All Eyez on Me, the Tupac Shakur biopic directed by Benny Boom, will close the 2017 American Black Film Festival (ABFF) on June 17. Opening theatrically the day before on June 16 — Shakur’s 46th birthday — the film will be presented at ABFF by Lionsgate, Codeblack Films and Morgan Creek Productions.
Demetrius Shipp Jr. (#unlock’d) stars as the late rapper/poet, joined by a cast that includes Kat Graham (Vampire Diaries), Hill Harper (CSI: NY), Lauren Cohan (Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice), Cory Hardrict (America Sniper), Jamal Woolard (Notorious), Danai Gurira (Black Panther) and Jamie Hector (The Wire). The film’s producers are LT Hutton, Wayne Morris, David Robinson and James G. Robinson.
“Jeff Clanagan, president of Codeblack Films, has been a longtime supporter of the festival,” said ABFF Ventures CEO Jeff Friday in a statement. “It’s an honor to screen the highly anticipated story of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur and to support its director and ABFF alum Benny Boom.”
For more information about screenings, panels and tickets for the 2017 American Black Film Festival, visit ABFF.com/festival-passes/.
Watch the All Eyez on Me trailer here:
Source: Billboard
Actor, rapper, and ‘Wild n’ Out’ series standout DC Young Fly emcees a night of laughs at the Gotham Comedy Club in this exclusive preview of Thursday’s all-new episode of AXS TV’s GOTHAM COMEDY LIVE. Diving headfirst into what he describes as ‘that gangsta s—t’, DC recalls his brief experience with selling drugs, and the humorous complications that led to him giving up the business, saying, “I thought everybody was the police… People comin’ up to me in church, ‘Psst! Where the weed at?’” However, the last straw came when he attempted sell cocaine, as he explains, “I end up sneezing and all this s—t fell on the floor… yeah, that was my last day sellin’ crack.”
DRAKE – “TOP BOY”
In 2015, according the the star of the series, Ashley Walters, rapper/actor Drake loved the acclaimed British drama “Top Boy” so much that he essentially wanted to “save” it from certain cancellation and bring it to the USA. In an hour-long interview with the YouTube talk series “Not for the Radio,” Walters said: “Drake thought [‘Top Boy’] was proper. This was via text. I was speaking to Future mainly, Drake’s manager. We were going back and forth. And we were like, ‘Put a deal on the table’,” Walters said.
After 2 successful seasons, there was talk of a third but the network (Channel 4 in the UK) decided against the idea, and effectively put “Top Boy” to bed for good in 2013, much to the disappointment of the series’ many fans.
Walters added: “Eventually they got in contact and asked, ‘What’s happening with series three?’ I told them Channel 4 had canceled it. They said, ‘That’s sad, but we’re going to do something about it’. Furthermore Drake was like, ‘You need to break America’. He wanted to help.”
“We were going into meetings.” Walters continued. “‘Top Boy’ is the sort of brand we knew would sell to Netflix, Amazon. The numbers speak for themselves. So we had that power and the production company still owned the rights. And Drake made an offer and they turned it down. I don’t know what is going on with it – but I heard they are talking about a ‘Top Boy Chicago.’”
And he left it there.
In hearing “Top Boy Chicago,” I was reminded of Lena Waithe’s Chicago-set coming-of-age drama series that another rapper is producing, Common, which is set up at Showtime. Not that there’s any connection, by the way. I just remembered it. If “Top Boy: Chicago” happens, comparisons to Waithe’s “The Chi” (as the series is called) may happen, given that it too is…
Skip ahead to this morning, to a Daily Mirror report (the UK paper) that includes word from Walters that Drake is to going to star in a reboot of “Top Boy” after buying the rights to the series. The report doesn’t state specifically whether it’ll be an American remake, but the wording in the Mirror suggests that it won’t, and instead Drake will have a starring role in a revival of the British series with Walters starring as well.
“We met up to start talking about the show and we are working out a role for him,” Walters told the newspaper. “He loves acting, of course he wanted a part. He’s going to be really hands on and is getting stuck into it.”
“He is such a down to earth, nice guy. He’s so famous you would expect him to be this crazy character but he’s actually quite boring, in a good way,” Walters said. “I had a meeting with him and I brought all of my kids along. My eldest was chatting away in his ear for ages and he was just cool.”
The report states that the third season that “Top Boy” never got will premiere on Netflix in 2018 with British rapper Skepta also set to star.
No other details are available at this time, specifically in terms of what story season 3 will tell.
For USA audiences, you should know that both season 1 and season 2 of “Top Boy,” which I agree is a series you all should check out, are both streaming on 3 of the major SVOD services: Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. So you’ve got options.
“Top Boy” is set on the fictional Summerhouse housing estate in Hackney, East London, aims to provide an insight into life in London estates, and how drugs affect everyone living there.
Source: Shadow & Act
CLAWS – TNT
TNT’s new series “Claws” is described as a “midnight-dark, wickedly funny meditation on female badness set in a South Florida nail salon.” The series, executive produced by Rashida Jones, follows the rise of five diverse and treacherous manicurists working at the Nail Artisan of Manatee County salon, where there is a lot more going on than silk wraps and pedicures.
At the center is salon owner Desna (played by Niecy Nash), who lives with and cares for her mentally ill twin brother, Dean (played by Harold Perrineau). Desna’s staff includes best friend Jennifer (Jenn Lyon), a tenuously sober ex-party girl raising two children from previous relationships; Quiet Ann (Judy Reyes), Desna’s enigmatic driver who also provides security for the salon; Polly (Carrie Preston), a mild-mannered preppy who recently served time in prison for identity theft; and Virginia (Karrueche Tran), who makes no effort to hide her boredom and impatience with her job. Adding chaos to the Nail Artisan mix is Roller (Jack Kesy), a gangstered-out redneck who runs a barely legal pain clinic and uses Desna’s nail salon to launder their obscene profits; Bryce (Kevin Rankin), Jennifer’s husband who is also newly sober and trying to stay legit by working as an abundance coach; and Dr. Ken Brickman (Jason Antoon), a bona fide doctor at a decidedly un-bona fide and illegal drug clinic.
Janine Sherman Barrois is executive producer and serves as showrunner for “Claws.”
Will McCormack is an executive producer as well.
The pilot was written by series co-executive producer Eliot Laurence and directed by Nicole Kassell.
“Claws is wild and hilarious, and we can’t wait for viewers to immerse themselves in this fascinating world,” said Sarah Aubrey, executive vice president of original programming for TNT, in a previous statement. “This is a show with great storytelling featuring empowered female characters and brought to life by a diverse group of incredibly talented individuals both in front of and behind the camera.”
“Claws is such a unique and special show. We are so grateful to Eliot Laurence, Janine Sherman Barrois, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack and our supremely talented cast for bringing these amazing characters to life, and to TNT for believing in it,” said Susan Rovner and Brett Paul, Co-Presidents of Warner Horizon Scripted Television, also in a previous statement.
TNT ordered a 10-episode first season for “Claws,” and has now set a Sunday, June 11, at 9 p.m. premiere.
“Claws” is produced by Jones and McCormack’s Le Train Train, in association with Warner Horizon Television and Turner’s Studio T.
TNT has premiered a full trailer for the upcoming series; watch it below:
Source: Shadow & Act
On this day in comedy on January 17, 1957 Comedian, Radio Personality, Author, TV Host, Broderick Stephen “Steve” Harvey was born in Welch, West Virginia
For Steve Harvey, it was comedy or bust. After stints as a boxer, mailman, autoworker, insurance salesman and carpet cleaner, Harvey got into standup in 1985 at Hilarities in Cleveland, Ohio. It wasn’t overnight stardom. He was homeless for years; sleeping in his car when a gig didn’t provide a hotel room for the night and showering at gas stations.
Harvey got a break in 1990 when he became a finalist in the Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search. That got him his job as host of It’s Showtime at the Apollo. That televised showcase got him his deal to do his first sitcom, Me and the Boys in 1994 on ABC. His second sitcom was on the WB, The Steve Harvey Show aired from 1996 to 2002 and was a top show in black households.
Steve Harvey’s popularity translated when he toured as one-fourth of The Original Kings of Comedy. The quartet of Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, Harvey and D L Hughley (Guy Torry was the fourth member and host before leaving to do a TV show and was replaced by Hughley) toured; packing in history making crowds and setting off a trend that hit other sub groups in comedy, such as The Queens of Comedy, The Original Latin Kings of Comedy, The Latin Divas of Comedy, The Kims of Comedy, Blue Collar Comedy Tour, etc. The pinnacle is when the foursome was recorded by Spike Lee for his concert film in 2000.
The former boxer was out for a knockout. Harvey had his own syndicated radio show. He released his comedy DVD, Don’t Trip, He Ain’t Through With Me Yet and a hip hop and R&B CD. He authored books: Steve Harvey’s Big Time (also the name of a variety show Harvey hosted on the WB from 2003-2005), Act Like a Lady, Think Like A Man and Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find and Keep a Man. He’s hosted award ceremonies (including Miss Universe), appeared in films, launched a clothing line, launched a dating website, hosted Family Feud, hosted a self-titled daytime talk show and co-founded The Hoodie Awards (a show recognizing deserving businesses in the black community) along with partner, Rushion McDonald.
Steve Harvey is an 11 time NAACP Image Award winner, a 3-time Daytime Emmy Award winner and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out this clip:
On This Day In Comedy on January 16, 1998 Half Baked was released by Universal Pictures
Half Baked is a stoner comedy about the saga of four lifelong friends and their love of weed. Once they first get high together as middle schoolers, it was all good. Then tragedy strikes while one of the potheads goes on a standard munchies run and is arrested for killing a diabetic police horse with sweet snacks. It’s now up to his posse to get him out of the pokey before he gets poked. Fortunately, one of the pals works as a janitor at a place where they test marijuana. Voila! The 3 amigos would steal the weed, sell it and bail their friend out. It’s going to take a lot of dope slinging (the bail is 1 million, but they only need $100,000), but they’re up to the task. Plus, along the way there’s romance and hallucinating.
Directed by Tamra Davis from a Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan script, Half Baked stars Dave Chappelle, Harland Williams, Jim Breuer and Guillermo Diaz. It also features the talents of Clarence Williams III, Tracy Morgan, Rachel True, Tommy Chong, Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, Jon Stewart, Bob Saget, Laura Silverman, Steven Wright, Stephen Baldwin, Neal Brennan and Janeane Garofalo.
Half Baked is a cult classic taking in a box office gross of $17,460,020 on a budget of $8 million.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out this clip:
On this day in comedy on January 14, 1972 Sanford and Son premiered on NBC.
Based on the British hit comedy, Steptoe and Son, the American version was the brainchild of producer Norman Lear (produced for he and partner Bud Yorkin’s Tandem Productions). Starring prolific stand-up comedian, Redd Foxx and actor, Demond Wilson (as the often naïve and combative, but dedicated to his ‘Pops”, Lamont Sanford), Sanford and Son was an instant hit for the network and remained so for its entire 6 season run.
A little-known fact is that Lincoln Perry (aka Stepin Fetchit) was originally cast in the part of the junkman in Watts, California with a cantankerous, acid tongue, stubborn nature and a streak of racism against ‘whitey’ (amongst others such as Puerto Rican neighbor, Julio, played by Gregory Sierra and Ah Chew played by Pat Morita), but when the NAACP zeroed in their focus on negative Black images, the shuffling Perry was replaced by Foxx, who owned the part and became a television icon.
The show was so popular it had two spin-offs (Sanford, Sanford Arms). Neither garnered the acclaim of the original which was in a class by itself. What made Sanford and Son so ground-breaking was its comedic and candid look at Black life. Before it came along there were hardly any Black sitcoms – period. After its success, a slew sprung up in the 1970s (The Jeffersons, Good Times, What’s Happening, That’s My Mama, Love Thy Neighbor) and beyond.
Written by a revolving team of comedians as well as seasoned writers that included Richard Pryor, Paul Mooney and Reynaldo Rey, the show dealt with St. Louis native, Fred G. Sanford (Foxx), his son, Lamont and their junkyard business. Lamont was always trying to move out and get a life of his own and Fred was constantly guilting him back in with frequent warnings that he’d have a heart attack and go to join Lamont’s deceased mother, Elizabeth in Heaven if Lamont were to leave him alone.
The running gags were plentiful: Fred and his get-rich-quick schemes to make Sanford and Son a huge financial success, Aunt Esther (played by pioneering comedienne, LaWanda Page) and her attempts to convert the heathen Fred to be the kind of Christian her departed sister would’ve been proud of, Fred’s affection for songstress, Lena Horne (who he finally met in one of the episodes), his gaggle of friends who hung out (comedians, Bubba Bexley, Slappy White, Leroy and Skillet, as well as actor Whitman Mayo as Grady), Lamont’s chum Rollo, who was also Lamont’s supplier of good times and sexy ladies, Fred’s own affection for the ladies (when he wasn’t dating his girlfriend, Donna (who Lamont refers to as ‘the barracuda’ because she was not his mother) – he kept them coming to “Casa Sanford”), the cops of the neighborhood, Smitty (Hal Williams) and Swanny (Noam Pitlik) and later Hoppy (Howard Platt); (one Black and one White, who always needed the Black one to translate what was said in ghetto terms by Fred or one of his pals and vice versa – other cops thrown in the mix were Jonesy (Bernie Hamilton and Percy (Pat Paulsen) and there was Fred’s need to refer to Lamont as “you big dummy”.
Behind the scenes, Foxx had recruited most of his old friends from the chitlin circuit to portray his on-camera comrades, including Page, who studio heads originally fired for her lack of television etiquette. However, Foxx was not only hilarious, making him indispensable to the program, but he was a loyalist. If she had to go – he had to go and so LaWanda Page also became a comedy legend with her take on the Bible thumping sister from church who could turn on a dime and thump you upside the head in the name of the Lord.
Sanford and Son was a formula that crossed over effortlessly, to the point of driving it competitor, the seemingly invincible TV mainstay, “The Brady Bunch” off the air. But not all was well when Foxx took a few self-imposed hiatuses in disputes that he wasn’t being treated fairly. Rival sitcom star, Carroll O’Conner of the CBS hit and Norman Lear production, All in the Family, had a window in his dressing room. Foxx did not and he didn’t return until he got one. Foxx made sure he received the same perks and money the other stars of hit shows got at the time and paved the way for better conditions for future Black TV leads.
Sanford and Son received 3 Emmy Nominations for Best Series and Foxx chalked up the same number for best Outstanding Actor. The top-rated show ended its run March 25, 1977.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out this clip:
On February 23, 2017, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced its nominees for the 2016 News and Documentary Emmy Awards. Among those selected as Best Documentary is the Comedy Hall of Fame presentation, “Joan Rivers: Exit Laughing”, written by Comedy Hall of Fame founder, Jeff Pancer and Associate Curator, Darryl Littleton. The film pays tribute to the late Joan Rivers and explores her impact on the field of comedy through insights of three generations of brilliant and defining comedians who have Rivers’ influence in common.
“Joan Rivers: Exit Laughing” received three nominations (Best Documentary, Best Editing and Best Cinematography) and features Sarah Silverman, Don Rickles, Kathy Griffin, Dick Cavett, Luenell Campbell, Gilbert Gottfried, Cocoa Brown, Mario Cantone, Whitney Cummings, Jeff Ross, Judy Gold, Deon Cole, Marlo Thomas and Lily Tomlin.
The 60th Annual New York Emmy® Awards will be presented at a Black-Tie Gala on Saturday, May 6, 2017 at The Marriott® Marquis ~ Times Square.