Sean “Diddy” Combs hijacked Clive Davis’s annual pre-Grammy bash with a 50-minute speech that showed members of the Recording Academy some tough love.
Davis’s starry party largely avoided the behind-the-scenes scandal that rocked the Grammys last week with the exception of Davis describing it as a “very tumultuous time for the academy.” But Diddy, who was honored with the icon award at the gala, wrapped up his nearly hour-long speech with a call to action for the old guard.
“I have to be honest. The last few days I’ve been conflicted. I’m being honored by this industry I love, this family that I love, but there’s an elephant in the room and it’s not just about the Grammys,” he said. “This is discrimination and injustice everywhere at an all-time high. But there’s something I need to say to the Grammys and I changed my middle name to love, so it’s Sean Love Combs now… I say this with love to the Grammys because you really need to know this. Every year, y’all be killing us man. I’m talking about the pain. I’m speaking for all the artists here, producers and executives – the amount of time to make these records, to pour your heart out into it… in the great words of Erykah Badu, ‘We are artists and we’re sensitive about our s–t. We are passionate.’”
Diddy took it a step further and specifically talked about how the awards show shuns black artists.
“For most of us, this is all we’ve got. It’s our only hope. Truth be told hip hop has never been respected by the Grammys. Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point that it should be. So, right now, in this current situation, it’s not a revelation. This thing been going on and it’s not just going on in music. It’s going on in film. It’s going on in sports, It’s going on around the world. And for years, we’ve allowed institutions, that have never had our best interest at heart, to judge us. And that stops right now. Y’all got 365 days to get this s–t together… We need the artists to take back control. We need transparency. We need diversity. This is the room that has the power to make the change. It needs to be made. They have to make the changes for us. They’re a nonprofit organization that’s supposed to protect the welfare of the musical community. That’s what it says on the mission statement. That’s the truth. They work for us,” he said.
Diddy closed the speech, acknowledging iconic albums from black artists the academy ignored in the past.
“My goal used to be about making hit records, but now it’s about assuring that the culture moves forward, my culture. Our culture. The black future,” he said. “And for me to be worthy of receiving an icon award, I have to use my experience to help make a change. And on that note… y’all got 365 days. And I want to dedicate this award to Michael Jackson for ‘Off the Wall,’ Prince for ‘1999,’ Beyoncé for ‘Lemonade,’ Missy Elliott for ‘Da Real World,’ Snoop Dogg for ‘Doggy Style,’ Kanye West for ‘Graduation’ and Nas for ‘Illmatic.’”
Sean “Diddy” CombsGetty Images for The Recording A
Diddy received a standing ovation from the artists in the room including Jay-Z and Beyoncé, who sat front and center applauding him.
“Beyoncé, I call her King Beyoncé. Everybody all know that’s like my superhero right there. When, I watch her and she goes and I think I’m working hardy? Nah, nah. She pushes me and she’s been a sister to me, and I thank you,” Diddy said during the speech.
The music mogul was honored by his Bad Boy Records family, including Faith Evans, Lil Kim, Carl Thomas and his son, Christian. At one point, his crew even chanted, “Bad Boy.” When Diddy took the stage, partygoers were so taken aback by how long he spoke, one person even pleaded, “Diddy release us,” to their table. But to Diddy’s credit, he gave the room a fair warning.
“Right now, I’m truly present, and it feels like a dream. I’m going to be up here for a second because, also, I follow in the footsteps of Clive Davis. So, everyone can sit down and relax. I don’t want your feet to hurt, but it’s a lot of people to thank. But, this dream has become a reality, so. I’m going to take my motherf–king time,” he said.
Clive Davis and Janet JacksonGetty Images
Little did everyone know, he would take 50 minutes. Meanwhile, surprise honoree, Janet Jackson got a raw deal. She was honored at the end of the night by Cynthia Erivo, who performed the singer’s hits “Together Again” and “Love Will Never Do,” but half of the room including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Usher, and Lil Kim had already left.
“I know everyone, it’s late, everyone is ready to go to bed. It’s been a while since I’ve seen all of you. When I was getting dressed this evening, I thought about it, and I said to myself, ‘I’ve been in this industry for 47 years.’ That’s a long time and I still enjoy going to work and I feel very blessed to still have my journey ahead of me,” she said.
Davis’s bash ended at 1 a.m. and Diddy continued the party at his Holmby Hills mansion, where DJ Cassidy had people dancing all night. Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Naomi Campbell, Usher, Chris Brown, Neyo, T.I., Chance the Rapper, Jermaine Dupri, Machine Gun Kelly, and G Easy all joined Diddy at the afterparty.
“It was mobbed outside. I’m surprised it wasn’t shut down. People were literally outside for an hour trying to make their way up to his place,” a partygoer told Page Six.
At one point in the evening, Diddy closed the door to his living room where he hung out with only the A-listers.
“He then grabbed the mic and told everyone to come to the dance floor. Everyone was by the pool dancing and then Chance the Rapper lead everyone in the electric slide at the end of the night. It was the dopest moment,” the source said. A food truck serving chicken and waffles fed everyone.
Diddy railed on the Grammys Saturday, saying it's turned a blind eye to black artists ... notably, hip-hop artists.
Ironically, Diddy unloaded on the Grammys during his acceptance speech for receiving an Industry Icon award. It all went down at Clive Davis' pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
As you know, TMZ broke the story ... Whitney Houston died the evening of the same annual party back in 2012 when she was found in her bathtub at the Beverly Hilton, dead from an OD.
As for Diddy, he gave an acceptance speech that was interminably long -- 50 minutes, seriously. It ended at 12:30 AM, and toward the end is when Diddy set his sights on the folks who run the Grammys.
Among many other things ... Diddy said, "Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys. Black music has never been respected by the Grammys."
As for Diddy's record ... 3 Grammy wins and 13 noms.
Among the guests ... Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Cardi B and Offset and Lana Del Rey, John Legend, Janet Jackson, Faith Evans, Ma$e, Lil Kim, Ozzy Osbourne, Avril Lavigne, Paula Abdul, Trevor Noah, Billy Porter, Darren Criss, Jessie J and Channing Tatum.
BEVERLY HILLS — Attention, Recording Academy: Were you listening?
Sean "Diddy" Combs, winner of the Industry Icon award at the Clive Davis pre-Grammy Gala, challenged the industry to get its act together in the next year when it comes to diversity.
"I'm being honored by the industry that I love, the family that I love, but there's an elephant in the room and it's not just about the Grammys," Combs said well into a lengthy speech at the end of the party. "There's discrimination and injustice everywhere."
"Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys," he continued. "Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point that it should be." He said the current situation isn't a revelation, nor is it an issue just in music.
"For years we've allowed institutions that have never had our best interests at heart to judge us and that stops right now," he said to thunderous applause.
He continued: "We need the artists to take back the control. We need transparency. We need diversity. This is the room that has the power to make the change that needs to be made. They have to make the changes for us."
Combs clarified he's not intending to simply bash the Recording Academy – but that he's here to help make a difference and a positive outcome.
He dedicated his award to Michael Jackson for "Off the Wall," Prince for "1999," Beyoncé for "Lemonade," Missy Elliott for "Da Real World," Snoop Dogg for "Doggystyle," Kanye West for "Gradation" and Nas for "Illmatic."
During his speech, Diddy also thanked a swath of people, including Jay-Z and Beyoncé (he calls her "King Beyoncé"), Swiss Beatz, Nas and Quincy Jones.
Grammys 2020 predictions: Who will win the night's biggest awards and who should
Combs' remarks about the Grammys come on the heels of other drama facing the Academy: Ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan recently said she has "evidence" that the Grammy Awards process is "ripe with corruption."
With only days until the award show, Dugan filed an explosive discrimination complaint against the academy Tuesday alleging unlawful gender discrimination, sexual harassment, unlawful retaliation and unequal pay.
The Recording Academy stated Dugan's allegations about the voting processes are "utterly untrue," adding the academy has "rigorous and well-publicized" protocols for ensuring fair voting.
Diddy also took time to acknowledge his family and his former girlfriend, actress and model Kim Porter, who died in November 2018 of pneumonia. "I met Kim Porter 'cause Kim was the receptionist at Uptown. So that's how far back we go," Diddy said.
Diddy has regularly opened up about her sudden death.
Just this week, he posted a picture of Porter on Instagram with a powerful caption. "If you got a good woman please let her know," the caption reads. "Tell her as soon as you can. Make sure she knows."
While Combs' speech took a (necessarily) serious turn, the night wasn’t without its stunning musical moments. For example: Cyndi Lauper, barefoot, dueted with Brandi Carlisle on “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,”; Broadway star Adrienne Warren’s “Simply the Best," was just that, as was Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo’s homage to (in the audience!) Janet Jackson; and Faith Evans, Li'l Kim and Combs' son Christian "King" Combs helped pay tribute to Diddy himself.
Davis – a man with a penchant for giving shout-outs to those who attend his annual event – called out returning guest Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Cardi B and Offset and Lana Del Ray, among (many, many) others.
As for other celebrity sightings: Among the crowd, Avril Lavigne and Paula Abdul chatted and embraced, Trevor Noah and Billy Porter posed for a photo and Broadway’s Darren Criss and Warren hugged. On the red carpet before the show, Jessie J and Channing Tatum held hands.
Buzzy Grammy nominees not in attendance included Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X (though his "Old Town Road" duet partner Billy Ray Cyrus was there).
Contributing: Maria Puente, Andrea Mandell and Sara Moniuszko, USA TODAY; Associated Press
Elsewhere during Grammys week: Jessie J, Channing Tatum appear together at Grammys tribute event amid reunion rumors
Well, that was odd: 'We love you, man': Joey Kramer awkwardly joins Aerosmith at Grammys tribute event (but didn't play)
Sean "Diddy" Combs speaks onstage during the Pre-GRAMMY Gala and GRAMMY Salute to Industry Icons Honoring Sean "Diddy" Combs on January 25, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo: Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
When hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs received the Industry Icon Honor at Clive Davis’s annual pre-Grammy gala Saturday night, he delivered an epic, engaging, 45-minute speech that chronicled his entire career, starting from the moment he received the life-changing Christmas present of a record player at age 5. But he also used his time at the podium to address the “elephant in the room,” calling for more diversity at the Grammys and challenging the Record Academy: “You’ve got 365 days to get this s*** together.”
Combs’s passionate comments followed the scandalous ousting of new Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan. Dugan was placed on administrative leave Jan. 16 — only 10 days before the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, and less than six months after she’d ostensibly been hired to foster much-needed change and create more diversity within the organization.
“The last few days I’ve been conflicted,” Combs confessed to the A-list crowd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. “I'm being honored by the industry that I love, the family that I love, but there’s an elephant in the room, and it's not just about the Grammys. There’s discrimination and injustice everywhere all the time. But there's something I need to say to the Grammys. … I say this with love to the Grammys, because you really need to know this. Every year, y’all be killing us, man. I'm talking about the pain. I'm speaking for all the artists here, producers, executives. The amount of time that it takes to make these records, to pour your heart out into it — and you just want an even playing field. In the great words of Erykah Badu: ‘We are artists, and we are sensitive about our s***.’ We are passionate. For most of us, this is all we got. This is our only hope.
“Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys. Black music has never been respected by the Grammys — to the point that it should be,” Diddy continued. “So right now with this current [Dugan] situation, it’s not a revelation; this thing’s been going on. And it’s not just going on in music; it’s going on in films, it’s going on in sports, it’s going on around the world. And for years, we have allowed institutions that have never had our best interests at heart to judge us. And that stops right now. I’m officially starting the clock. You’ve got 365 days to get this s*** together.
“We need the artists to take back control. We need transparency. We need the diversity. This is the room that has the power to make the change that needs to be made. They have to make the changes for us. [The Recording Academy is] a nonprofit organization that is supposed to protect the welfare of the musical community. That's what it says on the mission statement. That's the truth. They work for us. We have the power. … Now, we’re not going to solve this tonight, but it's going to take all of us to get this done. It's going to take the artists and executives to recognize the power. And I'm standing here today not to bash y’all; we just need to get it right, I'm here for the artists. So sign me up. I'm here to help make a difference and help have a positive outcome.”
Combs dedicated his Industry Icon Award to several albums by black artists that he felt were robbed at past Grammy ceremonies, including Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall, Prince’s 1999, Kanye West’s Graduation, Missy Elliott’s The Real World, Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, and classics by two artists who were in attendance at Saturday’s gala, Nas’s Illmatic and Beyoncé’s Lemonade.
Diddy’s words received a standing ovation from the audience, which also included Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z, Motown founder Berry Gordy, Quincy Jones, Billy Porter, Jamie Foxx, Smokey Robinson, Timbaland, Usher, John Legend, Wiz Khalifa, Cardi B, Nancy Pelosi, and Janet Jackson, who also received a special honor from Davis at the end of the night. Prior to Diddy’s speech, Bad Boy Records all-stars Faith Evans, Ma$e, Lil’ Kim, and Diddy’s son, King Combs, performed a musical tribute to his career that had party guests Offset and Chance the Rapper up on their feet and singing along to every word. Cynthia Erivo later wrapped the show with a medley of Janet Jackson hits. Other gala performers included Beck, Santana, Ryan Tedder, Miguel, Chance, Khalid, Brandi Carlile, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, and Tina Broadway musical star Adrienne Warren.
“My goal used to be about making hit records,” Diddy said in closing. “Now it's about ensuring that the culture moves forward. My culture, our culture, the black culture. And to be worthy of receiving the Icon Award, I have to use my experience to help make a change.”
Chris Redd, Kenan Thompson, Adam DriverPhoto: Ashley Good/NBC
“I was yelling, I was crying, I punched, I sang—all four emotions.”
“I’m not an actor, I’m a [semi-reluctant] star!”
Well, it took three tries, but Saturday Night Live figured out how to use Adam Driver. Coming out for his monologue promising that he’s finally unlocked the secret of how to relax and chill, Driver took hold of his complicatedly prickly reputation and poked it cannily, acting the hell out of trying not to act. Noting that his red carpet smile looks like “a kidnapped person trying to send a message with my eyes,” Driver yet wrung big, confident laughs from the friction between his stated intention to just be one of the gang and his inability to let go of his exacting reputation when directing the band at playing and appropriately laid-back groove (“You can hear that’s better, right?”), and failing utterly at the simple act of handing out an autographed action figure to an audience member. (You look like a Star Wars fan—no offense,” he tells the guy, before his chit-chat veers into threats to kill his new pal if the thing shows up on Ebay.)
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Apart from the requisite self-parody, though, Driver evinced a newfound comfort with the live experience all night. In the monologue, he joked about taking his time so he wouldn’t have to do drag in the last sketch of the night, noting in expert SNL-jabbing, “I don’t know if it’s transphobic or just really dated.” I’m going to count it as a subtle running gag that there is no ten-to-one sketch tonight, rather than assume Driver successfully scuttled something he wasn’t happy about. (It also helps the comedy go down that Driver’s reputation seems to center on a sincere discomfort with the trappings of stardom and not being an abusive asshole, depending on how you view his recent NPR storm-off.)
And while Driver shone in sketches where the joke hinged on his intimidating presence, I was especially impressed with his dad in the sleepover sketch, a straight man role he, yet, made into something more human through sheer underplaying. As the beleaguered parent attempting to ascertain just which of the tween girls’ attempts to hide the toilet blocked by an unwisely flushed sanitary pad (Kate McKinnon, matching him every step), Driver managed to maintain an air of well-intentioned decency while outlining in horrifying detail just how much chaos the embarrassed girl has caused him and his home. (Duct tape, painting over the bathroom door, and attempting to order another toilet online are just the start of it.) Like a lot of his sketches tonight, Driver simply willed depth into his parts—even a lovelorn ketchup bottle—and raised everything up nicely.
Best/Worst Sketch of the Night
The return of Kylo Ren going undercover on the Starkiller Base (or whatever) is going to get all the press, so I won’t fight it. Going back incognito (everyone knows it’s him) as a lowly First Order intern sees Driver/Ren trying once more to tamp down his unnerving presence, which only makes things more unnerving, especially when Ren can’t stop force-murdering balky printers and Beck Bennett’s mocking admiral. (They didn’t re-do this one in Driver’s second outing, so here’s to some restraint.) The bit isn’t bad—I liked the turn where Ren’s genuine mortification at the Empire’s sexist TIE pilot hiring policies sees his beneficent gesture to fellow intern Chloe Fineman turn bloody once she expresses a preference for Luke Skywalker’s flying skills over Ren’s. (“And now you’ll die like him,” Ren hisses into the ear of the lightsaber-skewered woman, adding the trying-too-hard insult “Okay, boomer?” as a final twist of the laser-blade.)
But if that filmed rerun seemed more of an SNL ask than anything Driver was really into, the Medieval Times live sketch was Driver at his most engaged, and best. As Cameron, the community theater acting student who’s gotten way too into his role as one of the overpriced theme restaurant chain’s jousting knights, Driver successfully freaks out everybody as he goes maniacally Method. With emcee Mikey Day unsuccessfully reigning Cameron in (he’s brought homemade armor and weapons, and provided a whole tortured backstory for his knight’s crusade against the playacting king and queen), Driver plays the role with as much steely seriousness as Cameron would if he’d suddenly been cast on Game Of Thrones instead of hawking $110 chicken and potato dinners that don’t even come with “the dignity of a fork!” The premise is a simple one for Driver to hang his delightfully straight-faced performance on, his attempts to role-play tolerance toward coworker Bowen Yang’s “Mongolian” and Chris Redd’s “blackamoor” attendants greeted with unnoticed horror, and his backstory emerging in the anguished wail over his nonexistent dead son, “His name was Brannon!!” That’s how you put Adam Driver in a comedy sketch.
Same goes for the science show sketch, where Driver—taking over for Sam Rockwell’s similarly beset PBS kids’ show host—incrementally creeps into the red at the ineptitude of his two returning, preternaturally not-bright child assistants (Cecily Strong and Mikey Day). Here, the slow burn isn’t so much slow as turned up quickly to boiling, as Driver’s teacher, just trying to teach about air, for crying out loud, can’t help but lose it. It’s perhaps a bit too quick on the bunsen burner, but the climax, with Driver suddenly spinning and hurling a very real tape dispenser at a very real shelf of science stuff, is nicely shocking, and Strong and Day’s dim-bulb kids are just uniquely bad enough at science to get some laughs of their own. Day blows up a balloon so ineptly he passes out, while Strong, wrestling with some massive mouth gear, lets out some unsettlingly intimate details about just what her older sister does in the science room. (“That was an awful conversation we just had!,” Driver’s host exclaims.)
As with Driver’s last time hosting, Lorne Michaels’ increasing commitment to product integration proves an irritant in the otherwise funnier-than-it’s-got-a-right-to-be sketch about a TV commercial for a particular chain of fast-food Mexican. (Not that one, the other one.) Look, if it cuts down on commercials and helps pay to keep Kenan, Cecily, Kate, and Aidy in the house a little while longer, these inelegantly shoehorned advertisements are a necessary evil, I guess. But (as with Driver’s last one of these), you can practically hear said company’s marketing people giving notes about really hitting the new slogan and price points, and it’s fucking distracting. Still, the sketch—against all odds—manages to shrug off the Jack Donaghy-like corporate unpleasantness and turn into one of those weird little pieces that are irritating until the escalating repetition finally becomes really funny. (For some people, that transformation never happens. I weep for those people.) As Driver’s marketing person for said taco concern and Beck Bennett’s director repeatedly hector Kyle Mooney’s hapless commercial actor with their readings of his catchphrase, “Aww, man, I’m all outta cash!,” their increasingly aggressive criticism just keeps getting more comically hostile. “No, you’re not a pervert!,” scolds Driver, before concluding of the desperately compliant Mooney, “I think we just gotta beat the hell out of this guy.”
Chris Redd and Kenan Thompson doing musical comedy is always with a solid, meticulously crafter laugh (and sometimes an Emmy), so it’s unsurprising that their music video slow jam (alongside Driver), “Slow,” is another winner. The joke—that crooning lotharios’ boasts of lovemaking attentiveness are irritatingly literal—makes for a funny turn, embroidered by the film’s weirdo little touches. Redd drives so slowly on the way to his rendezvous that he’s pulled over, and Driver’s gift of ice cream melts, plus Driver’s bass voice is so mellow that it’s nearly unintelligible. To one of the bored ladies who suggests that their intended dates might in fact be “slow-slow,” Redd caps the bit off with the hilariously boastful aside, “Naw, doctor said we just above the line.”
I don’t watch Cheer(only so much time in the week, you guys), but I sort of feel I have, as Heidi Gardner and Driver’s cheerleading coaches’ asides about the various grotesque injuries suffered by their still-game teenage charges (“I’m kinda smelling his arm rot.”) gives the impression that that Netflix docu-series’ appeal is akin to watching NASCAR for the crashes. Gardner hasn’t had a role this meaty for a while, and she and Driver find just the perfect note of genteel Southern manipulation in their coaches’ relationship with their busted-up students. (“She’s never had a momma so we can mold her like clay,” murmurs Gardner of one hobbled but willing girl.) Kenan’s great as the one enthusiastic kid who’s “always a maybe,” and musical guest Halsey comes on at the end to show that she can do a serious high-kick. (As well as sing while riding a fake mechanical bull, as we see later.)
Weekend Update update
Jon Stewart popping up on The Late Show on the week of a nation-defining impeachment trial (despite merely being a plug for his upcoming movie) pointed up just how much The Daily Show’s nightly satirical engagement with the news is missed since Stewart left. (I know it’s still on the air.) Weekend Update can’t ever be that, really, nor should we expect it to fill that role entirely, time constraints being what they are for SNL’s comedy newscast centerpiece, but it could do a lot more with the time it’s given. I’ve said it before—if Saturday Night Live wants to ditch politics and just put all its energy into putting together a really tight 90-minute comedy variety show each week, then go to it. But the show has long prided itself on its political relevance, and certainly enjoys the ratings and viral popularity whenever a political sketch hits the public consciousness, so it’s always disappointing when the show chooses to do politics and does it badly.
In a week where—regardless of whether you view the ongoing impeachment trial as a last, desperate referendum on the last scrap of what America claims to be, or you’re a Donald Trump supporter—there’s a bottomless well of thematic and eventful material to work with, Michael Che and Colin Jost’s main takeaways on tonight’s Update were that it’s taking up so much of their time. Sorry, guys. Maybe fewer layups about Trump jabbering like an idiot about unimportant stuff and more effort into fashioning something less immediately disposable. Again, if SNL didn’t want to do politics, that’s fine. But doing it so lazily in the midst of a satirical premise goldmine is just professional malpractice.
There were a few half-decent jokes, the sheer lowness of the hanging fruit meaning Jost and Che feel comfortable just whacking away. A picture of Mitch McConnell elicits Jost’s description of the self-professed grim reaper of representative democracy as “seen here, calmly watching an orphanage burn.” And Che, despite continuing to maintain his wonted too-cool-to-care stance, did cut fairly deep by complaining that Americans should be better at removing crazy dictators, since “we’ve been practicing all over the world for, like, 100 years.” But, man, that’s a low, unproductive batting average when real life keeps tossing up meatballs the way Trump and the Republicans are these days.
The correspondent pieces might be wasted as far as allowing some of the other cast voices to chime in on the events of the day, but at least Aidy Bryant is delightful. Coming back as tween travel consultant Carrie Krum, the breathlessly bashful kid has all the best travel tips—as long as they’re the places she’s dragged to by her extended family. It’s a character piece, and Aidy’s great, her repeated appeals for Chen to listen to her salacious tales of glimpsed boy belly-hair and off-color bible quotes a sweetly lived-in work of characterization. Aidy is always welcome. (Plus, Carrie claims Halsey gave her five bucks!)
Better, though, was a rare Update appearance as herself by perpetually underserved Melissa Villaseñor. Sporting a sparkly red carpet dress, Melissa promised her Oscar insights, all of which consisted of a series of identically tinny songs accurately describing the theme of most of this year’s Academy Award-nominated films (Joker, The Irishman, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, 1917, the Best Director snub of Little Women’s Greta Gerwig) as “white male rage.” With Jost playing along (he claims to work out to Joker every day), the smiling Villaseñor succinctly gave vent to women’s frustrations with just how much acclaim is heaped on tales of white guys’ violent angst with a deceptively cheery song in her heart.
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“What do you call that act?” “The Californians!”—Recurring sketch report
The Science Room, Carrie Krum.
“It was my understanding there would be no math”—Political comedy report
There were a few things going for the political cold open tonight. One—no Trump, except in absentia as the subject of the ongoing impeachment trial that formed the backdrop for the piece. (The trial is ongoing, but—despite Donald Trump’s Twitter whimpering—he is already and perpetually impeached.) For another, the sketch took another turn putting Maine Senator, faux-moderate, and performative fretter Susan Collins (R-ME) front and center, a high-profile skewering of New England’s lone, currently sinking Republican member of the House or Senate that this Maine boy can heartily endorse. (And Cecily’s got Collins’ tight vocal warble down pat.) You can toss in some nostalgia to the proceedings, too, if you’re not as irritated as I am at Lorne’s continued employment of high-profile impressionist ringers, since Jon Lovitz dropped by as Trump legal advisor/apologist Alan Dershowitz. Lovitz doesn’t sound anything like noted defender of truly terrible people Dershowitz, but recognition applause is more valuable currency than allowing the overstuffed and underused cast to fill out these cold opens, clearly.
But the most encouraging part of this Baldwin-less opener is in it’s “fuck it” central premise, as Dershowitz, after a Senate chambers episode, winds up right in hell. He’s not dead, but just brought in for a meet-and-greet with Kate McKinnon’s worshipful fan Satan, a conceit that at least abandons some of the show’s signature toothless both-sides comedy in favor of just framing the joke as “The current GOP is full-on hypocritical, soulless evil, so go ahead and tweet, Donnie.” There’s nothing especially revelatory or bold in the writing otherwise, really. (Look out, satirical targets Flo from Progressive, Mr. Peanut, and the guy who wrote “Baby Shark”—SNL is a’comin’ for you!) But sometimes simply putting empirical facts up there on the screen on national TV is gasp-worthy enough. Bennett’s froggy Mitch McConnell brags about stealing Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court seat and he and Collins agree that a fair trial includes “no witnesses, no evidence.” Dershowitz warmly greets late (“Too bad I was murdered!”) wealthy pedophile and Trump pal Jeffrey Epstein (Driver), before adding that he’s still also proud to have defended O.J. Simpson and Claus Von Bülow before contradicting everything he’s ever said about impeachment to defend Donald Trump. Noting that the Menendez brothers are the ones that got away, Lovitz’s Dershowitz says proudly, “‘It’s not a great look’ is printed on my business card!”
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I am hip to the musics of today
SNL officially loves Halsey. And while I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about her double-duty turn earlier this season, the singer certainly can hold a note, and the stage. And if the leather boot-scoot choreography in the bracing “You Should Be Sad” verged on the silly, well, maybe that’s just me.
“What the hell is that thing?”—The Ten-To-Oneland Report
Again, there was no ten-to-one sketch proper, as Driver threw to Halsey’s second number and then straight to the goodnights, but I’m counting the ketchup marriage sketch. For one thing, it can accurately be described as the “ketchup marriage sketch.” For another, where the hell else would you put it? A combination of groan-worthy wordplay (Ketchup bottle Driver claims ketchup bottle bride Cecily Strong is “getting cold bottom of the bottle”), and impressively straight-faced acting (sorry ACTING!), the goofy little piece kept refusing to die the death it seemed poised to die at the start. Packing a BBC period melodrama’s-worth of overblown romantic entanglements into one silly packet, the sketch kept making me smile in spite of my better instincts. And pride. Driver’s haughty ketchup container is revealed to be named “Windemere,” and Cecily’s big secret (apart from her bastard love child with Kyle Mooney’s hot sauce bottle) is that she’s secretly been catsup all along, and she tells off the suddenly prejudiced Windemere, telling him furiously, “You’re not even Heinz, you dirty Hunt!,” and, again, I’m not proud of this. But Driver and Strong acted their asses off to the extent that Driver’s parting regret, “I don’t relish telling you this” kicked through the horror of that gag to make me laugh. That’s what last sketches are for, people.
Stray observations
Buck Henry got a single title card in tribute to his passing earlier this week, so I’ll just say this. Henry was a successful writer and creator when SNL started, but the affably game Henry became such a frequent early host that people often mistook him for part of the original cast. Noted for being the easiest, most uncomplaining host to work with, Henry was infamous for doing riskier sketches that no other host would touch, and for coming in to host late in the season when everyone was running on fumes. Rewatching a season two Henry-hosted episode this week after his death was reported, I was struck all over at how Henry’s knowing, button-down sleazy persona added a charge to the show, those beady eyes and that tight little smile hinting at possibilities, some you perhaps were not ready for. That was the show where Henry’s forehead was sliced open on-air by an ill-timed swipe from Belushi’s Samurai, but Buck still took the sketch-ending plunge out a prop window, and then—joined by the rest of the cast in an ad-libbed roster of accumulating bandages and plasters afterward—went on with the show, defiantly highlighting the electric “live” of Saturday Night Live. Buck Henry was a pro, and one of the all-time great hosts.
In his monologue, a deadpan Driver reminds the audience that they might know him from Marriage Story or “the space one.”
Driver, comparing doing SNL to his time as a Marine, says that, in both places, you do one by the book, and then your bosses tell you, “Now do one for fun and make it your own!”
McKinnon’s devil invented podcasts, and delights in the complex irony of counting Adam And Eve adult toy concern among her sponsors.
After McKinnon explains that she appears to different people differently, Driver’s Epstein got audience groans by claiming happily, “To me, the devil is a woman my own age!”
McKinnon’s sleepover guest, attempting to prove she uses tampons and not pads: “Loop ’em up and, string first, right down the gullet.”
“I’m about to scream the c-word into my shirt.”
Bowen Yang’s cheerleader claims that, despite his two full-leg casts, doctors promise that “nothing is broken, but nothing is connected.”
Up next week, SNL’s illustrious history of inviting sports stars to try their luck at live comedy marches on with NFL tackle-man J.J. Watt and musical guest Luke Combs.
Kylie Jennerand Travis Scottare planning an epic birthday bash for their little Stormi... and if her first bday is any indication, this party's gonna be outta this world!!!
Sources close to Kylie and Travis tell TMZ ... they are getting back to their co-parenting ways to throw a joint party for Stormi's 2nd, renting out a studio space for friends and family and running up the tab to a cool six figures.
Stormi's already gotten a special trip to Disney World to kick off the birthday festivities -- Feb. 1 marks her second trip around the sun -- but the Mouse House is only the tip of the bday iceberg.
You'll recall ... Stormi's first birthday bash was nothing short of spectacular. Kylie rented out the entire backlot of Universal Studios for a "Stormiworld" theme, complete with carnival rides, a butterfly rainbow forest and tons of food and games.
"Stormiworld" coincided with Travis' Astroworld tour ... and while this year's theme is still unclear, we're told there's a good chance Stormi's love for "Trolls" will serve as inspiration.
Our sources say Stormi had one of the "Trolls" visit her for Christmas ... so the Dreamworks movie characters could be coming back for her bday.
Sam Mendes’ World War I epic 1917 scored its second major guild victory of the awards season Saturday at the 72nd annual DGA Awards, cementing his spot as an Oscar Best Picture frontrunner in Director and Best Picture by winning the marquee feature film award.
The victory in a category that included four of this year’s five Oscar Directing nominees — Bong Joon-Ho for Neon’s Parasite, Quentin Tarantino for Sony’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Martin Scorsese for Netflix’s The Irishman — came after the Universal film produced and financed by Amblin Partners and New Republic scored the top prize at the PGA Awards a week ago.
‘I want to tell a quick story I’ve never told before,” Mendes, who won this award in 1999 for American Beauty, said onstage at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. “My grandfather inspired this film, and he made me when I was 12 sign a contract promising I would write a novel by the age of 18. Obviously I’m not a freak, so I didn’t do that, but I did do this. So I want to say thank you for him for that.”
The DGA Awards are an important bellwether in the Oscar race — only seven times since the marquee Theatrical Feature Film award’s inception in 1949 has the winner differed from the eventual Oscar Directing winner. Last year was no exception: Alfonso Cuarón won for Roma and repeated the feat on Oscar night (though it lost Best Picture to Green Book). Cuarón was back tonight and presented the final award.
The other big winner tonight on the film side was Alma Har’el, who won the First-Time Feature Film directing award for Amazon’s Honey Boy, the movie that started as notes from Shia LaBeouf who was doing a writing assignment for his court-ordered rehab.
“Thank you to Shia for allowing me to tell this story for the children of alcoholics about forgiveness,” she said onstage. She added to her fellow female nominees in the category, Mati Diop and Melina Matsoukas, “Mati and Malina, you are the future.” She also referenced the recent open letter to the guild nudging them to fight for strong parental leave benefits.
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert also won tonight for their Netflix documentary American Factory, which is also up for an Oscar.
On the TV side, it was HBO that dominated with four of the 11 total categories on offer. Bill Hader repeated his Comedy Series win from a year ago for HBO’s Barry; Johan Renck repeated his Emmy directing win with Chernobyl in the TV Movie/Limited Series category; Nicole Kassell won for her episode of Watchmen to take Dramatic Series; and Amy Schatz won her sixth DGA Award for HBO Documentary Films’ Song of Parkland in the Children’s Program race.
Don Roy King meanwhile won his fifth DGA Award for Saturday Night Live‘s fall finale which featured host Eddie Murphy and musical guest Lizzo.
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
SAM MENDES 1917 (Universal Pictures)
Directorial Team: • Unit Production Managers: Callum McDougall, Hannah Godwin • First Assistant Director: Michael Lerman • Second Assistant Director: Joey Coughlin
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMATIC SERIES
NICOLE KASSELL Watchmen, “It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice” (HBO)
Directorial Team: • Unit Production Managers: Karen Wacker, Ron Schmidt, Joseph E. Iberti • First Assistant Director: Keri Bruno • Second Assistant Directors: Lisa Zugschwerdt, Ben White • Second Second Assistant Director: Jessie Sasser White
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND LIMITED SERIES
JOHAN RENCK Chernobyl (HBO)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DOCUMENTARY
STEVEN BOGNAR and JULIA REICHERT American Factory (Netflix)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT OF A FIRST-TIME FEATURE FILM DIRECTOR
ALMA HAR’EL Honey Boy (Amazon Studios)
Directorial Team: • Unit Production Manager: David Grace • First Assistant Director: Sean Vawter • Second Assistant Director: Colin Flaherty • Second Second Assistant Director: Sarah Balboa
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMMERCIALS
SPIKE JONZE (MJZ) Dream It, Squarespace – Squarespace • First Assistant Director: Thomas Smith
The New Normal, Medmen – Mekanism • First Assistant Director: Thomas Smith • Second Assistant Directors: David Marnell, Jeff Tavani
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY SERIES
BILL HADER Barry, “ronny/lily” (HBO)
Directorial Team: • Unit Production Manager: Aida Rodgers • First Assistant Director: Gavin Kleintop • Second Assistant Director: Kevin Zelman • Second Second Assistant Director: Heather Kehayas • Additional Second Assistant Director: Mikaela Mathern
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN REALITY PROGRAMS
JASON COHEN Encore!, “Annie” (Disney+)
Directorial Team: • Associate Director: Daniel Shultz
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – SPECIAL
JAMES BURROWS (“All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons” – Directed by) ANDY FISHER (“Live in Front of a Studio Audience” – Directed by)
Live in Front of a Studio Audience Norman Lear’s ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons’ (ABC)
Directorial Team: • Associate Directors: Martin Pasetta Jr., Sara Niimi • Stage Managers: John Esposito, Valdez Flagg, Alissa Levisohn Hoyo, Harvey Levine, Doug Tobin, Richard Silva, Jenny Nolan Bailey
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – REGULAR
DON ROY KING Saturday Night Live, “E. Murphy; Lizzo” (NBC)
King’s Directorial Team: • Associate Directors: Michael Mancini, Mike Poole, Laura Ouziel-Mack • Stage Managers: Gena Rositano, Chris Kelly
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS
AMY SCHATZ Song of Parkland (HBO Documentary Films)
