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'SNL' alum John Mulaney has reportedly checked into rehab

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Will Heath/NBC(NEW YORK) — John Mulaney has reportedly checked into rehab, according to multiple outlets. 

The former Saturday Night Live writer and recent host, who has been open about his struggle with addiction, is currently seeking treatment at a Pennsylvania facility after relapsing, Page Six reports. 

A source also told the outlet, “John’s friends and family are happy that he’s finally getting some help and focusing on his health. His fans know he’s struggled in the past with sobriety, he has talked about it openly.”

“Unfortunately he has struggled again during the pandemic,” the insider explained. “He’s on board with his recovery, he’s not fighting against rehab.”

In a cover story for Esquire‘s September 2019 issue, Mulaney, 38, got candid about his struggle with sobriety and revealed that he started drinking at the age of 13 before later abusing drugs.    

“I drank for attention,” he said. “I was really outgoing, and then at 12, I wasn’t. I didn’t know how to act. And then I was drinking, and I was hilarious again.”

The comedian added that he “never liked” marijuana but “loved” cocaine and other prescription drugs like Vicodin. At 23, though, after going on a “bender,” he got sober without the help of a treatment facility.  

“I went on a bender that weekend that was just, like, fading in and out of a movie,” he explained. “It was just crazy… But yeah… I thought to myself, ‘I don’t like this guy anymore. I’m not rooting for him.‘”

By Danielle Long
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

'The Bachelorette' recap: A past suitor returns with a bombshell announcement

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ABC/Craig Sjodin(LOS ANGELES) — The special two-night season 16 finale of The Bachelorette kicked off on Monday, with Tayshia ready to take her relationships with Brendan, Ivan and Zac to the next level in the fantasy suites.

However, just when she thought she’d found some clarity, a past suitor, for whom she had strong feelings, was back in the picture.

But first, Ivan and Tayshia’s ability to works as a team was put to the test with a challenge to break the record for the world’s longest kiss — while sitting in an ice bath.  They set a record of their own by maintaining a lip-lock for 6:35, topping the previous mark by more than a minute.

Later, Ivan told Tayshia he was falling in love with her her.  She returned the sentiment, telling Ivan she was falling for him too, and invited him to spend the night with her in the fantasy suite.

Next, Zac and Tayshia “explored each other” by squirting paint all over each other and rolling around on a piece of canvas. After cleaning up, Zac revealed his true feelings for her, declaring, “I know that I love you.”

“It’s just wild, ’cause I love you too,” she replied. Addressing the camera, Tayshia gushes, “Zac loves me and I love Zac.”

It’s not exactly clear what went on between the two during their night in the fantasy suite.  All Zac would reveal was “There was definitely moments of passion and kissing and closeness.”

Finally, it was Brendan’s turn. However, while Tayshia considered Brendan “husband material,” he was becoming becoming less and less certain of his willingness to pop the question.

Needless to say, spending the first part of his date with Tayshia, checking out engagement rings and wedding bands, only added to his anxiety.

That night, he revealed that while Tayshia was “someone he could envision as the mother of his children,” the memory of his first failed marriage left big parts of him “still broken.”

Tayshia’s dream of spending a night in the fantasy suite with someone she “saw a future with” and would “end up with,” ended in an emotional goodbye send-off for Brendan.

The next day, Tayshia confided in season 13 Bachelorette, Rachel Lindsay, that she had gained the “clarity” she’d been seeking from each suitor.  However, she also indicated that she still had feelings for Ben, whom she’d sent home at the last ceremony.

With two roses and two men left, Tayshia was “feeling good” going into Tuesday the next rose ceremony.  That changes, though, when Ben showed up at her door with the bombshell announcement that he was “in love” with Tayshia.

“I see a life with you,” he insisted.

“I’m gonna need a minute,” Tayshia tells Ben as she leaves the room. 

“I have a rose ceremony, what am I going to do with that?” she angrily asked a crew member.

The Bachelorette season 16 finale concludes Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

By George Costantino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

'Curb Your Enthusiasm' producer on what it took to get germophobe Larry David back to set

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HBO/John P. Johnson(LOS ANGELES) — Like others in the industry, Jeff Schaffer, the producer of HBO’s Emmy winning Curb Your Enthusiasm, has a unique balancing act — how to shoot the show while keeping everyone safe from COVID-19. 

“We started writing Curb before COVID, and then when COVID happened we had to change some things,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter of the show’s upcoming 11th season.

“We had to make the decision about what era we were writing — before, during or after COVID…So we made the decision to set the new season in a post-COVID world.” He adds of the Curb universe, “COVID is in the rearview mirror, but it happened. And Larry [the character] has opinions on all of it,” he says with a laugh. 

He adds, “I can’t tell you which characters got COVID, but I can definitely tell you that we do examine peoples’ behavior during the COVID era.”

Both Curb and Schaffer’s other show, the comedy Dave, are shooting under strict protocols, he explained, including masks and face shields, “bubbles” of personnel who don’t interact, and rigorous testing.

“We knew if we were going to entice Larry to come back during a pandemic we needed to have the strictest protocols. We had to convince Larry, ‘Here’s what it’s going to look like if you want to shoot. So … do you want to shoot?'”

Fans know David was a proud germophobe even before the pandemic, and was a detractor of the custom of shaking hands and an advocate of social distancing even before that was a thing. 

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

Hailee Steinfeld reveals she's "honored" to part of the Marvel Universe with 'Hawkeye'

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Apple TV+(LOS ANGELES) — A couple of weeks ago, a spy caught Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld running across a New York City subway platform, and with that it was revealed she she’d be joining the archer Avenger in his Disney+ spin-off series Hawkeye.

Her appearance, and the fact she was packing an archery bow led fans to realize she’d be playing Kate Bishop, who in the comics was a protege of Renner’s character, who eventually takes on the Hawkeye mantle.

Officially, however, Marvel has remained mum. 

To ABC Audio, however, Hailee says she’s “honored to be part of the MCU.”

She joked about the fateful subway ride that let the cat out of the bag, laughing, “Yeah, right, we were just trying to get somewhere and a coupla pictures were taken and now here we are.”

The Dickinson star and producer said she’s, “So, so excited and honored obviously to be part of the MCU and be playing alongside Jeremy. He’s wonderful and [it’s] quite, quite a different world than Dickinson.”

From a 19-century female poet to an arrow-slinging comic book hero? All in a day’s work, Steinfeld says. “You know, obviously, as an artist, as an actor, it’s fun to be able to jump into different things such as the two. So it’s been amazing.”

Hawkeye comes out on Disney+ in the fall of 2021; Dickinson season 2 hits Apple TV+ on January 8.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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

On 'GMA', Jon Favreau opens 'The Book of Boba Fett', talks how "scared" he was about *that* cameo leaking

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Disney+(LOS ANGELES) —(SPOILER ALERT) Friday’s surprise-filled season 2 finale of The Mandalorian ended with a Marvel-like post-credit scene that set up a previously unannounced Star Wars series for Disney+. 

On Monday, Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau told Good Morning America a little more about that show, The Book of Boba Fett. As the title suggests, the series centers on Temuera Morrison’s recently resurrected bounty hunter.  The tease showed him taking the late Jabba The Hutt’s throne for himself.

Favreau revealed the series is being worked on now, and will take the place of The Mandalorian on Disney+ before production on a third season of the Emmy winning show gets underway.  He also noted that he’s personally working on that series, as well as two other of the newly-announced Disney+ Star Wars shows: his producing partner Dave Filoni’s Ahsoka, and Rangers of the New Republic — all of which take place during Mandalorian‘s timeline.

Jon also explained how nervous the cast and crew were about somebody spoiling the return of a certain Jedi in the finale’s climax. 

“It is very hard to keep a secret nowadays, especially with Star Wars…” Favreau said. “Every piece of casting [for this season] leaked,” Favreau said. “We were so scared right up until it aired, that our surprise cameo was gonna leak, too.” 

The filmmaker said, “We started off the whole series with the Baby Yoda reveal…that was a secret that everyone was blown away by…and then to have the very last episode, to have Mark Hamill…” was a nice dovetail, Favreau implied.

Hamill himself tweeted, “The fact that we were able to keep my involvement a secret for over a year with no leaks is nothing less than a miracle. A real triumph for spoiler-haters everywhere!”

For his super-secret scene in The Mandalorian, the 69-year-old star was digitally de-aged to make him appear to be around five years older than he appeared in 1983’s Return of the Jedi.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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