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    Late Night Can’t Quit the Group Chat

    “This operation was about as secretive as a Fortnite Twitch stream,” Jimmy Kimmel said of U.S. officials’ leaked discussion of a plan to attack Yemen.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.War Plans or Nah?On Wednesday, The Atlantic published more material from the Signal group chat in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials discussed an imminent attack on Yemen, unaware that The Atlantic’s editor had been added to the group.Jimmy Kimmel called it the “‘Oops, who did I add to this text chain?’ heard ’round the world.” President Trump and others in his administration have denied that the details shared in the chat amounted to “war plans.” “Let’s see. ‘F-18’s launch.’ ‘Target terrorist.’ ‘Strike drones launch.’ ‘More F-18s launch!’ ‘First bombs will definitely drop.’ ‘First sea-based Tomahawks launched.’ Now, I’m not an expert on war — these don’t seem like peace plans to me.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“This operation was about as secretive as a Fortnite Twitch stream, OK?” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Who could have ever guessed that the host of ‘Weekend Fox and Friends’ would be bad at running the military?” — JIMMY KIMMEL“I mean, imagine how lifelong military professionals must feel. If this was the ’90s, this would be like suddenly having to take orders from Kathie Lee.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Thank God we got rid of D.E.I. Now you can rest assured that the idiots in charge were not chosen for their race or gender. They were chosen purely based on being idiots.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Declassified Edition)“This is an unprecedented failure of national security protocols and a grotesque disregard of the safety of American service members. Or, as Donald Trump would say: ‘No it isn’t.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“One defense official said, ‘It is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court-martialed for this. My most junior analysts know not to do this.’ Yes, everyone understands this. The characters in ‘Fight Club’ understand this. It’s why the first rule of ‘Fight Club’ is ‘Don’t send out an e-vite for Fight Club.’” — STEPHEN COLBERTWe 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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    Duke Says ‘White Lotus’ Went ‘Too Far’ With School References

    In a show that features an array of disturbing story lines, the actions — and wardrobe — of a character have gone “too far” for the university.The third season of HBO’s “The White Lotus” has featured — spoilers ahead — adultery, a stolen firearm, an incestuous threesome, a dead body in the water, fake friendships and white-collar crime.So it might not be entirely surprising that real-life officials from Duke University are troubled that the school has played a supporting role throughout the season.One of the show’s leading characters, Timothy Ratliff, a wealthy businessman and Duke alumnus played by Jason Isaacs, is on vacation in Thailand with his family. But things go south in a hurry when he learns that he is being investigated for his part in a shady financial deal.Mr. Ratliff copes by stealing lorazepam, an anti-anxiety medication, from his wife’s cache of prescription drugs. The pills leave him in a zombielike state. Later, after filching a handgun from one of the resort’s security guards, Mr. Ratliff appears to contemplate suicide — while wearing a Duke T-shirt.But there is more: Mr. Ratliff’s eldest son, Saxon, who works for his father’s company and is played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, is a poster child for toxic masculinity — and has a disturbing sexual encounter with his younger brother and a woman they met at the resort. Saxon went to Duke, too.Frank Tramble, the vice president for communications, marketing and public affairs at Duke, said in an email that the university did not approve of the use of its “marks” in the program.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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    Kermit the Frog Will Deliver Commencement Speech at U. of Maryland

    The world’s most famous green frog will most likely give some encouraging words to the class of 2025.Every spring, well-known and accomplished figures deliver commencement addresses at college campuses around the country, offering graduates advice, wisdom and inspiration as they embark on their next chapter.At the University of Maryland, graduates are likely to receive words of encouragement on May 21, 2025, as the university announced on Wednesday that their commencement speaker would be none other than the world’s most famous amphibian: Kermit the Frog.“I am thrilled that our graduates and their families will experience the optimism and insight of the world-renowned Kermit the Frog at such a meaningful time in their lives,” Darryll J. Pines, president of the University of Maryland, said of Kermit, known for his leading roles on “The Muppet Show” and “Sesame Street.”The university teased its commencement speaker in a video reveal on Wednesday, lauding the speaker as an international superstar, best-selling author, environmental advocate and Peabody award winner.“Uh, I guess it’s me,” Kermit said, appearing at the end of the video and flashing a big smile.The commencement speech will be a homecoming of sorts for Kermit, whose creator, Jim Henson, graduated from the university in 1960 and where a bronze statue of Kermit and Mr. Henson sit in a campus garden. Mr. Henson made the first version of Kermit out of his mother’s old coat and a pingpong ball cut in half for eyes. Mr. Henson, who died in 1990, was the original voice behind Kermit, often referring to the slightly snarky but wise frog as his alter ego.“Nothing could make these feet happier than to speak at the University of Maryland,” Kermit said in a statement. “I just know the class of 2025 is going to leap into the world and make it a better place, so if a few encouraging words from a frog can help, then I’ll be there!”Although commencement addresses are often given by well-known people, colleges have at times thought outside the box. Last year, D’Youville University in Buffalo had an A.I. robot speak at its commencement, drawing mixed reactions from students, faculty members and other attendees.And this won’t be Kermit’s first rodeo. In 1996, he delivered a commencement address to the graduating class of Southampton College, then part of Long Island University, where he received an honorary doctorate of amphibious letters for his helping raise environmental awareness.Many graduating students decorated their gowns with green stickers that read “Kermit ’96,” The New York Times reported, though not all students were thrilled to see a puppet at the podium.Still, if the past is any indication, Kermit will deliver a positive message to the University of Maryland Terps. At the 1996 commencement, Kermit’s speech included a few ribbits, which he translated for the audience.“May success and a smile always be yours,” The Washington Post reported he said, “even when you’re knee deep in the sticky muck of life.” More

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    In ‘Streetcar,’ Patsy Ferran Gives Blanche a Nervy New Read

    The London-based actress has been heralded as one of the most talented of her generation. Still, she worried audiences would balk at her “very unconventional Blanche.”Patsy Ferran will not judge a book by its cover. But covers are important to her. “See?” she said, palming a copy of a Barbara Kingsolver novel at a Brooklyn branch of McNally Jackson bookstore. “Such a good cover. Aesthetics do matter.”Ferran, a London-based actress, is currently starring in Tennessee Williams’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, just up the road from the store. A latecomer to reading for pleasure, Ferran picked up fiction, particularly American fiction, during the pandemic lockdowns and has yet to put it down. Currently working her way through Percival Everett’s “James,” with Samantha Harvey’s “Orbital” cued up next, she had promised herself that she wouldn’t buy any more books. But the shelves were calling.“I kind of explore cities via book shops,” she said. “That and good coffee.”In the store, Ferran, lively, shrewd and lightly self-deprecating, (“I do my own glam,” she said wryly as she shook out her hair from a woolly hat) picked up and put down several recent paperbacks, enthusing about their feel. “British paperbacks are so stiff, you have to crowbar them open, which I hate,” she said. Ferran decided that she might buy just one. Or two. Certainly not more than three.Ferran is starring opposite Paul Mescal in Rebecca Frecknall’s revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which is running through April 6 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesFerran, 35, made her professional debut just after her graduation from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in a production of Noël Coward’s “Blithe Spirit.” More stage roles followed, including her first lead, as Alma in “Summer and Smoke,” also by Williams, directed by Rebecca Frecknall. “This young actor is a genuine marvel, as hilarious as she is heartbreaking,” one critic wrote of the performance. Soon she was recognized as one of the most talented stage actresses of her generation.Small and quick, with dark, curling hair, Ferran was an unusual choice for Blanche. A great American heroine, “an aging Southern belle who lives in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty” in Williams’s words, Blanche is typically played by willowy, languorous blondes. (Recent New York Blanches include Cate Blanchett and Gillian Anderson). Ferran knows this. She worried that audiences would dismiss her as the wrong cover for this particular book.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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    ‘Common Side Effects’ Is a Stylish and Trippy Animated Thriller

    Filled with smart dialogue, specificity and visual wonder, this Max series is a good choice to help fill the “Severance”-shaped hole in your heart.The animated pharma thriller/stoner dramedy “Common Side Effects,” available on Max, is as rare and precious as the miraculous mushroom its hero, Marshall (Dave King), discovers in the jungle. Smarts, humor, style and perspective rarely align so harmoniously. Not a lot of shows have as much to say, and fewer still say it with such panache.“Common” follows the open-shirted, tiny-mouthed environmentalist Marshall, who wants to protect the fragile habitat of the blue angel mushroom, a fungus that can heal seemingly everything. Everyone should be able to access its powers, Marshall says, and no one should be denied a lifesaving cure because of poverty.But he’s up against a lot, including the D.E.A., the F.B.I., big pharma, fellow mycologists, backwoods hooligans, jailhouse power players and sometimes just his own naiveté. He reunites with his high school lab partner, Frances (Emily Pendergast), after he is booted from one of her boss’s speeches. Frances doesn’t admit to him that she works for Reutical, a pharmaceutical company that does every single bad thing Marshall abhors. They trust each other, even though they haven’t seen each other in years, and when Marshall is in peril, he calls her.“Just two things to mention,” he says, panic rising in his voice. “Some people are following me, and I brought my tortoise.”Frances is just as desperate as Marshall. Her mother has Alzheimer’s and is in a memory care facility that they can barely afford; her boyfriend is sort of a yutz; and she is always waist-deep in a crisis of conscience about working for Reutical. Should she try to help Marshall do things Marshall’s slapdash way, or might Reutical be in a better position to cultivate, test and distribute such a powerful drug?Her boss, Rick (Mike Judge), takes her up to the company’s rooftop helipad to encourage her to stick with the corporate vision. “You’re with us now, the helicopter people,” he says. “We don’t worry about the down-there problems.” He doesn’t say it in an evil, cackling villain voice, though. He says it like an encouraging dad, like a mentor.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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    With ‘The Studio,’ Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg Grow Up. Sort of.

    Amoeba Records, on Hollywood Boulevard, isn’t the best place for someone of Seth Rogen’s visibility to shop hassle-free. Located just blocks from the Chinese Theater, right by Dr. Phil’s and Dr. Oz’s stars on the Walk of Fame, there may be few places worse.But when Rogen wasn’t being interrupted by his admiring bro-fans, who were legion — one wore toe shoes and a Lil Dicky shirt; another cried — Amoeba was, however, a perfect place to dig through hundreds of vinyl soundtracks. It was the Tuesday before the Oscars, and we were there with Rogen’s longtime creative partner, Evan Goldberg, to browse records and talk about their latest creation: “The Studio,” an ambitious, celebrity-stuffed industry satire for Apple TV+ that premiered on Wednesday.“The Studio” features many celebrity cameos and guest roles, including one by Martin Scorsese, right (with Ike Barinholtz, left, and Seth Rogen).Apple TV+Rogen had been tasked by his wife to stock more jazz — appropriate given the new show’s jazzy score and improvisational feel, shot mostly in long single takes. But as Goldberg and Rogen, who have been friends since they were teenagers, noted, their taste in music had really been formed by their love for movies.So we found ourselves first among the soundtracks, where highlights included a reissue of “The Three Amigos” — “One of my favorite movies of all time,” Rogen said — and two copies of the soundtrack for “Soul Man,” the 1986 comedy about a young white guy who pretends to be Black in order to get a Harvard scholarship. (Different times, as they say.)“Dude, I was just telling some people at work about this yesterday!” Goldberg said.“It has a good soundtrack,” Rogen ventured.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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    How ‘Operation Mincemeat’ Revealed a Family’s World War II Secrets

    Descendants of characters in “Operation Mincemeat,” a hit British musical now in New York, have gotten more out of seeing it than a few catchy melodies.When William Leggatt was at work as a renewal energy developer a couple of summers ago, he received a bizarre email from a superfan of “Operation Mincemeat,” a British musical about a wacky World War II intelligence plot.As the show outlines, the operation involved British spies dressing a corpse as a military officer, stuffing a briefcase with fake letters implying an imminent invasion of Sardinia, and then dumping the corpse and documents at sea to be discovered by the Nazis.So the email contained a simple question: Was William a distant relative of Hester Leggatt, a prim secretary who appears in the musical and played a key role in the plot?The show’s superfans, who meet in an online forum and are known as Mincefluencers, believed that Hester was involved in writing fake love letters that officials planted on the body to help make the plot believable — and that she deserved to be publicly honored. But William Leggatt had no idea what the email was talking about.The cast members, from left, Claire-Marie Hall, Zoë Roberts, David Cumming, Natasha Hodgson and Jak Malone, during the curtain call last week at the Golden Theater in Manhattan.Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesIt was only when he started talking to family members who were closer to the great-aunt and, later, reading a document sent by the Mincefluencers, that he realized they were right. In the end, he recalled in a recent interview, the musical “opened a whole side to my family I’d never known.”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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    Late Night Is Still Reeling Over the Government’s ‘War by Emoji’

    “Signal might be a good app for you and me and our local drug dealer, but it’s not for the Pentagon to plan wars on,” Ronny Chieng said on Tuesday’s “Daily Show.”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.Snapchat’s NextThe late-night buzz on Tuesday was still about the Signal chat group in which Trump administration officials discussed an imminent strike on Houthi militants in Yemen, unaware that one of them had mistakenly added the editor of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, to the group.The “Daily Show” host Ronny Chieng said it was proof that not everything that goes wrong is President Trump’s fault — “he has a whole administration that can [expletive] up for him.”“Is anyone else kind of upset that we’re conducting war by emoji now?” — RONNY CHIENG“I know we shouldn’t enjoy the fact that we have a confederacy of dunces running this country, but I’ll be honest, I can’t help it — I’m enjoying it right now. This week, in the race between dumb and evil, dumb’s in the lead.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“At first, Goldberg was concerned that it might be a hoax. But he got a hint it might be real when he was added to a text chain called ‘Houthi PC small group.’ Turns out it was real and that ‘Houthi’ is short for ‘Houthis idiots running our government?’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“And they should’ve known someone from The Atlantic was there, because after 10 messages, Goldberg chimed in to say: ‘You’ve reached your free article limit. Please log in to continue.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“And by the way, it wasn’t even Pete Hegseth who added him, it was some other incompetent guy at the highest levels of government, OK? Like, what, you think Hegseth has the editor of The Atlantic magazine saved in his phone? No way, all right? If Hegseth auto-filled a contact into a group chat, it would be like, ‘Tampa Bay Blonde With Bugs Bunny Tattoo.’” — RONNY CHIENG“Apparently, the reporter was mistakenly added to the group chat by Trump’s national security adviser. This adviser can’t catch a break. Today, he sat down and butt-dialed the nuclear codes to North Korea.” — JIMMY FALLON“And even if they didn’t accidentally add a journalist into this group chat, they weren’t supposed to be talking about this stuff on Signal in the first place, OK? Signal might be a good app for you and me and our local drug dealer, but it’s not for the Pentagon to plan wars on.” — RONNY CHIENG“Today Trump said it’ll never happen again, and from now on they’ll only talk about war plans over Snapchat.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Punchiest Punchlines (Meat Loaf 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