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      Meet the French Game Show Contestant Who Won 646 Times in a Row (and 23 Cars)

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      He also won TVs, musical instruments, a parachuting session, makeup, household appliances and much, much more. “It’s a lot,” he acknowledged.Much feels in flux in France these days. Will yo-yoing tariffs hit businesses? Is Perrier really that natural? And don’t even get started on the volatile summer heat.But for the past 21 months, fans of a popular French game show have lived by a simple, ironclad certainty. Tune in at noon on any given day, and without fail, there he was: a soft-spoken young man named Émilien, with wiry round glasses and an astonishing depth of trivia knowledge.Just as reliably, Émilien beat the other contestants. Again, and again, and again.Although he has declined to reveal his last name for privacy reasons, Émilien is now a celebrity of sorts in France for his record-breaking winning streak on a show called “Les Douze Coups de Midi,” or “The Twelve Strokes of Noon.” Starting on Sept. 25, 2023, he competed 647 times and netted 2.56 million euros, about $3 million, in cash and prizes.But it came to an end on Sunday, when a single defeat ended his reign.Émilien, now 22, is as incredulous as the rest of us that he got that far.“It’s a crazy story,” he said by phone this week. “I never expected it to last that long.”Broadcast on the TF1 television network, each day’s show has four contestants compete in a series of trivia quizzes. The winner — le Maître de Midi, or Master of Noon — defends that title the next day.“My goal was always the same,” Émilien said. “Every day, from the first to the 647th, to still be there at the end of the show, to do my best and come back the next day.”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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      From a Chaotic Childhood to the Control of a Michelin-Starred Kitchen

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      It was hard to tell if Curtis Duffy was about to cry. The Chicago chef who loves both heavy metal and tweezering tiny herbs is not someone you would call effusive.We were on the sidewalk outside the Lincoln Park townhouse that was once home to Charlie Trotter’s, the seminal restaurant where Mr. Duffy learned what fine dining meant. He was trying to explain his father, Robert Duffy, who was 18 when his son was born.The elder Duffy was a longhaired Army vet and a tattoo artist who practiced a style of parenting that involved regular applications of a leather strap. His biker buddies nicknamed him Bear.That’s also the name of the television series in which Ever, Mr. Duffy’s Michelin-starred temple to the tasting menu, appears as the fictionalized greatest restaurant in the world. His intricate dishes, including a magic trick that makes a puff of cotton candy disappear into hibiscus soup, star as the work of the show’s chefs.Mr. Duffy is quick to point out that “The Bear” — which just started its fourth season — is not based on Ever and that he is not Carmy Berzatto, the tortured, talented chef at its center. But the emotional mess at the heart of the show is not far off.Mr. Duffy sometimes stages informal competitions with the cooks on the line to see if they can beat him finishing dishes. Lyndon French for 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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      Ronny Chieng Ponders Iran’s Threat to Kill a Sunbathing Trump

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      The “Daily Show” host called the threat “an attack on all of America, because now we all have to picture him with his bare belly glistening in the sun.”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.Navel GrazingA senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader issued an assassination threat against President Trump on Wednesday, remarking that Trump should be careful while sunbathing at Mar-a-Lago, because a small drone might hit him in the navel.Ronny Chieng called the threat “an attack on all of America, because now we all have to picture him with his bare belly glistening in the sun.”“Is this really a threat, though? What, you’re going to hit his navel with a small drone? Like, Iran went from building a nuclear bomb to ‘We’re going to turn his outie into an innie.’” — RONNY CHIENG“Are they threatening to assassinate him or poke him like he’s the Pillsbury Doughboy?” — RONNY CHIENG“Also, Iran, are you the only people in the world that can’t tell Donald Trump uses spray tan? He’s not in the sun, OK? Are you looking at pictures of him, like, ‘Damn, this guy must have spent all week at the beach.’?” — RONNY CHIENG“Wow, I didn’t think a threat like that would unlock his core childhood memories. Maybe keep asking him about this stuff. Like, he might have an emotional breakthrough: ‘Yeah, last time I sunbathed was when I was 7, and my mom said she didn’t love me. And I forgive her. Oh, my God, I’m healed! Let the immigrants stay!’” — RONNY CHIENG, riffing on Trump’s responding to a question about the threat by recalling that he last sunbathed around age 7The Punchiest Punchlines (Back to Biden Edition)“Joe Biden’s former doctor refused to answer a single question about the ex-president’s poor health. Wow, he seems like the perfect doctor to treat my secret warts.” — GREG GUTFELD“Yep, he pled the Fifth to all questions, claiming doctor-patient privilege, which I get. It’s the only thing stopping my doctor from telling the world about my birthmark that looks like Brit Hume.” — GREG GUTFELD“When asked about Biden’s decline, he simply referred them to the coroner’s report.” — GREG GUTFELDThe Bits Worth WatchingAnthony Anderson’s mother celebrated her 72nd birthday in style during her son’s last night as guest host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”Also, Check This Out“Self-Portrait” by Beauford Delaney. In a 1964 self-portrait, the artist renders himself as a coloring book come to life. Estate of Beauford Delaney and Derek L. Spratley; Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLCA new exhibition of Beauford Delaney’s work on paper showcases the paradox at the heart of his art. More

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      ‘And Just Like That …’ Season 3, Episode 7 Recap: Double Standards

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      Guiseppe’s mother has opinions about her son’s new relationship with Anthony. Carrie gets defensive about seeming to flirt with her neighbor.Season 3, Episode 7: ‘They Wanna Have Fun’The woman wondered if she should have invited him to the party.In this scenario, that woman is me, and the man in question is Aidan. Why, pray tell, did Carrie not invite him to “their” house for Charlotte’s birthday party? Last we left our lovers, Carrie had agreed not to return to Virginia, but Aidan was still free to come to New York. (I can’t believe I just typed that sentence as if this were a normal relationship dynamic, but here we are.)Perhaps Carrie was more interested in inviting Duncan, her downstairs neighbor, to the soiree instead of her “boyfriend” (still using quotes!). If Aidan isn’t there, she is free to flirt with Duncan. And she does. But more on that in a bit.The big birthday party that is the center of this week’s episode is really just a ruse to get Charlotte to have a little fun and forget, at least for a night, about Harry’s prostate cancer — which, at this point, no one else knows about but Carrie. After a lunchtime chat in which Charlotte alludes to having a lot on her plate, and a subsequent near-slip of the secret by Carrie, Miranda gets suspicious. So Carrie tells Miranda she wants to throw a big shindig for Charlotte because her dog, Richard Burton, is terminally ill.Miranda — now a huge dog person, apparently, after the introduction of Sappho and Socrates into her life — is simply heartbroken for Charlotte, and goes wild with the party planning. Decked in a silver jumpsuit and toting pink confetti balloons and a karaoke machine no one asked for, Miranda shows up to Carrie’s house ready to party like it’s 1999. To borrow a phrase from O.G. Carrie, I couldn’t help but wonder, how much more over the top would Miranda’s party favors have been if she knew it was Harry who had cancer?By the end of the episode, though, she does. Rumors begin flying among party guests until Harry can’t take it, and he summons Carrie, Miranda and Lisa into a back room to confess his diagnosis. (Yes, Carrie already knows, Charlotte admits to Harry; but Harry told his personal shopper! He has no room to be mad!)Ultimately, Charlotte says, this is the best birthday gift Harry could have given her. That, and the public admission that asking her to keep the secret in the first place was wildly unfair. Because it was.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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      James Carter Cathcart, Voice Behind Memorable ‘Pokémon’ Characters, Dies at 71

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      Mr. Cathcart was known for playing the characters Professor Oak and Meowth in the long-running franchise. He also made appearances in other popular animated series such as “Yu-Gi-Oh!” and “One Piece.”James Carter Cathcart, a voice actor who portrayed some of the most indelible characters in the “Pokémon” franchise and became a familiar presence in several other popular animated series, died on Tuesday. He was 71.His wife, Martha Jacobi, confirmed in a social media post that he died at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. His ex-wife, Jeanne Gari, said in an interview that the cause of his death was throat cancer.For more than two decades, Mr. Cathcart was the voice of several popular characters in the “Pokémon” series and movies, including the genial Professor Oak, his grandson Gary, the antagonizing James and the wisecracking feline creature Meowth, one of the few Pokémon who could speak.Mr. Cathcart joined the cast of “Pokémon” in 1998, just as the franchise exploded into a global craze. While many of the characters cycled in and out through the series’s more than 1,000 episodes, his voice remained a steady presence.Mr. Cathcart also had roles in an array of other anime series, video games and animated shows, including “Yu-Gi-Oh!,” “One Piece” and “Shadow the Hedgehog.” He retired from voice acting in 2023 after he was diagnosed with cancer. Mr. Cathcart appeared in more than 100 roles, according to the entertainment database IMDb, but his work in “Pokémon” is his best known.The voice actors who also had roles in the “Pokémon” universe acknowledged his death on social media. Erica Schroeder, who played Nurse Joy and the creature Wobbuffet, said: “The community will miss you. The world will miss you.”James Carter Cathcart was born on Jan. 4, 1954, in West Long Branch, N.J., and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.He is survived by Ms. Jacobi; his daughters Nicole Zoppi, 41, and Mackenzie, 30; and his son, Carter, 31.Mr. Cathcart said in an interview in 2017 that he was grateful the “Pokémon” franchise had continued to thrive and that he wanted to keep voicing the characters for as long as he could.“Who could imagine 20 years ago that we would still be doing the show and it would be doing so well, but there’s a new generation of kids that loves the Pokémon?” Mr. Cathcart said.Sheelagh McNeill More

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      A Tiny Chef Inspires an Outsize Outpouring

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      When Nickelodeon canceled “The Tiny Chef Show,” fans rallied around the wee gourmand. But his TV future remains uncertain.After the creators Rachel Larsen and Ozlem Akturk learned that their Nickelodeon series, “The Tiny Chef Show,” was canceled, they had to break it to their star.“Once we learned of the news, we just knew we needed to tell Chef,” Larsen said in a video call.Chef, by the way, is a small, cylindrical fellow with black eyes and an adorably garbled voice who lives in a tree stump and enjoys singing. He is animated, but Larsen and Akturk occasionally speak of “Cheffy,” as he is also known, as if he’s a real person.The result was a stop-motion video in which the Tiny Chef gets a phone call from what he calls “Mickelfodeon.” He then sits down to cry after he is told there will be no more new episodes.Since the clip was posted to social media about two weeks ago, the little vegan gourmand has received an outpouring of love as well as about $140,000 in donations from fans hoping to keep his content flowing. The character’s newly relaunched fan club, which is called a “Fan Cwub” to mimic Chef’s distinctive way of speaking and requires a paid membership, has drawn more than 10,000 members.Famous fans have also expressed their support. Dionne Warwick, X commentator nonpareil, posted the cancellation video with strong words for Nickelodeon: “are you proud of making this thing cry? Who is in charge over there? I want a name.”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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      Review: ‘Too Much’ Is Not Nervy Enough

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      This new Netflix comedy by Lena Dunham is the surprisingly mild tale of a young woman fleeing New York after a catastrophic breakup.In a scene from the new Netflix comedy “Too Much,” Jessica (Megan Stalter), a frustrated line producer, vents to her colleagues about her resentments. A co-worker snips: “You’re realizing that middling white women feel terrible wherever they go.” Well, with frenemies like this …Created by Lena Dunham and her husband, Luis Felber, a British musician, “Too Much” follows our heroine Jessica as she flees New York after a catastrophic breakup. She moves to London for the romance of it all — the Jane Austen, the Bridget Jones, the BritBox. The distance from her grandmother (Rhea Perlman), mother (Rita Wilson) and sister (Dunham) is a perk, too, though oceans and time zones are no match for matriarchs who want to impart wisdom on vaginal health.Jessica is a pajama girlie, seen often in granny nighties, frilly tap shorts and teddies. By day, she wears baby-doll dresses and voluminous sailor-neck shifts, big bows in her hair, space buns and a pale blue manicure. She puts her gremlin dog in sweaters and gowns, and she stomps her feet when she’s angry.She also can’t stop looking at her ex’s new girlfriend’s social media. How can the knitting influencer and lizard rescuer Wendy (Emily Ratajkowski) be so happy with Zev (Michael Zegen), when she, Jessica, was supposed to be celebrating her seventh anniversary with him at this very moment? Jessica scrolls obsessively, and she records her own private video diaries addressed to Wendy, videos that bubble with post-breakup rage and confusion.But maybe all that insecurity and despair is more of the New York Jessica, because the London Jessica meets a brooding singer-songwriter, Felix (Will Sharpe), on her very first night in town. They hit it off immediately and speed-run the traditional relationship markers: the I-love-yous, the dinner with the boss, the awkward introduction to friends, the strained plus-one-at-the-wedding mishegoss, the disclosure of family baggage.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 All Over Grok’s Antisemitic Posts

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      “Do you know how racist and antisemitic you have to be for Elon Musk to step in?” Anthony Anderson, sitting in for Jimmy Kimmel, asked rhetorically.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.‘So, That Happened’Elon Musk’s A.I. chatbot, Grok, praised Hitler and expressed additional antisemitic sentiments in posts published to X on Tuesday.“Do you know how racist and antisemitic you have to be for Elon Musk to step in?” guest host Anthony Anderson said on Wednesday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”“That’s like Diddy telling you, ‘Hey, hey, hey, hey Playboy, ease up on the baby oil.’” — ANTHONY ANDERSON“I mean, imagine if Hitler invaded Poland and was like, ‘So, that happened.’” — RONNY CHIENG“That’s right, Elon’s going to fix you good, Grok. That’ll teach you to embarrass him. Only Elon can embarrass Elon.” — RONNY CHIENG“I mean, I knew AI would be coming for our jobs, but I didn’t expect the job to be führer.” — RONNY CHIENG“But at the end of the day, the person I feel worse for is Elon. I mean, he just wanted to improve his AI to help humanity and then somehow, completely by accident, it just went full Nazi on him.” — RONNY CHIENGThe Bits Worth WatchingChance the Rapper talked with Anthony Anderson about meeting his favorite actor, Denzel Washington, thanks to Washington’s “Othello” co-star, Jake Gyllenhaal.What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightThe stand-up comedian Youngmi Mayer will discuss her memoir “I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying” on Thursday’s “Daily Show.”Also, Check This OutLena Dunham, Emily Ratajkowski, Meg Stalter and Janicza Bravo of “Too Much.”Caroline Tompkins for The New York TimesMegan Stalter, Janicza Bravo, and Emily Ratajkowski star in Lena Dunham’s new Netflix rom-com series, “Too Much.” More