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      'SNL' Cast Member Bowen Yang Addresses Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

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      NBC/Will Heath

      During the ‘Weekend Update’ segment, the first Chinese-American cast member on the series shares about a helpful mantra for himself which is a Mandarin cheer ‘Jiayou’ that roughly translates to ‘Fuel up.’

      Mar 29, 2021

      AceShowbiz –
      “Saturday Night Live” cast member Bowen Yang talked about something that really hit home in the new episode of the NBC comedy show. During the “Weekend Update” segment in the Saturday, March 27 episode, the first Chinese-American cast member on the series addressed anti-Asian hate crime that recently rises in the United States.

      In the segment, Yang shared about a helpful mantra for himself which was a Mandarin cheer “Jiayou” that roughly translates to “Fuel up.” The comedian said, “I don’t know what’s helpful to say to everyone, but that’s what I say to myself. Fuel up. Do more. It’s the Year of the Metal Ox, which basically means a car. So everyone get in, buckle up, it’s no pee breaks. We ride at dawn, grandmas!”

      The “Nora from Queens” actor referred to the 75-year-old Asian American woman named Xiao Zhen Xie. Earlier this month, Xie was punched by a white man in San Francisco, California, but then she used a wooden board to fight back. The suspect, Steve Jenkins, who attacked 83-year-old Ngoc Pham, was arrested at the scene.

        See also…

      The attack arrived just one day after Robert Aaron Long killed eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlors. Of the victims, six were women of Asian descent.

      Back to the show, Yang still attempted to bring laughter as he joked, “Six ways you can check in on your AAPI friends and tell them they’re so hot.”

      “Weekend Update” host Colin Jost then asked Yang if those tips were going to help Asian Americans. To that, Yang responded, “Maybe. I don’t know, Colin… What can I say to help how insanely bad things are?” The 30-year-old went on to say, “If someone’s personality is ‘punch an Asian grandma,’ it’s not a dialogue. I have an Asian grandma, you want to punch her. There ain’t no common ground, mama.”

      “Look, I’m just a comedian, I don’t have the answers. But I’m not just looking for them online, I’m looking around me,” he added. “The GoFundMe for Xiao Zhen Xie, the grandmother who fought back against her attacker, raised $900,000, which she immediately gave back to the community. That’s where we are as Asians. Come meet us there.”

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      Doc Severinsen Recalls High Notes, Low Notes and Everything in Between

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      Doc Severinsen hadn’t been able to practice his trumpet in a couple of days, and by his own admission, it was making him irritable. “I’m getting a little bit antsy,” he said one afternoon earlier this month.Were he not currently conducting a video interview from the kitchen of his home in Tennessee, he said, “By now, I’d have a trumpet in my hand, and I would be pretty much doing that the rest of the day.”Instead the 93-year-old Severinsen was sharing reflections from his life and career as a trumpeter and bandleader of “The Tonight Show” while his companion, Cathy Leach, sat nearby. As he occasionally, instinctually pursed his lips to practice the embouchure he uses on his mouthpiece, he explained that he was a different man when separated from his instrument. In his reedy, rumbling voice, he said, “I don’t become the most pleasant guy to live with.”Audiences got to know Severinsen best during his 30-year run on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show,” where he served not only as its musical frontman but also as a flashily attired comic foil to its host, who became a close friend behind the scenes. Carson died in 2005, and his announcer and sidekick, Ed McMahon, died in 2009, leaving Severinsen the most prominent surviving face of that influential late-night show.Over 30 years on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon, Severinsen was both musical frontman and comic foil.Douglas C. Pizac/Associated PressNow, Severinsen is pulling back the curtain on his own life in a new documentary, “Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story,” which will make its debut Friday on PBS’s “American Masters.”The film, which is directed by Kevin S. Bright and Jeff Consiglio, chronicles Severinsen’s upbringing in Arlington, Ore., where his father was the local dentist (thus earning his son, Carl, the lifelong nickname “Doc”). The documentary also explores his work as a musician, on “The Tonight Show” and off, and dives deeply into his personal life, his marriages and his family’s history with alcoholism.If the movie uncovers much that viewers didn’t know about him, Severinsen said, “I found out how much I didn’t know, too.”Severinsen spoke further about the making of “Never Too Late,” its revelations and his fulfilling, frustrating obsession with the trumpet. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.You’ve been off “The Tonight Show” now for almost as many years as you were on it. Does that experience seem distant to you now?It does. But at first — and I can’t tell you how long that went on for — I would wake up in the morning and think, Oh, God, I’ve got to get going or I’m going to be late for work. I’ve got to pick out a program of music. Oh, wait a minute — I don’t do that anymore.What keeps you occupied now?I’ve got that jealous bitch over in the corner — the trumpet. And if you don’t pick that baby up and treat it right, you’re going to have nothing but trouble.“All you know is you’ve got to pick out the right music, conduct the band and be ready to talk,” Severinsen said of his time on “The Tonight Show.”Ron Tom/NBCUniversal via Getty Images How were you persuaded to be the subject of a film about your life?Kevin Bright has had a working relationship with my eldest daughter, Nancy. They had renewed their friendship, and Kevin said: “How’s your dad? What’s he up to?” The next thing I know, Nancy’s calling me, saying, “Dad, I spoke to Kevin and he wants to do a documentary.” I laughed and said: “That’ll be the day. No thanks.”What changed your mind?Kevin knew how to handle me. One thing led to another, and all of a sudden we’re sitting in the kitchen, here in this house. I had this feeling of, Why am I doing this? What the hell is going on? Then we started talking and we never stopped.Are people surprised when they see you dressed casually, as you are today, instead of sporting some of your memorable apparel from “The Tonight Show”?The way you see me now, it’s the way I’ve always been. I’ve got a cowboy shirt on and jeans and cowboy boots. I thought I might go riding today — it turns out, that’s not going to happen, but I’ve still got the right clothes on for it.Severinsen, known for his garish outfits on “The Tonight Show,” opts for more muted attire these days.via Just Bright ProductionsSo all that eye-popping clothing you wore on the show was a kind of affectation?It was at first, yeah. It was a desperation kind of a thing. You don’t know when they’re going to talk to you or what they’re going to talk to you about. All you know is you’ve got to pick out the right music, conduct the band and be ready to talk. Because the one thing you don’t want to have happen is, you’re sitting there, [mindlessly] “Oh boy, I sure enjoyed that dinner last night,” and you hear Johnny say, “Isn’t that right, Doc?”Did Carson ever catch you off guard?One time, he asked me to hit a double high-C on trumpet. And I thought, Holy Christ. I knew I was capable of it if I had time to work on it. But somehow, from past experience, I hit that note and did a pretty doggone good job. And I thought, I’ve got to have a finish for this. So I did a take of great pain and reeling around and fell flat on the floor. I didn’t know I was going to do that! Neither did Johnny. It’s all about being in show business, I guess.Is it fair to say there was a kind of friendly one-upmanship in your on-camera relationship with Carson?Well, there was no one-upmanship because we knew who had the one-up. It was mostly me paying attention and trying to fit in. But Johnny, he was an artist. He could produce and write a script in his mind while he’s saying it.“You get out of the trumpet exactly what you put into the trumpet,” Severinsen said.via Just Bright ProductionsCarson had a behind-the-scenes reputation, even among people who worked for him, for being enigmatic or elusive. Was that your experience with him?Well, the only person who could answer that is Johnny. He knows if he’s thinking in his mind about some friend who’s passed away or a secret desire he has to do this or that, or God, I wish I’d had a hamburger for lunch. But he was an extremely bright man. He was friends with Carl Sagan, and he used to love to get together with him and talk about the universe. I’d go out with him on his boat, and we’re sitting there, looking up at night, and he’s explaining the whole damn works up there. There was a lot more to him than he ever let on.You felt you saw a side of him that he didn’t necessarily share with others?I did, and I can tell you right now, I ain’t going to talk about it. [Chuckles.] Us guys, sometimes, when we have real pain — Oh, I wish I hadn’t done that, or I wish I had done that — you don’t get the whole thing.You’re candid in the film about your history with alcoholism — how it ran in your family and how your first wife’s problems with it led to the dissolution of your marriage to her. Were you nervous about sharing this with people?No, I wasn’t nervous because it’s fact. If you’re an alcoholic, you should be one of the first ones to know. Well, I wasn’t one of the first ones to know that I was an alcoholic. My wife at that time, I’ll tell you, I feel sorry for her. I’m not angry over any of it. There I was with three little kids — I’ve got to be Dad, I’ve got to be Mom, I’ve got to be the maid. I’ve got to do it all. And then I have to go over to the police department and say to the guy at the des:, “Listen, if your patrolmen see my wife driving our car — and especially if there’s little kids in there, would you do me a favor? Would you pull her over? And if she’s been drinking at all, take the car from her, take her home and make the kids safe.”“If you don’t pick that baby up and treat it right,” Severinsen said about his trumpet, “you’re going to have nothing but trouble.”Kristine Potter for The New York TimesThere was often a lot of joking about drinking on “The Tonight Show.” Did that make it hard to maintain your sobriety?I didn’t come to work and say, “Now, Johnny, there’s something I’ve got to tell you — I’m an alcoholic, so look out now.” Quite the opposite. And about the time I was just starting out on “The Tonight Show,” I also became aware that if you’re an alcoholic, you’re probably a drug addict also. And I found out that I was. And I said, “Whoa, boy, they’re taking away all my toys.”But you’re better for it.I’ll put it to you this way, I’m alive.What drugs were you using?I don’t even want to discuss it. None of the rock-hard stuff. But close. Very close.Your third wife, Emily, is an on-camera subject in the documentary, and she speaks frankly about how your marriage to her unraveled after your time on “The Tonight Show” ended. Were you concerned about including her in the film?No, I had to trust Kevin on that. If you’re doing something that’s extremely revealing, about private matters, there’s a producer that will make that decision and you’d better figure out how you’re going to live with it. Emily, she’s a very bright person, and fair. She’s — well, I’m in a much better place.You’re happy in your life with Cathy Leach, who is a professor emeritus of trumpet at the University of Tennessee?I don’t know how to describe it. But when I pull the covers up under my chin at night and she reaches over and makes sure that I got my arms covered and I’m all settled and everything’s OK — I don’t want to get into religion, but I thank God she came into my life.Are you still discovering new things about the trumpet?Oh, yeah. But when you pick up a trumpet, don’t think it’s going to be a bouquet of roses the rest of your life. You get out of the trumpet exactly what you put into the trumpet. If you put bad timing and a bad attitude, anything negative at all into the trumpet, it comes right back to hit you in the face.Do you ever have days when you think, I can’t play that damned thing for another minute?Yes, but I don’t call it a “damned thing.” Because the trumpet has the last word. I try to remain respectful of that damned thing. More

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      On ‘S.N.L.’, Maya Rudolph Hosts a Unity Seder as Kamala Harris

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      The “Saturday Night Live” alumna reprised her role as Vice President Kamala Harris in a sketch that also featured Alex Moffat’s return as President Biden.This weekend, “Saturday Night Live” added one more question to the four that are customarily asked at a Passover Seder: Why wasn’t this sketch chosen as the cold open?You had to wait until just before midnight for the topical, politically themed satire that usually kicks off an “S.N.L.” broadcast — this one featuring the host, Maya Rudolph, in her recurring role as Vice President Kamala Harris. Her task? To M.C. a Passover meal intended as a call for unity.“This has been a difficult year for all of us,” Rudolph’s Harris said. “But I really do feel that we are about to see some light. And what better night to celebrate a new beginning than Passover — or as my adopted people call it, Pesach.”Rudolph explained the four questions that would be asked at this particular Seder: “How’s school? Did you eat? When are you giving me grandchildren? And what’s with the haircut?” Then she introduced the man she described as “my rock, my everything, my Semitic smokeshow, my stepbaby-daddy” — Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, as played by Martin Short.In customary “S.N.L.” style, they were joined by various cast members playing prominent political figures, including Aidy Bryant as Senator Ted Cruz, who brought Israeli-flag cupcakes and pigs in a blanket. (“Well, we can’t have pork or bread, so thank you,” Rudolph told her.)Chloe Fineman appeared as Ella Emhoff, the second daughter, model and fashion designer. “Am I breaking your eyes?” she asked. “Good. You may think I look insane, but I assure you, I’m the most normal looking girl in Bushwick.”Kenan Thompson arrived, playing Senator Raphael Warnock, and was asked by Rudolph to make certain that Georgia remained a blue state.“That won’t be easy,” Thompson said. “They’ll do everything they can to keep Black people from voting. We wouldn’t vote on anything if they had their way. Not even ‘American Idol.’ Jennifer Hudson would have been knocked out in the first round.”The group was then joined by Alex Moffat as President Biden, a role he had played on only one previous occasion, in December. In this appearance, Moffat portrayed Biden as brimming with confidence after his first formal news conference on Thursday.“It was so easy,” Moffat said. “A lot of critics thought I wasn’t mentally prepared enough but I think I” — he paused here to look at a note card — “proved them all wrong.”Moffat then informed Rudolph that he was giving her the responsibility of handling immigration conditions. “Thank you for the opportunity,” Rudolph said dryly. “Such a fun, solvable problem.”Moffat also reintroduced his colleagues to his not entirely tamed dog Major. A few prerecorded growls played, and that was Short’s cue to wrestle gamely on the ground with a stuffed dog.Beyoncé impersonation of the weekIf you’re going to bring Maya Rudolph back to “S.N.L.”, you’d better have her play Beyoncé Knowles-Carter in preposterous circumstances. This time, that setting was “Hot Ones,” the streaming talk show in which celebrities answer questions while trying to eat spicy food.Mikey Day played the role of its host, Sean Evans, and even he seemed confused as to why Beyoncé would appear on the program. “I feel you,” Rudolph said. “I still can’t tell if this is beneath me. But my sister Solange loves this show, so I said I’d do it.”Rudolph didn’t answer many questions, but she did successfully embody an overheated Beyoncé, sweaty and with tears streaming down her face after sampling a sauce that was too hot even for her.Music video of the weekNow that more than 39 million Americans age 65 and over have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine (according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), what are they going to do with their new status?Why, rap about it boastfully, of course.As Chris Redd raps in this video, playing one such cocky vaccinated senior:Baby boomers, greatest generationGot all the money, now we got the vaccinationCrashed the economy three whole timesAnd when it comes to the vax, we’re the first in lineWeekend Update jokes of the weekOver at the Weekend Update desk, the anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che riffed on possible new White House efforts at gun control after shootings in Atlanta and Boulder.Jost began:Well, this week kind of felt like Biden on those stairs. You thought it had to get better, but then it repeatedly got worse. In the wake of the Colorado and Atlanta shootings, President Biden called for universal background checks for gun purchases. And background checks are a great start, but shouldn’t we also do current checks? Like, what are these guys up to now? How much “Call of Duty” are they playing? Have they recently DMed a girl “hey” 30 times? Or, how about this: If you want a gun, the gun store has to talk to at least five people from your life who agree it’s a good idea for you to have a gun. It’s not really that much to ask. You’ve got to list three references on an application to work at Foot Locker.“And Republicans,” he added, “please stop pretending this is a Second Amendment issue and just admit:You love guns more than people you don’t know. These are your political ads; look at them: [Here a composite image appeared of several Republican figures posing with guns] “You look like you’re running for president of ISIS. If you actually cared about the Second Amendment, you’d also care about the well-regulated militias part. And I don’t know if you noticed when they almost hung you two months ago, but our militias aren’t super well-regulated.Che picked up the riff, replying: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just bought a gun last summer when all those white kids started talking about getting rid of the police.”He then switched gears to Biden’s news conference, saying:President Biden gave his first press conference, which lasted for over an hour. Wow, shout out to Fixodent! At the conference, President Biden was asked if he plans to run for re-election in 2024, which is probably the nicest way to ask him if he plans on being alive in three years.Weekend Update deskside segment of the weekThough Bowen Yang is often seen here playing characters like the Chinese trade minister Chen Biao, this week he appeared as himself to address recent efforts to reduce anti-Asian hate and attacks. Yang read from what he said were calls to action he had seen on Instagram, with titles like “Six ways you can check in on your A.A.P.I. friends and tell them they’re so hot,” using the abbreviation for Asian-American and Pacific Islander people, and “Call your Senators and demand that they know about the lesbian characters in Sailor Moon!”Acknowledging that he had no easy solutions to these problems, Yang asked, “What can I say to help how insanely bad things are? If someone’s personality is Punch an Asian Grandma, it’s not a dialogue. I have an Asian grandma. You want to punch her. There ain’t no common ground, mama.”All work and no play of the weekIf you’re a fan of precise parodies of Stanley Kubrick films, or you just like seeing past “S.N.L.” stars reunite with their former castmates, there’s something here for you. In this filmed segment called “The Maya-ing,” Rudolph goes wandering through Studio 8H as if it were the Overlook Hotel from “The Shining.”But no one gets his brains bashed in with a bat — it’s just a clever opportunity for Rudolph to cross paths with old pals like Tina Fey (playing the ghost of an original “S.N.L.” writer) and Rachel Dratch (as herself, in a bathtub). Enjoy your stay, Maya, forever and ever and ever. More

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      Sophia Bush Announces Partnership to Expand the Reach of Her Podcast Show

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      WENN

      The ‘One Tree Hill’ star is taking her long-running audio series ‘Work In Progress’ to top podcast platform Wondery as she continues to interview influencers and change makers.

      Mar 28, 2021

      AceShowbiz –
      Actress and activist Sophia Bush has partnered with bosses at top podcast platform Wondery to expand the reach of her long-running audio series.

      The “One Tree Hill” star has been podcasting since long before the COVID pandemic kicked in last year (20) and the audio broadcasting medium exploded.

      Now, Sophia is taking her hit show, “Work In Progress”, to Wondery, where she will continue her interviews with change makers, influencers and politicians.

      Previous guests have included Hillary Clinton, Natalie Portman, designer Diane von Furstenberg, and Spanish chef Jose Andres.

        See also…

      It’s not Sophia’s only media news this week (ends26Mar21) – she was also named the co-founder of and advisor for new company Fashionkind, and plans to work to reduce the environmental impact of garment design, manufacture, and sales.

      Writing on Instagram, Bush shares that she and her new partner Nina Farran “will work to do all we can to help change fashion from within and bring real change to the industry at large…”

      “This is a huge endeavor – a moonshot if you will – and we hope you’ll be part of the journey as we grow, and strive to create a more beautiful and more equitable world,” she said.

      In another post, the actress added, “I wanted to see how we might go about creating industry-wide change. For so long, that kind of change felt more like a dream than a reality that I might be able to contribute to. So you can imagine how incredibly excited I was to have the opportunity to work on changing that from within!”

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      Fred Armisen Tapped to Lead New Podcast Series 'The Sketch Factor'

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      WENN

      The former ‘Saturday Night Live’ regular is set to play a billionaire oddball who judges a comedy sketch in the upcoming podcast series due to debut on Spotify.

      Mar 28, 2021

      AceShowbiz –
      Actor, comedian, and drummer Fred Armisen is taking his unique skills to the crowded audio arena for a new show.

      In the new podcast, “The Sketch Factor”, the “Saturday Night Live” star, who is known for his celebrity impersonations, will play a character called Xandor Szavost.

      Described by Variety as “an inventor, philanthropist and billionaire who’s using his fortune to finance an audio sketch-comedy competition for his own amusement,” the fictional oddball will judge a comedy sketch as part of each short episode.

      Guest comedians will include Kurt Braunholer, Jo Firestone, Maggie Champagne, Tim Robinson, Josh Ruben, Yamanika Saunders, and Seaton Smith.

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      The show will be produced by Radio Point bosses and will debut on 1 April (21), exclusively on Spotify.

      Chiefs at the platform, who are working to expand its podcast division, will also roll out another audio series the same day, “Flameout”, in which a troupe of comedians will tackle famous business failures. Episodes will introduce out-of-control bosses who steered their companies off the rails, to be played by “Wet Hot American Summer” star Michael Ian Black, “Up Early Tonight” ‘s Abbi Crutchfield, “The Other Two” actor Joel Kim Booster, Candice Thompson, Chinedu Unaka, Atsuko Okatsuka, Alison Becker, and Baron Vaughn.

      It’s a busy time for Candice, who has just launched “Nosy Neighbors”, another Spotify original that she co-hosts with “The Mindy Project” ‘s Chinedu Unaka. The two funnywomen analyse bad behaviour and personal disputes, some caught on camera, as well as online neighborhood bickering.

      Every episode will include a real-life comedian telling their own nosy neighbour story.

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      Racist Moments in WWE Catalog Are Missing on Peacock Streaming

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      Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, is now showing old and new episodes of WWE Network wrestling. Some troubling segments in the network’s history disappeared in the transfer.Fans of the WWE Network have seen and heard racist tropes in the ring for years.In 1990, during a showdown between Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown, a Black wrestler, Mr. Piper, who is white, showed up to the match with half his face painted black.In 2005, Vince McMahon, the chief executive of WWE, used a racial slur repeatedly in a prepared skit before he was taken down by Dwayne Johnson, then known as the Rock.Until recently, those segments were available to watch on the WWE Network, which allowed subscribers to revisit old episodes and seasons of WrestleMania going back to the 1980s. But this month, after WWE episodes began moving to Peacock, NBCUniversal’s fledgling streaming service, longtime viewers of wrestling noticed they could not find either segment.“The whole match is gone,” said Christopher Jeter, 30, who has watched professional wrestling since he was 10 and now writes about it for Daily DDT, a news and opinion site about WWE. “I wouldn’t say it’s a big loss.”NBCUniversal said that Peacock was “reviewing WWE content to ensure it aligns with Peacock’s standards and practices,” as it does other shows and films on the platform.“Peacock and WWE are reviewing all past content to ensure it fits our 2021 standards,” WWE said.NBCUniversal said in January that Peacock had acquired exclusive streaming rights to WWE Network content through a multiyear agreement.In March, the company announced that Peacock would feature WWE “fan-favorite content at launch, including all past WrestleManias leading up to WrestleMania 37.”The company said that Peacock would continue to add WWE Network content to its library, making the entire archive available to fans.The removal of the segments come as other streaming services and entertainment companies have sought to give audiences context for older films and television shows that feature offensive content.Disney’s streaming service includes a 12-second disclaimer that cannot be skipped before films like “Dumbo” and “Peter Pan” that tells viewers they will see “negative depictions” and “mistreatment of people or cultures.”“These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” the disclaimer warns. “Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”This month, Turner Classic Movies showed 18 classic films, including “The Jazz Singer” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” that were preceded by commentary from film experts who prepared viewers for scenes they could find jarring or upsetting.HBO Max initially removed “Gone With the Wind” from its streaming service, then added it again with a four-minute introduction by the TCM host Jacqueline Stewart, who explains the enduring cultural importance of the film even as it “denies the horrors of slavery as well as its legacies of racial inequality.”Last June, an NBC spokesman said four episodes of “30 Rock” that featured blackface were being removed from circulation at the request of Tina Fey, the show’s creator, and Robert Carlock, an executive producer and showrunner.Mr. Jeter, the WWE fan who writes about wrestling, said that racist and sexist depictions of women, Black people and other people of color have long been a part of professional wrestling.“It became such a part of watching the product that it became expected,” he said. “But it’s not why I watch wrestling.”Most fans, he said, watch wrestling because they enjoy the combination of athleticism and dramatic storytelling. The racist tropes were often a distraction from that, Mr. Jeter said.“I’m sure there are fans who are saying, ‘Why are you censoring?’” he said. “But it really isn’t a big deal that they’re getting rid of these stories and segments that haven’t really aged well, and weren’t really good at the time.” More

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      'Coronation Street' Star Bill Roache Written Out of Show to Recover From Covid-19

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      ITV

      The Ken Barlow depicter has been forced to take a hiatus from the long-running soap opera to enter quarantine and recover after he tested positive for coronavirus.

      Mar 28, 2021

      AceShowbiz –
      Actor Bill Roache was forced to take time off filming U.K. soap opera “Coronation Street” after contracting Covid-19.

      The 88-year-old, who has played Ken Barlow in the show since its 1960 debut, tested positive for the coronavirus and was written out of the soap as he took time to recover.

      However, a spokesperson for the ITV show has confirmed Bill is on the mend and is set to return to the famous cobbles “as soon as possible.”

      “Following recent reports about his health, William Roache has asked us to clarify that he took time off work after testing positive for Covid,” they told the Daily Mirror. “He has recovered well and is looking forward to returning to the cobbles as soon as possible.”

        See also…

      A source added that storylines involving Ken were “currently being written,” explaining bosses are “limiting the time we are filming with the more elderly cast during the pandemic.”

      “He is doing really well and is looking forward to returning,” they shared. “Bill is such a well-loved member of the team and everyone is delighted he has recovered so well.”

      “We can’t wait to have him back.”

      Like most projects, “Coronation Street” halted filming when the lockdown was first announced in March 2020. The cast and crew resumed filming in a restricted manner several months later. Due to social distancing guideline, they used real-life couples as body doubles for kissing scenes.

      “Coronation Street” wasn’t the only show employing the clever trick. Another U.K. soap opera “EastEnders” and U.S. daytime series “The Bold and The Beautiful” also recruited real-life partners for intimate scenes.

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      Craig muMs Grant, Actor and Slam Poet, Dies at 52

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      He was a star of the HBO series “Oz” under the name muMs, which he also used on the poetry circuit both before and after finding success on television.Craig muMs Grant’s biggest success as an actor was the role of Poet on the HBO prison drama “Oz,” but fans of that series were accustomed to seeing him credited simply as muMs. It was a name he adopted as a young man when he was exploring rap and slam poetry, influences that he said changed his life.“Before hip-hop,” as he put it in “A Sucker Emcee,” an autobiographical play he performed in 2014, “I couldn’t speak.”Mr. Grant compiled a respectable career as an actor. He appeared on “Oz” throughout its six-season run, which began in 1997, and turned up in spot roles on series including “Hack,” “Boston Legal” and “Law & Order” and its spinoffs, and in movies like Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled” (2000). But before his “Oz” breakthrough he was a familiar presence on the slam poetry circuit in New York and beyond; he was in the 1998 documentary “SlamNation” as part of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe’s slam team.He returned to his poetry/rap roots often, even after “Oz” gave him a measure of fame — appearing onstage with the Labyrinth Theater Company in New York, where he was a member of the ensemble, and performing at colleges and small theaters all over the country.Mr. Grant, third from left, in an episode of the HBO series “Oz” in 1997. He played Poet, a drug addict who writes verses while incarcerated.HBO“I love words,” he told The Indianapolis Star in 2001. “Anybody ever wanted to buy me anything for Christmas or my birthday, they can buy me a dictionary. The bigger, the better.”Mr. Grant died on Wednesday in Wilmington, N.C., where he was filming the Starz series “Hightown,” in which he had a recurring role. He was 52.His manager, Sekka Scher, said the cause was complications of diabetes.Craig O’Neil Grant was born on Dec. 18, 1968, in the Bronx. His father, Samuel, was a locksmith and carpenter at Montefiore Hospital, and his mother, Theresa (Maxwell) Grant, was a teacher.Mr. Grant graduated from Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx and was taking college courses in Virginia when, he said, he started exploring writing, seeking to infuse poetry with the energy of the rap music he enjoyed.“The problem with poetry is, a lot of the audience sometimes has a short attention span,” he told the Indianapolis paper years later. “So poetry has to have rhythm to capture people who can’t listen for so long. They’ll just close their eyes and ride the rhythm of your voice.”He took the name “muMs” when he was around 20. He was in a rap group, he told The Philadelphia Daily News in 2003, and still had a bit of a youthful lisp, so a friend suggested he call himself “Mumbles.”“I thought about that for a week and shortened it to muMs,” he said, and then he turned that into an acronym for “manipulator under Manipulation shhhhhhh!” That phrase, he told the Indianapolis paper, symbolized the notion that “as great as I want to become or as great as I think I am, I can always go to the edge of the ocean, stand there and realize I’m nothing in comparison to the universe.”Back in New York, he didn’t succeed as a rapper. But he began performing spoken-word poetry at places like the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, which is where someone involved in developing “Oz” saw him and recommended that Tom Fontana, the show’s creator, give him a look. Mr. Grant auditioned by performing one of his poems, and he was cast as Poet, a drug addict who writes verses while incarcerated.Mr. Grant, who lived in the Bronx, joined Labyrinth in 2006 and appeared in various roles in its productions. He also began writing plays, including “A Sucker Emcee,” in which he told his life story largely in rhymed couplets while a D.J. working turntables provided a soundtrack.Mr. Grant is survived by his partner, Jennie West, and a brother, Winston Maxwell.In 2003 Mr. Grant released a spoken-word album called “Strange Fruit,” taking the title from the song about lynchings famously recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939.“Today, strange fruit means we’re the product of everything Black people have been through in this country — Middle Passage, Jim Crow, segregation,” he told The Baltimore Sun in 2004. “It’s a new way of looking at it. The metaphor of strange fruit means life and birth for me, where it used to mean lynching and death. Blacks have been doing that for years, taking the bad and flipping it, making the best of a bad situation.” More