as a part of her \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/grannycartgangstas?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==\">Grannycart Gangstas\u003c/a> act at \u003ca href=\"https://www.bindlestiffstudio.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blindlestiff Studio\u003c/a> in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>feliciano’s creations go beyond the stage. She’s currently writing a comic book in which she gives a modern spin on the mythological creature from Filipino folklore, the Manananggal. The storyline sheds light on the exploitation that workers in the Philippines face working as contractors for Big Tech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, we talk about how the Bay Area has assisted feliciano’s artistic endeavors, from rapping over bass-heavy hip-hop beats in the early 2000s to forging a “creative family of misfit Filipino kids who didn’t follow the path.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC8148943076\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw, Host:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Hey what’s up Rightnowish listeners. I’m your host, Pendarvis Harshaw. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For this episode, we hear from cook, slash writer, slash actor, slash musician and all around funny person, nic feliciano, who goes by the moniker Coco Machete. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At age 10, nic, along with her mother and sister, left the Philippines and settled in Orange County. Itching to find like-minded folks, nic eventually left SoCal and moved to Berkeley for community college… and she’s been here ever since. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As y’all may know, juggling day jobs and side gigs to pay the bills comes with the territory of being an artist in the Bay. But for nic, she’s not pressed to let how she pays the rent define her.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano, Guest: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The true art and what I do is just kind of like surviving. Like my mom to me is an artist because of- she’s never picked up a paintbrush in her life. But like, the way she moves through life and the way she like, makes shit happen and the way she like, figures this out over that or whatever. Like, damn, that’s like such art to me!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rightnowish producer Marisol Medina-Cadena and I dive into the splendor that is nic’s mind, and discuss how she honors Filipino brilliance in all that she does. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That and more right after this. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Ad break]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When we spoke on the phone a while ago, you said something that just really crystallized your creative practice for me. You said you were in your “expansive era.” I feel like that expression really speaks volumes about where you’re at with your relationship to artmaking. So what does your expansive area look like? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s more of just a consciousness whenever I can… if I try- if I have a moment to like meditate on something, it’s just asking for guidance in terms of like how I- how this experience can make me a little bit more expansive and a little bit more able to hold more empathy, more love. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If I forget to remind myself that I’m in that space right now, it’s very easy for everything to knock it down, and feel tired and unaligned. And so I’m kind of using that as a way to stay the course and create some stamina… trying to come from as much love as I can in these crazy times because it’s harder and harder. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I know that you have a day job outside of your creative practice. And maybe there’s overlap but they’re not really contingent on each other. How do you structure your life in a way that you have the passion and the desire to still make art outside of, like what pays your bills? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I always like, kind of gave myself a hard time about that and been like, what’s wrong with you? Like, why wouldn’t you want to go all in on your art and like, really be about it, live it or whatnot? And I think that for me, not depending on it financially has always sustained it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think I just am one of those people who were blessed or cursed with an overactive creative mind that is constantly feeling the need to like express and release or whatever. But I realized that every time it got to a point where it was time to take it serious, or even like the idea of living off of my art, or like any of that, I feel like — personally, like it kind of kills it a little bit and it doesn’t feel super aligned. I’m not super inspired by it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So it’s just about like finding work that’s not going to keep me there, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> like beyond the hours that I need to be. And my brain doesn’t get going until the nighttime anyway. So like, I take advantage of like whatever time, you know, I have outside of that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so, I’m grateful, I feel grateful that my day jobs haven’t completely, like, overshadowed my my creative work. You know, how I pay my bills is kind of like the smallest part of my identity. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s just… no to careers and no to making art a career either, I don’t know. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Balance. It sounds like balance. And also making sure that you work within what’s best for you. You said your night hours, you know, being at home. You know yourself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m trying you know, it’s the journey. It’s part of the ride! \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Diving into your artistic endeavors. You’re on the cusp of finishing your first comic book, so I hear. And it’s a sci-fi thriller based on Filipino folklore?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, gosh!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Please tell me about the inspiration for this. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This has been in the works for quite a while. Inspired by a PBS documentary called The Cleaners, which was about a third party company in the Philippines that was being hired by, like, the Googles, the Facebooks, all that kind of stuff. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Basically, when something gets flagged on any of these platforms, they’re going to these workers — oftentimes, you know, in the Global South: Philippines, India, and a human is processing these images and they’re deciding whether to delete or to keep. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They’re getting PTSD. They’re like processing 8,000 images a day, you know, just like constant, just the worst images you can imagine!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of my favorite folkloric creatures in Filipino folklore is this creature called the manananggal. And it’s oftentimes a femme creature. They stay in the trees, they’re kind of vampiric or what have you. And their top half comes off, and that’s what goes flying around at night looking for food, primarily victims or whatnot. They’re known to suck the life through belly buttons.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Typically, it’s represented as a scary thing that, you know, growing up, if you didn’t, like, go to sleep right away, they’d be like, “oh, the Manananggal is going to come get you.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As I’ve like, gotten older and whatnot, I’m just like, well, like, what if it actually was like a creature that, like, went out and did stuff for justice, you know what I mean? I just, like, made up all this stuff in my head. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So anyway, I wrote this short one act play that was from the perspective of this Manananggalgal who didn’t realize they were a Manananggal until they were exploited super hard at work. They snap. And they go and kill, like, all the CEOs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank god Bindlestiff Studios, shout out to Bindlestiff Studios over there in the SOMA, 6th and Howard. The only place for Filipino and Filippinx performing arts, like, they put this play up. It’s pretty ridiculous, but I’m obsessed with this world, like… it’s kind of like the prequel to this piece that I wrote. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so I feel like — comic book, that’s a good way to kind of… not so much lighten it, but like not make it so realistic. The fact that it’s not the real thing, I think feels sort of liberating to tell the story in the way that it is in my head, without it being too, like, real. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I’m really excited about it, and it’s taken a while, but I’m glad we’ve taken our time because I’ve been collaborating with this incredible illustrator Corpser. Shout out Corpser from Bulacan, in the Philippines. He and I have been going back and forth and he’s illustrated the whole thing and he snapped on the illustration. Neither of us had done this before, but oh man, like, with his vision and my crazy, gross world building. It’s nasty and I can’t wait to share it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’ve spoken a lot about Bindlestiff, can you tell us what drew you to that space? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So it’s just my mom, my sister and I here in the U.S., everybody else is back in Manila.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Sound design: birds chirping]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have like 25 cousins back home that I when I’m there, like everyone’s around and just kind of really missing like that sense of home, or what have you.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so this thing happens to me every time I go back and forth where my reality gets really shook up. Like, I can’t tell what’s real. I feel a lot of guilt of living here and not being a part of what my family back home has to go through to survive, you know what I mean? It’s very- our lives are very different, and jumping back and forth is kind of a challenging thing for me. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so I remember being on the bus on my way home from work, and I saw that Bindlestiff- I was in their mailing list somehow, and I saw that they were auditioning for Tagalog speaking actors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I was like, “Oh, maybe… that’s scary, I don’t know.” And then a month later, I see it again. And so I was like, “Okay, they’re still looking. Obviously it’s been a month. Like, maybe this is a sign I should just go and just do it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By the grace of God, I somehow still remember, like the Tagalog Pledge of Allegiance from school! \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Giggles]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I pulled up and I did the best pledge of allegiance with feelings that I could like a fool, and sang my little song, and I guess they were down because they called me back! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From that point on, I’ve never said no to anything Bindlestiff-related again. It’s just 30 years, volunteer-run. Beyond just the theater space, the amount of work that they do in the SOMA neighborhood, like over the pandemic, their artistic director, Irene, ran a program where a bunch of, like, actors were volunteering- everyone, like, delivering groceries to the elders around there.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s put so much purpose to my art. I’ve had to reverse engineer my, even my own knowledge of, like, Philippine history and pre-colonial history. Like, I wouldn’t have probably learned that there, but coming here and being around other people in diaspora and learning about how other cultures have looked inward to be able to, like, get through our experiences out here — I feel like, in some sense, we owe it to really center like those who are still living in the land and the and the realities that they face every day and support their art. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel like Bindlestiff does a really good job doing that. Like, they’re in direct communication with the community here and always trying to, like, bridge that- that ocean, you know, those thousands and thousands of miles ya know? So it feels good. I’m so grateful to have found them and create a- like a creative family of misfit Filipino kids who didn’t follow the path. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’re a part of a crew called Granny Cart Gangstas. What does that entail?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, Granny Cart Gangstas is an open-door \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> comedy troupe — mostly Asian American, femme, multi-gender folks — who have been around for ten years, thank you very much. We just celebrated our ten-year anniversary last year. Basically, yeah, we- we’re a sketch comedy troupe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our two founders, Aureen and Ava, came up with the name because they’re always riding around with their granny cart, getting on the bus with it, you know, like as you see all around town. People move when it’s time to roll the granny cart full of laundry or groceries or whatever. It’s like, okay! So that’s kind of what inspired the name. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We do 2 to 3 week shows once a year at Bindlestiff. We all write all our own material. And we- when it’s time to put it up. Oh, man. It’s a hoot. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Video Clip, Granny Cart Gangstas: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Good evening. I am Lauren Goodman, and welcome to \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Quarantine Now\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Our top story is about the “Adobo Hoes,” a retired roller derby squad. They are leading the way in roller skating security escort tactics. Now being adopted around the San Francisco Bay Area to protect Asian American seniors. The community at large is now reporting feeling more confident and more secure with the hoes working the streets.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before you got into theater, you were part of a group called HOTTUB…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh my gosh.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, we’re going there. You were involved in Oakland’s underground music scene — a lot of warehouse parties. Tell me about that music and how that era really shaped your perspective on life today? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Exhales breath]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That era was wild, number one. Proved to be unsustainable. It started mid-2000s, like 2006 and we’re pretty active all the way to 2013. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There was so much reaction to, kind of like now, like to what was going on there. That was, like, the tail end of the, kind of like, Bush era. Oh my gosh, Occupy- like the Occupy Movement. So there was a lot of just like tension, especially in the East Bay, where the, the, the trickle of like what was going on in San Francisco hadn’t quite made it over there, but you could still start to feel it. And there was just a real sort of tension there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I think out of that came just a very confrontational time, I would say. There wasn’t a lot of, like, femme acts at the time when we were, when, when we were performing. And so it’s three girls to the front, you know, it was, like, rough! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In that vein of like being you said confrontational, loud, using your voice to claim space on stage. Sonically, what did your set sound like? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My gosh, a battle. Like our producers Jaysonic, Funky Finger Mark. We would bring out an MPC drum machine and a ASR ten sampler keyboard. Those were like our two things. They didn’t have, like, didn’t use laptops, nothing. And these are, like, really textured, heavy sounds that are going straight into sound systems. And then three girl MC chanting banshees like wild women. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music: “Shoot the Lights Out” by HOTTUB]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Looking at my Casio it’s about that time\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m ’bout to pick it up stat on my hustle and grind\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I got nothin in my pocket but motha-fuckin’ fuck it\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I can get a fat loan if you can co-sign it\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But who cares!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I ain’t tripin’ I ain’t tryin to trick for the man\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just to get a couple grand in my hand…\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The original concept of HOTTUB was, was going to be like Tagalog-Miami bass-type stuff. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was always represent- you know, representing my, my shit. And so when I would write raps in Tagalog, lucky for us, we’re here in the Bay area with hella Filipinos. So every so often, like someone would be like “Yo!!!!” you know, and really like kind of recognizing. And that’s always, like, such a gift. But even though it feels like screaming in the void, like I- it just, feels great! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shoot the lights out shoot the lights out!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shoot the lights out shoot the lights out, oh!!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shoot the lights out shoot the lights out!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shoot the lights out shoot the lights out, whoa!!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>I’m so glad that I was able to come up creatively during that time because it never felt like there was so much to lose, because it was already coming from nothing. It was like so beyond DIY, you know, like… There was no fear in what we wanted to say. And we could just confront, like, every issue- You know, creating like this, like safe space for like, femme energy to kind of aggressively take over! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music: “M.A.N.B.I.T.C.H” by HOTTUB]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Don’t disrespect\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You gotta come correct\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m tired of your nasty-ass…\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>It really was so empowering to- to be doing this with two of my best friends, you know, Jen and Amber shout out. Just making the most noise and just trying to, like, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Yells]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> get it out! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Definitely formative. And it, it it it gave me the guts to do things that are creative and to actually allow yourself to express, like, some of the stuff that’s going on in, in our minds takes so much guts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m so grateful for that time in my life. And I’m also so grateful that I’ve recovered. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s out. It’s done. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">M. A. N. B. I. T. C. H.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We know what it is,\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s written all over your face!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just hearing you talk, there’s like this throughline between the comic book, the band HOTTUB, the work you do with Bindlestiff, of like centering Filipino culture. Is there like a thesis or like mission statement behind that, or is that just who you are? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I think about this all the time. I think it’s just who I’ve always been. The very first day of school, of American school, ten years old, Orange County of all places. It was just so clear that I was not… of here. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s so many times that my creative mind and like this idea of trying to reconcile, you know, my- my existence here to home. Like I still think Philippines is home. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was five years old when the Philippine Revolution happened. So in 1986, the Filipino people banded together, got the support of the military, and ousted Ferdinand Marcos, who was dictator for like, the last 26 years or whatever. And so I kind of feel like I’m a kid of revolution. Like, I understand that there is… that people can really get together and like, do something great, like, I believe in it, I seen it happen with my own eyes. And I feel like coming here, there’s always just been this sense of, like, refusing to be erased. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The last question that we have for you is: being in your expansive era now, and all the personal values you have for yourself. What do you need from, like, the art scene or your peers or art spaces to do the kind of work you want to do? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Watching how — especially here in the Bay Area — watching how artists come together to like, really fight for what they believe in, and really, like, put their necks on the line and really support certain movements, like it’s fired up right now. And I think that, you know, what we can all do for each other is provide ways that we can build our stamina, because I really think that’s what we’re gonna need. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And the more of that we use our art as leverage and as power, and the more that we understand how powerful we are together… I think that’s probably my greatest ask for myself and our community. It’s like, figure out ways to build stamina because we’re really gonna need it for the long haul.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Credits music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Big thank you nic feliciano for dropping by the KQED stu’ to talk about the important things and for making us laugh through it all. You can find her on instagram @cocomachetez. That’s spelled c-o-c-o-m-a-c-h-e-t-e-z. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From May 16th through June 1st, nic will be taking part in an original production at Bindlestiff Studios called Dark Heart. Be sure to check that out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode was hosted by me, Pendarvis Harshaw. Marisol Medina-Cadena produced this episode. Chris Hambrick held it down for edits on this one. Christopher Beale engineered this joint. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The music you heard was courtesy of HOTTUB and Audio Network.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Rightnowish team is also supported by Jen Chien, Ugur Dursun, Holly Kernan, Cesar Saldaña and Katie Sprenger. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you all for listening! For longtime fans of the show, y’all know how we roll. But if you’re new here, welcome! We’re glad to have you, it’s our honor to introduce you to Bay Area culture keepers and change makers you may not have the privilege of knowing… yet. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, if you enjoy what we’re doing at Rightnowish, please share the podcast with a friend or a coworker. Subscribe and rate the podcast on whatever platform you choose. Every little action goes a long way. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ok, y’all be easy! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rightnowish is a KQED production.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peace.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/721590300/rightnowish\">NPR One\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/7kEJuafTzTVan7B78ttz1I\">Spotify\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rightnowish/id1482187648\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://tunein.com/podcasts/Arts--Culture-Podcasts/Rightnowish-p1258245/\">TuneIn\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/rightnowish\">Stitcher\u003c/a> or wherever you get your podcasts. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The fashionista, playwright, chef, thespian and 'master of fun' discusses her many artistic endeavors.",
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"description": "nic feliciano (who also goes by Coco Machete) contains multitudes. She's a fashionista who currently resides in the East Bay, but was born in the Philippines and raised in Southern California. After moving to Berkeley for school two decades ago, she's grown into a playwright, comedian, chef and thespian. She's also a former MC and member of the Bay Area-based hip-hop group, HOTTUB, which made Miami-boom bass inspired rap songs from about 2006 to 2013.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>nic feliciano will find a way to creatively express herself, no matter what.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>feliciano (who also goes by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/cocomachetz/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Coco Machete\u003c/a>) contains multitudes. She’s a fashionista who currently resides in Berkeley, but was born in the Philippines and spent her teenage years in Southern California. After moving to the East Bay for school two decades ago, she’s grown into a playwright, chef, thespian and — as she says — “a master of fun.” She’s also a former MC and member of the Bay Area-based hip-hop group \u003ca href=\"https://hottuboakland.bandcamp.com/album/3-the-hard-way\">HOTTUB\u003c/a>, which made Miami Bass–inspired rap songs from roughly 2006 to 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to her work, there are two important things to understand: first, she incorporates her Filipina identity into everything she creates. Second, her “work” isn’t really work at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956529\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13956529 size-medium\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-800x1207.jpg\" alt=\"A woman poses in a squat stance with her left hand holding her chin. She wears neon green clogs, black tights and a zebra print skirt. In the background are shelves holding recycled water jugs and plastic pots.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1207\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-800x1207.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-1020x1538.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-1018x1536.jpg 1018w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-1358x2048.jpg 1358w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-1920x2896.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/coco-machete-2-scaled.jpg 1697w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">nic feliciano is a writer, performer and cook based in Berkeley by way of the Philippines. \u003ccite>(Kate Buenconsejo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>feliciano proudly maintains flexible daytime employment to pay her bills, while letting her creative juices flow during the evening hours. This separation allows her to stay inspired, penning funny sketches that she performs as a part of her \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/grannycartgangstas?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==\">Grannycart Gangstas\u003c/a> act at \u003ca href=\"https://www.bindlestiffstudio.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blindlestiff Studio\u003c/a> in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>feliciano’s creations go beyond the stage. She’s currently writing a comic book in which she gives a modern spin on the mythological creature from Filipino folklore, the Manananggal. The storyline sheds light on the exploitation that workers in the Philippines face working as contractors for Big Tech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, we talk about how the Bay Area has assisted feliciano’s artistic endeavors, from rapping over bass-heavy hip-hop beats in the early 2000s to forging a “creative family of misfit Filipino kids who didn’t follow the path.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC8148943076\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw, Host:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Hey what’s up Rightnowish listeners. I’m your host, Pendarvis Harshaw. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For this episode, we hear from cook, slash writer, slash actor, slash musician and all around funny person, nic feliciano, who goes by the moniker Coco Machete. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At age 10, nic, along with her mother and sister, left the Philippines and settled in Orange County. Itching to find like-minded folks, nic eventually left SoCal and moved to Berkeley for community college… and she’s been here ever since. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As y’all may know, juggling day jobs and side gigs to pay the bills comes with the territory of being an artist in the Bay. But for nic, she’s not pressed to let how she pays the rent define her.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano, Guest: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The true art and what I do is just kind of like surviving. Like my mom to me is an artist because of- she’s never picked up a paintbrush in her life. But like, the way she moves through life and the way she like, makes shit happen and the way she like, figures this out over that or whatever. Like, damn, that’s like such art to me!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rightnowish producer Marisol Medina-Cadena and I dive into the splendor that is nic’s mind, and discuss how she honors Filipino brilliance in all that she does. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That and more right after this. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Ad break]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When we spoke on the phone a while ago, you said something that just really crystallized your creative practice for me. You said you were in your “expansive era.” I feel like that expression really speaks volumes about where you’re at with your relationship to artmaking. So what does your expansive area look like? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s more of just a consciousness whenever I can… if I try- if I have a moment to like meditate on something, it’s just asking for guidance in terms of like how I- how this experience can make me a little bit more expansive and a little bit more able to hold more empathy, more love. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If I forget to remind myself that I’m in that space right now, it’s very easy for everything to knock it down, and feel tired and unaligned. And so I’m kind of using that as a way to stay the course and create some stamina… trying to come from as much love as I can in these crazy times because it’s harder and harder. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I know that you have a day job outside of your creative practice. And maybe there’s overlap but they’re not really contingent on each other. How do you structure your life in a way that you have the passion and the desire to still make art outside of, like what pays your bills? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I always like, kind of gave myself a hard time about that and been like, what’s wrong with you? Like, why wouldn’t you want to go all in on your art and like, really be about it, live it or whatnot? And I think that for me, not depending on it financially has always sustained it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think I just am one of those people who were blessed or cursed with an overactive creative mind that is constantly feeling the need to like express and release or whatever. But I realized that every time it got to a point where it was time to take it serious, or even like the idea of living off of my art, or like any of that, I feel like — personally, like it kind of kills it a little bit and it doesn’t feel super aligned. I’m not super inspired by it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So it’s just about like finding work that’s not going to keep me there, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> like beyond the hours that I need to be. And my brain doesn’t get going until the nighttime anyway. So like, I take advantage of like whatever time, you know, I have outside of that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so, I’m grateful, I feel grateful that my day jobs haven’t completely, like, overshadowed my my creative work. You know, how I pay my bills is kind of like the smallest part of my identity. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s just… no to careers and no to making art a career either, I don’t know. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Balance. It sounds like balance. And also making sure that you work within what’s best for you. You said your night hours, you know, being at home. You know yourself. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m trying you know, it’s the journey. It’s part of the ride! \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Diving into your artistic endeavors. You’re on the cusp of finishing your first comic book, so I hear. And it’s a sci-fi thriller based on Filipino folklore?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, gosh!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Please tell me about the inspiration for this. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This has been in the works for quite a while. Inspired by a PBS documentary called The Cleaners, which was about a third party company in the Philippines that was being hired by, like, the Googles, the Facebooks, all that kind of stuff. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Basically, when something gets flagged on any of these platforms, they’re going to these workers — oftentimes, you know, in the Global South: Philippines, India, and a human is processing these images and they’re deciding whether to delete or to keep. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They’re getting PTSD. They’re like processing 8,000 images a day, you know, just like constant, just the worst images you can imagine!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of my favorite folkloric creatures in Filipino folklore is this creature called the manananggal. And it’s oftentimes a femme creature. They stay in the trees, they’re kind of vampiric or what have you. And their top half comes off, and that’s what goes flying around at night looking for food, primarily victims or whatnot. They’re known to suck the life through belly buttons.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Typically, it’s represented as a scary thing that, you know, growing up, if you didn’t, like, go to sleep right away, they’d be like, “oh, the Manananggal is going to come get you.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As I’ve like, gotten older and whatnot, I’m just like, well, like, what if it actually was like a creature that, like, went out and did stuff for justice, you know what I mean? I just, like, made up all this stuff in my head. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So anyway, I wrote this short one act play that was from the perspective of this Manananggalgal who didn’t realize they were a Manananggal until they were exploited super hard at work. They snap. And they go and kill, like, all the CEOs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank god Bindlestiff Studios, shout out to Bindlestiff Studios over there in the SOMA, 6th and Howard. The only place for Filipino and Filippinx performing arts, like, they put this play up. It’s pretty ridiculous, but I’m obsessed with this world, like… it’s kind of like the prequel to this piece that I wrote. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so I feel like — comic book, that’s a good way to kind of… not so much lighten it, but like not make it so realistic. The fact that it’s not the real thing, I think feels sort of liberating to tell the story in the way that it is in my head, without it being too, like, real. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I’m really excited about it, and it’s taken a while, but I’m glad we’ve taken our time because I’ve been collaborating with this incredible illustrator Corpser. Shout out Corpser from Bulacan, in the Philippines. He and I have been going back and forth and he’s illustrated the whole thing and he snapped on the illustration. Neither of us had done this before, but oh man, like, with his vision and my crazy, gross world building. It’s nasty and I can’t wait to share it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’ve spoken a lot about Bindlestiff, can you tell us what drew you to that space? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So it’s just my mom, my sister and I here in the U.S., everybody else is back in Manila.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Sound design: birds chirping]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I have like 25 cousins back home that I when I’m there, like everyone’s around and just kind of really missing like that sense of home, or what have you.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so this thing happens to me every time I go back and forth where my reality gets really shook up. Like, I can’t tell what’s real. I feel a lot of guilt of living here and not being a part of what my family back home has to go through to survive, you know what I mean? It’s very- our lives are very different, and jumping back and forth is kind of a challenging thing for me. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so I remember being on the bus on my way home from work, and I saw that Bindlestiff- I was in their mailing list somehow, and I saw that they were auditioning for Tagalog speaking actors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I was like, “Oh, maybe… that’s scary, I don’t know.” And then a month later, I see it again. And so I was like, “Okay, they’re still looking. Obviously it’s been a month. Like, maybe this is a sign I should just go and just do it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By the grace of God, I somehow still remember, like the Tagalog Pledge of Allegiance from school! \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Giggles]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I pulled up and I did the best pledge of allegiance with feelings that I could like a fool, and sang my little song, and I guess they were down because they called me back! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From that point on, I’ve never said no to anything Bindlestiff-related again. It’s just 30 years, volunteer-run. Beyond just the theater space, the amount of work that they do in the SOMA neighborhood, like over the pandemic, their artistic director, Irene, ran a program where a bunch of, like, actors were volunteering- everyone, like, delivering groceries to the elders around there.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s put so much purpose to my art. I’ve had to reverse engineer my, even my own knowledge of, like, Philippine history and pre-colonial history. Like, I wouldn’t have probably learned that there, but coming here and being around other people in diaspora and learning about how other cultures have looked inward to be able to, like, get through our experiences out here — I feel like, in some sense, we owe it to really center like those who are still living in the land and the and the realities that they face every day and support their art. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel like Bindlestiff does a really good job doing that. Like, they’re in direct communication with the community here and always trying to, like, bridge that- that ocean, you know, those thousands and thousands of miles ya know? So it feels good. I’m so grateful to have found them and create a- like a creative family of misfit Filipino kids who didn’t follow the path. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You’re a part of a crew called Granny Cart Gangstas. What does that entail?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, Granny Cart Gangstas is an open-door \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> comedy troupe — mostly Asian American, femme, multi-gender folks — who have been around for ten years, thank you very much. We just celebrated our ten-year anniversary last year. Basically, yeah, we- we’re a sketch comedy troupe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our two founders, Aureen and Ava, came up with the name because they’re always riding around with their granny cart, getting on the bus with it, you know, like as you see all around town. People move when it’s time to roll the granny cart full of laundry or groceries or whatever. It’s like, okay! So that’s kind of what inspired the name. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We do 2 to 3 week shows once a year at Bindlestiff. We all write all our own material. And we- when it’s time to put it up. Oh, man. It’s a hoot. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Video Clip, Granny Cart Gangstas: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Good evening. I am Lauren Goodman, and welcome to \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Quarantine Now\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Our top story is about the “Adobo Hoes,” a retired roller derby squad. They are leading the way in roller skating security escort tactics. Now being adopted around the San Francisco Bay Area to protect Asian American seniors. The community at large is now reporting feeling more confident and more secure with the hoes working the streets.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before you got into theater, you were part of a group called HOTTUB…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh my gosh.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, we’re going there. You were involved in Oakland’s underground music scene — a lot of warehouse parties. Tell me about that music and how that era really shaped your perspective on life today? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Exhales breath]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That era was wild, number one. Proved to be unsustainable. It started mid-2000s, like 2006 and we’re pretty active all the way to 2013. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There was so much reaction to, kind of like now, like to what was going on there. That was, like, the tail end of the, kind of like, Bush era. Oh my gosh, Occupy- like the Occupy Movement. So there was a lot of just like tension, especially in the East Bay, where the, the, the trickle of like what was going on in San Francisco hadn’t quite made it over there, but you could still start to feel it. And there was just a real sort of tension there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I think out of that came just a very confrontational time, I would say. There wasn’t a lot of, like, femme acts at the time when we were, when, when we were performing. And so it’s three girls to the front, you know, it was, like, rough! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In that vein of like being you said confrontational, loud, using your voice to claim space on stage. Sonically, what did your set sound like? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My gosh, a battle. Like our producers Jaysonic, Funky Finger Mark. We would bring out an MPC drum machine and a ASR ten sampler keyboard. Those were like our two things. They didn’t have, like, didn’t use laptops, nothing. And these are, like, really textured, heavy sounds that are going straight into sound systems. And then three girl MC chanting banshees like wild women. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music: “Shoot the Lights Out” by HOTTUB]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Looking at my Casio it’s about that time\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m ’bout to pick it up stat on my hustle and grind\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I got nothin in my pocket but motha-fuckin’ fuck it\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I can get a fat loan if you can co-sign it\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But who cares!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I ain’t tripin’ I ain’t tryin to trick for the man\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just to get a couple grand in my hand…\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The original concept of HOTTUB was, was going to be like Tagalog-Miami bass-type stuff. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was always represent- you know, representing my, my shit. And so when I would write raps in Tagalog, lucky for us, we’re here in the Bay area with hella Filipinos. So every so often, like someone would be like “Yo!!!!” you know, and really like kind of recognizing. And that’s always, like, such a gift. But even though it feels like screaming in the void, like I- it just, feels great! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shoot the lights out shoot the lights out!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shoot the lights out shoot the lights out, oh!!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shoot the lights out shoot the lights out!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shoot the lights out shoot the lights out, whoa!!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>I’m so glad that I was able to come up creatively during that time because it never felt like there was so much to lose, because it was already coming from nothing. It was like so beyond DIY, you know, like… There was no fear in what we wanted to say. And we could just confront, like, every issue- You know, creating like this, like safe space for like, femme energy to kind of aggressively take over! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music: “M.A.N.B.I.T.C.H” by HOTTUB]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Don’t disrespect\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You gotta come correct\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m tired of your nasty-ass…\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>It really was so empowering to- to be doing this with two of my best friends, you know, Jen and Amber shout out. Just making the most noise and just trying to, like, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Yells]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> get it out! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Definitely formative. And it, it it it gave me the guts to do things that are creative and to actually allow yourself to express, like, some of the stuff that’s going on in, in our minds takes so much guts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m so grateful for that time in my life. And I’m also so grateful that I’ve recovered. \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Laughs] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s out. It’s done. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">M. A. N. B. I. T. C. H.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We know what it is,\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s written all over your face!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just hearing you talk, there’s like this throughline between the comic book, the band HOTTUB, the work you do with Bindlestiff, of like centering Filipino culture. Is there like a thesis or like mission statement behind that, or is that just who you are? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I think about this all the time. I think it’s just who I’ve always been. The very first day of school, of American school, ten years old, Orange County of all places. It was just so clear that I was not… of here. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s so many times that my creative mind and like this idea of trying to reconcile, you know, my- my existence here to home. Like I still think Philippines is home. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was five years old when the Philippine Revolution happened. So in 1986, the Filipino people banded together, got the support of the military, and ousted Ferdinand Marcos, who was dictator for like, the last 26 years or whatever. And so I kind of feel like I’m a kid of revolution. Like, I understand that there is… that people can really get together and like, do something great, like, I believe in it, I seen it happen with my own eyes. And I feel like coming here, there’s always just been this sense of, like, refusing to be erased. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marisol Medina-Cadena:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The last question that we have for you is: being in your expansive era now, and all the personal values you have for yourself. What do you need from, like, the art scene or your peers or art spaces to do the kind of work you want to do? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>nic feliciano: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Watching how — especially here in the Bay Area — watching how artists come together to like, really fight for what they believe in, and really, like, put their necks on the line and really support certain movements, like it’s fired up right now. And I think that, you know, what we can all do for each other is provide ways that we can build our stamina, because I really think that’s what we’re gonna need. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And the more of that we use our art as leverage and as power, and the more that we understand how powerful we are together… I think that’s probably my greatest ask for myself and our community. It’s like, figure out ways to build stamina because we’re really gonna need it for the long haul.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Credits music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Big thank you nic feliciano for dropping by the KQED stu’ to talk about the important things and for making us laugh through it all. You can find her on instagram @cocomachetez. That’s spelled c-o-c-o-m-a-c-h-e-t-e-z. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From May 16th through June 1st, nic will be taking part in an original production at Bindlestiff Studios called Dark Heart. Be sure to check that out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode was hosted by me, Pendarvis Harshaw. Marisol Medina-Cadena produced this episode. Chris Hambrick held it down for edits on this one. Christopher Beale engineered this joint. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The music you heard was courtesy of HOTTUB and Audio Network.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Rightnowish team is also supported by Jen Chien, Ugur Dursun, Holly Kernan, Cesar Saldaña and Katie Sprenger. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you all for listening! For longtime fans of the show, y’all know how we roll. But if you’re new here, welcome! We’re glad to have you, it’s our honor to introduce you to Bay Area culture keepers and change makers you may not have the privilege of knowing… yet. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, if you enjoy what we’re doing at Rightnowish, please share the podcast with a friend or a coworker. Subscribe and rate the podcast on whatever platform you choose. Every little action goes a long way. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ok, y’all be easy! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rightnowish is a KQED production.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peace.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/721590300/rightnowish\">NPR One\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/7kEJuafTzTVan7B78ttz1I\">Spotify\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rightnowish/id1482187648\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://tunein.com/podcasts/Arts--Culture-Podcasts/Rightnowish-p1258245/\">TuneIn\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/rightnowish\">Stitcher\u003c/a> or wherever you get your podcasts. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"content": "\u003cp>Comedian Kevin Hart usually plays arenas. Sometimes he even \u003ca href=\"https://thecomicscomic.com/2015/08/31/kevin-hart-plays-to-53000-at-philadelphia-stadium-for-new-stand-up-concert-film-what-now-tour/\">headlines stadiums for over 50,000 people\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when tickets go on sale for the star comedian’s Oct. 25 show at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland — with just 3,000 seats — expect them to sell out quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, you can get \u003ca href=\"https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C00608BD32A5816\">presale tickets\u003c/a> on Wednesday, April 17, at 10 a.m. using the presale code COMEDY. Tickets go on sale to the general public two days later, on Friday, April 19, at 10 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13955679']Playing smaller venues on this tour was a deliberate decision by the comedian. “I wanted to change things up by creating a more intimate environment,” Hart said in a statement. “This hour is about connecting with the audience and feeding off the crowd’s energy and laughter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the ornate art-deco Paramount Theatre in Oakland, that energy should be especially evident. Be quick with the click for tickets \u003ca href=\"https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C00608BD32A5816\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>UPDATE: Two additional shows have been added for Saturday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Comedian Kevin Hart usually plays arenas. Sometimes he even \u003ca href=\"https://thecomicscomic.com/2015/08/31/kevin-hart-plays-to-53000-at-philadelphia-stadium-for-new-stand-up-concert-film-what-now-tour/\">headlines stadiums for over 50,000 people\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when tickets go on sale for the star comedian’s Oct. 25 show at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland — with just 3,000 seats — expect them to sell out quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, you can get \u003ca href=\"https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C00608BD32A5816\">presale tickets\u003c/a> on Wednesday, April 17, at 10 a.m. using the presale code COMEDY. Tickets go on sale to the general public two days later, on Friday, April 19, at 10 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Playing smaller venues on this tour was a deliberate decision by the comedian. “I wanted to change things up by creating a more intimate environment,” Hart said in a statement. “This hour is about connecting with the audience and feeding off the crowd’s energy and laughter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the ornate art-deco Paramount Theatre in Oakland, that energy should be especially evident. Be quick with the click for tickets \u003ca href=\"https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C00608BD32A5816\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>UPDATE: Two additional shows have been added for Saturday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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