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Comedian Margaret Cho has joined the long list of celebrities who have called out former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres for unkind and offensive behavior on and off screen.

In a new episode of The Kelly Mantle Show, Cho recalled that even though she and DeGeneres had known each other in the 1980s while they were both trying to make it in the comedy scene. When Cho appeared on The Ellen Show, DeGeneres pretended as though they had never met.

“Ellen was really weird and not nice to me for most of my career,” she recalled. “I opened for her in the 1980s when she was a headliner in comedy clubs. Later, when I would do her talk show in the 2000s, she would act like we just met…and I’m like, ‘B—-, what?’ That’s weird. We go way back. It’s so creepy and weird.”

Cho...

Add Margaret Cho to the long list of entertainers who accuse Ellen DeGeneres of not living up to her reputation as the Queen of Nice, but let’s face it — that crown was dented, tarnished and kicked to the curb a long time ago.

Cho dished the dirt last week on The Kelly Mantle Show. Amidst sharing stories about old pals Joan Rivers and Quentin Tarantino, the conversation turned to the disgraced comic. “Ellen is so…” Cho began.

“Complicated?” asked Mantle.

“Somebody that I’ve known for such a long time. It’s so weird now,” Cho continued. “Public perception of her is more true. She’s mean. She was a mean girl.”

Why did DeGeneres have it out for Cho in particular? She couldn’t know for sure, but “I think she always had kind of negative feelings toward me because her girlfriends and wives always liked me.”

Whatever the reasons,...

Margaret Cho is speaking out about her experience with Ellen DeGeneres, claiming that her fellow comedian and talk show host has been “really weird” and “not nice” to her over the course of their careers.

In an interview on “The Kelly Mantle Show,” Cho said DeGeneres is “somebody that I’ve known for such a long time” and “the public perception of her is more true” now. DeGeneres experienced a fall from grace back in 2020 after toxic workplace allegations emerged about “The Ellen Show,” culminating in its end in 2022 and DeGeneres’ retirement. Cho said she’s known DeGeneres since they were both starting out in the stand-up comedy scene in the ’80s.

“She’s mean,” Cho said. “She was like, a mean girl. But also she would be real nice. I think she always had kind of negative feelings towards me because her girlfriends and wives always liked me.”

She continued,...

Margaret Cho described her strained relationship with Ellen DeGeneres during an appearance on a new episode of The Kelly Mantle Show. The comedian said DeGeneres always treated her like a stranger when she came on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, despite the fact that they had been around each other for years.

“Ellen was really weird and not nice to me for most of my career,” Cho said on the show. “I opened for her in the 1980s, when she was a headliner in comedy clubs. Later, when I would do...

For the longest time, Ellen DeGeneres was known to be the lovable talk show host who believed in her “be kind” mantra. Even on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she came across as someone you would want to be friends with. However, she found herself in the middle of a career-ending controversy when she was accused of creating a toxic work environment.

Ex and then-current staff members spoke against Ellen DeGeneres, and many celebrities weighed in on the matter, too. While her defendants are more in number in Tinseltown, there are a few who aren’t on her side, including comedian Margaret Cho, who recently opened up about her experience with the host. Let’s take a look at her words, and then what others have had to say about Ellen DeGeneres.

1. Margaret Cho puts Ellen DeGeneres on blast Margaret Cho on The Kelly Mantle Show | Credits: Kelly Mantle / YouTube

Not...

Margaret Cho is accusing Ellen DeGeneres of being “not nice” to her for most of her career, despite both of them working in comedy in their early days.

The actress and comedian made a recent appearance on The Kelly Mantle Show, where she claimed that DeGeneres would act like they had just met whenever she was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“Ellen was really weird and not nice to me for most of my career,” Cho said. “I opened for her in the 1980s, when she was a headliner in comedy clubs, way before her big fame. Later, when I would do her talk show in the 2000s, she acted like we just met.”

“And I’m like, ‘Bitch, what?’ That’s weird. We go way back. It’s so creepy and weird,” the Grammy and Emmy nominee joked.

Cho went on to recall one instance where David Bowie...

Margaret Cho has had many run-ins with Ellen DeGeneres — more than DeGeneres claims to remember, apparently. In a recent interview, Cho claimed DeGeneres had been “not nice” to her and acted like they didn’t have history. “Ellen was, like, really weird and not nice to me for most of my career,” Cho said on a new episode of The Kelly Mantle Show. “I opened for her in the 1980s, when she was a headliner in comedy clubs, [and] later, when I would do her talk show in the 2000s, she acted like we just met. And I’m like, ‘B****, what?’ Like, that’s weird. We go way back. … It’s so creepy and weird.” Cho also recalled hearing that David Bowie spent part of an Ellen DeGeneres Show interview praising the “giant Chinese emperor outfit” Cho had worn to his concert the night before — and that DeGeneres left those...

Margaret Cho isn’t holding back with her thoughts on Ellen DeGeneres.

The 56-year-old comedian appeared on the Wednesday (June 18) episode of The Kelly Mantle Show. During her appearance, Margaret talked about her relationship with Ellen during the early days of their careers as comedians.

Keep reading to find out more…

“Ellen was really weird and not nice to me for most of my career,” Margaret said during the episode.

She went on to share that the two of them met as new comedians in the 1980s but claimed that Ellen behaved strangely when they worked together after her career took off.

“I opened for her in the 1980s, when she was a headliner in comedy clubs. Later, when I would do her talk show in the 2000s, she would act like we just met,” she revealed during the episode.

Watch the full episode below and see who else recalled an awkward encounter with Ellen.

Poster for ‘The Bear’ season 4 (Photo Credit: FX)

Hulu’s summer lineup includes the season four premiere of The Bear starring Jeremy Allen White and the series premiere of Alien: Earth with Sydney Chandler and Timothy Olyphant. Hulu’s also offering lighter summer fare with comedy specials featuring Atsuko Okatsuka, Zarna Garg, and Ralph Barbosa.

King of the Hill returns this summer for a 14th season 15 years after the series wrapped up its initial 13-season run. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox with Grace Van Patten premieres on August 20th, and a documentary on iconic journalist Barbara Walters streams on Hulu beginning June 23rd. The series adaptation of Esi Edugyan’s bestselling Washington Black arrives on Hulu on July 23rd.

New to Hulu in Summer 2025

The Bravest Knight

Premiere Date: June 20, 2025 (All at once)

Synopsis: Season 2 of The Bravest Knight reunites fans of the first season with their favorite group...

GLAAD – the world's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization – and eBay today announced a star-studded auction in honor of Pride Month supported by artists including Doechii, Shakira, Margaret Cho, Orville Peck, Sandra Bernhard, Andy Cohen, Kesha, and more. 100% of the proceeds will benefit GLAAD in support of their mission to accelerate acceptance for the LGBTQ community. Running through June 26th at www.eBay.com/glaad, eBay for Charity shoppers will have the opportunity to bid on one-of-a-kind items and experiences from celebrity GLAAD supporters. Auction items include: Aly & Aj: Celebrate 20 years of Aly & Aj's iconic debut album with this once-in-a-lifetime 'Into The Rush' VIP Experience for you and a guest on their upcoming Silver Deliverer Tour! <a...

GLAAD – the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization – and eBay today announced a star-studded auction in honor of Pride Month supported by artists including Doechii, Shakira, Margaret Cho, Orville Peck, Sandra Bernhard, Andy Cohen, Kesha, and more.

100% of the proceeds will benefit GLAAD in support of their mission to accelerate acceptance for the LGBTQ community.

Launching globally June 16th at 3pmET/12pmPT and running through June 26th at www.eBay.com/glaad, eBay for Charity shoppers will have the opportunity to bid on one-of-a-kind items and experiences from celebrity GLAAD supporters.

Auction items include:

Aly & Aj: Celebrate 20 years of Aly & Aj’s iconic debut album with this once-in-a-lifetime ‘Into The Rush’ VIP Experience for you and a guest on their upcoming Silver Deliverer Tour! Andy Cohen: Win 2 coveted seats to a live taping of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen for you and a guest.

A favorite nugget of Wizard of Oz lore for many of us is the sublimely funny TV guide blurb written for a 1998 TCM airing of the MGM classic: “Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.” The inclusion of amusing oddities like that is what pulls It’s Dorothy! back whenever it threatens to go from exhaustive to exhausting, from dissection to dissertation.

Welcome humor comes also from new discoveries — at least to me — like the bizarrely kitsch spectacle of eliminated contestants on BBC talent search show Over the Rainbow removing their jeweled slippers and handing them to Andrew Lloyd Webber on a throne before being carried off the set on a cutout moon. Wtf? The winner — or survivor — of that Brit reality TV horror, Danielle Hope, went on to star in London as...

Just when you think the zombie genre has exhausted every possible permutation, a film like Queens of the Dead struts in, covered in glitter and gore, to prove you wrong. This is the feature debut from Tina Romero, and yes, that name carries weight. But while she works in the sandbox her father George A. Romero built, she is building a very different kind of castle.

This film trades bleak social dread for backstage bedlam, setting its story in a struggling drag club on the precipice of a make-or-break show. The curtain is about to rise when the world outside ends, trapping a motley crew of performers inside with their wits, their fabulousness, and an invading horde of the undead. It’s a comedy-forward horror movie that understands survival is a performance in itself.

The Ensemble in the Spotlight

A film set almost entirely in one location lives or dies by its characters,...

Few films can coast on good intentions alone, but low-budget zombie romp “Queens of the Dead” comes close. Directed by Tina Romero, the delightful feature debut is a horror comedy chock-full of fun and meaningful ideas, most of which stop just short of fruition. Romero is notably the daughter of zombie movie progenitor George A. Romero (of “Night of the Living Dead” fame), and she channels her father’s decades-long fascination with undead ghouls as cinematic symbols for society at large. By filtering familiar hallmarks through a distinctly queer story set at a drag show gone awry, she channels the genre’s uglier, edgier leanings into a glamorous farce with a beating heart.

“Queens of the Dead” is the kind of movie that requires going with the flow — not by turning your brain off, but by keeping it especially sharp while sidelining expectations of refinement. Its aesthetic approach seldom lives...

If there’s one criticism to be lobbed at Jeffrey McHale’s energetic, engrossing, and often quite loving documentary “It’s Dorothy!,” it’s that the documentarian has selected perhaps too good of a subject. The mythology and meaning of Dorothy Gale, the great hero of “The Wizard of Oz,” could easily inspire an entire series of films. While McHale somehow manages to touch on a dozen hot topics in his documentary — what the on-screen role means to the women who have played her, how and why the LGBTQ+ community so love her, how we grapple with the misdeeds of our favorite artists, and that’s literally just a small sample — that can make the actual film on offer feel a bit unfinished.

Still, McHale manages to hold all these very big topics together in an otherwise slim 97-minute running time. Packed with major talking heads, zippy animation, and a bouncing...

We are counting down the months before Percy Jackson and the Olympians returns with its highly anticipated second season in December. The Rick Riordan-inspired series will be dealing with familiar plotlines as Season 2 brings the events of The Sea of Monsters to life. Walker Scobell's Percy Jackson and his friends, Annabeth (Leah Jeffries) and Grover (Aryan Simhadri), will be returning to Camp Half Blood for more Olympus-powered adventures. The trio will be joined by Glynn Turman, who plays Chiron in the Disney+ series, as the show welcomes some interesting new characters such as Tantalus.

Timothy Simons comes on board as Tantalus, a ruthless and mean demigod son of Zeus who joins the staff at Camp Half-Blood. The arrival of new characters means change, which is likely to test the resolve built up by our heroes so far. Speaking with ScreenRant on the red carpet for the 2025 movie Straw,...

Ariana Grande, Pedro Pascal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sabrina Carpenter and Daniel Radcliffe are among more than 100 Hollywood notables who signed an open letter, slamming the Trump administration’s proposal to cut funding for LGBTQ youth suicide prevention programs.

Published by the nonprofit organization The Trevor Project, the celebrities are calling for Trump and Congress to “protect funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services in the Fiscal Year 2026 budget.”

“We are heartbroken by the proposal to eliminate federal funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services — a move that will have devastating, life-threatening consequences for young people across the country,” the letter read. “As artists, creators, and public figures, our platforms come with responsibility. And today, that responsibility is clear: we must speak out to protect the mental health and lives of LGBTQ+ youth. We will not stay silent.”

The letter continued,...

Back in 1968, George A. Romero made his feature directorial debut with one of the greatest horror movies ever made, Night of the Living Dead – and while doing so, he also introduced the world to flesh-eating ghouls that became a new definition for the world “zombie.” Romero, who passed away in 2017, went on to make several more zombie movies over the decades… and recently, his daughter Tina Romero revealed that she’s making her own feature directorial debut with a zombie movie called Queens of the Dead. That movie is set to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 7th – and with that date just around the corner, Entertainment Weekly has unveiled a few images! You can check them out at the bottom of this article.

Romero previously told Fangoria that the screenplay she wrote with novelist and comedian Erin Judge “takes place over one night, at...

Ariana Grande, Pedro Pascal, and more are stepping forward to support LGBTQ youth.

Over 100 celebrities have signed a letter that is calling to protect the funds for LGBTQ youth suicide prevention programs. The letter comes in response to a leaked report that states the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is planning to eliminate all funding for LGBTQ youth suicide prevention services.

“As artists, creators, and public figures, our platforms come with responsibility. And today, that responsibility is clear: we must speak out to protect the mental health and lives of LGBTQ+ youth. We will not stay silent,” the letter reads, per Variety.

Keep reading to find out more…

It continues, “This is about people, not politics. At a time of deep division, let this be something we as people can all agree on: no young person should be left without help in their darkest moment. Stripping away this...

A long-in-works documentary on the alt-rock band Failure will premiere on Hulu on June 27th. The film, titled Every Time You Lose Your Mind, features interviews with Maynard James Keenan, Hayley Williams, Jason Schwartzman, Tommy Lee, Margaret Cho, the late Steve Albini, and more.

An official description of the documentary reads, “Like a falling satellite blazing across the musical landscape, Failure flamed-out in the late ‘90s – their promising rise derailed by drug addiction and record company inertia. But the pioneering trio left a profound imprint that transcended their affiliation with the LA alt-rock scene. Every Time You Lose Your Mind documents the origins, downfall and rebirth of a band that’s beloved by their peers and multiple generations of fans.”

Singer-guitarist Ken Andrews added, “Our fans have connected with the themes of depression and addiction in our music. The film crystallizes those connections and, ultimately, communicates hope. We’re a...

A leaked draft of the U.S. Department Health and Human Services department budget reveals that $50 million might be cut from federal funding for LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention programs. More than 100 celebrities — including Pedro Pascal, Sabrina Carpenter, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Daniel Radcliffe — have signed an open letter pleading with lawmakers to reconsider.

“As artists, creators, and public figures, our platforms come with responsibility,” they wrote. “And today, that responsibility is clear: we must speak out to protect the mental health and lives of LGBTQ+ youth.

George Romero's daughter is keeping the family legacy alive. Tina Romero will be making her directorial debut with the upcoming zombie movie, Queens of the Dead.

Per Entertainment Weekly, Romero gave fans their first look at Queens of the Dead. The sneak peek includes images featuring the film's core cast of characters, as well as a special thanks to Mission: Impossiblestar Tom Cruise for helping Katy O'Brian take time away from the recently released The Final Reckoning in order to work on Romero's "big gay zombie movie."

Image via Queens of the Dead LLC

Queens of the Dead features an ensemble cast including Kay O'Brian, Jaquel Spivey, Margaret Cho, Jack Haven, and Cheyenne Jackson as a group of drag queens and club kids who are caught in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Directed by Romero from a screenplay co-written by Erin Rudge, Queens of the Dead is produced via Vanishing Angle,...

Tina Romero, the daughter of late horror master George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead), is making her own mark on the zombie genre with Queens of the Dead, and Entertainment Weekly has provided us with some fresh images and insights this week.

Queens of the Dead premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival this month.

“The zombie apocalypse is such a rich sandbox to play in when it comes to social commentary. I can’t be my dad’s daughter without making an attempt at saying something with zombies,” Romero tells EW. “I did want this to be a film in which I am paying homage to the world and the monster he created, but I’m also introducing my own voice.”

Romero continues, “It’s very much not a film he would make, but it is using his vocabulary and is playing by his rules. As far as the queer element,...

Pedro Pascal, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa and Sabrina Carpenter are among the more than 100 celebrities who have signed an open letter calling for the protection of $50 million in federal funds earmarked for LGBTQ youth suicide prevention programs.

The letter comes following an April news report about the leaked draft of the budget of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.. The draft reportedly calls for plans to eliminate all funding for LGBTQ youth suicide prevention services through 988, a federal program that provides emergency crisis support to LGBTQ+ youth considering suicide.

“As artists, creators, and public figures, our platforms come with responsibility. And today, that responsibility is clear: we must speak out to protect the mental health and lives of LGBTQ+ youth,” the beginning of the letter reads, in part. “We will not stay silent.”

The letter goes onto explain that since its launch in 2022, the 988 program has helped connect...

Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl starring Willem Dafoe, Camila Morrone, Leila George, Ray Nicholson, and Arquette will have a Tribeca Festival Member Exclusive Event screening.

In the second instalment of my annual conversation with Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer we discuss some more of the highlights in the 24th edition of the Tribeca Festival. In Spotlight Documentary: Jeffrey McHale’s It's Dorothy!; Ole Juncker’s Take The Money And Run, and My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay (on Jayne Mansfield). Spotlight Narrative: Stephanie Laing’s Tow and Sophie Brooks’s Oh, Hi!.

Frédéric Boyer with Anne-Katrin Titze on the German film What Marielle Knows: “Extraordinary this is. I think it's the revelation of the Berlinale in terms of German cinema.”

In Viewpoints: Frédéric Hambalek’s What Marielle Knows; Lucia Garibaldi’s A Bright Future, and Alex Ross Perry’s Videoheaven. International Narrative Competition: Paul Andrew...

HBO Max's dark comedy drama Hacks has officially been renewed for a fifth season. The news arrives just in time for the Season 4 finale on Thursday.

Variety reports that news of Hacks Season 5 came from series creators and showrunners Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky at a special screening in Los Angeles. Warner Bros. Discovery also reports that Hacks Season 4 has been the series' most-watched so far, making it an easy decision for Max to renew the series. Hacks stars Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder and explores the professional lives of a young, down-on-her-luck comedy writer named Ava (Einbinder) and the legendary stand-up comedian Deborah Vance (Smart). As Deborah looks to reinvent her act in order to remain relevant on the Las Vegas strip, she begins to form a bond with Ava as the two work together to solve their own personal and work-related problems.

"Like Deborah Vance herself,...

CBS is betting on another show to fill the gap left by “The Late Late Show With James Corden.” Starting in September, “Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen” will take over the 12:30 a.m. slot from “After Midnight.”

The series will officially air at 12:37 a.m. Et on Sept. 22 with back-to-back, half-hour episodes. Episodes of the comedy talk show will then air Monday through Friday, with the series also available to stream live on Paramount+ for subscribers that have Paramount+ with Showtime.

For decades, CBS had a pretty solid late night formula. “The Late Show” at 11:30 p.m. was followed by “The Late Late Show” an hour later. But when Corden announced he was stepping away from the franchise to spend more time with his family, the network announced it was ending the show that had been on the air since 1995. “The Late Late Show” officially ended in...

Byron Allen will be back on CBS in a late-night slot next season.

CBS is slotting Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen into the 12:30am slot for the 2025/26 broadcast season.

It comes after the network ended After Midnight, which ran for two seasons, once Taylor Tomlinson decided that she wanted to return to stand-up touring. After Midnight will end on June 12.

Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen will begin airing after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday September 22 with back-to-back, half-hour episodes.

The round-table style comedy talk show, featuring a rotating panel of comedians, is hosted by Allen and features comedians such as Sebastian Maniscalco, Tiffany Haddish, Gabriel Iglesias, Cedric the Entertainer, Howie Mandel, Leslie Jones, Wayne Brady, Roy Wood, Jr., Whitney Cummings, Jb Smoove, Billy Gardell, Margaret Cho, Brad Garrett, Sheryl Underwood, Adam Carolla, Gina Yashere, Dane Cook, Sinbad, George Wallace, Caroline Rhea, Tommy Davidson, David Alan Grier,...

Jill Sobule, the late singer-songwriter who scored a hit with the queer anthem “I Kissed a Girl” in 1995, will be celebrated this spring with a series of tribute shows around the country dubbed “Jillith Fair — Loving Jill Sobule.” Margaret Cho, John Doe, Tom Morello, Joan Osborne, Lisa Loeb, Marshall Crenshaw, Madeleine Peyroux, and the Go-Go’s Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin, among others, will all variously make appearances. Full details about which artists will be appearing where are on Sobule’s website. More dates will be announced in the future.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians still has several months to go before the arrival of its sophomore season, but fans of the Rick Riordan-inspired series won't be amiss if they seek out potential plotlines. Season 2 will bring the events of The Sea of Monsters to the fore, as the esteem of Walker Scobell's Percy Jackson continues to grow across Camp Half Blood and throughout the world of the Olympians. The new season will introduce characters such as Daniel Diemer as Tyson, Timothy Simons as Tantalus, Sandra Bernhard, Kristen Schaal, and Margaret Cho as the Gray Sisters, and Tamara Smart as Thalia. Diemer's arrival as Tyson means his character shares kinship with Scobell's Percy, as both are sons of the sea god, Poseidon.

Season 2 will see Percy take on the role of big brother to Tyson, a cyclops. In many moments in the first season, Percy lacked the sort...

It’s been just over a decade since the world lost the comedy legend that was Joan Rivers, so to celebrate her life, NBC is releasing “Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute.”

The hour-long special will unite several comedians and actors to revisit Rivers’ legendary cabinet of jokes, and add their own spin to them. Plus, they’ll include some original material as well.

“This tribute is everything my mother would have wanted — hilarious, unfiltered and filled with people she respected (and roasted),” Melissa Rivers, Joan Rivers’ daughter, said in a statement. “And as usual, she was still the funniest person in the room. It’s incredibly moving to see so many iconic comedians come together to celebrate her legacy, especially the women whose careers she helped make possible by breaking down so many doors.”

And if you’re wondering how Joan Rivers herself would feel about the special,...

One remarkable gift Joan Rivers left behind was a voluminous repository of her jokes. She wrote more than 70,000 gags, meticulously recorded on index cards and filed away by subject. “Joan’s jokes were pure,” marveled Patton Oswalt. “They were set-up/punchline, no meandering stories, all meat, no filler.”

On tonight’s Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute, the comedian’s biggest celebrity fans raided that filing cabinet to repurpose her funniest punchlines. Here are some of the best…

Patton Oswalt

“When I die, I know what they’ll say at my funeral: ‘It’s the first time a man ever approached her when she was lying down.’”

Nikki Glaser

“I took my bra off at a nude beach today and accidentally clubbed two baby seals.”

Sarah Silverman

“I knew I was unwanted when my bath toys were a toaster and a radio.”

Tracy Morgan

“Michael Jackson has a dog...

Exclusive: Writer-director Nitzan Bachar “Nb” Mager has set an impressive cast for her debut feature, Thoughts and Prayers. The roster includes Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring franchise), Margaret Cho (Fire Island), Elizabeth Marvel (Presumed Innocent), Alyssa Marvin (Trevor: The Musical), Yul Vazquez (Severance), Bill Camp (Zero Day), and Molly Ringwald (Feud: Capote vs. The Swans).

Currently in post-production, Thoughts and Prayers is a dark comedy based on Mager’s award-winning, Oscar-qualifying short film, Run Amok. The story follows a teenage girl who decides to stage a musical reenactment of a tragedy that took place at her high school 10 years ago.

Julie Christeas, Founder and CEO of Tandem Pictures, produced alongside Frank Hall Green. Exec producers included Tom Franco, Allison Franco, Tad Selby, Derek Strum, Joav Bally, Jaykant R. Patel, Rama K. Penta, Rajesh Penta, Elia Petridis and Lela Meadow-Conner. Mager’s script was a...

The indie film world is betting on 1-2 Special.

The spanking new U.S. theatrical distributor has closed its first round of equity financing, securing backing from a group of private investors led by Alex Lo’s Cinema Inutile. Anita Gou’s Kindred Spirit, Chris Quintos Cathcart and Tyler Boehm’s Unapologetic Projects, and Bill and Mary Way’s Fit Via Vi are also first-round investors in New York-based 1-2.

Launched by former Sideshow executive Jason Hellerstein in February, 1-2 Special is set up as a theatrical-first, all rights distributor, dedicated to “acquiring and releasing exceptional films from top-tier domestic and international festivals.” 1-2 picked up its first feature, Kontinental ’25, from acclaimed Romanian director Radu Jude (Bad Luck Banging, Or Looney Porn) out of the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival. With its coffers full of Pe cash, we expect 1-2 will be an active buyer in Cannes.

1-2 Special Logo...

A new series from J.J. Abrams, the film directorial debut of ‘Succession’ creator Jesse Armstrong, and more titles are due up still in May.

May’s showers are upon us with no sign of slowing! So far this month, we’ve had a busy calendar of debuts and returns, including new episodes of the hit mystery-of-the-week Peacock series “Poker Face,” starring Natasha Lyonne. The first three episodes of the second season, which include a beefy roster of guest stars that includes Cynthia Erivo, Giancarlo Esposito, John Mulaney, Katie Holmes, and many others, are available as of May 8. Also available now are the premiere episodes of Max’s “Conan O’Brien Must Go” Season 2 and Paramount+’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” Season 10.

That’s not all on the TV side. If you’re looking for something new instead of a continuation, you can also check out Hulu’s “The Four Seasons,...

Exclusive: Arden Cho (Partner Track) and Margaret Cho (Dying for Sex) have signed on to star in Cheap Af, a romantic comedy from first-time feature director Roy Hsu, who also penned the script.

Cheap Af tells the story of a money-saving influencer (Arden Cho) seeking her big break, who risks losing her wedding and relationships when she goes all out to win Wedding Magazine’s “Best Wedding on a Budget” social media competition.

In a statement to Deadline, Hsu observed that “America is a melting pot, and many immigrants share common experiences regardless of race—parents chasing better futures, valuing education, and, yes, saving every penny.” His hope with the film has been “to tell a comedic bridezilla story about two women competing for the cheapest wedding, though at its core, the film is about letting go of the past and discovering what truly matters—all through an Asian-American lens...

Exclusive: What does a long-running game show have to do to get another two-year renewal? Funny You Should Ask.

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group has ordered Seasons 9 and 10 of its nationally syndicated comedy game, taking the daily half-hour strip through 2026-27.

Hosted as always by Jon Kelley, Funny You Should Ask features a panel of professional stand-up comics who interact with contestants for cash, prizes and laughs. The stakes increase in every episode as contestants ask the comedians questions, with the comics giving humorous replies.

“Funny You Should Ask is the perfect comedy game show for the entire family,” said Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group. “We are very proud of this series because the world can never have enough laughter.”

Related: 2025 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming

Since its launch in fall 2017, Funny You Should Ask has featured such talent as Allen himself,...

Welcome to Reality Derby, our weekly deep dive into all things reality TV, hosted by Gold Derby senior editors Marcus James Dixon and Denton Davidson.

Joining us this week is The Masked Singer's Ken Jeong, who discusses working alongside host Nick Cannon and panelists Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, and Rita Ora on Season 13 of the Fox reality competition show. Watch our video interview above as he discusses how he landed the ultimate gig, who his favorite reveal of all time is, and if reality TV judges deserve their own Emmy category.

"My sitcom Doctor Ken had just gotten canceled, and so I was doing a lot of different jobs," Jeong tells Reality Derby. "Whether it be supporting roles in movies, doing stand up comedy, or working on my Netflix special. And then this just kind of came across my desk."

The comedian reveals his stint on another reality...

Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 isn't coming to Disney+ anytime soon, but Rick Riordan, the author of the Percy Jackson book series, is sharing more good news with fans this spring.

Riordan revealed on Goodreads that he's "guardedly optimistic" about the Percy Jackson season running for five seasons on Disney+ and covering all five books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series.

Here's what Riordan said, via Collider:

"I'm guardedly optimistic about future seasons. No one knows the answer right now. It will depend on continued viewership, but we're certainly off to a great start! All I can say for certain is that everyone involved is hoping and assuming that we will have the full five-season arc, but we'll just have to wait and see. As for how fast they will come out, the hope is certainly that we can pick up the pace of release dates,...

Percy Jackson and the Olympians author Rick Riordan opened up about the future of the hit coming-of-age action fantasy series, after more than a month since receiving an early Season 3 renewal. Riordan also serves as an executive producer and creator on the live-action TV adaptation of his bestselling novel series.

Per Collider, Riordan was asked on Goodreads about the possibility of Percy Jackson and the Olympians lasting for more than three seasons. Although nothing has been finalized yet, he admitted that he’s actually “optimistic” about the Disney+ show’s future. "I'm guardedly optimistic about future seasons. No one knows the answer right now. It will depend on continued viewership, but we're certainly off to a great start! All I can say for certain is that everyone involved is hoping and assuming that we will have the full five-season arc, but we'll just have to wait and see,” Riordan said.

Like all good children of immigrants, Charlene Kaye greets me with a gift. The shirt is emblazoned with neon-pink lightning, the title of her comedy show, Tiger Daughter, in a Def Leppard font, and a collage of images — including a photo of her mother, Lily, well, naked as the day she was born.

“These are nude portraits that my mother made of herself. This is my mother’s shadow looming over me,” Kaye explains, dragging her nails over the collage. “When I was making this, it was so funny, because...

On May 7, 2022, a historic moment in comedy unfolded at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. LGBTQ+ comedians from around the world gathered for an unprecedented performance celebrating diverse voices and groundbreaking achievements in Netflix's stand-up special Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration. While audiences may have viewed it as an epic comedy night, for filmmaker Page Hurwitz, it became much more: the backbone of her documentary, Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution.

“The truth is that the documentary came first,” Hurwitz tells Gold Derby. “When I envisioned the documentary, I envisioned having this big LGBTQ historic comedy show that would serve as sort of this energetic spine and envelope for a documentary. When I pitched the concept to Netflix, they loved it. What I wanted to do is create a documentary that felt as dynamic as our community. By combining these disparate elements of having original performances with sit down interviews, with their taped footage,...

Director Andrew Ahn has confirmed that the idea of a sequel to Fire Island remains active in conversations, though no formal development has taken place. The 2022 romantic comedy, set on the LGBTQ vacation destination and loosely inspired by Pride and Prejudice, drew attention for its ensemble cast and contemporary adaptation.

“There’s always been conversation about doing a sequel,” Ahn told Entertainment Weekly. “I don’t know if a real concrete idea has been formed yet, but there are things in the ether.”

Written by and starring Joel Kim Booster, Fire Island follows a group of close friends over one week during their annual trip. Booster plays Noah, who focuses on helping his friend Howie (Bowen Yang) connect with Charlie (James Scully), while resisting his own complicated feelings for Will (Conrad Ricamora). The cast includes Margaret Cho, Zane Phillips, Matt Rogers, Tomas Matos, Torian Miller, and Nick Adams.

The group...

With another summer just around the corner, another ferry to Fire Island could be on the horizon.

Director Andrew Ahn recently revealed there’s “always been conversation about doing a sequel” to his 2022 gay romantic-comedy, which is set at the titular LGBTQ getaway and is loosely inspired by Jane Austen‘s Pride & Prejudice.

“I don’t know if a real concrete idea has been formed yet, but there are things in the ether,” he told Entertainment Weekly.

Ahn noted that writer and star Joel Kim Booster “always jokes that it’s going to be like the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That, where it’s 30 years later and they’re older and gayer. … We’ll see what happens.”

The movie stars Booster as Noah, who enjoys one final trip with his friends to Fire Island while trying to help his best friend Howie (Bowen Yang) hook...

The Tribeca Film Fest 2025, presented by Okx, announced its full lineup of feature narrative, documentary, and animated films today. This year’s Festival, which takes place June 4-15 in New York City showcases the best emerging talent from across the globe alongside established names.

Of particular interest to horror fans may be the New York premiere of Predator: Killer of Killers. Also noteworthy is Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead, in which George A. Romero’s daughter pays tribute to his brand of zombie cinema with a “fresh, contemporary, and queer twist.” Prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike is also back with his latest, the thriller Sham.

Read on for the genre titles scheduled to premiere at Tribeca:

Escape From Tribeca

The most exciting cult movies from our galaxy: present, past, and future. Far-out premieres and nerve-shredding classics along with giveaways, prizes and fan-focused fun. Escape the ordinary and embrace the psychotronic!

When the fourth season of Hacks premieres this week, newly minted late-night talk show host Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) is going to run into two real-life TV superstars. Entertainment Weekly reports that Carol Burnett and Jimmy Kimmel will guest-star as themselves on the upcoming season of the hit HBO comedy. While Burnett will turn up to lend support to Vance, Kimmel's role on the series will be more adversarial.

Hacks' fourth season will center around comedy legend Vance finally getting her shot to headline a late-night talk show, with her on-and-off frenemy Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) making herself its head writer via blackmail. In the season;s fourth episode, the pressure soon gets to Deborah, as she experiences her first-ever case of stage fright while in rehearsals for her first episode; she finds some support in the form of comedy veteran Burnett. As Smart says, Deborah wouldn't admit her vulnerability...

Back in the 20th century, it was very common to see a stand-up comic enter the Hollywood pipeline by starring in their own sitcom based on their acts. Comedians like Bob Newhart, Martin Lawrence, and Roseanne Barr went from performing on small stages around the country to appearing in basically every living room in America thanks to the miracle of television. But when it came to the Latino community, there was a clear lack of representation. That is, until George Lopez arrived on the scene in 2002 with "The George Lopez Show."

Created by Lopez, "The Drew Carey Show" creator Bruce Helford, and "Roseanne" writer Robert Borden,"George Lopez" premiered on March 27, 2002, after the Los Angeles native had tried to make a TV show happen since the early 1990s. He finally achieved his goal when he met Sandra Bullock backstage after a performance at the Brea Improv Comedy Club in 2000. With the award-winning actress' help,...

Joan Rivershad no filter when it came to stating her opinions on celebrities, politicians, fashion looks, and more. Through controversial comments, stances and simply not caring about cancel culture, Rivers built an empire that NBC wants to celebrate. More than a decade after her death in 2014, the network will honor the comedian and host with an all-star tribute full of today's comedians who have somewhat of Joan's influence. According to Deadline, NBC will air Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute on May 13, 2025, and its extended and uncensored version will be available the following day on Peacock.

The special was filmed in November during the opening night of the 2024 New York Comedy Festival at the Apollo Theater, known for being the home to Black performers, and the hit variety show Showtime at the Apollo. The special will feature a combination of performances, both musical and stand-up comedy. Acts include...

“Dying for Sex” introduces Michelle Williams as Molly, a cancer patient whose terminal diagnosis gives her a new lease on life.

Soon thereafter receiving her diagnosis, Molly works up the courage to leave her apathetic husband, played by Jay Duplass, in the hopes of dying with her best friend, Nikki (Jenny Slate), while she explores her sexuality for the first time.

Along her journey, Molly connects with several formative people, both at the hospital, as well as in her personal life. The real Nikki even has a cameo in the FX series.

Sarah Shatz/FX

Michelle Williams as Molly

Michelle Williams stars as Molly, a cancer patient whose newly discovered terminal diagnosis plunges her into a journey of self-discovery and sex, ditching her husband to die with her best friend, Nikki.

After getting her start starring in “Dawson’s Creek,” Williams has starred in “Manchester by the Sea,” “Blue Valentine,” “The Fabelmans,...

More than a decade after her death, Joan Rivers’ influence is still strong in the comedy world and pop culture at large.

Following the comedian’s death at age 81 in 2014, NBC will air the star-studded special Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute on May 13 at 10pm Et/Pt, with an extended and uncensored version available the next day on Peacock, featuring today’s comedians putting their own topical spin on Rivers’ legendary cabinet of jokes.

Filmed in November during the opening night of the 2024 New York Comedy Festival at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, the special features appearances, musical bits and stand-up comedy from the likes of Rachel Brosnahan, Margaret Cho, Nikki Glaser, Tiffany Haddish, Chelsea Handler, Neil Patrick Harris, Bill Maher, Howie Mandel, Joel McHale, Tracy Morgan, Patton Oswalt, Aubrey Plaza, Sarah Silverman, Melissa Rivers, Jean Smart and Rita Wilson.

“Given that I’m dead, I assume...