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    Late Night on Trump, the Constitution and Playing With Dolls

    On “Meet the Press” and social media, President Trump gave the hosts a lot of material to choose from, even by his standards.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.Presidents Say the Darndest ThingsDuring a “Meet the Press” interview that aired on Sunday, President Trump was asked whether he had to uphold the Constitution. He replied, “I don’t know.”“Wow, they talked a lot about Biden’s mental decline, but this guy can’t even remember stuff from, like, four months ago,” Seth Meyers said on Monday.“Well, it’s been great, folks, but that’s it — I think we can roll credits on the United States.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“On ‘Millionaire,’ that’d be the warm-up question, like ‘What color is an orange?’ or ‘Name a planet with people on it.’ I mean, if you can’t answer that the president’s supposed to uphold the Constitution, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t even let you become a citizen.” — JON STEWART“It’s the same answer he gives when they ask where Melania lives: ‘I don’t know, I’d have to ask my lawyers.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL“The Constitution isn’t one of Don Jr.’s birthdays. You can’t just ignore it.” — JIMMY KIMMELTrump, asked about the economy, also doubled down on his suggestion that children could get by with fewer toys. “I don’t think a beautiful baby girl needs — that’s 11 years old needs to have 30 dolls,” he said. “I think they can have three dolls, or four dolls.”“Right, think of them like wives: Two, three, four would be a good number.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“All you need to know about the relationship he has with his daughters and granddaughters is he thinks 11-year-olds still play with dolls.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. It’s a beautiful 11-year-old baby! You did so well in your 44th trimester.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“In response, Pokémon has rolled out their new slogan: ‘Pokémon, Gotta Catch a Couple!’” — SETH MEYERS“I mean, who runs on a pledge of ‘Let’s make Christmas worse for children’?” — BILL MAHER“A billionaire telling kids they need to cut back on dolls. That is some world-class political messaging right there.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Every interview now is like an episode of ‘Kids Say the Darndest Things.’” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (May the Fourth 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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    Amid Trump Cuts, Officials Resign From the National Endowment for the Arts

    Senior officials announced their resignations after the Trump administration withdrew grants from arts organizations around the country.A group of senior officials at the National Endowment for the Arts announced their resignations on Monday, days after the Trump administration began withdrawing grants from arts groups across the nation.Their departures, which come as the endowment has been withdrawing current grant offers and President Trump has proposed eliminating the agency altogether next year, became public on Monday in a series of emails and social media posts.An N.E.A. spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.Among those leaving the agency are directors overseeing grants for dance, design, folk and traditional arts, museums and visual arts, and theater. Also departing are the directors of arts education, multidisciplinary works and the “partnership” division, which oversees work with state and local arts agencies. Those officials announced their departures in newsletters sent out by the endowment starting at midday on Monday.The head of the agency’s literary arts division is leaving as well, along with three members of her team, according to a newsletter sent on Monday morning by LitNet, a coalition of literary organizations.The announcement of the departures left the besieged agency facing even more uncertainty. It is not clear how or whether the agency would issue grants without this tier of officials. A round of grant cancellation notifications that went out Friday night indicated that the agency expected to continue making grants, but in areas prioritized by Mr. Trump.Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater in New York and one of the leaders of the Professional Non-Profit Theater Coalition, said the staff resignations were “worrisome.” He added that while he did not criticize anyone for leaving, he feared the departures could make it easier to eliminate the agency.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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    Branden Jacobs-Jenkins on Winning a Pulitzer for ‘Purpose’

    “It’s the most surreal day ever,” the playwright said as he learned the news while getting ready to attend his first Met Gala.Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was getting ready for his first Met Gala on Monday afternoon when he got the news: his latest play, “Purpose,” which is now on Broadway, won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for drama.The Pulitzer board described “Purpose” as “a play about the complex dynamics and legacy of an upper middle class African-American family,” and praised it as “a skillful blend of drama and comedy that probes how different generations define heritage.”The other finalists were Cole Escola’s “Oh, Mary!,” which is also running on Broadway, and “The Ally,” by Itamar Moses, which had an Off Broadway run last year at the Public Theater.Jacobs-Jenkins, 40, has been a Pulitzer finalist twice before, for “Gloria” in 2016 and for “Everybody” in 2018, and last year he won a Tony Award for “Appropriate.” In 2016 he also won a so-called genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation.He grew up in Washington, D.C., and now lives in Brooklyn. “An Octoroon” and “The Comeuppance” are among his other well-received works.“Purpose,” directed by Phylicia Rashad, was first staged last year by Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago, which had commissioned the play; Jacobs-Jenkins wrote it for the company’s actors. The Broadway production opened in March, and has been nominated for six Tonys, including best play.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 United States vs Ulysses’ Review: The Case That Won’t Go Away

    When James Joyce’s masterpiece faced banning, the American justice system came to the rescue. A new play wonders if it would today.Though it was a civil case, the defendant faced capital punishment.Or so the defendant’s attorney, Morris Ernst, argued, because his client was a book. And not just any book, but a particular copy of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” that had been impounded at U.S. Customs and charged with obscenity.“If the book loses,” Ernst proclaimed, “it will be destroyed — burned — hanged by the neck until it is dead.”Ernst’s florid oratory in United States v. One Book Called Ulysses was successful. On Dec. 6, 1933, as soon as the judge, John Munro Woolsey, delivered his decision finding “Ulysses” not obscene — thus permitting a hardback of the French edition to pass through customs — Random House began typesetting an American version, the first to be published in an English-speaking country. Woolsey’s landmark order, along with a foreword by Ernst calling it a “body-blow for the censors,” is included in most copies of “Ulysses” to this day.Lawyers and judges are not typically heroes in literature, and of late almost never in plays. They are mostly depicted as preening and eely. Yet in “The United States vs Ulysses,” a play by Colin Murphy now at the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan, Ernst and Woolsey (if not Samuel Coleman, who represented the government) are offered as paragons of progressivism in action. Indeed, the playwright has elevated them almost to the level of Joyce himself.And yet for all its worthiness, liberal uplift and pressing topicality, the play, directed by Conall Morrison, proves just how unmatchable Joyce remains. Murphy’s complicated schema, though less complicated than that of “Ulysses,” is ultimately less expressive, as nearly anything would be. Its account of the trial, drawn from transcripts and other historical sources, is but the middle of three shells. The innermost shell is “Ulysses” itself, represented by passages either specifically mentioned in court (like the scandalous “Nausicaa” episode) or thematically relevant to the proceedings (like the fantastical trial of Leopold Bloom, the novel’s main character, in “Circe”).The outermost shell introduces another unlikely hero these days: the media. The play is set two days after Woolsey’s verdict, as the five-person cast of the CBS radio program “The March of Time” awaits the scripts for that evening’s live episode. With the help of sound effects from the foley table — gavel bangs, telegraph taps — the voice actors will play all the roles, both in the courtroom and in the dramatized “Ulysses” segments. Even their director will chip in, playing Bloom.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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    ‘Goddess’ Brings Kenyan Folklore to New York

    In “Goddess,” an original musical about a mysterious singer in Mombasa, Kenya, Moto Moto is not just an Afro-jazz nightclub, it’s a great equalizer, where Kenyans of all faiths, tribes and social classes shake and spin their bodies in rapture.“I’ve literally met the loves of my life on dance floors,” the director Saheem Ali said. “So I understand the power of a life-changing event that happens in a space of communal dancing and joy.”It’s that electric sense of belonging that Ali sought to recreate in “Goddess,” now in previews at the Public Theater after an 18-year development process.“My first child is Liban,” Ali said to his cast on the first day of rehearsal for “Goddess.” “He was born in 2006.”“My second child is ‘Goddess,’” he said, referring to the musical. “And she was born in 2007. Eighteen years, never again for one show.” (It arrives on the heels of his Broadway production of “Buena Vista Social Club,” the lively stage adaptation of the beloved 1997 album that is set in Havana nightclubs and was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, including for Ali’s direction.)Creating an original musical from scratch is its own tall order. And at the heart of this passion project is the African folklore myth of Marimba, the goddess of music who created songs from heartbreak. It took Ali years to find the right collaborators and hone the plot.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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    ‘Forever,’ Plus 7 Things to Watch on TV this Week

    The Netflix show based on a Judy Blume book comes to streaming. And tune into E! for all the red-carpet looks of the Met Gala.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, May 5-11. Details and times are subject to change.Yearning.Judy Blume’s novel “Forever” has certainly made a splash in the literary world since its publication in 1975. The book, which focuses primarily on teenage sexuality, has often been banned or censored in schools and libraries because of the protagonist’s use of birth control. Now Netflix is coming out with a television adaptation, which is set in 2018 Los Angeles and follows the love story of two Black teenagers, Keisha Clark (Lovie Simone) and Justin Edwards (Michael Cooper Jr.), while they also explore their identities and aspirations. Streaming Thursday on Netflix.Lights, Camera, Fashion.Anna Wintour at the 2024 Met Gala.Jamie Mccarthy/Getty ImagesThe first Monday in May can only mean one thing: It is time for celebrities and fashion designers to adorn themselves in creative, lavish outfits and celebrate the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute at the annual Met Gala. This year’s theme is “Tailored for You,” which is tied to the institute’s new exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” Alongside the Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour, this year’s chairs are Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, ASAP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and LeBron James. The Met Gala red carpet will be streaming live, so we can all sit back and admire (or judge) the looks from the comfort of our homes. Monday at 6 p.m. on E!Catching a liar.Natasha Lyonne returns for a second season of “Poker Face,” in which she stars as Charlie, a woman who has a special ability to detect when people are lying. And like the first one, this season will serve as a spotting exercise for all the familiar faces, including Cynthia Erivo, John Mulaney and John Cho. Charlie will be back on the road and investigating murders that happen at alligator farms, funeral homes, grade-school talent shows and more. Streaming Thursday on Peacock.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 Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 4: Seattle Slew

    This week brings an expedition full of harrowing action and emotional revelations.Season 2, Episode 4It’s comforting to know that long after the collapse of civilization, certain TV clichés will persist. Like: If a woman vomits unexpectedly in one episode, in the next episode we will find out she is pregnant.So it goes with Dina, who puked in last week’s “The Last of Us” after stumbling across some human corpses, and noted at the time that her reaction was unusual, given that she often sees (and smells) dead people. Sure enough, in this week’s episode, Dina finds some pregnancy tests in a Seattle drugstore and gives several a try. They all come up positive.Dina does not say anything to Ellie — or to those of us watching at home who had not already guessed her secret — until close to the end of the episode, after the two of them have narrowly escaped multiple waves of Wolves and zombies. Her confession retroactively lends weight to everything these two women have just gone through. They have so much more at risk now.As was the case last week, a good portion of this episode is spent watching Dina and Ellie’s relationship blossom. They bounce sardonic, deadpan repartee back and forth. (Ellie, when Dina is exploring on her own: “Shout if something tries to kill you.” Dina: “That’s the plan.”) They share stories from their pasts, with Dina confessing that when she was little she told her mother she liked both boys and girls — to which her mom said, “No, you like boys.” They also fall into each other’s arms, making passionate love.Overall, there are three major revelations that Dina and Ellie share. One is the pregnancy. The other is that they have feelings for each other. And because of extenuating circumstances, Ellie also reveals to Dina that she is immune from the cordyceps infection. (I will come back to that later.)Unlike last week, all the charming chitchat is balanced with harrowing action. Dina and Ellie’s expedition into Seattle gets off to a quiet start, highlighted by a trip to an abandoned music store, where Ellie serenades Dina with a lovely acoustic rendition of A-ha’s “Take on Me.” The scene is beautifully staged and lit, with sunshine streaming in from a weed-and-moss-covered hole in the wall. At the end, Dina says Joel taught Ellie well. In a quiet voice laden with meaning, Ellie responds, “He did.”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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    Will Hutchins, Gentle Cowboy Lawman in ‘Sugarfoot,’ Dies at 94

    He starred in one of the westerns that dominated TV in the late 1950s. After losing traction in Hollywood, he became a traveling clown.Will Hutchins, who had a comically genteel starring role during the craze for television westerns in the 1950s, playing a sheriff who favored cherry soda over whiskey on “Sugarfoot,” died on April 21 in Manhasset, N.Y., on the North Shore of Long Island. He was 94.The cause was respiratory failure, his wife, Barbara Hutchins, said in a funeral home death notice.In 1958 and ’59, eight of the top 10 shows on TV were westerns. The best known included “Cheyenne” and “Maverick.” Mr. Hutchins was part of the stampede: “Sugarfoot” premiered on ABC in 1957 and ran for four seasons.The show was produced by Warner Brothers, which took its name and theme music from an otherwise unrelated 1951 western movie starring Randolph Scott. The title refers to a man of the Wild West who seems so unsuited to shootouts and cattle wrangling that he cannot be called even a “tenderfoot.”Mr. Hutchins’s character, Tom Brewster, was the sugarfoot in question: an Eastern law student seeking his fortune as a sheriff who sidles up to the saloon bar to order a sarsaparilla (Wild West root beer) “with a dash of cherry.” He abhors violence, tries to stop women from throwing themselves at him and lovingly gives up his share of drinking water for his horse.Gil Perkins, left, with Mr. Hutchins in a scene from a 1958 episode of “Sugarfoot” titled “The Hunted.” ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content, via Getty ImagesMr. Hutchins played the role for comedy, following up a villain’s insult with a dramatic pause, only to critique the man for not being “sociable.” Other dramatic moments prompted him to lecture Westerners about problems with their “disposition.”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