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    in Television

    John Oliver Interrupts Jon Stewart’s Monologue on ‘The Daily Show’

    The British host of “Last Week Tonight” said he wanted to be “the first to welcome America to its monarchy era.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Monarchy in the U.S.A.The British comedian, “Daily Show” alumnus and “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver crashed Jon Stewart’s monologue on Monday.“Are you here to offer America your wisdom and counsel?” Stewart asked.“Oh, no, no, no, no, Jon — I’m here to gloat!” Oliver said.“America had its little fun, didn’t you, experimenting with democracy? You fought so hard to get away from us — acting up, throwing all that tea into the harbor. You still owe us for that, by the way.” — JOHN OLIVER“The point is, you told everybody that you were going to be different. You weren’t going to turn out like your mean old dad who was so horrible to you when you were growing up. So we sat back, we let you spend your wild teen years experimenting with your ridiculous ideas of checks and balances, because deep down, we knew that once you got that nonsense out of your system, you’d be back. In fact, if I may sing from ‘Hamilton.’” [sounds pitch pipe] — JOHN OLIVER“What I’m saying is, let me be the first to welcome America to its monarchy era. Congratulations, everyone, you can now take your place in the pantheon of great empires alongside the British, the Roman, the Klingon, Wakanda, whatever one Babar the elephant was the ruler of, I forget.” — JOHN OLIVER“What I’m saying is, don’t fight being a monarchy, Jon, embrace it. Kings get [expletive] done. Now, is it stuff that you want done? Not necessarily. But they do move quick! They taste cumin at lunch, and they’ve taken over an entire continent by dinner time. That is how the British rolls, Jon. [Expletive] everyone else. They’re not like us. In fact, if I may sing a line from Mr. Kendrick Lamar.” [sounds pitch pipe] — JOHN OLIVERStewart pushed back against “Ambassador Oliver,” saying that the imperial model may not suit America: “Not to be shortsighted, but, spoiler alert, John, things didn’t end up so great for the British Empire.”“We are technically between empires at the moment, but we’re keeping our castles warm and our crowns bejeweled for the day that we get back onto our feet.” — JOHN OLIVER“Have you seen anything America has done over the last 50 years? Because for a country that doesn’t want to be an empire, you’re doing a pretty [expletive] good impression of one right now: invasions, economic exploitations, and now, suggesting turning Gaza into a beachfront casino? Even King George would have been, like, ‘I don’t know, guys. Feels like the situation’s a bit more complicated than that, and I’m literally dying of medieval brain disease.’” — JOHN OLIVER“This shouldn’t be a sad time. The arc of history is so long it eventually becomes a circle, and you end up right where you started. You might even call it the circle of life. In fact, if I may sing the great imperial subject Sir Elton John’s opening Zulu chant from ‘The Lion King.’”[sounds pitch pipe] — JOHN OLIVERThe Punchiest Punchlines (Less-Than-Super Bowl Edition)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    The Next Hot Playwright? They Prefer the Ones Who Cooled Off.

    In the decades when he was running the widely influential Off Broadway nonprofit Playwrights Horizons, Tim Sanford would not have been the one driving to New Jersey to see a man about a tree.But his new theater company, a scrappy, idealistic outfit dedicated to established older playwrights, is a more hands-on operation. So one day last month, he hopped into his S.U.V. and headed across the Hudson River to bring back a freshly felled tree — he couldn’t tell you what kind — to be used in the set of a Len Jenkin play he is producing, “How Is It That We Live or Shakey Jake + Alice.”Such is the job that Sanford, 71, made for himself when he and his wife, Aimée Hayes, the former producing artistic director of Southern Rep Theater in New Orleans, founded the Tent Theater Company. Advocacy is intrinsic to its mission. Having exited Playwrights Horizons in 2021, after 25 years as its artistic director, Sanford has taken up the banner of a group of artists he sees as sidelined by an industry that thrives on discovering the latest hot playwrights, yet isn’t exactly diligent about sustaining them over their lifetimes of creativity.Kate Arrington and Fred Weller during a rehearsal for Len Jenkin’s new play, “How Is It That We Live or Shakey Jake + Alice.”James Estrin/The New York TimesThere is, Sanford said, a feeling afoot that older playwrights should simply make way: “That kind of, you know, ‘The baby boomers had their time. Let them all go into the ash pits.’”To him, though, age is an overlooked element of diversity — one that comes with accumulated knowledge of the human experience, and for which there is, and must be, room. It is a matter, too, of respecting these artists, whom the Tent calls elders.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    As Off Broadway Crews Unionize, Workers See Hope, Producers Peril

    Workers say the move is overdue, but theater companies fear it will drive up costs in a wounded sector that has yet to recover from the pandemic.A unionization wave sweeping across Off Broadway is poised to reshape the economics of theater-making in New York — for workers as well as producers.Striking stage crews have idled the nonprofit Atlantic Theater Company — the birthplace of the musicals “Spring Awakening,” “The Band’s Visit” and “Kimberly Akimbo,” which all transferred to Broadway and won Tonys. The strike, which began last month, comes amid a drive to unionize stage hands and crews at Off Broadway theaters.Nonprofit companies and producers fear that the unionization push could drive up costs at a moment when many are running deficits and staging fewer, and smaller, shows. Second Stage Theater and Soho Rep both recently moved out of their longtime venues and opted to share space with other companies. Another measure of the sector’s shrinkage: In 2019 there were 113 shows eligible for the Lucille Lortel Awards, which honor Off Broadway work; there are just 59 eligible shows so far this season, which, for the Lortels, closes at the end of March.Many workers see the unionization of stage crews as long overdue, noting that the sector has come a long way from its scrappy origins. Now that many Off Broadway theaters have become mature institutions with elevated production values, workers say, it is time for them to pay better wages and offer benefits to their crew members.“The stakes are incredibly high,” said Casey York, the president of the Off-Broadway League, which represents theater owners, managers and producers, “not just for those directly involved, but for the future of this vibrant sector, which has always been a cornerstone of New York’s cultural identity.”“Grief Camp,” a new play by Eliya Smith, had begun previews at Atlantic when it was shut down by the strike. It has since been canceled, along with Mona Pirnot’s “I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan.”Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    How ‘The Lion King’s Resident Dance Supervisor Keeps the Musical in Motion

    If there were a want ad for resident dance supervisor to “The Lion King,” it might read something like this: Must be able to work 10-hour days, seven days a week; to manipulate 200 puppets and walk on stilts; to wrangle 52 performers and remember every move in the two-and-a-half-hour show. Candidate must also have the heart of a social worker, the discipline of a Marine and the boundless enthusiasm of a camp counselor to keep the musical as fresh as when it opened 28 years ago.While plenty of Broadway shows have dance captains — they’re in charge of keeping choreography in good order — only “The Lion King” has a resident dance supervisor. The show is like a giant, kinetic jigsaw puzzle: It needs someone to ensure that all the pieces fit together, so that the narrative moves forward — and no one gets hurt.This has been Ruthlyn Salomons’s job for 25 years.There are crowds backstage and onstage at “The Lion King,” which has 52 performers; ensemble members perform multiple roles.Graham Dickie/The New York TimesMovement is the show’s motor, Salomons said. “It’s what binds it. It’s not just the performing bodies that move. Everything in the show moves. Everything dances.” That goes for a 5-inch mouse as much as for the 13-foot-long mama elephant, Bertha, who has four puppeteers tucked into her body.“The show’s demands are so unusual,” said Michele Steckler, a former associate producer of “The Lion King,” “that taking care of it requires a different kind of maintenance.” In the show’s early days, Steckler petitioned her colleagues to create a new position for someone to oversee all the movement. “It was just too much for one person,” she said. (The show also has two dance captains, but they double as performers and can’t see the show from outside.)Salomons with Ntsepa Pitjeng-Molebatsi, who plays Rafiki.Graham Dickie/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘The White Lotus,’ Plus 9 Things to Watch on TV this Week

    The HBO satire of the rich and well-traveled comes back for a third season. And “Saturday Night Live” hosts its 50th anniversary special.Between streaming and cable, there is a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here is a selection of TV shows and specials that air or stream this week, Feb. 10-16. Details and times are subject to change.An uneasy vacation.Since HBO’s “White Lotus” and “Succession” have been off the air, what has there been to discuss with your friends or post about on X on Sunday nights? Luckily, “The White Lotus” is back. In its first two seasons, viewers have gone on transcontinental journeys, including an indelicate hotel manager in Hawaii and a strange love square in Italy. And now, the third season is taking off to Thailand, where there promises to be stressful family dynamics, an off-putting couple and of course, lots of suspense and threats of violence and crime. Sadly, Jennifer Coolidge won’t be on this season after she met her untimely demise — or maybe she will be? With the director and writer Mike White at the helm, who truly knows what is going to happen? Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO and streaming on Max.50 years of ‘Saturday Night Live.’In lots of ways, this whole season has been a celebration of the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” but the official pomp and circumstance is kicking off this week with “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert,” a live show from Radio City Music Hall in New York. Hosted by “SN.L.” alum Jimmy Fallon, the show will include performances from over 20 artists, including Arcade Fire, Eddie Vedder and Miley Cyrus. And the best part? You can watch live from the comfort of your home. Friday at 8 p.m. on Peacock.The 50th anniversary special of “Saturday Night Live,” hosted by Lorne Michaels, will look back at the show’s past.Will Heath/NBCLive from New York, it’s … Sunday night? Though the title doesn’t match the timing, “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” is the big three-hour event that rounds out a season full of trips down memory lane and will feature some famous alumni and a look into the show’s history. If you want to get prepped in a different way, the fictional retelling of the first night of the show, “Saturday Night” directed by Jason Reitman, is now streaming on Netflix. Sunday at 8 p.m. on NBC.A resurgence of romantic comedies.Sometimes you’re traveling to Italy for a very pragmatic, very grown-up reason, and all the sudden, you’re swept up into a romance that alters the course of your life. I mean, that’s what I’ve seen in movies; it’s never happened to me. In “The Dolce Villa,” things are no different. Eric (Scott Foley) travels to Tuscany to try to stop his daughter Olivia (Maia Reficco) from buying and restoring an old villa. The moment he arrives in town, he meets the mayor, Francesca (Violante Placido), and you know what they, say: colpo di fulmine. Streaming Thursday on Netflix.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘The Interview’: Denzel Washington Has Finally Found His Purpose

    So many of Denzel Washington’s greatest performances — from the majestic title role in “Malcolm X” to the unrepentantly corrupt cop Alonzo Harris in “Training Day” — have been defined by a riveting sense of authority, an absolute absence of pandering or the need to be liked. There’s an inner reserve deep down inside his characters that is unassailable, a little enigmatic, and that belongs to them alone.The commanding qualities that have helped Washington become a cinematic legend are also, as I learned firsthand, the same ones that make him an unusual — and unusually complicated — conversationalist. The first of our two discussions was done remotely. He was at a photo studio in Los Angeles as the fires were still burning there, and I was at home in New Jersey. Even putting our physical distance aside, the discussion felt, well, distant. Or let me put it this way: We never quite figured out how to connect.The second time we talked, it was different. I met Washington in person, at a spare, drafty room in a Midtown Manhattan building where he was rehearsing for an upcoming Broadway appearance. He’s playing the lead in a new production of “Othello” that goes into previews on Feb. 24; it co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Iago and is directed by the Tony Award winner Kenny Leon. I can’t with any certainty really say why, but things just felt easier on the second go-round. What I do know, though, is that the entire interview experience was, for me, as indelible as one of his performances.Listen to the Conversation With Denzel WashingtonThe legendary actor discusses the prophecy that changed his life, his Oscar snub and his upcoming role starring alongside a “complicated” Jake Gyllenhaal in “Othello” on Broadway.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | iHeart | NYT Audio AppI saw that at the end of last year you were baptized and earned your minister’s license. I got baptized, and I have to now take courses to obtain a license. I’m not an ordained minister.Can you tell me about the decision to go through that process at this point in your life? I went for a ride one day. I decided to get in my car and drive up to Harlem. I stopped in front of the church that my mother grew up in. The door was cracked, so I went in. They were celebrating young students, members of the church, that were going to college. And I got involved in that, and one thing led to another, and weeks later, months later I got baptized. More

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    For Morris Chestnut, R&B Is Therapeutic

    “It’s helpful in my work,” said the star of the new TV series “Watson,” “because it triggers thoughts, triggers memories, triggers emotions.”When Morris Chestnut first heard about “Watson,” a new CBS medical mystery set within the Sherlock Holmes mythology, he was interested. But once he read the script by Craig Sweeny — the show’s creator and one of the writers behind that other Sherlockian CBS series, “Elementary” — he grew even more excited.“He has so many crazy, creative ideas,” Chestnut, 56, said. “So I rushed to it. I said, ‘I have to do it.’”“Watson” opens as Chestnut’s character, Dr. John Watson, is rebuilding his life six months after the death of his dear friend and partner, Sherlock Holmes. Holmes has left Watson a parting gift: a medical clinic, in Pittsburgh, devoted to curing rare disorders.“He’s treating patients, and while he’s treating those patients, he somewhat also has to treat himself,” Chestnut said.Studying to be a doctor is stressful, but so is studying to sound like one, and it requires a certain level of sacrifice — especially for an N.F.L. addict.“When I’m doing the show, I literally have to pick one game on Sunday,” Chestnut said of learning the medical jargon that flows like honey from Watson’s mouth. “In the middle of commercial breaks, I’m looking at the script.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    The Greatest ‘Saturday Night Live’ Episode Ever*

    *Well, maybe only to me. “S.N.L.” fans all have their own idea of the show’s peak, and this is mine.As measured by the calendar, “Saturday Night Live” is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. But you could also say that 50 “Saturday Night Lives” are each celebrating an anniversary.There are, of course, those who watch the show every week, every year, and have followed its evolution for decades. But many of us have a singular personal “Saturday Night Live”: a particular season or group of performers that defines the show for us.Don’t take this from me. Take it from Lorne Michaels. “Generally, when people talk about the best cast,” he once said, “I think, ‘Well, that’s when they were in high school.’”I was in high school in 1984. Even back then — those freaks-and-geeks years when you define yourself by your pop-culture obsessions and nerds are most vulnerable to the wiles of sketch comedy — I was only a modest “S.N.L.” fan. I loved “S.C.T.V.” and David Letterman and Monty Python.In college and later, I would move on to “The Simpsons” and other comedy enthusiasms. Sometimes I’d enjoy “S.N.L.”; sometimes I’d hate it; sometimes I’d enjoy hating it. But honestly, for most of my life I’ve thought of it like a public utility — always there, but not something I’d be a “fan” of any more than I’d be a fan of the gas company.But there was a while when “S.N.L.” vibrated on my wavelength, when I was the right age to stay up, when my friends spent every Monday quoting lines to one another in the school cafeteria. I can narrow my “S.N.L.” of choice down to a specific season — in fact, to a specific episode: Season 10, Episode 9, airdate Dec. 15, 1984.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More