Latest news with #SmartLess
The South African
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The South African
Charlize Theron roped into Afrikaner 'refugee' backlash
Mzansi has been reminded about Charlize Theron's quip about her mother tongue, Afrikaans, after a group of 49 Afrikaner 'refugees' arrived in the US this week. The group was part of the first batch of white South Africans who were granted refugee status abroad thanks to US President Donald Trump's Executive Order. This was based on his false beliefs that the South African minority group were victims of 'racial discrimination'. This week, 49 Afrikaner 'refugees' touched down in the US as part of Trump's refugee resettlement plan, first announced via an Executive Order in February. The group was made up of white South African families who claimed that they were victims of 'farm attacks'. TV and radio personality Dan Corder noted how the number was close to the figure highlighted by Theron in 2022. In a clip posted on his social media platforms, he said, 'Remember, Charlize reported that there were only 44 Afrikaners left in the world. Which means they've actually gone up from 44 to 49. They found five more. He jokingly continued: 'That's an 11% population increase in just three years. The Afrikaans population has exploded. Well done, guys!' In the comments section, others continued with the running joke: 'At least the US will now have a rugby team.' 'There goes the biltong secret recipe.' 'Is Afrikaans and Afrikaners in SA now extinct?' Back in 2022, Charlize Theron – a Benoni-born Afrikaner and now US citizen – courted controversy over her casual comments about her mother tongue, Afrikaans. The apparent 'joke' was made in an interview with the podcast SmartLess. Chatting to podcast hosts Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman, and Will Arnett, Charlize spoke about learning English when she moved to the US at the age of 19 years old. She then claimed that she had to learn English 'from scratch'. And it seems that while Charlize still speaks Afrikaans to her mother Gerda, it's not a language she hears often. In comments that irked her home country, she added, 'There are about 44 people still speaking it. It's definitely a dying language; it's not a very helpful language.' Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 . Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp , Facebook , X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
Engadget
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
The Golden Globes will start giving an award to the best podcast of the year
The Golden Globes is expanding beyond film and TV with a new category. It will dole out an award for the best podcast of the year starting at next January's ceremony. Organizers told Variety that the idea was to recognize the influence and reach of podcasts within the spectrum of entertainment. Six finalists will be selected from the 25 most popular podcasts across audio and video formats (sorry, middle-aged dads who spent hundreds of dollars on recording gear to grouse about their team in their basement studios). So it's likely that more celebrities could appear on the show. Amy Poehler and Trevor Noah have podcasts that are among the 25 largest in the US on Spotify. SmartLess — the show hosted by actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes — is on the list too. As such, the best podcast award feels like a ploy by the Golden Globes to get more stars on the show, which would make it quite funny if, say, The Daily won instead. It feels like an odd move for the Golden Globes (which started handing out an award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement last year) to wade into the podcasting world. Still, it's nice to see a mainstream awards ceremony shining a spotlight on podcasts. There are dedicated awards shows for podcasts, but the Golden Globes is putting them on a bigger stage. Other awards shows have been refining their category lineups. We'll soon start seeing a long-overdue category for stunt work at the Oscars . On the other hand, it was a little disappointing to see the Emmy for short-form animated program being cut last year due to a drop in submissions.
Buzz Feed
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Paul Rudd Just Detailed His Seriously NSFW Live Theater Wardrobe Malfunction, And I'm Genuinely Mortified On His Behalf
Paul Rudd just recalled a seriously unfortunate wardrobe malfunction that he suffered during a live stage performance with Rachel Weisz, and I am mortified on his behalf. While the 56-year-old actor is arguably best known for his movie roles, Paul was asked about his theater career during a recent appearance on the SmartLess podcast. The hosts asked the star if 'anything weird' had ever happened while he was on stage, and boy, did he deliver. 'I did a show where somebody died in the audience, there was a death in the audience,' Paul began, before reeling off other anecdotes: 'Somebody went to the bathroom in, like, the fourth row. That was an interesting thing to get a whiff of that during the scene; somebody lost control of their bowels.' 'By the way, I've also done a show where somebody… In the middle of a scene, I heard a bunch of commotion in the audience, it didn't subside, I was like: 'What is happening?'' he recalled. 'Only later came to realize that somebody in the front row of the balcony leaned over and puked on all the people below them, swear to god.' 'It was a show called Grace, I was doing it with Michael Shannon,' Paul went on. 'Michael Shannon had this long monologue, we're dong the scene, it's just the two of us, we hear this noise, we'e both aware that there's a commotion but it usually dies down and it's getting louder and louder, and Michael is pissed off and starts screaming his lines toward the direction of the noise to make a point.' 'Of course, when Michael Shannon is yelling, it's the most terrifying thing,' he noted. 'That's the thing that did make everything kind of quiet down. Then, after the scene, I have to rush over to the wings to do a costume change, and I asked the stage manager, I said: 'What the hell? What happened out there?' And he said somebody threw up. Somebody was drunk, threw up over the balcony, and puked onto about 10 different people.' The hosts then circled back to Paul's first comment about a patron dying during the show, which Paul said happened during a Broadway performance of The Last Night Of Ballyhoo, which he starred in between 1997 and 1998. 'We learned that after the fact,' he explained. 'Like, oh my god, they had to close down and eventually bring a stretcher to get somebody out of there.' When asked if they had to stop the show, Paul reiterated that they didn't realize the person had died until the end. He said: 'I'm not sure anyone realized until people were shuffling out of the theater, and one guy stayed." Paul then remembered a final theater anecdote, which happened when he starred alongside Rachel in a production of The Shape Of Things back in 2001. 'They're flooding back!' the star said of his theater memories. 'I did a scene, I was lying on top of a bed doing a scene, I was lying on top of a bed, and I'm with this woman, Rachel Weisz was in the show, and I was wearing boxer shorts and a T-shirt. All of a sudden, this had never happened before, I heard the audience laughing, and I was like: 'What is going on?'' 'I realized… Because I was lying on the bed, I had my leg up, and kind of realized my balls were hanging out,' Paul laughed. 'Which is worse than actually, like, even your penis. When it's just your balls… By the way, it might have been just one ball. Loose-fitting boxers.' Ron Galella, Ltd. / Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images Host Will Arnett then poked fun at the fact the play was called The Shape Of Things, quipping: 'The poster should've been your balls hanging out of your shorts." Thankfully, Paul can laugh about the mishap now — which definitely means that we can, too. What do you make of all of his revelations? Let me know in the comments below!
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Paul Rudd recalls NSFW wardrobe malfunction on stage with Rachel Weisz
Paul Rudd had an unfortunate outfit mishap during his stage acting days, he's revealed. Speaking on the latest episode of the SmartLess podcast — hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett — Rudd, 56, recalled the embarrassing incident. The Ant-Man actor was starring in the 2001 off-Broadway production of The Shape of Things when one of his scenes went awry and the audience got more than they bargained for. "I was lying on top of a bed and I was wearing boxer shorts and a T-shirt and all of a sudden — this had never happened before — I heard the audience laughing," Rudd recalled. "And I'm like, what is going on? I realized it's because I was lying on the bed and I had my leg up and my balls were hanging out, which is worse than actually, penis — it's like, just your balls." The nature of the mishap, combined with the title of the show, sent co-host Arnett into a fit of laughter. "That's exactly right," Rudd said. "That was the show." "The poster should've been your balls hanging out of your shorts," Arnett joked. After the 2001 off-Broadway production, Rudd and co-star Rachel Weisz went on to star in the 2003 film adaptation of The Shape of Things, written by Neil LaBute. Since then, Rudd has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, including Anchorman, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Friends, and Only Murders in the Building. He entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2015 with the Ant-Man franchise and will be seen in Avengers: Doomsday in 2026. Details on his role in the upcoming Marvel film remain mum. During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, Rudd was forced to stay tight-lipped. "There is nothing that I can tell you. They are very secretive. It's important. You know, it's a major movie. You can't be frivolous with this kind of stuff,' he teased. "This is a major motion picture. It's not like some coordinated attack. It's Marvel, Jimmy."
NBC News
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Tennessee board recommends Jelly Roll be pardoned for crimes committed in his youth
Country music star Jelly Roll is a step closer to being granted a pardon for crimes he committed, including robbery, in his younger days, a Tennessee sheriff said. Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said on X Tuesday that the state Board of Parole voted to endorse a pardon for the singer, legally known as Jason B. Deford, 40. The Associated Press reported that the board vote was unanimous, with one member recusing. Under Tennessee law, the matter is now before Gov. Bill Lee, who can grant a pardon, grant a commutation erasing Jelly Roll's criminal record, or turn down the request. Spokespersons for the board and for the governor did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night. Hall said he asked the governor to pardon Jelly Roll roughly a year ago, and he indicated that Tuesday's vote was part of that endeavor. Jelly Roll, know for his face tattoos and prodigious presence, sharpened his rap skills in prison before blending them with country music for a career that earned him four Grammy Awards nominations in February. He has used his experience as a basis for some of his music and to inspire others imprisoned, attracted to a life of crime, or otherwise marginalized with little sense of hope. He speaks at prisons, rehabilitation programs and schools. In April, he accepted an award for his advocacy from the World Literacy Foundation at its annual summit at Oxford University, where a host likened him to a modern-day Johnny Cash. Jelly Roll has said he's not allowed to vote because of his criminal convictions. The artist said he spent most of the years between ages 14 and 25 behind bars, with his most consequential conviction being for a robbery. He admitted during a podcast last month that he sold drugs in his Nashville neighborhood, where "the only people who had money did crime." He said a low point in life was when a prison guard came to his cell to report his daughter had been born — 17 years ago. "I had the one pair of clothes that I was incarcerated in," the artist said on the SmartLess podcast."I had zero money. In fact, I was in debt. It was the most honest accountability and self-reflection moment in my life." Jelly Roll rapped in prison, he said, and eventually more than 200 prisoners surrounded him for Friday night performances. "We'd beat on the walls," he said on the podcast, referring to makeshift rap beats. "It felt like we'd be free for the night," he said. The artist was released from prison in late 2016, according to state records. He didn't immediately break through in music, but he clawed at his dreams, "living in a van and doing $50 shows," he said in the podcast. His music told some of his story. "Save Me" in 2020 includes the lines, "Somebody save me, me from myself/I've spent so long living in Hell/They say my lifestyle is bad for my health/It's the only thing that seems to help." Testifying in favor of new legislation addressing fentanyl overdoses, the singer told Congress last year that a passenger jet's worth of synthetic opioid users die everyday, often relatively unnoticed, in the United States. The deaths don't capture the attention of a plane crash because the people who died are less valued, he said. "America has been known to bully and shame drug addicts," he told federal legislators in January 2024. Jelly Roll said he's doing his part for those entangled in drugs and the justice system.
