December 7, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Will Heath/NBC(NEW YORK) — Kate McKinnon returned as President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Cecily Strong played his key witness Melissa Carone in Saturday Night Live‘s cold open, which parodied the recent Michigan hearings that debated allegations of election fraud.

McKinnon’s frequently flatulent Giuliani opened the sketch by declaring that he’d brought before the panel “A dozen highly intelligent, barely intoxicated individuals” who were eyewitnesses to the alleged fraud.

The first was Strong, playing key witness Carone, whose rambling testimony has since gone viral.

“I personally saw hundreds if not thousands of dead people vote,” said Strong’s Carone, attempting to prove her credibility by insisting that she “signed an after David.”

“David signed, and I signed right after David.” she explained.

Next up was SNL‘s Heidi Gardner as a witness who claimed she “ate ballots.”

The bizarre parade of witnesses continued with Alex Moffet, who claimed he was abducted by aliens filling out absentee ballots, all for President-elect Joe Biden, and Chloe Fineman as Nicole Kidman’s character from The Undoing.  Beck Bennett also showed up as My Pillow inventor Mike Lindell, whose only purpose was seemingly to hawk his product.

Pete Davidson and Kyle Mooney also appeared in the bit as the men who were caught plotting to kidnap the governor of Michigan.

McKinnon’s Giuliani closed by vowing that he “will never rest…until this election is overturned, or I get a full pardon and $10 million in cash.”

Ozark star Jason Bateman hosted the episode, with musical guest Morgan Wallen, who was originally scheduled for the this season’s second episode, but replaced by Jack White after Wallen broke SNL‘s COVID-19 safety protocols.

December 5, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Photo Archives/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — David Lander, best known for his role as Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman on the 1970s sitcom Laverne & Shirley, has died at age 73.

In a statement, his family confirmed Lander passed away Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center “after bravely fighting multiple sclerosis for several decades.”

Lander and fellow actor Michael McKean developed what would eventually become their fan favorite Laverne & Shirley characters, Lenny and Squiggy, as college students together at Carnegie Mellon University. They portrayed the goofball upstairs neighbors of the title characters, played by Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, for all eight seasons of the ABC sitcom, which ran from 1976 to 1983. Squiggy’s well-timed entrances, with his signature “Hello,” were a comedic staple on the show.

Lander and McKean also appeared together in Steven Spielberg’s 1979 war comedy 1941 and the 1980 Robert Zemeckis film Used Cars, and they both voiced characters in the Nickelodeon children’s series Oswald. In 1979, Lander and McKean released an album called Lenny & Squiggy Present Lenny and the Squigtones.

On Saturday, McKean posted a photo of the two from their younger days as a tribute to his friend.

In 1984, Lander was diagnosed with MS, but kept his diagnosis private. He eventually revealed his illness in his 1999 memoir, Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn’t Tell Nobody.

Over the course of his career, Lander logged 120 film and television credits, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, A League of Their Own, and Scary Movie. His most recent credit was animation voice work for the Disney series Goldie and Bear in 2017.

He is survived by his wife, Kathy Lander, and daughter Natalie Lander.

By Andrea Tuccillo
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman may have passed away in August, but he’s a Hero for the Ages — in fact, that’s the posthumous honor he’ll receive at MTV’s Movie & TV Awards Sunday night.

Boseman’s fellow Avengers Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle will reportedly present the honor, which will be part of the network’s MTV Movie & TV Awards: Greatest of All Time, airing at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Hosted by Vanessa Hudgens, the 90-minute special “will honor the biggest and best moments in film and TV from the 80s until now,” the network promises, paying “homage to the best of the best from the most beloved actors to scene stealing moments.” 

Sia and Steve Aoki with Travis Barker will perform during the event, which will also honor a collection of stars including Kevin Bacon, Drew Barrymore, Gal Gadot, Kevin Hart, Selma Blair, Jamie Lee Curtis, Adam Sandler and more.

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

December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Photo: Sophie Elgort(LOS ANGELES) — Daveed Diggs is probably best known for starring in Hamilton as Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette, but he’s also appeared on ABC’s black-ish, starred in the indie film Blindspotting and currently plays the lead in the TBS series Snowpiercer. Now, he’s expanding his resume to include holiday songs for kids.

Diggs, who identifies as culturally Jewish, has dropped a hilarious song and video called “Puppy for Hanukkah,” in which he sings and raps about wanting a dog for the holiday, which lasts for eight nights.  Each night, he ends up with things he doesn’t want, like socks or a sweater, until he finally gets the Hanukkah gift of his dreams.

Along the way, he sings about the various Hanukkah traditions, including lighting candles, saying blessings and eating latkes, also known as potato pancakes.

The song was done in partnership with the Disney Channel, where it will air through December 18.  Diggs says in a statement, “I was honored when [they] approached me to come up with a fresh Hanukkah tune and embraced the opportunity to share my love of music and a little piece of my culture.”

Speaking about his heritage, Diggs said in an interview several years back, “I went to Hebrew school, but opted out of a bar mitzvah. My mom is a white Jewish lady and my dad is Black. The cultures never seemed separate — had a lot of mixed friends. When I was young, I identified with being Jewish, but I embraced my dad’s side, too.”

By the way, this year, Hanukkah starts the night of December 10.

By Andrea Dresdale
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

December 4, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC(LOS ANGELES) —(SPOILER ALERT) As Ellen Pompeo’s character Meredith Grey suffers with COVID-19 on Grey’s Anatomy, fans of the show are enjoying more callbacks from the series’ old days. 

Weeks after Patrick Dempsey’s McDreamy made a surprise appearance on the series — despite his character being killed off back in 2015 — original cast member T.R. Knight joined Meredith in another pleasant, but illness-related, hallucination on that magical beach. 

Knight, who has remained close friends with Pompeo since his character, George O’Malley, was killed off in 2009, was finally able to reveal their characters’ surprise get together after the episode aired, with a post on Instagram.

“George O’Malley will always claim my heart,” the actor said Thursday. He then thanked Pompeo, show creator Shondra Rimes, and the series’ other producers, “for once again sharing your beautiful light.”

Knight added, “Ellen is the kind of actor I’m endlessly grateful to act with. She’s the embodiment of truth. George and Meredith love each other, for sure, but I don’t think he can hold a candle to love I have for Ellen.”

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