December 3, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Kyle Dubiel/NBC(NEW YORK) — John Mulaney will not soon forget a February stint hosting Saturday Night Live.  That’s because unlike the other times he’s hosted, this one landed him in hot water with the United States Secret Service. 

On Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday night, Mulaney explained that he was interviewed by the agency after making an “elliptical” joke about assassinating President Trump.

“I did a joke that was not about Donald Trump,” Mulaney recalled. “The joke was about how it was a leap year, and leap year had been started by Julius Caesar to correct the calendar, and another thing that happened with Caesar was that he was stabbed to death by a bunch of senators because he went crazy. And I said I think that’s an interesting thing that could happen.”

It wasn’t a joke for the agency, which as policy investigates all potential threats against the president — even ones made by comedians like Mulaney, and like Kathy Griffin, who infamously posed for pictures with a bloody decapitated effigy of the president.

Still, Mulaney insists, “The [agent] vetting me was very understanding that the joke had nothing to do with Donald Trump because it was an elliptical reference to him,” Mulaney told Kimmel. “I didn’t say anything about him. In terms of risk assessment, no one who’s ever looked at me thought I registered above a one.”

The former SNL writer insisted of the interviewer, “I said I have been making jokes about him since 2007, so I have been making fun of him for 13 years. They said if it’s a joke, then I am cleared by the Secret Service.”

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 3, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

“Wonder Woman 1984” – © 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.(LOS ANGELES) — While Warner Bros. wasn’t the first studio to move its formerly theater-bound movies to a streaming service, it is the first to announce its entire 2021 slate will be headed to streaming in the U.S. on the same day they’re set to debut in theaters. 

That’s right: 17 movies, including James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, The Matrix 4, the reboot of Dune, Godzilla vs. Kong and Space Jam: A New Legacy will all hit HBO Max on the same day as their big-screen bows, and remain there for a month after each movie’s release date.

The announcement follows the news that the studio will launch Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters and on HBO Max on December 25.

The latest Conjuring film, the Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark, and the musical adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights will also be simultaneously streaming and playing at a theater near you — if they’re open by then, that is.  

“The hybrid model was created as a strategic response to the impact of the ongoing global pandemic, particularly in the U.S.,” noted Ann Sarnoff, chair and CEO, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group. “We’re living in unprecedented times which call for creative solutions, including this new initiative.”

She added, “No one wants films back on the big screen more than we do…but we have to balance this with the reality that most theaters in the U.S. will likely operate at reduced capacity throughout 2021.”

Sarnoff explained, “With this unique one-year plan, we can support our [theater partners] with a steady pipeline of world-class films, while also giving moviegoers who may not have access to theaters or aren’t quite ready to go back to the movies the chance to see our amazing 2021 films.”

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.