Fans of Jon Stewart will be disappointed tonight.
Stewart has COVID and won’t be hosting The Daily Show. He only hosts on Mondays. He’ll be back next week.
Tonight’s host is Michael Kosta, who’s picking up a second night this week.
Other reports say Stewart won’t be hosting “this week.” But he only hosts on Mondays, so calm down.
Speedy recovery!
The great director David Lynch may be calling a wrap on his career.
Lynch, 78, responded to Sight & Sound Magazine’s question if he’ll ever direct again.
Lynch answered: “No. I’ll tell you, I’ve gotten emphysema from smoking for so long, and so I’m homebound whether I like it or not. I can’t go out. And I can only walk a short distance before I’m out of oxygen.
“Smoking was something that I absolutely loved but, in the end, it bit me. It was part of the art life for me: the tobacco and the smell of it and lighting things and smoking and going back and sitting back and having a smoke and looking at your work, or thinking about things; nothing like it in this world is so beautiful.
“Meanwhile, it’s killing me. So I had to quit it. And now, because of Covid, it would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold. So I probably would be directing from my house. And because of Covid, they’ve now invented ways where you can direct from home. I wouldn’t like that so much. I like to be there amongst the thing and get ideas there. But I would try to do it remotely, if it comes to it.”
Lynch has been nominated four times for Oscars. His last movie was “Inland Empire” in 2006, although he was responsible for the third season of “Twin Peaks” — in which he appeared — and also had a successful cameo as director John Ford in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans.” In recent years, Lynch has been busy directing videos an commercials.
What a career he’s had, though! From “Blue Velvet” to “Mullholland Drive,” “Eraserhead,” “Wild at Heart,” “Twin Peaks” and more. Lynch received an honorary Oscar in 2020. Let’s hope he will still work remotely.
The website for Robert Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign includes the usual posters, buttons, and so on.
But you can also buy a stuffed teddy bear for $32.
This is unfortunate considering Kennedy has just admitting leaving a dead bear cub in Central Park, then making it look like a cyclist hit it.
Kennedy was trying to get ahead of a New Yorker story that broke this morning about the 2011 incident. At the time and until this week no one knew Kennedy came up with this scheme. The only person who might have known was his cousin, Tatiana Schlossberg, who wrote the story for the New York Times.
Want the bear? I’d hurry. It’s a collector’s item!
The New Yorker’s excellent take down of Robert Kennedy Jr. doesn’t go far enough.
But Clare Malone’s excellent reporting at least reveals the dreadful and disgusting story of Kennedy — at age 57 — putting a dead bear cub in Central Park and making it seem like a cyclist hit it.
Malone also reveals that the New York Times story about the bear was written by Kennedy’s cousin, Tatianna Schlossberg, who then worked for the paper. She didn’t know he was responsible? Malone says that it was a coincidence.
Malone also reveals, if you didn’t know, that Kennedy started an affair with Mary Richardson while he was married to his first wife. Richardson got pregnant, which ended the first marriage. Later, as we all know, Richardson — after having four children — committed suicide.
What Malone doesn’t say is that Kennedy — whom she does identify as a serial philanderer — had an affair during the Richardson marriage with a then famous TV star. (Their friendship endures.) Kennedy’s children have not fared particularly well as adults. One of them, Kick, was written out of the HBO series, “Newsroom,” before she even started.
There’s a lot more. Nearly everyone in New York circles has a bad story about Bobby Kennedy. I was friends with Peter Kaplan, Kennedy’s Harvard roommate, in the 80s and 90s until his death from cancer. He was regularly negative about Kennedy in our conversations. If he were alive, he’d be livid at how Kennedy turned out.
The bear story is disgusting, and seems like a crime that will go unpunished. It’s just part of Kennedy’s horrible story. Malone almost makes a point that Kennedy’s psychosis stems from his father’s tragic death. But his other siblings — Kathleen, Rory, Kerry — have managed to rise above it and make lives for themselves of value. They’ve all disowned his presidential candidacy, along with other members of the family.
Here’s the link to the New Yorker story. And a picture below from it.
Actor Zac Efron appears to be fine after his weekend spell at a Spanish hospital.
In Ibiza, worried workers at a villa found him in a pool and called an ambulance. Efron was taken to the hospital but released soon after.
Now he’s posted a photo of himself in tip top shape, pumping iron.
What happened in the pool? Did he fall asleep? Was he doing the backstroke wrong? Had he watched some of his movies?
Well it’s good to know he’s bearing up in Ibiza. It’s not exactly Canarsie.
The Kennedys gave us great statesman like John and Robert senior.
They also gave us Chappaquiddick and William Kennedy Smith.
In between there have been successes and failures and scandals. But none of them is worse than Robert Kennedy Jr. He’s a totally deplorable human being.
Knowing The New Yorker was coming with this story, Kennedy reveals the truth of a decade old tale to, weirdly, right wing crackpot and former comedian Roseanne Barr.
Watching this video is jaw dropping, Kennedy recalls a hunting trip in which he loaded a dead bear in his car, had dinner at a steak house, and then intended to go to the airport. Realizing he couldn’t leave the bear in the car, he then surreptitiously dumped it in Central Park. He made it seem like a cyclist had killed it.
This really happened. The mystery bear was reported widely in the news. Now we know who did it. This is not funny or amusing. This is sick. This is a man who cheated on first and second wives, kept a sex diary that was published by the NY Post, and saw his second wife hang herself in the barn.
More recently Kennedy has conceded that other women may have unsavory stories about him. He’s a conspiracy theorist who rails against vaccines. He’s surrounded himself with people like Barr who have revolted his uncle, President John Kennedy, and his father, Robert F. Kennedy.
Is this the end? Let’s hope so. We’re finally on a path with Kamala Harris to normalcy again. Kennedy must be rejected on all levels. His own siblings and cousins have denounced him. Now it’s our turn.
PS No kidding. The bear’s family should start a civil suit.
Kennedy’s video, which he’s posted to get ahead of the New Yorker story, is below, followed by the report on Channel 4 WNBC in 2014. The youthful prank happened when RFK Jr. was 60 years old — an age his father and uncle didn’t get to live to. He’s completely dishonored them.
So he put a dead baby bear in his car after it was hit by a car in New York City (not his car, according to him) so he could skin it and eat it later, left the dead cub in his car for almost an entire day, then took it out and left it on a bike rack in Central Park.
This is… https://t.co/l5zXOEJNUu
— Ally Sammarco (@Ally_Sammarco) August 4, 2024
BOX OFFICE UPDATING
“Deadpool and Wolverine” is still number 1. The Ryan Reynolds-Hugh Jackman Marvel send up will hit $400 million domestic on Monday, tomorrow. It’s up around $850 mil worldwide. The end is not in sight.
M. Night Shayamalan’s “Trap” is crap, basically. “The Sixth Sense” director has been making movies for 25 years. This is the second worst wide open he’s ever had. The worst was his last one. The only scary thing is that he can’t get a screenwriter to give him a good premise.
As I said yesterday, “Harold and the Purple Crayon” is DOA with just $3 million worldwide. It take a lot to screw up a 69 year old classic book with a live action movie. But these people have done it. Not a good entry on Zachary Levi’s already messy resume.
No one knows what happened to “The Instigators.” I will try and watch it today. Poor reviews. No numbers from Apple for the theatrical release. If you saw it, say something: showbiz411@gmail.com
I don’t mind saying that Nancy Pelosi is one of the greatest people I’ve ever been lucky enough to know and talk to. She’s brilliant, the definition of intelligence and savvy. She’s also incredibly warm.
With Lesley Stahl this morning on CBS she discussed her new book, “The Art of Power,” which is a subtle rebuke of Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal.” Pelosi has now dedicated herself to making sure Trump won’t be back in the White House. She gives good advice to Kamala Harris about Trump, too: “Just ignore him.”
Pelosi also says, very tactfully, that she made no calls to oust Joe Biden from the presidential race. She tells Stahl Biden should be on Mt. Rushmore.
Watch the whole thing here:
It’s hard to imagine how this could happen, but you know…
The Tony Awards already had a tough time with this year’s show. They didn’t need any more trouble.
And yet, two months after the awards were handed out, Tonys have made a ridiculous error. They sent out the engraved statues to the winners. In the case of playwright David Adjmi, they misspelled his name.
Adjmi wrote “Stereophonic,” the hit show inspired by the making of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album. The show is terrific, and a big hit.
You’d think that the Tonys could at least get his name right, but they left out the ‘d’ in Adjmi.
You see, you can’t get respect anywhere these days. Adjmi posted a photo of his award to Instagram. I guess it’s a collector’s item. The awards people had better learn that name. Adjmi will definitely be back.
Kanye West is back.
You thought he was gone, right? But no, here’s a surprise drop overnight of “Vultures 2” with Ty Dolla $ign.
West is an avowed self proclaimed antisemite who admires Hitler. He burned his whole career down to the ground sticking to those proclamatons. He lost all his business deals including the most profitable one, at Adidas.
So it’s only appropriate that he ends the album with these words: Fuck Adidas.
Otherwise, “Vultures 2” is a pretty timid album. It’s mostly about sex — one song is “Slide” (Slide in, would you ride?) and money, and West’s relationships. There’s a lot of material mixed in from his gospel adventures a few years ago. Two of his kids with Kim Kardashian are one innocuous track.
Gone, as far as I can tell, is his old producer, Mike Dean. West has a new group of consorts. A lot of the album is left over from the Vultures 1 project. Todd Rundgren’s vocal, recorded in 2021, is buried in the song, “My Soul.”
West — I will not call him Ye — even gets philosophical on the song “Husband”: “The only thing you really need is a husband
The only thought you ever need is “I trust him” (“I trust him”)
All your dreams, all your goals
It’s promised with this ring I have in my hands (My hands)”
This is not the abrasive Kanye we’ve known in the past:
“Got a plan for us, got a plan to grow
Got a plan for homes, got a plan for bad times
Got a plan for good times, got a plan for hood times
Got a plan for hood crimes, got a plan for trust
Got a plan for lust, got a plan for Beverly Hills (Hills)”
The production value is high. The sampling is low. The rhetoric, aside from the Adidas mention, is kept in control.
Does this change everything that’s gone on for the last several years? No. But West’s fans will be buying this thing up quickly. It’s already number 1 on iTunes.
The whole is here on YouTube, as provided by Kanye:
Nancy Pelosi’s Advice to Kamala Harris: “Ignore Him” — Watch Her Brilliant Interview Here