That’s Entertainment
Saturday Night Live is drawing some of its biggest ratings of its 40-year-plus history, thanks in part to stars like Kate McKinnon, and Alec Baldwin’s impression of President Donald Trump. But SNL isn’t just an American phenomenon—the show’s format has been exported to other countries. In 2014, SNL came to French-speaking Canada in the form […]
Not-so-funny stories about words and phrases that originated on the funny pages. Goon The word probably derives from gony, a slang term used by English sailors as a blanket term for large, goofy-looking seabirds like the pelican and albatross. It found its way into regular English in the late 19th century to describe individuals who […]
Some amusing facts about the world’s angriest cartoon duck. First Appearance Donald’s first appearance was in the 1934 Disney short “The Wise Little Hens.” A take on the old children’s story “The Little Red Hen,” Donald and his friend, the now-forgotten Peter Pig, get too lazy while working on a farm and wind up with […]
Today is Star Wars Day. Why? Because it’s May the 4th…and May the 4th be with you. Get it? With the original trilogy, three prequels, a new trilogy of sequels, and an increasing number of standalone, offshoot films, the Star Wars movie universe is huge. But the first planned sequel was never produced. Here’s the […]
Perhaps you know James Lipton as the pretentious, ultra-serious host of Inside the Actors Studio. (Or Will Ferrell’s impression of him on Saturday Night Live.) The bearded dean of the acting craft has lived a very colorful life, and here are some other ways he contributed to pop culture. Radio Actor Lipton is 90 years […]
It’s common knowledge that Japan has some of the weirdest game shows in the world…but these are all from the good ol’ U.S. of A. Repo Games (2011) It’s the spontaneous, surprise game show fun of Cash Cab…meets the exploitation of those affected by economic hardship. Repo Games was hosted by two repossession agents—or “repo […]
Video games have been a part of the culture now for more than 30 years. That means they’re old and established enough to have their own spooky myths and horror stories. Berzerk The story: In the 1980 arcade video game Berzerk, players traveled through a maze and had to use a laser to kill […]
Product placement is when a character in a movie or on a TV show conspicuously picks up a name-brand product, or walks past a giant poster bearing the name of a company. It’s a form of advertising, and corporations pay big bucks to movie productions to have their wares prominently featured. Usually just a character […]
You know him as the lead singer of Queen, one of the greatest voices in rock history. But did you know that Freddie Mercury loved his cats almost as much as he loves music? Mercury got his first two cats in the early 1970s. His girlfriend at the time, Mary Austin, brought home two felines […]
You can tell what NFL stadium you’re in by what song they play when the home team scores a touchdown. New York Giants When the New York Giants score, the P.A. pumps out “New York Groove,” the 1978 solo hit by Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley. Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles home stadium play two songs. […]
For nearly 40 years, Sesame Street has helped kids learn about the world around them, and themselves. To that end, the series has routinely introduced Muppet characters that reflected the big, diverse world out there. Aristotle Sporadically throughout the 1980s, Sesame Street’s resident worrywart Telly hung out with a friend named Aristotle. He was blind, […]
Except for Kanye West and Will Smith, most rappers don’t perform under their real names. They use nicknames or handles instead, which reflect their personalities. Here are how some of the biggest MCs of all time came up their stage names. Waka Flocka Flame. As a kid, he used to watch the cartoon Muppet Babies […]
It’s supposed to be easy: You get up on that stage, sing some songs, and soak up the adulation. But out of the thousands of rock concerts ever staged, a few have taken a turn for the worst. Patti Smith Patti Smith and her band were serving as the opening act for Bob Seger on […]
Name some musicians, and you immediately think “one-hit wonder,” like Dexy’s Midnight Runners or Toni Basil. Some other artists are downright household names, but the stats don’t lie: Despite being enormously successful, they only ever had one hit single. Don Ho One of the most famous musicians to ever come out of Hawaii (if not […]
Not just anybody can play the Man of Steel. In fact, only a handful of actors have done it. But lots more came close, like these folks. Bruce Jenner The biggest new star of 1976 wasn’t an actor, but an athlete. Before identifying as Caitlyn Jenner, Bruce Jenner won the decathlon at the 1976 Summer […]
Sometimes we like to get a little highbrow here at the Bathroom Readers’ Institute. Salieri vs. Mozart Ironically, Salieri became famous because of the movie about how he wasn’t famous. For the 1984 film Amadeus, F. Murray Abraham won an Academy Award for playing the Mozart contemporary who was overshadowed by Mozart, a musical genius […]
Filmmakers are good at making films. Sometimes they aren’t so good at coming up with names for those films, so somebody in marketing has to come up with a better one. Here are some early, working titles of major movies. Annie Hall: Woody Allen tried several different titles, including A Rollercoaster Named Desire, It Had […]
A lot of rock music movies were produced in the 1970s—Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same, the Who’s Quadrophenia, and Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, for example. But for whatever reason, many more rock movies were planned but never got made. (Perhaps 1970s rock stars were not the most reliable bunch.) After […]
