Tracy Morgan hosted the 2019 Espy Awards last night, and not everyone thought he was in top form.
In case you hadn’t noticed, he was trending on Twitter but it definitely wasn’t raving about his performance. Tweets complained that the beloved comedian had an off night, with even fans saying he wasn’t himself, and others claiming it was a terrible audience.
Twitter was brutal but to say he bombed seems like a stretch.
Either way, it’s shocking to see audiences react so negatively to Morgan who has become a beloved cultural icon.
To be fair, he did stumble on a few words and maybe rushed things a bit, but otherwise joked about sports, his Walmart truck accident, and his recent fender bender with his brand new Bugatti.
Those who weren’t watching, but saw Morgan trending on Twitter, feared the worst (is this where we are social media?) and were relieved to learn the actor was still alive and breathing and had only been accused of dying on stage.
Did he bomb? Watch and judge for yourself.
Snap is opening up Snapchat to let celebrities and influencers to create their own shows — and make money from the content — in the same short-form, vertical-video orientation as Snap’s slate of 80-plus original series.
Creator Shows will start streaming Wednesday on Snapchat, with more rolling out through the summer. The shows include those from Serena Williams, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Maddie Ziegler, Emma Chamberlain, Rickey Thompson, Loren Gray, FaZe Banks and Baby Ariel. In addition, Snap is partnering with digital studios for some of the Creator Shows, including Brat, BroadbandTV and Studio71.
Schwarzenegger’s show, for example, is called “Rules of Success with Arnold Schwarzenegger,” with motivational advice from the actor-politician.
For Snap, the Creators Shows initiative provides a way to give its most popular creators to extend to their reach — and keep them invested in building their businesses on Snapchat through monetization, as YouTube has done for years. Snap will provide a revenue share of advertising for Creators Shows but isn’t disclosing terms of the partnerships. According to industry sources, Snapchat’s standard deal with media companies is to share 50% of revenue although that can vary. Both Snap Ads and Commercials can appear in Creator Shows.
Like all Snapchat Shows, the Creator Shows will appear on the Discover page, to the right of the camera. According to Snap, over the last year, the time spent watching shows on Snapchat every day more than tripled. However, the company isn’t disclosing viewing time or other metrics.
Singer and YouTube personality Loren Gray enthused over Snapchat’s Creator Shows, saying in a statement, “Having the opportunity to convey the importance of confidence through my passion for makeup with the Snapchat community has been an amazing experience.”
Rickey Thompson, who rose to prominence with comedic videos on Vine and Instagram, added that “Snapchat has always been a place where my fans can get to know the real, authentic me. Making a show with Snap was a really fun experience, and I’m excited for everyone to see it.”
Also Wednesday, Snap is rolling out Highlights for Official Accounts. Highlights are a collection of photo and video content that creators can add to their profile from their Snap Stories or camera roll. For the first time, creators will be able to save and share their favorite creative moments with new and existing fans.
Meanwhile, Snap recently launched its first Scripted Comedy Creator Initiative, a program designed to inspire the best up-and-coming comedy writers, performers and directors to imagine what sitcoms should look like for a mobile audience. The company received hundreds of submissions and selected a group of creators to experiment with the mobile format and storytelling to produce a new type of comedy show. The comedy shows include sitcoms, mockumentaries and animation, with each episode 3-5 minutes in length and a season averaging 8-10 episodes.
Snap funded the series in the Comedy Creator Initiative, which include include “Apocalypse Goals” from Olivia DeLaurentis and Sydney Heller; “All Dog$ Get Money” from Gerald Grissette; “Relationship Goals” from Ben Waller; and “The Daily Realness” from Skyler Fulton, a mockumentary series about a clickbait-driven website.
On the heels of that program, Snap is launching a short-form Animated Comedy Creator Initiative, and plans to greenlight up to 10 series. Creators can pitch a one-page treatment (including storyboards, animatic or full pilot) for an animated comedy series. Submissions open today for creators in the U.S. (through this Google Docs form) and will be open through Aug. 26, 2019.
Source: Variety
All Def Digital, the hip-hop and urban youth culture media company founded by Russell Simmons, has gone through a major restructuring but is not folding, according to president and CEO Chris Blackwell.
Last week, citing anonymous sources, internet-video publication Tubefilter reported that All Def Digital was shutting down after broad layoffs and that an unnamed business-advisory firm was “divvy[ing] up assets” of the company.
Reached via email, Blackwell denied that the company was closing its doors. “We are reorganizing the company in advance of a strategic deal,” he wrote, declining to provide additional details. Greycroft partner Mark Terbeek, one of ADD’s board members and a lead investor in the company, declined to comment (referring inquiries to Blackwell).
Simmons, the co-founder of music label Def Jam Recordings, originally launched ADD as a YouTube network in 2013 in partnership with AwesomenessTV. The company expanded into a multiplatform network and studio, which had deals with HBO and YouTube for originals, along with live events, and brand partnerships through its in-house agency ADHD.
All Def, based in downtown L.A. near the Staples Center, has raised about $18 million from investors including WPP Ventures, Allen DeBevoise’s Third Wave Digital Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Nu Horizons Investments, Greycroft, e.ventures and Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital.
Source: Variety
Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella and Marisol Nichols have joined the cast of Saw, the new installment of the Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures horror franchise that stars and is being executive produced by Chris Rock. Production is now underway in Toronto.
It was Rock who came up with the story for the latest pic in the series launched by original creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell in 2004. The franchise has spawned seven films, with the last, Saw 3D, hitting theaters in 2010.
The latest incarnation, directed by three-time Saw helmer Darren Lynn Bousman from a script by Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg, sees Rock playing a police detective investigating a series of grizzly crimes. Jackson will play Rock’s father. Minghella will play William Schenk, Rock’s partner, and Nichols will play Capt. Angie Garza, Rock’s boss.
The film is being produced by longtime Saw duo Mark Burg and Oren Koules. Rock, Saw veteran Daniel Heffner, and Wan and Whannell are executive producers.
The untitled pic has an October 23, 2020 release date.
Source: Deadline
Regina King is set to make a splash with her theatrical directorial debut. She has been tapped to helm One Night in Miami, which is based on the debut play of the same name from Kemp Powers. It gives a fictional account of a real-life night featuring a pre-Muhammad Ali Cassius Clay, Jim Brown, Malcolm X and Sam Cooke.
Here’s the description: Set on the night of February 25, 1964, the story follows a young Cassius Clay as he emerges from the Miami Beach Convention Center as the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Against all odds, he’s defeated Sonny Liston and shocked the world of boxing. While crowds of people swarm Miami Beach’s hotspots to celebrate the match, Clay — unable to stay on the island because of Jim Crow-era segregation laws — spends the night at the Hampton House Motel in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood celebrating with three of his friends: activist Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke and football star Jim Brown. The next morning, the men emerge determined to define a new world. In One Night in Miami, Powers aims to pinpoint exactly what happened during those pivotal hours. Featuring the music of Cooke, including his hit song, “A Change Is Gonna Come,” the film offers a piercing narrative for the evening, which challenges the four men, strips them bare and reveals them for who they were.
Regina King is arguably one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood right now, active as an actor, producer and director. In the past year, she’s won an Emmy, a Golden Globe and an Oscar for work in both television and film. Her next big role will be leading Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen series on HBO. Over the past several years, she’s become an acclaimed television director, helming episodes of shows like Scandal, The Good Doctor, Pitch and Insecure. And One Night in Miami isn’t exactly King’s overall feature directorial debut, as she directed the 2013 BET television film, Let The Church Say Amen.
Source: Shadow & Act
Bill Burr Presents IanTalk: Ideas Not Worth Spreading, the second of three All Things Comedy produced specials previously announced by Comedy Central, premieres July 12 at midnight ET/PT on Comedy Central.
In IanTalk: Ideas Not Worth Spreading, Ian Edwards gives his own edgy twist on a traditional TedTalk. He shares his thoughts on abortion, Harriet Tubman, and why he refuses to learn to swim for his own safety. Through his authentic balance of charm and self-deprecating humor, he’s able to dive into the intricacies of life, success, and dating with a relatable and refreshing twist.
Leading up to the on-air premiere, the Comedy Central Stand-Up YouTube channel, Comedy Central Stand-Up social-media accounts, and the CC App will feature clips from the special. Fans can follow Edwards on Twitter at @IanEdwardsComic and Comedy Central Stand-Up at @standup to join the social conversation around the special (#BillBurrPresents).
Ian Edwards is a stand-up comedian whose topical and culturally relevant content can be heard on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and The Adam Carolla Show podcast. He has written for hit comedies such ABC’s Black-ish, NBC’s The Carmichael Show, CBS’ Two Broke Girls, and Universal’s UnderCover Brother 2. He can be seen on Netflix’s Friends From College, and his co-producer credits include Netflix’s Friends From College and HBO’s Crashing. Ian’s comedy debut, 100% Half Assed, was released under Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco Records. He is a regular on Conan and, previously, @midnight. Other successes include widely popular Tangerine which premiered at Sundance in 2015. Most recently, he appeared on Comedy Central’s The New Negroes with Baron Vaughn and Open Mike Eagle.
Ian Edwards, Bill Burr, Al Madrigal and Mike Bertolina of All Things Comedy are Executive Producers. Anne Harris and Ryan Moran are the Executives in Charge of Production for Comedy Central.