A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
President Trump (James Austin Johnson) and Sec. Hegseth (Colin Jost) speak after the United States launched a series of military strikes against Iran.
I was hoping for a mocking of the State of the Union, but, no, Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump had to top himself just four days later. The result was this cold open with whatever the writers could come up with in one day. They weren't happy about it, either.
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like American Girl Doll collectors complaining about alleged changes to the dolls.
I wish I were surprised at Hawking being in the Epstein files. If I have learned nothing else from this scandal, it's that Epstein was relentless in cozying up to rich, powerful, and influential men and a lot of those men not only didn't resist his efforts, but seemed to enjoy them. Hawking was one of them. Surprised, no. Disappointed, yes.
Follow over the jump for Weekend Update's interviews and the monologue.
Trump declares himself "absolved" by the latest release of Epstein files, while Elon Musk’s Christmas wish for a trip to the sex island is put on blast, and Jon Stewart finds himself on Epstein’s list… for documentary voiceovers. Plus, as MAGA continues to shield the president from all accountability, Jon Stewart shines a light on the double standard of sanctuary given to Trump vs. immigrants.
Yes, releasing these files in installments really does seem like Groundhog Day. Things repeat and they don't seem to change. Sigh. At least we got a funny, if puerile, image out of it and some schadenfreude out of Stewart making a cameo in the files. Hey, at least it wasn't his doing.
President Trump is referenced thousands of times and accused of hideous crimes in the latest release of documents from the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the Department of Justice failed to redact the identities and personal information of many of Epstein's victims, and the DOJ announced that there will be no investigation into any of the prominent men implicated in the files.
Like Stewart, Stephen also mentioned Elon Musk emailing Epstein on Christmas morning — top of the next year's naughty list, indeed! Too bad Todd Blanche, who I haven't mentioned here before, declared there is no one new who could be prosecuted. No one Blanche, Pam Bondi, or Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump is willing to prosecute, that is. Again, sigh.
Today is Groundhog Day, the ironically-titled Department of Justice released about half of the Epstein files, there were many disturbing accounts about a lot of famous people including Bill Gates, Steve Bannon, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk is in there too - more than a thousand times, Donald Trump’s name was mentioned 4,896 times, Trump’s Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick’s name pops up 138 times, there appears to be an email to Ghislaine Maxwell from Melania, Trump had the audacity to play the old “Jeffrey who?” card pretending they weren’t actually friends, Trump went after Jimmy in a late night Truth Social post criticizing Trevor Noah who hosted the Grammys, Trump is suing the IRS for $10 Billion, he also announced that he's closing The Trump Kennedy Center for renovations, Melania the movie made $7 million over the weekend, and journalist Don Lemon was arrested on Thursday night for covering an anti-ICE protest at a church in St. Paul.
I can understand Jimmy K's kids not believing Groundhog Day is a thing; they're growing up, like me, in southern California. Winter is not the oppressive presence there that it is here in Michigan or much of the rest of the Midwest and Northeast; in fact, it's relatively pleasant. It's not too hot and the hills are green. Only after I moved here did I understand the appeal of the day.
Thanks to Jimmy K and the Epstein files, Howard Lutnick makes an appearance in my blog for the first time. Since he's both Commerce Secretary and Epstein's former next-door neighbor, I'm sure it won't be the last.
Seth takes a closer look at Trump and his family getting a large investment from an Abu Dhabi royal for their private crypto company as he's named in the new Epstein files along with many other wealthy and powerful people.
While Melania had a record opening for a documentary, I'm sure it won't save it from a Razzie nomination or two. Being the highest grossing documentary of 2016 didn't save Hillary's America from winning four Razzies. Here's to hoping that history rhymes.
Since its 1983 debut in Florida as a casual sports bar, Hooters grew exponentially through the 1980's and 90's, growing to become a massive brand across the world with hundreds of restaurants, tens of thousands of employees and a very controversial brand name which created a whole new segment in the industry. However despite all of this success and notoriety, the chain has struggled recently, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 2025. Join me today as we find out what happened.
Jake Williams added to the story Company Man Mike told with Hooters Air and Hooters Casino, both of which failed because of issues with the brand, which didn't appeal to women, families, and upscale travelers. In addition, Millennials grew up with a poor perception of the brand. Also, Jake made a bigger deal of private equity's role in the story, noting that the same private equity firm owned both Hooters and TGI Fridays. As Jake joked, that ended well — not.
Speaking of endings, I closed my reaction to Company Man Mike's video by writing, "As for Hooters' identity crisis, I wish the chain good luck; they'll need it." That seems to be Jake's take, too.
2022 winner Love on the Spectrum leads with five nominations, followed by defending winner Welcome to Wrexham with three, 2021 winner RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked with two, and newcomers America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives with just this one. That's pretty much the order that Gold Derby predicts for the nominees. Half of the experts, 85.7% of the editors, and 77.4% of the users have chosen Love on the Spectrum to walk off the stage with the statuette. The other half of the experts, including Joyce Eng, 14.3% of the editors, and 12.8% of the users expect two-time winner Welcome to Wrexham will repeat. RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked has the support of 6.8% of users, while long shots The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders currently have the votes of 2.2% and 0.8% of users, respectively.
Support behind Love on the Spectrum consolidated by the Creative Arts ceremony, when 77.8% of experts, 83.3% of editors, and 85.6% of users had jumped on the bandwagon. Welcome to Wrexham still had significant support with 22.2% of experts, 16.7% of editors, and 11.0% backing it. The rest of the nominees lost their voters, with only 2.0% of users still picking RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked, 1.0% choosing The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and 0.3% hanging on to America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. The prognosticators picked correctly, as Love on the Spectrum won.
Karina Holden ('Love on the Spectrum' executive producer) tells how the series is a learning experience for her. In 2022, the show won big at the Creative Arts Emmys by winning all three of its nominations, including Unstructured Reality Program. Gold Derby contributor Charles Bright hosts this interview as part of our "Meet the Experts" Emmy nominees panel for reality/nonfiction.
This is the video I should have embedded in 'The Traitors' won two Emmy Awards for National Coming Out Day to celebrate the show's Emmys for Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program and Outstanding Directing for a Reality Program. Better late than never. Speaking of casting...
Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program
The Amazing Race – Jesse Tannenbaum, Alex Stiner, Kayla Kellerbauer, and Pollyanna Jacobs (CBS)
Love on the Spectrum – Cian O'Clery, Sean Bowman, and Emma Choate (Netflix)
Queer Eye – Danielle Gervais, Jessica Jorgenson, Natalie Pino, and Brian Puentes (Netflix)
RuPaul's Drag Race – Goloka Bolte, Adam Cook, and Michelle Redwine (MTV)
Survivor – Jesse Tannenbaum, Caitlin Moore, Penni Lane Clifton, and Daniel Gradias (CBS)
The team from Love On The Spectrum accepts the Emmy for Casting For A Reality Program at the 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
I appreciated having Marlee Matlin and Nyle DiMarco, himself an Emmy nominee for Deaf President Now!, present. They exemplify another dimenson of diversity. So do the cast of Love on the Spectrum, who accepted the award along with the casting directors. Congratulations!
Since today is a late celebration of National Sports Day, it's time to acknowledge the Emmy Awards won by Welcome to Wrexham.
Outstanding Picture Editing for an Unstructured Reality Program
Deadliest Catch – Rob Butler, Isaiah Camp, Josh Stockero, Alexander Rubinow, Hugh Elliott, Nico Natale, Brock Carter, Christopher James Forrest, and Chris Courtner (Discovery Channel)
Life Below Zero: "The Last Snow" – Matt Edwards, Matt Mercer, Jennifer Nelson, Michael Swingler, and Tanner Roth (National Geographic)
Love on the Spectrum: "Episode 7" – Leanne Cole, Rachel Grierson-Johns, Gretchen Peterson, and John Rosser (Netflix)
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked: "Drag Baby Mamas" – Miguel Siqueiros, Jimmy Bazan, and Johanna Gavard (MTV)
Welcome to Wrexham: "Down to the Wire" – Sam Fricke, Jenny Krochmal, Mohamed el Manasterly, Michael Oliver, Tim Roche, Matt Wafaie, Steve Welch, and Tim Wilsbach (FX
This is the other category where the top three nominees for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program are competing with each other. Since Welcome to Wrexham is the two-time defending winner, I'm predicting it will three-peat. My second choice is 2022's winner, Love on the Spectrum. My third choice is 2021's winner, Life Below Zero. Sorry, RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked, I think Deadliest Catch has a better chance.
The team from Welcome To Wrexham accepts the Emmy for Picture Editing For An Unstructured Reality Program at the 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
That was inspiring. Congratulations!
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Reality Program
The Amazing Race – Jim Ursulak, Allie Boettger, Paul Bruno, John Buchanan, Dean Gaveau, Ryan P. Kelly, Marcus Lominy, Richard Chardy Lopez, Mickey McMullen, Sean Milburn, Paul Orozco, Simon Paine, John Pitron, Jeff Zipp, Troy Smith, and Ryan Gerle (CBS)
American Idol: "Grand Finale" – Patrick Smith, Randy Faustino, Michael Parker, Manny Barrajas, Christian Schrader, Jesse Dunham, Barry Weir Jr., and Adrian Ordonez (ABC)
Deadliest Catch: "My Brother's Keeper" – Jared Robbins (Discovery Channel)
The Voice: "Live Finale, Part 2" – Michael Abbott, Randy Faustino, Tim Hatayama, Christian Schrader, Carlos Torres, Andrew Fletcher, Shaun Sebastian, Kenyata Westbrook, Colin Bonney, Servio Escobedo, John Koster, Robert P. Matthews Jr., Marlon Moore, and Ryan Young (NBC)
Welcome to Wrexham: "Down to the Wire" – Mark Jensen (FX)
I may be featuring the Twitter/X promotional image for Deadliest Catch, but Welcome to Wrexham is the two-time defending winner here, too. The only nominees that might prevent it from three-peating this category are American Idol and The Voice, and only if the voters settle on which is the better singing competition show.
Mark Jensen, CAS accepts the Emmy for Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Reality Program at the 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Congratulations!
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature to see if I continue my Creative Arts Emmy Awards coverage, shift to the Daytime Emmys, or do something else entirely.
Previous posts about the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards
2022 winner Love on the Spectrum leads with five nominations, followed by defending winner Welcome to Wrexham with three, 2021 winner RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked with two, and newcomers America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives with just this one. That's pretty much the order that Gold Derby predicts for the nominees. Half of the experts, 85.7% of the editors, and 77.4% of the users have chosen Love on the Spectrum to walk off the stage with the statuette. The other half of the experts, including Joyce Eng, 14.3% of the editors, and 12.8% of the users expect two-time winner Welcome to Wrexham will repeat. RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked has the support of 6.8% of users, while long shots The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders currently have the votes of 2.2% and 0.8% of users, respectively.
The search for true love continues as newcomers and returning favorites navigate the ups and downs of dating on the autism spectrum.
This is sweet. It is also shot, edited, and scored more like a documentary than a reality show, which shows the fine line between nonfiction and unstructured reality, a line crossed by United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell in 2023, where Bell found the competition stiffer.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Live Untucked captures what really happens behind the curtain of the hottest show on the Las Vegas Strip. Premieres April 16 on WOW Presents Plus: https://hubs.la/Q03dBxBM0
Welcome to Vegas, baby! Set at the iconic Flamingo Las Vegas, Season 2 of the outrageous, 6-part docu-series stars Drag Race legends: Bosco, Derrick Barry, Kennedy Davenport, Latrice Royale, Lawrence Chaney, Mirage, and Nymphia Wind[.]
Starring Taylor Frankie Paul, Demi Engemann, Jennifer Affleck, Jessi Ngatikaura, Layla Taylor, Mayci Neeley, Mikayla Mathews and Whitney Leavitt.
The scandalous world of a group of Mormon mom influencers implodes when they get caught in the midst of a swinging sex scandal that makes international headlines. Now, their sisterhood is shaken to its core. Faith, friendships, and reputations are all on the line. Will #MomTok be able to survive and continue to give the rulebook a run for its money, or will this group fall from grace?
I'll sum up our reaction by quoting what I wrote in 2016, "My family roots for the U, not the Y!" My nephew even attends the University of Utah. Also, this show gives me another reason to be suspicious of TikTok.
Perfection isn't always perfect. With unfiltered access to the auditions, training camp and full NFL season, this is the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders like you've never seen them before. AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders premieres June 20th only on Netflix.
I was wondering if this is connected to Cheer and it is. That's a good sign, although it won't be enough for the show to win this year.
Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominations these shows earned.
Desi Lydic Foxsplains the Epstein files, the most explosive government coverup in history that really isn't that big of a deal. #DailyShow #Epstein #DesiLydic #Foxsplains
Desi Lydic Foxsplains is Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series and Outstanding Performer In a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.
As I exclaimed the one and only time I mentioned Victoria's Secret before, oh my. I had no idea Jeffrey Epstein was involved with this business, too. No wonder the trailer has so many views; it's a business story about using sex to sell its product that includes a sex scandal.
...but I have stayed away from the latest iteration of the story until now. As it is, I'm following Lydic's lead in making this about the poorly executed cover-up and misdirection, not the scandal itself. I'm adding Emptywheel's take that Jeffrey Epstein Is about Trump’s Failing Ability to Command Attention, which she thinks is one of Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump's superpowers. It's always a bad thing for a superhero or supervillain to have their superpowers fail. May the Epstein scandal be Hoover Cleveland's Kryptonite.
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like Uber offering free rides for teens to prom.
So does the minting of Superman coins and medals, which has been in the works since last year. Hoover Cleveland deserves neither credit nor blame. That goes to Joe Biden.
Two Applebee's Barflies, Darlene and Duke (Bowen Yang, Sarah Sherman), stop by Weekend Update to discuss the recent string of casual dining restaurants declaring bankruptcies.
The controversial restaurant has recently filed for bankruptcy. This video explores the brand's history while highlighting some of the biggest reasons behind its decline.
Here's Company Man Mike's list.
Red Lobster's and TGI Fridays' bankruptcies were and still are such big deals that they made a joint cameo under "External Factors." Company Man Mike also featured his videos about them in the outro. The pandemic also made an appearance. Check out 2020 in this chart.
That's quite the drop! In retrospect, Hooters did well lasting five years; Chuck E. Cheese, Ruby Tuesday, and Sizzler filed for bankruptcy in the middle of 2020.
Company Man Mike added the "Free Toyota/Free Toy Yoda" lawsuit, which was a bad joke, to controversies, so I'm mentioning the one time I patronized a Hooters. It was in Orlando in 2003. I went with a late friend of mine, who suggested the place. I had a good time, but never went back. I just didn't want to be associated with the brand.
Moving on to competition, Company Man Mike posted this chart.
Even at its 2008 height, Hooters with ~400 locations would have been less than a third of Buffalo Wild Wings and less than a fifth of Wingstop. Now I feel like seeing where the nearest Wingstop is to me.
Why am I not surprised that private equity became one of the changing owners?
Restaurant chain Hooters of America filed for bankruptcy in Texas on Monday, seeking to address its $376 million debt by selling all of its company-owned restaurants.
I vaguely recall Stephen Colbert telling that joke, but I'm glad I saw it again to share it. Also, since I have been eating out very little since the pandemic, and when I do, it's at Hooters competitor Buffalo Wild Wings, the butt of Colbert's joke, I haven't noticed inflation much at casual restaurants. I had no idea inflation was that severe in that sector!
Bloomberg News reports Hooters may be on the brink of filing for bankruptcy. The restaurant chain once had 430 locations around the world. Now, 40 locations shuttered in the U.S. in the past year alone. There's another issue specific to Hooters. In the "Me Too" era, Hooters was seen as a throwback to another time when scantily clad waitresses seemed like a fun idea. Inside Edition's Alison Hall has more.
The answer to the headline question turned out to be yes. On the other hand, the answer to whether the chain as a whole will close its door will probably be no. I'll get to that later. First, I'll address Hooters' reputation that might have caught up with it in Company Man's Hooters - The Controversial History.
Hooters is a national restaurant chain with a controversial history. This video talks about some of their bigger controversies over the years.
Company Man Mike was right; Hooters has a controversial history! Now I'm wondering when he'll come out with "The Decline of Hooters...What Happened?"
Hooters has filed for bankruptcy, but the chain isn't going away. Hooters of America CEO Sal Melilli explains what's next for the company in the video above.
I don't know if Sal Melilli's plan will address food and labor costs, but it does deal with the chain's checkered reputation. I hope it works.
I'll leave you with my two favorite images of signs in Troy...The second proves that I can fail the Butt-Head half of the Beavis and Butt-Head test. What makes it even worse is that is the exit sign for the Hooters in Troy. Think about it.
Unfortunately, the Troy Hooters location closed seven years ago. On the one hand, this is the last time I can tell that joke. On the other, it was time my readers and I found out.
A couple of the videos mentioned the bankruptcies of Red Lobster and TGI Fridays. Those were the subjects of two of the most read entries of last year. Expect me to cover them on Wayback Wednesday. Stay tuned.
Some Trump voters regret sending him back to the White House because he's doing nothing to lower prices on everyday items like coffee and potato chips, and there's a new medicine that might extend your dog's lifespan by years.
Elon Musk is still going with his Chainsaw Massacre of our federal workforce, Guillermo lists the five things he did at work this week, a group of Republican Senators met privately with the White House to complain about Elon’s impulsive and haphazard cuts, companies owned by Elon Musk have been the recipients of more than $30 billion from our government, Trump is now hocking dollar bills made of gold, and he is meeting with President Zelensky of Ukraine to discuss what is being called a “reconstruction investment fund,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced that a list of Epstein clients and his flight logs would be released today (they were not), instead they released a binder full of information everyone already had, people keep forgetting that Trump and Epstein were good friends, and in honor of the Oscars we took to Hollywood Blvd for a new edition of “Breaking the News.”
You pointed out four years ago that Elon Musk's fortune and the success of his companies were both built on government subsidies. American liberals may not have liked Musk for being a billionaire, but they generally quietly ignored what you pointed out as long as they thought he was on their side. Now that he is trying to buy Twitter, potentially ruining their venue for activism and entertainment, then announced that he wasn't on their side, they are all over that fact. They've also called into question the purported technological achievements of his companies and realized a lot of their value springs from faith in Musk himself. His companies' stock prices are now collapsing, which was one of the "black swan" events Lathechuck postulated in the comments four years ago. I don't suppose you are surprised by any of this, are you?
He wasn't. In fact, he joked that he was bored by it. Just the same, liberals and progressives were right about his effect on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. It's one of the main reasons we've moved to Bluesky.
[O]ne of the recurring themes in the comments to No More Mister Nice Blog, particularly from Yastreblyansky at The Rectification of Names, that a lot of the "working class" supporters of Trump based on their educational levels are actually small business owners, the petite bourgeoisie. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene come to mind. Both were small business owners before being elected to Congress, which adds new meaning to "petty bourgeoisie."
Desi Lydic rates the Democratic Party's methods of opposing Trump on the cringe-o-meter: from off-key protest chants to interpretive dance to podcasts. Plus, with so many Dems saying "F**k Trump," Grace Kuhlenschmidt thinks that might just be a great idea.
An early happyNationalTVTalkShowHostDay! I'm celebrating early because I have the perfect three videos for today that my wife and I watched last night and because I plan on going full spooky season tomorrow for National Horror Movie Day. Priorities.
With two weeks until the election, Jon Stewart sifts through the increasingly weird and surreal election news: from Trump's ramble about Arnold Palmer's d*ck, to his shift at McDonald's, to Kamala Harris's campaign event with Liz Cheney. Plus, he breaks down the GOP's reaction to Trump's "enemy within" comment.
Stephen Colbert is among the millions of Americans who have already cast their vote for president, VP Kamala Harris deftly handled a MAGA heckler who interrupted her rally, and former president Trump subjected his rally goers to a 12-minute screed about a dead celebrity's genitalia.
May Kamala Harris not only lead in early voting, but in the final popular vote tally and the Electoral College, too.
Thanks to Steve in Manhattan for linking to this entry and MSNBC examines Project 2025, part 1 in Mike’s Blog Round-Up at Crooks & Liars and welcome to all of you who came here from his link! Seeing all of you reading makes me wonder if I should write part 3 today. Stay tuned!
The Supreme Court is front and center after key decisions on January 6th prosecutions and on how federal agencies make rules. Plus — we're still waiting for the justices' decision on Trump's claim of presidential immunity. Sarah Cooper, Tim Miller, Molly Jong-Fast, and Charles Coleman Jr. join Stephanie Ruhle for this week's Nightcap.
Other than Jong-Fast's remarks, this segment about Supreme Court decisions isn't directly about Project 2025, but it is about elections mattering, including the election of Hoover Cleveland in 2016. Back then, I wrote Kunstler said Americans would elect maniacs. Here's to hoping that Americans won't do that again and, more importantly, working to prevent it from happening a second time.
Michelle Goldberg, columnist for the New York Times, talks with Alicia Menendez about what Donald Trump's allies, architects of "Project 2025" as saying about how a potential future Trump administration will use the Comstock Act to end the mailing of abortion medication in the United States.
Leah Litman and Mini Timmaraju both mentioned the possible use of the Comstock Act to restrict abortion access again. I find that alarming enough that I think the parts of Comstock Act that are currently unconstitutional need to be repealed, restricting the ability of anti-choice advocates to reanimate them.
I do mean reanimate them, as Alicia Menendez filling in for Alex Wagner called the Comstock Act "the 1873 zombie law." I'm glad Michelle Goldberg talked about Senator Tina Smith's Stop Comstock Act to repeal the entire law, which I support, even if it won't get passed this Congress.* Democrats need to flip the House, protect the majority in the Senate, and re-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to have a chance next year. It's not just Hoover Cleveland we need to stop; it's the entire authoritarian movement.
Olivia Troye, former advisor to Former Vice President Mike Pence, joins Katie Phang to discuss Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's ultra-conservative plan if Donald Trump gets a second term.
Troye's explanation for Project 2025 is explicitly, if not almost exactly, what I wrote in part 1, "the far right realized what a missed opportunity Trump's first term was and now they aren't going to miss their second chance. Yikes!" No wonder she's horrified. We should be, too.
I'm an environmentalist who not only recycles and reuses ideas, I also conserve resources, so I'm saving two videos about Project 2025 and climatechange for part 4. Stay tuned after InternationalAsteroidDay, the younger but paradoxically more established version of Apophis Day, to close June and Canada Day to begin July.
*By the way, I'm not one of the Americans who, in Goldberg's words, "lack a catastrophic imagination." I have one. In fact, the entire point of this blog is to share it with the world and help people, especially Americans, prepare for a post-catastrophe world — better yet, help prevent the catastrophe in the first place. Otherwise, as Menendez said, "Here we are."
Kenan Thompson, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Punkie Johnson, Mikey Day, Chloe Troast, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, James Austin Johnson, Marcello Hernández, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, John Higgins, Ben Marshall, Martin Herlihy, Bowen Yang, and Colin Jost bring their mothers on the show.
Stormy Daniels landed a few verbal punches during her testimony in Trump’s hush money trial, the former president hosted NFT buyers for a meal at Mar-a-Lago, CBS could be auctioned off if Paramount is sold, and there’s no end to the fascination around the worm that ate a portion of RFK Jr.’s brain.
If anything, the second day of Stormy's testimony was even better than the first, since Naptain America's lawyers gave her plenty of opportunities. I'll get to those later. Right now, I want to write that media consolidation has not been a good thing, but I'm not sure Paramount's likely buyer selling it off for parts is the way to reverse it. It might just result in a different form of consolidation that might just be worse than what we have now. Sigh.
Second, I have never mentioned Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., (RFK Jr.) on this blog before, which even I find surprising because of how much I wrote about minor party candidates for Examiner.com when it was a thing. That's because I was using that to distinguish my coverage or partition the niche, to borrow a concept from ecology, which gave me a unique angle among Michigan election reporters. They didn't care much about minor parties, so I would. It wasn't because I supported minor party candidates; I was a precinct delegate for the Michigan Democratic Party all the years I covered elections for Examiner.com. I no longer have such an interest to promote, so I'll gladly tear down minor party candidates, especially for the Natural Law Party, about whose leader I wrote "I'm annoyed at [Doug Dern] for not cooperating with me as an Examiner.com reporter--but that's another story for another time." "Another time" was in the footnote to Michigan's two smallest parties nominated candidates, too.
I don't much care for the Natural Law Party, and not because of their ideology. It's because of all the minor parties that I covered during my years writing for Examiner.com, they were the least cooperative. I called and asked for dates of conventions and lists of nominees and never got either. It was like they didn't want news coverage or free media. Consequently, I never wrote an article about them.
They finally got free media from news coverage when the Natural Law Party nominated RFK Jr. for President. I was not the least bit surprised that they did. RFK Jr. is their kind of candidate and will almost certainly give the Natural Law Party the most votes ever, which means he's good for the party even if he's bad for the rest of us for no other reason than his anti-vaccine views. Those, at least, make him a bigger threat to Donald Trump than to Joe Biden.
Speaking of Trump, follow over the jump for more late night talk show hosts mocking him in their monologues.
Happy Throwback Thursday! I know I suggested "a serious look back at Trump's hush money trial so far" yesterday, but I couldn't resist examining the proceedings through comedy, just like lastweek. Laughter helps me digest the news better.
Seth takes a closer look at Donald Trump coming face to face with Stormy Daniels in his criminal trial while his top VP contender Kristi Noem is grilled about lying in her book.
Stormy Daniels testified about her one-night stand with Donald Trump, Stephen broke down his favorite looks from the Met Gala, and a Chinese zoo got caught trying to pass off dogs as pandas.
Unlike SNL, which made Kristi Noem a running joke in 'SNL' covers protests, Kristi Noem, and hush money trial with Dua Lipa doing double duty, Stephen couldn't bring himself to mention her in the video description, even though he included her media appearances in his monologue. Instead, he closed with two light topics, the Met Gala and the dogs as fake pandas. At least those dogs were cute and made even cuter by dying them like giant pandas.
Today the prosecution called Stormy Daniels to the stand in Trump’s hush money case, Jimmy was mentioned AGAIN in reference to an interview she did on our show, she revealed some details about her sexual encounter with Trump, after hearing the first half of her testimony he took to Truth social begging for a mistrial, after making a huge deal about missing his son Barron’s graduation - Donny is set to headline an event in Minnesota, Governor Kristi Noem is now distancing herself from her own autobiography after admitting to shooting her puppy and lying about meeting Kim Jong Un, the Met Gala took place in New York last night, and the monologue gets interrupted by a man named Von Schitzenpantz, who bares the same name that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen came up with for him.
All of these clips have mentioned that there would be no description of genitalia, but Kimmel told his viewers where to look for one. This manipulated photo gives a hint.
Too bad it's fake. The real dress was plain royal blue without any orange mushrooms. Darn.
Jordan Klepper recaps his favorite Met Gala looks, Putin puts on his own night of dictator opulence at his inauguration, and Troy Iwata weighs in on the disturbingly dirty details of Stormy Daniels's testimony during Trump's criminal hush money trial.
At least The Daily Show didn't talk about Noem, her dog, and Kim Jong Un. That was getting painful.
Happy Sunday! It's time for a highlights post of last night's Saturday Night Live. I begin with Inside Politics Cold Open, where the cast makes fun of the "Biden is old" meme and the over-the-top efforts to combat it.
Dana Bash (Heidi Gardner) interviews Governor Gavin Newsom, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and Draymond Green (Michael Longfellow, Ego Nwodim, Marcello Hernández, Devon Walker) to address concerns about President Biden's age.
The biggest criticism of this skit I read in the comments was that Michael Longfellow didn't even try to imitate Gavin Newsom's distinctive gravelly voice and flair for the dramatic. I agree. Try harder next time. On the other hand, he and the other writers did capture Biden's actual accomplishments and the defenses Biden's surrogates use. As for "we all know the stakes," watch the first story in Weekend Update: Trump and Biden Visit Southern Border, McConnell to Step Down.
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news like Mitch McConnell announcing he's stepping down from Senate leadership at the end of the year.
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like Staten Island hosting a LGBTQ-friendly St. Patrick’s Day parade.
That's sad news about Flaco the Owl, who survived a year free (I don't know if I'd call Manhattan "in the wild"). The next segment features happier animal news, Charlotte the Stingray on Her Pregnancy.
Charlotte the Stingray (Ego Nwodim) stops by Weekend Update to discuss her mysterious pregnancy.
I have written that I'm a paleontologist many times over the past 13 years, but I haven't mentioned that my Ph.D. dissertation was on self-fertilization in snails since 2013, slightly more than eleven years ago to the day. I also studied parthenogenesis in snails and clams, so my mind went there as an explanation. I'm not alone in thinking this. The alternative is that Charlotte stored sperm from a mating before she was captured. That's another way she could be pregnant in isolation. We'll find out once her pups are born.
Follow over the jump for two clips featuring last night's host that tie into the themes of the previous two clips.
