The list of the 10 highest-grossing music biopics of all-time includes Bohemian Rhapsody (#1), Straight Outta Compton (#2), Walk The Line (#4), Bob Marley: One Love (#5), I Can Only Imagine (#7), and Ray (#8). Some of those are perfectly fine films, but they’re also safe. Most music biopics are. They’re glorified Wikipedia summaries. But it appears we’re entering a new era for movies about famous artists and iconic groups that are willing to take weird risks.
When I first read about Piece By Piece, I thought it was a joke. A movie about the life and career of Pharrell Williams… told through Legos? But the more I thought about it (and once I triple-checked it was real), the more I liked the concept. For one thing, the guy who wrote and/or produced “Milkshake,” “Get Lucky,” “Happy,” “Alright,” “Hot In Herre,” “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and “Got Your Money,” songs so famous that I don’t even need to list the artist, absolutely deserves the biopic treatment. The Lego connection makes sense, too. Pharrell has synesthesia, which means that when he’s hearing music, he’s seeing it in color. “It’s the only way that I can identify what something sounds like,” he told NPR. “I know when something is in key because it either matches the same color or it doesn’t. Or it feels different and it doesn’t feel right.”
Piece By Piece is a playful extension of Pharrell’s unique way of perceiving the world. But why Legos, in particular? “It’s never too late for you to go pick up a Lego set and make things and be a co-creator. It’s never too late to wake up to that. It’s never too late to gain that self-awareness,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “This is my dream, for people to have that.”
If your dream is to see a movie about Robbie Williams told from the perspective of a monkey, you’re in luck!
As a kid, I was confused by the popularity of Robbie Williams. I would read about how he was a massive star in Europe, but in the United States, it was crickets. Even now, I’m only vaguely aware of a few of his songs, so Better Man normally wouldn’t be something on my radar — until I saw the trailer, which has the only acceptable use of “I know what you’re thinking” in voiceover history. He’s right: what is with the monkey? Better Man is “based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams,” per the official synopsis, but instead of Robbie being represented by, like, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, he’s portrayed by actor Jonno Davies in a mo-cap suit to look like a CGI monkey. Obviously.
So, about the monkey: why? “I asked you [Robbie] if you were an animal, how would you see yourself? In your own words, you would refer to being dragged up on stage to perform like a monkey,” director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) said in an interview with the singer. “I immediately thought portraying you not as we see you, but how you see yourself… I am going to see you and relate to you in a way that is going to be more engaging than yet another musical biopic.” It’s a clever creative decision, as it depicts Robbie Williams how he perceives himself, and a smart financial one, too. “Do you want to see the Robbie Williams movie?” Eh, not really. “Do you want to see the movie where that pop star is played by a monkey?” I’m buying tickets now.
Piece By Piece, Better Man, Alex Ross Perry’s experimental Pavements, and before them, Baz Luhrmann’s King of Rock and Roll fever dream Elvis, aren’t the first weird biopics. There’s Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, an experimental short about The Carpenters singer, and I’m Not There, featuring six different actors playing Bob Dylan, both from director Todd Haynes. The hilarious Weird: The Al Yankovic Story literally has the word “weird” in the title! But in a post-Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story world, which brilliantly mocked every rise-and-fall trope, it’s nice to see familiar biopics told in unfamiliar ways. The generic Back To Black‘s of the world are always going to exist, but if Piece By Piece and Better Man do well (they’re both getting solidreviews), maybe we’ll get a Nine Inch Nails Broadway-style musical. Or a Stevie Wonder pixel-art animated movie. Or a Fleetwood Mac erotic thriller. Let’s get weird.
Piece By Piece is out in theaters on October 11, followed by Better Man on December 25
Pharrell Williams probably isn’t the first musician you would think of to have their life be turned into movie, let alone a Lego movie — until you take a look at how many hits he’s had a hand in.
With The Neptunes, there’s over a dozen top-10 hits, including “U Don’t Have to Call” by Usher, “Hot In Herre” by Nelly, “Rock Your Body” by Justin Timberlake, “Milkshake” by Kelis, “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop Dogg, “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani, and “Money Maker” by Ludacris. Pharrell also produced “Blurred Lines” and wrote “Happy” (which he also sings) and “Get Lucky,” two impossibly catchy songs that will be played at weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs until the end of time. So, yeah, with that context, the Pharrell movie Piece By Piece makes a lot more sense.
Here’s everything to know about Piece By Piece, including plot details, the voice cast, and when it comes out.
Plot
The trailer for Piece By Piece begins with Pharrell telling Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) that it would be cool “if we told my story with Lego pieces.” It’s not dissimilar from how it happened in real life. “That’s how the conversation went down in my head,” Neville told Variety. “I didn’t know what it was going to be, but it was going to be interesting and I was completely in.”
Pharrell was initially wary of participating in a biopic or documentary about himself because “everyone was doing them at the time, and I was like, ‘Hell no.’ I never want to do what everybody else is doing. Everybody’s taking the Lincoln Tunnel, then I want to take a plane,” he explained. “But when [Neville] finally said the magic words, ‘You can do it any way you want,’ I knew deep down inside that I wanted to do it through Lego.” Sounds like enjoyed Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga as much as I did (fun game!).
Piece By Piece features animated reenactments of key moments in Pharrell’s life and interviews with some of his famous collaborators, including Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani, and Jay Z. Except they didn’t know they were going to appear in Lego form. “We purposely did not tell anyone that that would be the finished product. We wanted people to just answer the questions and really give their full, unedited reactions to the opportunity to do the interviews,” the hit-maker confessed. “Because if we would’ve said, ‘Okay, this is going to be in Lego,’ then people would have sort of curved what they were saying.”
Pharrell’s hope with Piece By Piece is to inspire people to follow their ambitions, as he did. “It’s never too late for you to go pick up a Lego set and make things and be a co-creator. It’s never too late to wake up to that. It’s never too late to gain that self-awareness,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “This is my dream, for people to have that.”
Cast
The voice cast consists of [famous person] as themselves, beginning with Pharrell Williams as, well, himself. There’s also Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay Z, and Snoop Dogg.
Release Date
It’s surprisingly been five years since the last big-screen Lego movie, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. That streak comes to an end on October 11, when Piece By Piece opens in theaters (the same weekend as Saturday Night, Terrifier 3, and We Live In Time — and they say counterprogramming is dead).
Trailer
You can check out the trailer for Piece By Piece below.
Kendrick Lamar isn’t the only current or former member of the Top Dawg Entertainment family with a movie coming out next year.
An R-rated buddy comedy starring SZA and Keke Palmer will release in theaters on January 24, 2025. There’s no official title or even plot details yet, but Variety reports that the cast also includes Lil Rel Howery, Janelle James, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Maude Apatow, Katt Williams, Joshua Neal, Aziza Scott, Patrick Cage, and Amin Joseph. Lawrence Lamont is attached as director, while Rap Sh!t showrunner Syreeta Singleton wrote the screenplay.
Palmer and SZA previously teamed up in 2022 when the Nope actress hosted SNL with the “Kill Bill” singer as her musical guest.
SZA is currently working on her third studio album, Lana, and first since 2022’s SOS broke records.
“You know, this round, I actually don’t want to say anything,” she told The Hollywood Reporter when asked about the album earlier this year. “Just because I feel like I do myself a disservice because you can shift the energy of the album. You got to let it form itself. Because I’m not really forming anything. I’m just kind of here while energy is forming and I’m just trying to allow it to do what it needs to do, and my voice just follows whatever the frequency is. So I feel like I want to allow it to finish shaping itself and form itself before I speak on it and possibly change the trajectory of what it could be. But I will say I’m in a beautiful space creatively and I feel just very new.”
The Odd Future collective is taking over Hollywood. The Bear star Lionel Boyce is getting nominated for Emmys, Jasper Dolphin is part of the Jackass family, and now Tyler The Creator is making his feature-length film debut.
The “WusYaName” rapper has joined the cast of Marty Supreme, an upcoming A24 film from director Josh Safdie that also stars Timothée Chalamet and the queen of Goop herself, Gwyneth Paltrow. Maybe this time she’ll remember being in the movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “plot details remain under wraps, but while it was previously rumored to be loosely inspired by a pro ping-pong player, the movie is said to be a fictionalized original film.”
Tyler previously starred in Adult Swim’s sketch series Loiter Squad and he also co-created The Jellies! with Boyce. Maybe he can ask Funny People scene stealer Eminem for some acting tips after he recently made nice with the rapper after trashing his 2010 album, Recovery.
“When [Recovery] came out, I f*cking hated it,” Tyler confessed. “Hated it, publicly was like, ‘This sh*t is wack,’ didn’t like it. And after watching [Painkillers], I felt so bad about those tweets and things like that, because thinking from his perspective, someone like me publicly saying that stuff and him getting off drugs and being clean and getting to a point in life where that’s behind him, and me implying, ‘Nah, this sh*t is wack.’ He probably felt like I was attacking him.”
Piece By Piece is a unique documentary, in that it tells the story of Pharrell Williams through Lego. But the legendary musician and producer behind “Happy,” “Get Lucky,” and “Drop It Like It’s Hot” didn’t mention the colorful bricks format when he and director Morgan Neville reached out for talking head interviews from the likes of Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Snoop Dogg.
“We purposely did not tell anyone that that would be the finished product. We wanted people to just answer the questions and really give their full, unedited reactions to the opportunity to do the interviews,” Williams confessed to Variety. “Because if we would’ve said, ‘Okay, this is going to be in Lego,’ then people would have sort of curved what they were saying.”
He continued, “We didn’t want them to be influenced by what we wanted. We wanted the purest part. And I feel like part of the magic of what makes this film pop the way it does is because it’s so vivid and it’s not scripted.”
Outside of the three rappers listed above, Piece By Piece also features Gwen Stefani, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, and Pusha T.
Piece By Piece comes out in theaters on October 11. You can find out more here.
The NFL season is finally upon us, and that means fans will spend their Sundays (and Thursday and Monday nights) locked in for the next four months. One of the great things about sports is that fandom is often the same no matter who you are, and you can find some of the biggest stars from the world of music, sports, and entertainment losing their mind right alongside normal folks.
Sure, they get some perks like sideline passes and luxury suites, but the rollercoaster of emotions is all the same. With that in mind, we wanted to go through all 32 teams to identify their biggest and most prominent celebrity fan.
Atlanta Falcons: Ludacris
With respect to Usher, 2 Chainz, Jeezy, T.I., and the many other Atlanta-based artists that are also Falcons fans, Ludacris gets the nod here by being not just a star in the world of music, but also of film thanks to his incredible work in the Fast & Furious franchise. Also, no one else other than Luda has ever rappelled from the rafters for a pregame performance at a Falcons game.
NO ONE, circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills, and no one is a more famous Bills supporter than the legendary Chris Berman. Boomer narrated the Bills hype video a year ago and while there are some other celebs and artists that are Bills fans, like Benny the Butcher, Berman gets the nod.
Carolina Panthers: Stephen Curry
One of the easiest picks on this list, Curry grew up in Charlotte and is by far the most well-known fan of the Panthers. He famously grew close to Cam Newton during his time as the franchise’s signal caller.
Chicago Bears: Barack Obama
Do we really need to explain this one? Obama is a well-documented Chicago sports fan, and even hosted the 1985 Chicago Bears at the White House during his time in the Oval Office.
Cincinnati Bengals: George Clooney
Despite being born on the other side of the Ohio River in Kentucky, Clooney grew up in and around Ohio, and even got a few tryouts with the Cincinnati Reds. He never tried out for the Bengals from what we can tell, but he loves them nonetheless.
Cleveland Browns: LeBron James
Some people may quibble with this, as James pretty openly loved the Cowboys earlier in his NBA career. But he’s since denounced Dallas and fully embraced his hometown team.
Dallas Cowboys: Jay-Z
Hov is from Brooklyn, but he’s not a fan of the Giants or the Jets. Instead, he’s the son of a big Cowboys fan, and as a result, he was raised to be a Cowboys fan.
Denver Broncos: Kate Hudson
While Hudson was born in California, she spent her childhood in Colorado, and as a result grew up a huge fan of the Broncos. As she’s explained, she was a big fan of Peyton Manning before he joined the team in 2012, and was awfully excited when he became the team’s signal caller.
Detroit Lions: Eminem
Like most Lions fans, Eminem has seen some stuff, and he’s been a fixture at their games for years, even before they built themselves up into a Super Bowl contender. Now, they’re one of the best teams in the NFL, and you can usually bet that he’s at Ford Field when they’re playing.
Green Bay Packers: Lil Wayne
Weezy’s rooting interests are famously all over the place. In the NFL, that means he supports the Green Bay Packers, to the point that he once did a spin on Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow” ahead of the Packers’ matchup with the Pittsbugh Steelers in the Super Bowl. You can probably guess this, but the title of that track: “Green and Yellow.”
Houston Texans: Paul Wall
Paul Wall loves all things Houston, which includes being the most prominent supporter of the most recent franchise to join the league — the Texans played their first game on Sept. 8, 2002, and less than 18 months later, The Iceman dropped his debut studio album, “Chick Magnet.”
Indianapolis Colts: Rob Lowe
No, this is not a Parks and Rec bit, and yes, he has a team and doesn’t just wear that NFL hat everywhere. Lowe loves the Colts, and famously sent some tweets back in 2012 about how he heard Peyton Manning was going to retire. This, of course, did not happen, but Manning got cut by the Colts not long after and freed up a path for him to join the Broncos.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Lil Duval
There are a handful of celebrities the internet will tell you have ties to the Jaguars (Bill Murray, somehow?) but no one is more vocal or visible about their Jags fandom than the comedian and artist who shares a name with the county they play in — where DUUUUVVVAAAALLLL is the rallying cry.
Kansas City Chiefs: Taylor Swift
Do we really have to explain this one? While folks like Rob Riggle and Paul Rudd are well-documented Chiefs fans, Swift has constantly been at their games since her relationship with Travis Kelce began. It’s gone pretty well for the Chiefs, which one the Super Bowl last year.
Las Vegas Raiders: Ice Cube
You can say other people on this list are more famous than Ice Cube, but you can’t say that anyone on here is more closely tied with a team than Cube is with the Raiders. He vocally and prominently supported the team during their time in Los Angeles in the 1980s and ’90s, and he’s been the most famous face of Raider Nation ever since.
There are a lot of celebrities that make their way to Rams games in L.A., but Lamar’s been around the team for some time and you’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger star in the world of music this year after his victory lap around Drake over the summer. Way back in 2016, Lamar and ScHoolboy Q went out to Rams training camp to run some routes and have some fun.
Miami Dolphins: DJ Khaled
The Miami-based artist and producer loves all of South Florida’s teams, and has some 1-of-1 Dolphins Jordan 11s to show his fandom.
I honestly don’t know which of them is the more famous one at this point, so I’ll just lump them together. Pats owner Robert Kraft has made friends with many celebrities, but no one has deeper ties to the Patriots than the Boston natives.
New Orleans Saints: Emeril Lagasse
With respect to Harry Connick Jr., in this house we stan the original celebrity chef, Emeril Lagasse. The New Orleans native makes a mean bowl of gumbo and loves his Saints.
New York Giants: Tracy Morgan
The Giants have a number of famous fans, as you’d expect for a team representing New York, but no one is a bigger fan of the G Men than comedian Tracy Morgan.
New York Jets: Adam Sandler
The Sandman loves his Jets, and to be honest, he’s a perfect avatar for Jets fandom. No one does over-the-top frustration on screen better than Sandler and that’s how every Jets fan feels every season.
Philadelphia Eagles: Bradley Cooper
There are a number of options here, from Philly rapper Meek Mill (although he loses some points for his friendship with Pats owner Robert Kraft) to Miles Teller, but Bradley Cooper gets the choice here. He’s become a rabid Eagles fan and said he’d rather see the Eagles win a Super Bowl than win an Oscar.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Snoop Dogg
It seems like Snoop has the incredible ability to support every team in every sport at all times. But he’s been a Steelers fan since the 1970s, dating back to when he’d watch them battle the Raiders on TV.
San Francisco 49ers: Kamala Harris
The Niners have a ton of prominent fans — E-40, Julia Roberts, Saweetie, Andy Samberg, etc. — but none of them are currently running for President of the United States. Kamala Harris, however, is, so she gets the nod here.
Seattle Seahawks: Will Ferrell
While he is a California native, Ferrell grew close to now-former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll during his time at USC. And if there are any questions about his bona fides as a Seattle fan, Ferrell answered them when he made clear that he is still upset they did not give the ball to Marshawn Lynch.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Hulk Hogan
The most famous fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is Hulk Hogan.
Tennessee Titans: Ed Sheeran
“How in the world did Ed Sheeran become a Tennessee Titans fan?” Well, good news! The answer to that is right here. The short version is he moved to Nashville when he came over to the States and adopted the Titans, but we can also pretend he was just a huge Steve McNair and Eddie George guy.
Sydney Sweeney’s fast-moving career has been chaotic for the past few years, but lately, she has purposefully been taking a breather another busy stretch. That time off has included posting a “thirst trap” and, presumably, hitting the gym hard (to get jacked, obviously) for upcoming filming on her boxing movie. This film will be a biopic of prizefighter Christy Martin, the pop-culturally dubbed “Female Rocky” boxer who ruled the 1990s welterweight circuit, and a clue indicates that the movie will arrive before Euphoria‘s third season, which will be filming at a later date. Sorry, Syd’s upcoming projects do not include that rumored Glen Powell re-teaming for The Running Man remake.
Sweeney also insists that her Barbarella reboot will surface, but before that happens, she will be getting into the ring in fighting shape, so let’s get down with what we can expect.
Plot
Getty Image
Christy Martin in 2003 prior to fighting Laili Ali in Biloxi, Mississippi
Christy Martin’s story will not be a straightforward trajectory to victory. A casting notice reveals the film’s working title, Apopka, which suggests that her personal life will be a significant part of the story. Indeed, Apopka is the Florida city where Martin was shot in 2010 by her then-husband and manager, Jim Martin, who shot and maimed his wife after she informed him that their marriage was over. Despite being a champ in the ring and Don King’s first female signee, Christy endured years of emotional and physical abuse by Jim, who was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 25 years.
Filming will reportedly take place in late September through mid November, and the film will be directed by David Michôd (Animal Kingdom, War Machine, Hesher), who cast Sweeney after seeing her true-crime turn in HBO’s Reality. For her part, Sweeney has years of experience in kickboxing and is “itching” to “transform my body.” She also called this role “physically and emotionally demanding, there’s a lot of weight to carry. But I love challenging myself.”
Martin has spoken about her domestic abuse ordeal, and both CBS News and The Guardian have reported at length about her physical injuries, as has ESPN, which has (you were warned) an incredibly graphic description along with an account by Christy’s mother about her arrival at the hospital:
Joyce says that when she was at last able to lay eyes on her daughter, it took her breath away. “She had tubes running everywhere, stitches all over her head, on her face. It’s something you never forget.”
Joyce was relieved when she learned Martin was able to speak. The first thing her daughter said to her? “I told you he was crazy, Mom.”
Earlier in their marriage, Jim had punched Martin in the mouth so hard her tooth pierced through her lip. The day it happened, Martin went to the bathroom to clean herself up. As she blotted her face, a few spots of blood dripped onto an obscured section of the wall. Martin decided to leave them there. For years, she’d carefully clean around the bloodstains, taking care not to erase them. Proof of life.
For the upcoming Black Bear and Anonymous Content film, Mirrah Foulkes and Michôd co-wrote the script, and Michôd summarized his approach to the film:
“The film is about Christy as a young gay woman in small-town West Virginia in the 1990s. She came from a relatively conservative family and wasn’t allowed to be who she was so she used boxing as a vehicle to express herself and her rage. She had to make some dangerous and fundamental compromises in her life, the most important of which was marrying an incredibly dangerous man.”
Cast
Sweeney as Martin is the only role that has been publicly confirmed. The actor who will portray Jim Martin hasn’t been disclosed, and ideally, we’ll also see a Don King portrayal.
Release Date
With filming scheduled to be complete before the end of 2024, we can bet on a 2025 arrival, likely with festival premieres leading up to the main event. Should we guess fall-winter 2025? Sure.
Trailer
Since filming is around the corner, we will make do with two interviews, including Sweeney telling Women’s Health that it’s important to stay fit because it’s “really fun to be able to kick a guy’s ass.”
The second interview includes Sweeney’s statements on overcoming her past body dysmorphia, and (whether or not she realizes it), there’s some serious role-model-ing going on here.
Netflix has released the first teaser trailer for one of the year’s most critically-admired films. Directed by Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez is a crime musical starring Zoe Saldaña as a lawyer in Mexico who is hire by a cartel leader (Karla Sofía Gascón) to help fake her death so that she can finally embrace her true gender identity. The film, which earned an 11-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, also stars Selena Gomez.
“I was very nervous because this is a project that is unlike anything I’ve ever done before,” the singer and Only Murders In The Building star told The Hollywood Reporter. “Even though I have such a small part, it’s such a big and special project that I feel so lucky that I was able to be a part of it. I felt better after the premiere, less nervous.”
You can watch the teaser above.
The female leads of Emilia Pérez — Karla Sofía Gascón, Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, and Gomez — shared Best Actress at Cannes, with Gascón also becoming the first trans performer to win the award at the festival. “Women together — that’s something we wanted to honor when we made this award,” Barbie director and 2024 Cannes jury president Greta Gerwig said of the split honor. “Each of them is a standout, but together transcendent.”
Emilia Pérez comes to select theaters on November 1 and begins streaming on Netflix on November 13.
It’s been quite a year for Kendrick Lamar. “Not Like Us,” one of his many Drake diss tracks, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “The Pop Out — Ken & Friends” show was a one-of-a-kind California performance. He’s even working on a movie with South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.
Really, the only blemish on Lamar’s 2024 is the time he confused Haley Joel Osment for Joel Osteen. On “Euphoria,” he raps, “Am I battlin’ ghost or AI / N**** feelin’ like Joel Osteen / Funny, he was in a film called A.I. / And my sixth sense tellin’ me to off him.” One is an acclaimed actor and the voice of Sora in the Kingdom Hearts video games (Osment); the other is a shady televangelist (Osteen). But The Sixth Sense and A.I. Artificial Intelligence actor thinks the mix-up might have been on purpose.
“I think he’s too precise,” Osment told the Associated Press at the premiere of Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut Blink Twice (via Billboard). “I don’t know for sure and I’m not gonna assume that he knows my exact name, but the way I’ve heard people talk about that and certain analysis that I’ve read about it, I think that it’s an intentional scrambling of my name and that other guy’s name. Because Kendrick’s too precise to just make a mistake like that.”
Or maybe the simplest explanation is the correct one: Kendrick really did confuse the two. Here’s another way to tell them apart so this doesn’t happen again: no one ever found bags of money in Haley Joel Osment’s church.
Reggie Watts is the former bandleader/in-house musician for both Comedy Bang! Bang! and The Late Late Show, a comedian with a new special available to stream on Veeps, a musician, a writer, an improviser, and creative force of nature. Pushing back on the expected is Watts’ forte, crafting 2024’s most unique special, a comedy and music filled period piece set in the hopeful pre-internet mid-’90s.
Below, in our latest quick check-in with the most interesting voices in comedy culture, Watts talks about the benefits of growing up in the tech/social media pre-dawn, who he’s listening to, his comedy and music heroes, what he’d tell young comics about finding their own unique voice, and not being afraid of failure.
What was your first concert?
My first concert was Fugazi in Missoula, Montana.
What are the last 3 records you bought or albums you listened to?
Gosh, that’s a really good question. I’ve been listening to the song “My City” by Juliet Mendoza on repeat. The Marias Submarine, that’s an amazing album. And “Flight FM” by Joy Orbison.
Who are the artists across comedy and music that you grew up loving?
There are so many. I grew up with a lot of Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor. I loved watching them when I was younger. Carol Burnett, Prince, Michael Jackson, Ministry, The Smithereens, just so many.
As an improviser, is there still a fear of failure when you are on stage, and if so, how do you use that energy?
I don’t really have a fear of failure when I’m onstage but I do have a fear of letting an audience down if I’m not connecting to them and I think I like using that as my energy source. And the constant newness is what’s exciting and new for me onstage.
What was behind the decision to base this latest special in the ’90s?
Yeah, I just wanted to base it in the ’90s because I wanted to recreate some of the hopefulness that we felt in the mid-90’s about the future and about the internet and just the absurdity of pretending it’s another time period on stage.
What are the bits from ‘90s culture that you think have had the most influence on your work and on culture in general?
I think the counterculture movement of the ’90s — especially growing up in Seattle — [has] always had a big effect on how I’m perceiving the world and how I’m creating things. I think just the camaraderie that I had with my friends back then kind of motivated me to always put friendship first. And just the ability to have the freedom to think and do what I want to do.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of being someone who has lived pre-internet and within the internet era?
Well, I think there’s really only benefits. You know, I got to live my childhood and teen years with no phones but with computers and computer games and things like that because the internet thankfully came along after high school. It really allowed me to have a normal, organic, human based upbringing. And then the internet came around at exactly the right time, for me, and I loved the expansion of the technology and where it’s gone since. I think I’ve experienced the perfect technological curve in my lifetime.
What advice do you have for aspiring comics and performers when it comes to experimentation and expectations?
I think just try not to self analyze. Try not to just do the things that people expect from you. I think it’s important to kind of adopt like a “fuck it” kind of attitude. As long as you’re caring about your audience, that’s really the main thing. Just have a good time with it.
Who is your dream collaborator and why?
Dream dead collaborator would probably have to be Prince — I would’ve loved to do something with him. I don’t know if our styles would have matched because he definitely seems pretty… writer-ly and structure-ly and super rehearsed but I bet you he could definitely get on board with where I’m coming from.
Dream alive collaborator I think would be Björk. I think she’s just a polymath, you know? She does so many things, she’s multimedia and I think she just has a vision for all forms of media that she’s involved in and I really like that.
Check out Reggie Watts’ special, ‘Never Mind,’ on Veeps here.
