I went from optimistic to cautiously optimistic to nervous to very nervous to down bad. As the months passed without any update on 99 To Beat, I started planning the funeral and assuming that epic finale was going to be it. Well, much to my euphoric surprise, it turns out there may still be signs of life. 99 To Beat is allegedly going through the casting process right now, and some notable reality stars are involved.

FOX hasn’t made any official announcement about the show’s fate, but after months of complete silence, social media started chattering a bit in recent days. Reality TV News/ Updates, which is typically a reliable source of info on reality competition shows, dropped a surprise post claiming there are rumors eight alumni from various competitions will be competing in the second season. You can check out the post below…

If you want to know how seriously people in the reality community are taking the post, I found comments underneath from more than five former Survivor players who know Kellie Nalbandian in real life. All shared excitement for her casting, including winner Dee Valladares who speculated that she’s going to win the money. Former Big Brother standout Tommy Bracco, who was a highlight of the first season of 99 To Beat, also commented and expressed excitement for the group of contestants who were seemingly chosen.

I’m convinced that part of the reason for 99 To Beat’s sluggish ratings is just the basic premise which sounds so stupid. I’ve personally tried to convince like a dozen people to watch it, and they all look at me like I'm out of my mind when I tell them what it’s about.

In short, the outrageous game show follows 100 people who are all asked to do some random task like threading a needle and sewing two things together. The first 99 to finish move on to the next round, and whoever finishes last goes home. That same process continues until only one person is left who wins a million dollars.

It’s not exactly an Olympic competition, but that’s what makes it so exciting. The 100 starting players are, as a whole, a pretty good representation of people in general, and because the competitions require very different types of skills, there’s not an inherent advantage for any specific sex, age group or body type. The result is you end up getting a bodybuilder and a grandma both desperately trying to drop a quarter into a shot glass that’s inside a fish tank. It probably needs a tweak or two, but the emotion and raw intensity are there, sometimes to an unhealthy level.

There’s been no announcement about when this hypothetical 99 To Beat season could premiere, but since the first season dropped in September of last year, my guess is they’re going to have it ready for the start of network TV season, probably to pair with The Floor. Fingers crossed they find a really fun and engaging group of contestants like last year and also, that they bringing back Erin Andrews and Ken Jeong who had a really fun rapport together, especially later in the season as they got emotionally invested in the contestants.

The quality of celebrity wax figures can really be hit or miss. Sometimes you get amazing results, like Travis Barker, whose replica was so good that even sister-in-law Khloé Kardashian couldn’t tell wax from man. Others aren’t so lucky, like when Dwayne Johnson’s figure went viral for its savagely inaccurate skin tone. Marvel actor Simu Liu is the latest to be honored with sculptures from Madame Tussauds, and he seemed very, very happy, as he thanked the museum for what was apparently a “sexually arousing experience.”

Simu Liu is having quite the moment. In addition to getting engaged last year, he’s had a steady presence on our screens, with a big one hitting the 2026 movie calendar later this year in the MCU blockbuster Avengers: Doomsday. He had another reason to celebrate recently, as he attended the unveiling of two Madame Tussauds wax figures of himself, which he shared to Instagram with a candid message of gratitude to the museum:

OK, what in the world is going on with these Simu Liu figures? I actually feel like I need to touch them to make sure I’m not just looking at the Barbie actor standing amidst two of his clones. It’s one of those Tom Hiddleston situations, where the wax figure looks more like the actor than the actor himself.

In that third slide, you can only tell the human from the replica from the outfits they’re wearing. I half expect to see Is It Cake?’s Mikey Day walk out with a knife.

I’m so happy for Simu Liu that he had such a positive experience with Madame Tussauds, but he certainly wasn’t the only celebrity speaking out in awe of the museum’s work. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star Ming-Na Wen responded enthusiastically in the comments:

That sentiment was shared by Ken Jeong and others, who did not share their arousal level but still wrote:

• Ken Jeong: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
• Arden Cho: Omg what’s happening! Hahaha 😂
• Olivia Munn: That is crazy accurate.
• Karen Fukuhara: Wait these are so good
• Chrishell Stause: Ok they ate that 👏👏👏

The museum's artists used two of Simu Liu’s red carpet looks as inspiration for the wax figures. According to Madame Tussauds, Liu sported a powder-blue Versace suit to the Barbie premiere, and the figure depicting that outfit will be displayed at the Orlando location. The mulberry-suited figure, meanwhile, draws inspiration from Liu’s appearance at the 2024 People’s Choice Awards. It will be housed in New York.

Of all the Madame Tussauds wax figures we’ve seen of our favorite celebrities, these two might just be the most real-looking, in my opinion. Being able to see these at their respective museums will be a treat for fans as we wait for the release of the upcoming Marvel movie Avengers: Doomsday this December.

As somebody who counts The Martian among my favorite movies of the 21st century, and one of the best sci-fi movies ever, I have certainly been excited about the book-to-screen adaptation of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary. The trailer for the film has been setting up the audience for an emotional journey, and now that a number of high-profile names in Hollywood have seen the flick, I’m getting even more excited.

The rest of us must still wait a month for the release of Project Hail Mary on the 2026 movie schedule, but it was recently screened for an audience that contained the likes of director Edgar Wright, Josh Gad, and more Hollywood names. Wright took to X to welcome directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller back to live-action movies, and their return is apparently stunning. The Shaun of the Dead director said in part…

Wright went on to praise screenwriter Drew Goddard, stars Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller, and more aspects of the film. It sounds like IMAX may be the way to see this one due to the film’s epic scale.

Fans of the book written by Andy Weir have been vocally upset by the marketing for the book-to-screen adaptation of Project Hail Mary, as some feel the trailers give away a major spoiler in the story. However, several of the people who saw the movie had read the book before, and they certainly didn’t seem to feel knowledge of the events spoiled anything. On Instagram, Josh Gad said…

Actor Ken Jeong seemingly hasn’t read the book based on his Instagram comments. However, his wife had, and they both absolutely loved Project Hail Mary. He’s the second person to call the movie a “masterpiece” and the second to focus on the humanity of the story. He said…

Considering that Phil Lord and Chris Miller have made me cry over Spider-Man and LEGOs, I’m fully expecting Project Hail Mary to be an emotional experience. These directors have a nearly spotless track record of greatness, but this may be their best work. Actor Paul Scheer certainly thinks so as he posted to X…

Project Hail Mary was already one of the 2026 movies I was most excited for, but now I’m going to have a hard time waiting for this one to open. My expectations have been raised, but based on this feedback, I certainly expect my expectations to still be met when I sit down in the theater on March 20 to see the movie for myself.

I love 99 To Beat. I used to feel a little guilty about how much I love it, you know on account of it being a show about people desperately trying to complete menial tasks, but any such shame left my brain a long time ago. I now unapologetically love it, and I need it to come back for a second season. I’m cautiously optimistic it’ll get a renewal order from FOX, but when it does, it needs to correct one major problem. Thankfully, I think I know how to fix it.

99 To Beat is, at its core, a sporting event. It’s about completing an athletic task within a short amount of time in an effort to win. That’s a sport, but unlike basically every sport in the world outside Covid times, it doesn’t have fans. Commentators Ken Jeong and Erin Andrews are able to fill that void a little bit with their excited cheering. I love how much they care and their willingness to voice it, but they can’t replace the roar of a crowd.

Doing so is uniquely challenging because, as an edited show that doesn’t air for months, you don’t want the fans/ audience spoiling the results. It’s also unlikely they’ll be that invested, given they don’t know the backstories and personalities of the contestants. Thankfully, there’s a group of very emotionally invested people who do: the eliminated players.

One of the best parts about 99 To Beat is the other contestants, who have already finished the challenge, helping their fellow players and rooting for them. I suggest we expand that to include all the eliminated contestants. Instead of sending them home after they get eliminated, the show should stick them in the audience and mic them up.

At first it would be a little awkward and weird with one person cheering on the ninety-nine remaining players, but it would be so much fun to see who they’re rooting for. In addition, it would give us a chance to see family members pulling for each other and to see former strangers turned friends continue their bonds. How much fun would it have been to see their reactions during that epic finale, as an example?

99 To Beat isn’t there yet. Despite my unabashed love for the show, I’m perfectly willing to admit the formula isn’t exactly right. It can and should get better, but that means taking changes and trying new things. I think (in addition to reducing the number of group challenges) that big innovation should be keeping the eliminated contestants around and sticking them in the crowd. If it ends up being awkward or uncomfortable, the editors can just mostly ignore that footage, but if it comes out how I think it would come out, all that emotion from the ex-players will add a really fun and compelling new dynamic.

Fingers crossed the show gets renewed, ideally as a long-term partner for The Floor, and fingers crossed if/ when it does, the producers are willing to take some chances to try and make it even better.

99 To Beat isn’t exactly Survivor or The Challenge or The Amazing Race or American Gladiators. Yes, the contestants are pitted against each other in a series of physical challenges, but the physical challenges are things like catching a potato with a fork or finding a shirt with your name on it hidden in a big pile of shirts. None of it is the sort of thing you’d expect could lead to a serious medical situation, but here we are.

On this week’s episode of 99 To Beat, which is hosted by Ken Jeong and Erin Andrews, the contestants were challenged to simultaneously balance 11 nails on the head of another nail. As usual, whoever finished last would go home. One of the players, J Blake, who has solidly been in the middle or above in most challenges, had some struggles. He eventually finished, but as he exited his chair, he collapsed to the ground.

I initially thought it was just a silly over the top celebration gone wrong, but it turns out it was much more serious. He was taken out and evaluated by the show’s medical staff, who ruled they would no longer allow him to compete in the show. Here’s what J Blake said during a voiceover later in the episode…

99 To Beat is one of my new favorite shows, and if you’re not watching it, you’re missing out. It has some problems it needs to clean up, but it’s way more addicting than you’d think. In short, the show brings together 100 random people from different generations and backgrounds. They all compete in a relatively simple challenge at the exact same time like threading a needle without touching the needle. Whoever finishes last is eliminated and on it goes until there’s only one person left and they win a million dollars.

It works because the contestants are so passionate to be there. They’re desperate to win the money, but they’re also extremely supportive of their fellow players. That creates this combination where many get so nervous their hands shake during competitions, but once they finish, they cheer each other on like conquering heroes. Imagine football game noises but they’re happening because someone dropped a coin into a shotglass submerged in water.

You can catch new episodes of 99 To Beat on Wednesdays on FOX. It’s currently airing back-to-back with The Floor, which is another fantastic new game show you should also be watching.

I watched the premiere of FOX’s new game show 99 To Beat last night, and the basic premise is a lot of fun. 100 players are all given a challenge to do at the exact same time, and whoever comes in last is eliminated. Then, during the next round, the remaining 99 players are given a challenge to do at the exact same time, and whoever comes in last is eliminated. On and on it goes until only one person is left, and he or she goes home with a million dollars. Pretty fun, right?

Well, it turns out that’s not exactly how it works. Much to my frustration and assumedly the frustration of everyone else watching, the show threw in a surprise team challenge. The 96 remaining players were separated into eight teams to compete in a relay in which they formed assembly lines and dumped water into buckets. I assumed the twelve members of the losing team would have to compete against each other in a subsequent challenge to see who went home, but instead, the show just sent the entire team home.

99 To Beat is adapted from a game show that originated in Belgium. I have no idea how that OG version works or if it includes challenges in which multiple members of a team go home at the same time, but to me, sending multiple people home violates the entire spirit of the game. I want to see players go home because they were last in a specific challenge. I don’t want to see them go home because they were randomly partnered with someone uncoordinated that can’t pour water into a bucket.

I would imagine 99 To Beat’s producers were thinking this would be an easy way to speed the show up. They were probably also intrigued by the potential drama of people getting mad at their partners, but I’m not looking for the show to be sped up or create drama. I highly doubt anyone watching a show like this is going to stop watching because there are a few additional episodes. If that’s a real concern, then they should have called the show 49 To Beat and just started with way less players. I also think the basic fact of someone getting sent home after every single challenge creates enough drama, especially since many of the players have family members or friends that are also playing.

I’m a big game show and reality competition show guy. I listen to Survivor podcasts. I’ve written power rankings for Top Chef. I watch every episode of Jeopardy, The Amazing Race, The Floor, The Great British Bake Off, MasterChef and like a dozen others. I need competition in my life, and I can get behind a wacky premise. I am the exact target audience for 99 To Beat, but the number one rule of putting on a competition series is you need to follow your own rules.

Throwing in some random a-ha twist in order to “make the game more exciting” is almost never a good idea. Survivor fans were in full-on revolt a few years ago after that stupid hourglass twist. Big Brother fans are still mad weeks after that stupid competition that sent a player home without a vote. And I’m big mad about twelve people going home on 99 To Beat because they got randomly assigned bad teammates.

Unfortunately, the preview for this season says that there are 50 total challenges. That means we are going to get quite a few more moments in which multiple people go home at the same time. I would imagine we'll probably even get some late in the competition when there are only a dozen or so players left, which is going to be infuriating.

I want to like 99 To Beat. I like dumb little games like guessing how much something weighs or filling up buckets with water. This feels like it should be and (mostly) will be an enjoyable way to spend an hour, but long-term, the producers need to get rid of these multiple eliminations. They go against the spirit of the game, and they're only going to get more frustrated as viewers start to get to know the contestants.

99 To Beat is hosted by Ken Jeong and Erin Andrews. It just hit the TV schedule and airs on Sunday nights on FOX. Fingers crossed the show gets renewed and is able to implement changes for Season 2.

“Six seasons and a movie.” What started out as Abed Nadir’s ill-fated prediction for how long the short-lived NBC series The Cape would last ended up becoming a rallying cry for Community fans’ own hopes. The six seasons part was accomplished thanks to the comedy series moving to the now-defunct Yahoo! Screen for its final season, and in 2022, it was announced after years of speculation that the Community movie was indeed moving forward. A little over two years later, Ken Jeong has shared an update on what’s happening with the Peacock subscription-exclusive feature, teasing that it will be “magical and real emotional.”

In an interview with TV Insider tied to his appearance in the Fox anthology series Accused, Jeong, who played Ben Chang for the entirety of Community’s run, said that the Community movie is still on the way rather than having been shelved, promising it’s “not a matter of if, it is a matter of when.” He continued:

This is arguably the biggest update the project has gotten since Community creator Dan Harmon stated in June he was doing a “final pass” on the script that he was writing with Andrew Guest. Half a year later, it appears as though said script is complete, because in addition to Ken Jeong confirming that it exists, he also had the following to say about what he felt when he read it:

Although no plot details have been revealed yet, it was officially announced right off the bat that Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie and Jim Rash will appear alongside Ken Jeong in the Community movie, and Yvette Nicole Brown and Donald Glover were confirmed to also be returning shortly thereafter. McHale made it clear last year that Chevy Chase will not be back to reprise the late Pierce Hawthorne, though that shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the Saturday Night Live alum hasn’t been shy about saying how much he disliked working on Community.

Outside of just how great it’ll be seeing these characters reunite within the walls of Greendale Community College, I’m looking forward to seeing what specifically made Ken Jeong so emotional when he read the script, and I’m even more eager to learn what the Community movie will actually begin filming so we can get a better idea of when it will be released on Peacock. Speaking of which, all of Community, one of those sitcoms perfect for your next long-binge, can be found on that same streaming platform.

Hollywood is a tough place to get your big break. Many actors struggle for years before they finally hit it big. These stars put in the effort and stuck with it until they finally became huge stars after they turned 40. Stars like Steve Carell, Kathy Bates, Alan Rickman, and many more actors like them are household names now, but it took them years to get there.

Steve Carell

Like so many other people Steve Carell started his career at Second City in Chicago. He then kicked around television for a while, with roles on the Dana Carvey Show and eventually at The Daily Show. It's when he left that show to head the cast in The Office that his career exploded and he became one of the most beloved stars on earth.

Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson has one of the most impressive resumes in Hollywood, but it took him a long time to get there. His first credit came in 1972 when he was 24, but it would take another two decades or so, after a series of smaller roles in the late '80s, that he would land the role of Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction and have his career completely explode.

Alan Rickman

The late, great Alan Rickman started acting in theater in the mid-70s, finding regular roles throughout the early '80s. Then, in 1988, at age 42, he made his feature film debut in a little movie called Die Hard. To this day, Hans Gruber is a legendary villain. He would go on to star in dozens of movies, most notably the Harry Potter films, before passing away in 2016 at age 69.

Betty White

Though Betty White had a little success in her 30s with her eponymous TV show for NBC in the '50s and minor hit Life with Elizabeth in the same decade, it really wasn't until after her 40th birthday in 1962 that she really rose to big stardom. After her 50th birthday, she was cast in the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and after her 60th birthday, she teamed up with Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty in the role she's probably best known for today in Golden Girls.

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman was born in 1937, but it would take almost 50 years for the legend to truly break out in film. After working here and there as a dancer and as a stage actor in the 1960s and '70s, he scored his breakout role in 1987's Street Smart, starring alongside Christopher Reeve. His performance earned him the first of his Oscar nominations and by 1989's Glory, Freeman was a bonafide star.

Bea Arthur

Like her Golden Girls co-star Betty White, major success came later for the great Bea Arthur. Though she was a steadily-working actor starting in the 1940s, it wasn't until she played the character Maude Findlay, first in All In The Family, then her own spinoff called Maude, that Arthur reached the heights of fame. She was nearly 50 at that point, but her star never faded after that.

Brian Dennehy

Brian Dennehy didn't set out to be an actor. After serving in the Marines and graduating from Columbia University in 1965 with a degree in history, he caught the theater bug and started working in regional theater. In 1983, after a few smaller roles, he scored his first big role as the sheriff in First Blood at age 45.

Kathryn Joosten

Kathryn Joosten is best known for playing the beloved Mrs. Landingham in The West Wing and like her character, her real-life story is truly inspiring. She spent the first half of her life first as a nurse, then as a stay-at-home mom, raising two kids. At the age of 42, after divorcing her husband, Joosten began working in local theater in her hometown of Chicago. At age 53, she moved to Orlando and became a performer at Disney World. Soon after she moved to Hollywood and started landing parts in TV. Amazing.

Kathy Bates

Though she made her film debut in 1970, it would be more than two decades later, after working in theater and in bit TV parts, before Kathy Bates would become a star. It was, of course, he now-legendary performance as Annie Wilkes in Misery that would vault her to stardom. Truly one of the best female villains in Hollywood history.

Bryan Cranston

Most people certainly think first of Breaking Bad when they hear the name Bryan Cranston and with good reason. Cranston was 52 when he first starred as Walter White. Of course, that wasn't his breakout role, which came eight years earlier when he starred as the dad in Malcolm In The Middle ]. While he has been acting in movies and TV for years, it was that role, after his 40th birthday, that really put him on the map.

Viola Davis

EGOT winner Viola Davis found success on the stage first, winning two Tonys before turning 40. In 2008, at age 43, she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Doubt, but it was 2011's The Help, for which she was nominated for another Oscar, that vaulted her to superstardom.

Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield has one of the best stories of perseverance in Hollywood history. Though technically his career started in the 1930s, his stand-up was so bland that he eventually gave up and became a salesman. In the 1960s, he re-invented himself and his act and it was a hit, with some of the best one-liners of all time. Suddenly the guy that got no respect was getting respect by talking about how he got no respect! It wasn't until 1980, at almost age 60, that Dangerfield landed his first starring role in a movie, in Caddyshack.

John Mahoney

John Mahoney started his career as the "old guy" at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. After years as an English teacher, the future Frasier star gave up his career and started acting in his late 30s. By the late 80s, well into his 40s, he was landing roles in movies like Say Anything... and Moonstruck.

Jane Lynch

It's easy to say that Glee was the project that really made Jane Lynch famous, but she got her big break before that when she found her way into the Christopher Quest universe, where she was responsible for some of the wittiest one-liners in Best In Show.

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais took a roundabout way to comedic fame. He started in music, moved to radio, and eventually found his way onto the popular British show The 11 O'Clock Show. It was in 2001, however, at age 40 when he co-created and starred in The Office. The rest is well-known history.

Michael Emerson

Michael Emerson took the very long trail to fame, and his story is inspirational. He struggled for years as an actor, first in New York, then later in Florida where he taught acting as well. He stsarted landing work in the theater in the late '90s, but got his big break in a guest spot on The Practice in 2001. Of course, he's best known for playing Ben on Lost.

Peter Dinklage

Though he found steady work in the early '00s, Peter Dinklage really shot to superstardom when he was cast as Tyrion Lannister in Game Of Thrones when he was 42. Today, that character is still, and will likely always be, one of the most beloved in TV history. Tyrion also happens to the character who appeared in the most episodes of Game of Thrones.

Larry David

Larry David's career had a lot of ups and downs in the early years. His first major gig was as a writer on SNL, though he didn't find much success there. At age 42, in 1989, he co-wrote a TV pilot for what became Seinfeld and his career took off. On screen, after playing a few minor roles onSeinfeld, he found even more fame with HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Melissa McCarthy

While she did have some big supporting roles in her 30s in Gilmore Girls and Samantha Who?, Melissa McCarthy's career exploded when she started as Molly in Mike & Molly, in 2011, at age 41, she co-starred in Bridesmaids, where she completely stole the show, earning an Oscar nomination in the process.

Margo Martindale

Margo Martindale has become one of the best character actors in Hollywood, but it took her a long time to get there. She worked in community theater for years before she regularly started landing TV roles in her late 30s. After her 40th birthday, her career took off with dozens of memorable supporting roles in both film and TV.

Leslie Jones

Saturday Night Live is generally thought of as a young person's game. Most cast members join very early in their careers and by the time they are 30, they are moving on to other things. Leslie Jones is an exception to that. She didn't join the cast until she was nearly 50, but she made an immediate impact. Since leaving the show, she's continued to star in things like 2016's Ghostbusters and Coming 2 America in 2021.

Ty Burrell

Modern Family took the world by storm when it debuted in 2007 and one of the leads of the show, Ty Burrell, became a huge star. This came after years in Hollywood in supporting roles and, eventually, a starring role in the short-lived show Out of Practice. It was Modern Family that made him a household name.

Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer started landing bit parts and supporting roles in the mid-90s, but it was 2011's The Help that put the Academy Award-winner on the map, after her 40th birthday. Not only did she win for her role in The Help, but she's been nominated for others as well, including for her work in Hidden Figures and The Shape of Water.

Patrick Stewart

While Patrick Stewart steadily found work in the theater and in smaller supporting roles in TV and film, it wasn't until he was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 that he became a household name. He was 47 at the time and he's only gotten more famous as he's gotten older.

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton basically made his own fortune in Hollywood after years of smaller supporting roles, he wrote, directed, and starred in Sling Blade. The movie was a low-budget masterpiece and he's been starring in big roles and winning awards ever since.

Hannah Waddingham

Many actors get their start in the theater, just like Hannah Waddingham. With a fantastic singing voice and wonderful acting chops, it makes sense that this is where Waddingham would first find success. It would take a couple of decades for her to equal that on screen with roles in shows like Game of Thrones, and, of course, her greatest claim to fame, Ted Lasso.

Richard Farnsworth

Without a doubt, the late Richard Farnsworth had one of the most incredible careers in Hollywood history. He had uncredited roles in some of the most famous Hollywood epics including Gone With The Wind, The Ten Commandments, and Spartacus. He didn't earn his first credited role until he was 46 in a movie called Texas Across the River in 1966. Then in the 1970s, he became a well-known character actor in projects like Roots, The Natural, and Misery.

F. Murray Abraham

After scoring a handful of supporting roles in movies in the 1970s, F. Murray Abraham became a household name after his Oscar-winning performance as Antonio Salieri in 1984's Amadeus. It was truly a career-making role and one that is still loved today by fans.

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson was 41 when he starred in one of the greatest movies ever made, even if it's a movie you can only watch once. As Oscar Schindler in Schindler's List, Neeson immediately became world famous. It's safe to say that role will always keep him famous, too.

Lucille Ball

It's really hard to believe that Lucille Ball was over 40 when she became famous on I Love Lucy, but it's true. The comedian worked in show business for decades before she and her husband Desi Arnaz created the now-legendary TV show and her fame never faded for the rest of her life.

Tommy Lee Jones

Like a lot of actors from Texas, Tommy Lee Jones does things his way. The Harvard grad worked for decades, even winning a Golden Globe and an Emmy before he truly found fame and became a leading man in the 90s with movies like The Fugitive and Under Siege.

Ken Jeong

it's not often that someone switches careers from medicine to drama, but that's exacting what Ken Jeong did. Though he always had a love of acting, he originally pursued a more traditional career as a doctor, while acting and doing standup on the side. By the mid-2000s he was earning enough to leave medicine behind, and in 2011, at age 40, he broke out in a huge way in the Hangover.

Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 12 episode "Footloose Night." Stream the episode with a Hulu subscription and read at your own risk!

The Masked Singer "cut loose" in its latest episode and said goodbye to another promising contestant. The Fox series honored one of the best Kevin Bacon movies, Footloose, and despite tearing up the stage, Showbird had to go home. The mask came off, and it was actress Yvette Nicole Brown, who told CinemaBlend she felt Ken Jeong would figure out who she was immediately, even though he's almost always wrong.

Ken is the heart and soul of The Masked Singer, but outside of that wild streak he had in Season 10, he's historically bad at guessing celebrities. That said, a broken clock is always right twice a day, and the same applies to Ken when he used to work with someone on a show. Seeing as they both were on Community, she would've been more surprised if he didn't:

All those years together paid off, and I have to say I loved seeing these two back together before the upcoming Community movie. I should also note this would be Yvette Nicole Brown's second time on The Masked Singer, as she was a guest panelist on Season 3. Brown told CinemaBlend that while she enjoyed being a contestant and bringing her singing skills back to the stage, she preferred being the panelist and guessing contestants' identities.

Yvette Nicole Brown's reveal wasn't among the most shocking we've seen on The Masked Singer, and I'd agree with her assessment that adding Joel McHale to the mix was a giveaway. While I think McHale makes for a great guest panelist on the Fox series, the Community alarm bell is always going to go off in my head if he's involved in a clue since Ken Jeong is also on the show.

I have to give Ken props, as well as CinemaBlend's Heidi Venable for clocking Showbird's identity early. I'm curious to see how the rest of her Group A predictions for The Masked Singer will pan out almost as much as I am curious to see who will emerge as the winner of this group.

Ship feels like a strong choice at the moment who can go far in the competition, but one can never be too sure this early in the season. Group A is scheduled to wrap up in the next episode, so it won't be long before we're through this group and moving on to the next batch of hopefuls.

The Masked Singer airs on Fox on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Stick with CinemaBlend this season as we continue to talk to unmasked contestants, and make guesses on who each person appearing might be.

Spoiler alert! This story contains the celebrity who was unmasked on the October 9 episode of The Masked Singer’s 12th season. Episodes can be streamed the next day with a Hulu subscription if you need to catch up.

The Masked Singer has returned to the 2024 TV schedule for Season 12, just months after crowning Vanessa Hudgens (formerly known as the Goldfish) the winner of the 11th season. Five costumed celebrities took the stage for the season premiere as Group A, and already we’ve sadly begun to say goodbye to them. (More on that lower down.) Which famous faces and voices hide behind the other elaborate set pieces? Here we’ll break down all the clues and give you our best Group A guesses.

This season features a special clue each week to help the panel; for instance, the Week 1 Ambassador was someone who not only has been on The Masked Singer before but also has a close connection to the celeb they introduced. Let’s get into it:

Buffalos

We got quite a surprise when the Buffalo was actually revealed in Week 1 to be a trio of singers. The three beasts moved into the Season 12 quarterfinals as we all fell in love with the singers in their red vests, boots and cowboy hats. They have certainly brought the energy, dancing around as the panelists dissect the clues, and they seem to be having a great time.

• Songs: “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve (Week 3); “Waiting for a Girl Like You” by Foreigner (Week 2); [I Just] Died in Your Arms” by Cutting Crew (Week 1).
• Special clues: Performed a halftime show in front of one of the world’s biggest audiences; Ambassador Nick Lachey gave them a golden crown with fleur-de-lis embellishments; a miniature tractor with “Mo-Town” written on the front.
• Clues: Week 3: Bell, Lost their real MacGyver but had to keep the herd together, Dead End sign, umbrella. Week 2: Cactus; Playing poker/poker chips; Bottle of poison with crossbones. Week 1: Raised in “poor grasslands”; kneeling football player on bus stop sign; Betty White, Vanna White and a blank third spot; film reel; Walk of Fame; starred in two of the biggest sitcoms of all time.
• Panel's guesses: Boyz II Men (Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg); Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (Ken Jeong); Black Eyed Peas (Rita Ora).

Our Best Guess

The Buffalos are sounding more and more like Boyz II Men to me, and the clues back it up. As Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg pointed out, the bell could be the Liberty Bell, which is in Philadelphia, and that connects to the “Mo-Town” clue. The “Dead End” sign could be for the group’s song “End of the Road.” In 1992 their tour manager Khalil Rountree was murdered, which fits with the clues about losing their “MacGyver.”

Boyz II Men also performed in the Super Bowl halftime show in 1998, and the kneeling man at the bus stop was “Down on Bended Knee”; but you’d think if it is Boyz II Men, Robin Thicke would know it, since he was a special guest at their four-night stint in Las Vegas this summer (and remember the clue about poker?).

Unmasked: Woodpecker

The Masked Singer has seen some wonderful avian costumes over the years, and the Woodpecker, aka actress Marsai Martin, can add itself to that list. The beautiful, red-and-black-feathered friend was unmasked in the Group A finals.

• Songs: “Put Your Records On” by Corinne Bailey Rae (Week 3); “Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler (Week 2); “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus (Week 1).
• Special clues: Pair of glasses that remind her of how she got her start. Ambassador Jenifer Lewis gave her a World Record; Kevin Bacon’s sneaker from Footloose, which Woodpecker said alludes to someone in The Masked Singer family sharing her shoe obsession.
• Clues: Week 3: Comes from a long line of strong women, Regina Hall, hamburger, globe. Week 2: Director’s chair; started Hollywood career young; crates of peppers, carrots and other vegetables; Rubber Duck; small brown briefcase. Week 1: A mogul; friends with Beyoncé; red sports tape with the word “NEXT” on it; framed photo of the word “Family” on a gated entrance; striving to be the youngest billionaire; SAT test sheet.
• Panel's guesses: Quinta Brunson (Ken), Keke Palmer (Rita); Tatiana Ali (Jenny); Liza Koshy (Robin).

Connecting The Clues

The panel was stumped with this one, but Nick Cannon knew. He pointed out that Marsai Martin became the youngest executive producer in Hollywood at 14, which speaks to many of the clues about her career and the world record. The glasses are obviously a nod to her role on black-ish, as was the SAT test, and speaking of the beloved ABC sitcom, she gave us a big clue when talking about her love for shoes and someone sharing her “style-ish” obsession.

The sports tape clue was likely a reference to her boyfriend Rajah Caruth, who is a NASCAR driver, and her Ambassador was Jenifer Lewis — another actress from black-ish.

Unmasked: Ship

This was my favorite costume of The Masked Singer Group A, because who doesn’t love an inanimate object come to life? Unfortunately we said goodbye to The Ship, as Paula Cole was unmasked on October 9.

• Songs: “Because the Night” by Patti Smith (Week 3); “Almost Paradise” by Mike Reno and Ann Wilson (Week 2); “Pompeii” by Bastille (Week 1).
• Special clue: Letter from LeAnn Rimes congratulating her on Best New Artist win in 1998; Ambassador Jewel gave her a sparkling silver cowboy hat, and referenced working together many years prior; she’s worked with Melissa Etheridge.
• Clues: Week 3: Sang backup for an international singer, rowboat, John Wayne. Week 2: Medical boot; prom queen; class president; white cowboy boots; raven on a piano; shipwreck/aquarium. Week 1: Silver chalice; career set sail rapidly; she’s had massive hits; white toy plane with a clock on the front set at 11:36; Wanted poster with $15,000 reward; small old-fashioned TV set with rabbit ears that she moved into the shape of an X.
• Panel's guesses: Sarah McLachlan (Rita), Paula Cole (Jenny), Amy Lee (Robin); Alanis Morissette (Ken).

Connecting The Clues

The clues in the Group A finals further confirmed even before her unmasking that we were right about Paula Cole. She sang backup on Peter Gabriel’s world tour in 1993-94 and won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1998. We got another cowboy clue in John Wayne following previous weeks’ references to “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” and the rowboat was a nod to Dawson’s Creek, which she provided the theme song for.

Our reasoning in previous weeks stemmed from Paul Cole being prom queen and president of her senior class in high school. She broke her foot, which is when she turned her focus to music. The title of her sixth studio album is Raven, and Cole dueted with Melissa Etheridge on VH1. As was pointed out by Jenny McCarthy Wahlbert, Paula Cole and Jewel were both main-stage performers for the inaugural year of Lilith Fair.

Unmasked: Showbird

We bid farewell to the Showbird, as Yvette Nicole Brown was unmasked on the October 2 episode. Here’s how her run on the show played out:

• Songs: “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” by Deniece Williams (Week 2); "Just Fine" by Mary J. Blige (Week 1)
• Special clues: Ambassador Joel McHale gave her popcorn; music box that represented being part of a hip-hop empire in 1994.
• Clues: Week 2: Large rings; a windmill; purple cupcake; and a shout-out to her man. Week 1: Three microphones; was a tomboy growing up and self-described nerd; Advanced Singing 401 textbook; golden gavel; appeared in some of the biggest blockbusters of all time.
• Panel's guesses: Yvette Nicole Brown (Ken and Robin); Taraji P. Henson (Jenny and Rita); Sheila E. (Rita).

Connecting The Clues

Ken nailed it with his guess, and I was confident we’d made the right pick in Week 1 with Yvette Nicole Brown, largely because of the cadence of her voice, but the clues definitely backed it up. Everything she said about finding love referenced her fiancé, actor Anthony Davis, especially the fact that they reconnected after knowing each other for years. In 1994, she was part of the East Coast Family group that included Boyz II Men. The cupcake might have been a nod to her appearance on Cupcake Wars. There were also the Community-based clues in Joel McHale and a textbook.

The gavel possibly referenced her role as Judge Harper on A Black Lady Sketch Show, and she was in Avengers: Endgame — one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. The actress has described herself as a “nerd,” and is a well-known superfan of properties like Star Wars and The Walking Dead. Lego was mentioned amongst the clues, and Yvette Nicole Brown has voiced roles on several Lego movies for Marvel, DC and Star Wars.

First Eliminated Celebrity

• The Leaf Sheep — which yes, is apparently a real thing — was unmasked in the season premiere to reveal it was none other than Denver Broncos legend John Elway. The two-time Super Bowl champ (who the panelists thought might be Tom Brady) delivered a rousing performance Tim McGraw's "I Like It, I Love It," though perhaps one that didn't exactly remained on key.

Group A is going strong on The Masked Singer Season 12, and I can't wait to hear what else they bring in the coming weeks. New episodes air at 8 p.m. ET Wednesdays on Fox.

While the list of A-listers who have joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe is long and diverse, another list that’s worth looking into is the wild group of actors, performers and others who have said yes to doing cameos. So, in celebration of those folks, here are the 32 best cameos in the MCU. 

Harry Styles As Eros In The Eternals 

Big names pop up in the MCU all the time, however, they’re almost always well-known actors. While Harry Styles has had a few acting roles, it’s not his primary profession, so yes, it was shocking when the singer showed up as Eros, Thanos’ brother, in the post-credits scene of The Eternals. However, since the film’s release in 2021, Styles’ future in the MCU has remained unknown, leaving his role as simply a cameo and nothing more.  

Blake Lively As Lady Deadpool In Deadpool & Wolverine 

Leading into Deadpool & Wolverine’s release, the speculation about who would play Lady Deadpool was running rampant. However, it wasn’t all too shocking when it was revealed that Ryan Reynolds’ wife Blake Lively was playing the female variant of her partner’s merc with the mouth.  

Sam Neill As Odin’s Actor In Thor: Ragnarok 

While the Thor: Ragnarok cast is stacked with legends like Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum and more, Taika Waititi also assembled quite the ensemble of cameos to play a troupe of actors in Asgard who put on a play about Thor and his family. This included Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill, who portrayed Anthony Hopkins’ King of Asgard, Odin.  

Stan Lee As Various Characters 

While future MCU projects sadly won’t have any in-person Stan Lee cameos, we can always re-watch the Marvel movies in order to see the legendary comic writer. Before his death in 2018, Stan Lee made cameos in just about every Marvel project, whether it was from Marvel Studios, Fox or Sony. 

Some fan-favorite cameos from him included his role as a security guard in Captain America: The Winter Solider, a New York resident being interviewed on the news in The Avengers and an astronaut telling a story to the Watchers in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, among many, many, many others. 

Matt Damon As Loki’s Actor In Thor: Ragnarok 

In the play Loki orchestrated in Thor: Ragnarok that tells the (not so true) story of him and his family, Matt Damon was cast to play the role of Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief. Which honestly, is inspired casting. Damon also popped in the non-MCU Deadpool 2. 

Kevin Bacon As Himself In Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

Bringing a joke from Guardians of the Galaxy full circle almost eight years later, Peter’s hero Kevin Bacon finally appears. However, it’s kind of against his will, because Drax and Mantis decide to go to Earth and steal the Footloose actor to give to Chris Pratt’s character as a gift of holiday cheer.  

Miley Cyrus As Mainframe In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we see a group of Ravagers approach The Guardians. One of them is a robot head named Mainframe, and it's voiced by Miley Cyrus.

Trevor Noah As Griot In Black Panther

Much like how Paul Bettany voiced J.A.R.V.I.S., Trevor Noah voiced Griot, Shuri’s artificial intelligence she uses at her lab in Wakanda in Black Panther. 

Melissa McCarthy As Hela’s Actress In Thor: Love and Thunder 

Adding to the mix of A-listers playing actors who are playing Thor characters (try saying that five times fast), Melissa McCarthy took on the role of Cate Blanchett’s Hela – the goddess of death – in Thor: Love and Thunder. She joined the theatrical company that already featured Sam Neill, Matt Damon and Luke Hemsworth to reenact the events of Thor: Ragnarok in Taika Waititi’s second movie about the God of Thunder.

Kenneth Branagh As Asgardian Distress Call In Avengers: Infinity War

You probably know that Kenneth Branagh directed the first Thor movie. However, what you might not know is he provided a meaningful Easter egg for Avengers: Infinity War. He voiced the Asgardian Distress Call that was played after Thanos attacked their ship. 

Luke Hemsworth As Thor’s Actor In Thor: Ragnarok 

Who else could play Chris Hemsworth’s Thor in an Asgardian play about the adventures of the God of Thunder and his family? Truly, picking Luke Hemsworth to play his real-life brother’s character was fantastic! The added bonus that makes all this even better is their other brother, Liam Hemsworth also auditioned to play the god back in the day. 

Bruce Campbell As Pizza Poppa In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw director Sam Raimi’s return to the superhero genre. With him came his The Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell, who played Pizza Poppa in the Doctor Strange movie. 

Bill Maher As Himself In Iron Man 3

During a montage of news clips in Iron Man 3, Bill Maher pops up as they’re talking about War Machine’s rebrand into The Iron Patriot. 

Charlie Cox As Daredevil In Spider-Man: No Way Home

If you saw Spider-Man: No Way Home in theaters on opening night, you likely heard applause when Charlie Cox made his big-screen MCU debut as Matt Murdock. While he played Daredevil for three seasons on his Netflix show, and he has returned as the character since this cameo where he was giving Peter Parker legal advice, this was the first time we’d seen Cox back in action in years. 

Tom Morello As Gaurd In Iron Man

Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello made one of the first cameos in the MCU when he popped up for a quick second in Iron Man. In the movie, he played a guard in the Ten Rings camp that Tony Stark was being held at. 

Joan Rivers As Herself In Iron Man 3

Along with Bill Maher and a bunch of other TV personalities, Joan Rivers popped up to rib on War Machine’s rebranding in Iron Man 3. 

Harry Dean Stanton As Security Guard In The Avengers

In The Avengers, there’s a security guard who finds Bruce Banner after he crashes into the Earth as Hulk. That guard is played by Harry Dean Stanton, who is best known for his roles in classic films like Alien, The Green Mile, Paris Texas and Repo Man. 

Justin Theroux As Police Officer In Iron Man 2

Not only did Justin Theroux write Iron Man 2, but he also had the smallest blink-and-you-’ll-miss-it cameo, per CBR. He played one of the police officers who arrested Justin Hammer and escorted Pepper Potts off the premises toward the end of the film. 

Rob Zombie As Ravager Navigator In Guardians of the Galaxy

In many of James Gunn’s movies, Rob Zombie makes a cameo. After doing that for Slither and Super, he lent his voice to his friend's first Marvel movie by voicing a Ravager Navigator in Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Megan Thee Stallion As Herself In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

We can thank Jameela Jamil for Megan Thee Stallion’s incredible cameo in She-Hulk. The rapper appeared in an episode of the Disney+ show during a courtroom scene, and then she popped up one more time to twerk with the titular attorney. 

David Hasselhoff As Himself In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

When Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill was a kid he’d pretend that David Hasselhoff was his dad. So, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Hasselhoff was part of one of the songs on the soundtrack – “Guardians Inferno” –  and it plays during the end credits. And at the very end of those credits, you can see his face pop up as he says the final words of the song. Talk about an epic cameo.

Brett Goldstein As Hercules In Thor: Love and Thunder

In the post-credit scene for Thor: Love and Thunder, Brett Goldstein appeared as Hercules. In his brief scene, he was shown speaking with Russell Crowe’s Zeus. It was thrilling to see the Ted Lasso star show up as the son of Zeus, however, it’s been years since that happened, and he hasn’t shown up again. 

Ken Jeong As Security Guard In Avengers: Endgame

Before the Russo Brothers were making big fancy Marvel movies, they worked on Community. So, it’s always fun to see actors from that show pop up in the MCU. For example in Avengers: Endgame, Ken Jeong appeared for a quick cameo as a security guard who is watching over the storage unit that Ant-Man’s van is in. 

Nathan Fillion As Monstrous Inmate In Guardians of the Galaxy And Headpool In Deadpool And Wolverine

You can see Nathan Fillion (looking like himself) as a major member of the supporting cast in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, as he plays Master Karja. However, before that, he had a cameo in James Gunn’s first Guardians movie, because he voiced “Monstrous Inmate.” After that, he voiced Headpool during the Deadpool variant fight in Deadpool and Wolverine. 

Brad Pitt As The Vanisher In Deadpool 2

Now, I fully realize Deadpool 2 wasn’t technically in the MCU, but Deadpool and Wolverine is, so this counts. One of the most fun cameos maybe ever came when Brad Pitt appeared for a split second in the Ryan Reynolds-led sequel to play The Vanisher right as he gets electrocuted. 

Joe Russo As Grieving Man In Avengers: Endgame

Joe and Anthony Russo are best known as the guys behind the camera who led some of the best Marvel movies, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and, of course, Avengers: Endgame. So, in this big finale for the MCU’s Infinity Saga, Joe Russo made a cameo as part of Steve Rogers' support group. 

Yvette Nicole Brown As S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent In Avengers: Endgame

The Russo Brothers didn’t forget their roots, and included multiple members of the Community cast in their Marvel movies. This included Yvette Nicole Brown, who played a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that Tony Stark and Steve Rogers run into when they go back in time to steal Pym Particles. 

David Bradley As Tower Keeper In Captain America: The First Avenger

David Bradley is a legendary British character actor, and you’ll likely recognize him for his role as Filch in the Harry Potter cast or as The Doctor in various episodes of Doctor Who. He also notably played a small role as the Tower Keeper protecting the Tesseract in Captain America: The First Avenger.

Danny Pudi As Com Tech #1 In Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Russo Brothers adore their Community cast, so in their first Marvel movie, they gave Danny Pudi, Abed himself, a little cameo. For a brief minute, you can see him as Com Tech #1 during the beloved Captain America sequel. 

Garrett Morris As Car Driver In Ant-Man

While Ant-Man himself is played by a comedy legend, that actor being Paul Rudd, there’s another hilarious icon in this cast. Yep, original Saturday Night Live cast member Garrett Morris (who actually dressed up as the superhero on the sketch comedy show back in the day) appeared in this movie as a man driving a car that Ant-Man fell onto, and it’s fantastic!

Matthew McConaughey As Cowboypool In Deadpool and Wolverine

When all the variants of Deadpool appeared to fight Deadpool and Wolverine, one of them was Cowboypool. Fittingly, the Western Merc with the Mouth was voiced by Matthew McConaughey.

Henry Cavill As Cavillrine In Deadpool and Wolverine

When Wade Wilson was looking for a Wolverine to bring back to his universe, he came across one version of Logan who was played by Henry Cavill. After seeing fanart of the former Superman as the X-Man, it was clear he was a good fit for the part, and it was incredible to see Deadpool and Wolverine act on the fans’ wishes. 

As you can see the range of these cameos is wide, and frankly legendary. And we’re sure that as Marvel continues to release movies and TV shows, the iconic cameos will keep coming. 

The Masked Singer Season 10 recently concluded, and it was a super-sized season finale featuring four contestants, all battling for the top position. Despite being my frontrunner to win since Episode 2, Gazelle did not advance, and Ken Jeong was eager to see them unmasked. Jeong was mainly thrilled because he was sure he'd be saying hello to friend and actress Constance Wu. So, how did Janel Parrish feel when her mask came off and she shocked Jeong? CinemaBlend was lucky enough to find out. 

I had the honor of speaking to Janel Parrish about her time on The Masked Singer, which featured a near-elimination in the Group A final before she pushed to the finale only to fall short of eventual winner Ne-Yo. What I wanted to know most was how Parrish felt when Ken Jeong gave his heartfelt speeches about Constance Wu and her career, knowing he would be shocked when she was unmasked. Here's what she had to say: 

Even if she wasn't Constance Wu, Janel Parrish still managed to wow Ken Jeong with her singing. She also managed to wow the judges enough to be saved ahead of the finale after losing to accomplished pop singer Ne-Yo, which is a huge accomplishment in itself. This is especially true for an actress like Parrish, who is more commonly known as a former cast member of Pretty Little Liars than a singer. 

Janel Parrish's run was just one of the elements that made Season 10's finale one of the most memorable to date, as bittersweet as it was. It's hard not to be bummed out realizing this could be the final time the celebrity panel is together. As a fan who watched since Season 1, it won't feel the same watching Season 11 without Nicole Scherzinger. I could always rewatch her on previous seasons with my Hulu subscription, but it will just feel different when the new season finally kicks off in 2024. 

With a vacant spot on the celebrity panel, it would be cool to see past competitors like Janel Parrish and others return to critique the contestants after their performances. One thing I think The Masked Singer could improve on going forward is bringing on guests who can provide more perspective on what the contestants have to go through while they're still wearing the mask. People like Parrish, who wore a Gazelle costume from the start to the finish, would be great at that, so hopefully there's time to include them in the fun. 

The Masked Singer Season 10 is over, but Season 11 is on the way to Fox in 2024.  Here's hoping the new season can deliver on the thrills we saw in Season 10 because the bar is as high as it has ever been for the cast and crew to deliver. 

Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 10 episode "Elton John Night." Read at your own risk!

The Masked Singer is celebrating its tenth season and has thus far delivered big on wild themes and the return of classic throwback moments, with much more to come. While the show had plenty of fully planned-out surprises for TV viewers to experience in the first month of the season, I'm not sure the fans, producers, or any of the panelists could have predicted the what the most unexpected surprise would actually be: Dr. Ken Jeong on a legitimate hot streak. The notoriously shoddy guesser has correctly figured out the exiting celebrity performers in three of the four episodes that have aired to date.

Those who have watched the Fox series over the years know that while Ken Jeong can get lucky once a season — ma-a-a-aybe twice — he's generally far off the beaten path with his presumptions. That hasn't been the case in Season 10, and the panelists were once again gobsmacked to see Jeong get a correct guess after figuring out Royal Hen was pro tennis legend Billie Jean King. In fairness, he might've picked up on that fact simply from her singing Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom," which was written specifically as a nod to the accomplished athlete. It's a difficult song to sing for a professional singer, let alone someone who'd possibly never sang on TV before, and though she clearly gave it her all, the performance wasn't quite enough to last another week. But apparently Ken's mental powers will continue on.

Ken Jeong Has A Big Lead On The Other Panelists

The only doctor on The Masked Singer's panel is crushing it after landing his correct guess in four episodes. Before his latest correct guess, Ken Jeong had pegged actor Anthony Anderson as Rubber Ducky in the premiere and reality star Tom Sandoval as Diver. No one in the panel successfully identified Michael Rapaport as The Pickle, though that might have changed if they heard the actor psyching people out backstage with his signature DGAF bravado. 

In any case, Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, and Nicole Scherzinger have yet to get on Ken Jeong's level this season. This is especially shocking when it comes to McCarthy, who has historically been the most accurate one in the bunch. It's a shame the Golden Ear Trophy is seemingly gone from the show, as he'd have a good chance at earning the prize with this healthy lead. Which probably means he'll be making a personal appeal to bring it back at some point.

Can Ken Jeong Have His Best Season Yet On The Masked Singer?

Ken Jeong is on a roll, but can he sustain it for the rest of The Masked Singer Season 10? Past seasons, available to stream with a Hulu subscription, would show that this streak is truly unprecedented for the actor. With that said, he's had some pretty impressive gets over the years for all of his no good, bad, very terrible guesses. It was pretty impressive when he guessed actress Alicia Witt, and getting the non-singer Bill Nye The Science Guy was probably one of his (or anyone's) best guesses of all time. 

I think that Jeong has the wits and ability to continue this hot streak, but as the comedic relief panelist of The Masked Singer, is that what we want? So much humor in this show is pulled from his off-the-wall guesses and how he connects masked contestants to the most wild celebrities imaginable. Some folks may miss his humor if he's suddenly the master guesser, but I, for one, am here for Season 10 to be redubbed Season Ken!

The Masked Singer airs on Fox on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Season 10 is rolling along, but with Harry Potter night coming up, it would be a great time to catch up and join in for a magical evening. 

The Masked Singer had a rare occurrence during Season 9's "Masked Singer In Space" episode. Panelist Ken Jeong, who is usually known for his off-the-wall guesses and atrociously low success rate of predicting the identities of celebrities, was actually right on the money with a guess that stumped the rest of the panel. Now, following her unmasking as The Dandelion, actress Alicia Witt revealed the emotional reason why she wanted to hug Jeong after he correctly guessed her identity. 

Alicia Witt is, of course, well known in the world of acting, folks may be unaware of her accomplished music career. As such, much of the crowd groaned and booed when Ken Jeong made his guess. Witt revealed in an interview with CinemaBlend that while the heckling was happening, she was "freaking out" underneath the Dandelion mask: 

You can't deny Ken Jeong's passion, even when he's going down a rabbit hole with a ridiculously weird theory. However, Jeong's guess for Dandelion being Alicia Witt wasn't all that ridiculous, however, because the audience and rest of the panel knew her primarily as an actress, they weren't on board with his reasoning. Hey, I've seen enough of Jeong guessing to know they were right to be suspicious. 

While the audience was impressed with Ken Jeong's guessing ability, no one in the room might've been quite as thankful to see he guessed Alicia Witt as the actress herself. As she indicated above, Witt confirmed to CinemaBlend that she was immensely honored that Jeong knew so much of her work, and she wanted to give him a hug for his support, explaining:

Following her elimination on The Masked Singer, Alicia Witt released a new song titled "Witness." The song, which is a "deeply personal anthem," details a rough year she experienced after battling breast cancer and coping with the sudden loss of her parents. Check out the song below, and see Witt's talents as a singer on display yet again: 

While Alicia Witt was only able to compete in The Masked Singer for one episode, her musical journey will continue beyond that. Witt confirmed to CinemaBlend that she's working on her upcoming album in between other acting gigs she has lined up for the future. It's a shame her run on The Masked Singer didn't go further, but at least more people out there know about her talent as both an actor and a singer. 

Alicia Witt was just one actress with a singing talent the world didn't know about unmasked that night. The Lamp was later unmasked, and it was Melissa Joan Hart, who confessed she wasn't someone who had sung in public before coming on the show. Perhaps these two can link up and record a dual album, because I think the world needs to hear more of both of them in the future!

The Masked Singer Season 9 airs on Fox every Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. ET. This season is absolutely flying by, so catch up if you need to with a Hulu subscription, and tune in for the remaining episodes each week. 

There are plenty of sitcoms that people love to watch over and over again. Maybe they’re a source of comfort, or they have some of their favorite actors, or there's another reason, really. I’m talking about Friends, or maybe even The Office, when it comes to rewatching. Today, though, we’re going to be talking about the famous CBS sitcom, Two and a Half Men. 

Running for twelve seasons and enduring plenty of controversy to go with it, the series starred Charlie Sheen (and later Ashton Kutcher) and Jon Cryer, with the premise being about a man and his son who go to live with his bachelor brother when he gets divorced from his wife. Throughout the course of the series, we had some awesome guest stars – but, there were also actors who appeared in the show that you might not even have recognized. 

We’re talking about people who have truly made it in the movie and TV industry, but before they hit it big. Here are seven actors that you might have forgotten were on the famous show. 

Bellamy Young

First up on this list is Bellamy Young. The actress is primarily known for her role in the famous ABC drama series, Scandal, which ran for seven seasons, as well as her time on the Fox television show, Prodigal Son. She also broke out into the world of movies with films such as The Night Stalker, A Wrinkle in Time, and more. However, there was a time before her breakout where she guest-starred on Two and a Half Men. 

The actress appeared in the episode “The Mooch at the Boo” during Season 6 as Diane. While she had been in many recurring roles prior to her guest role, it wasn’t until four years later that she got her big hit in Scandal. So fun to see her here. 

Ken Jeong

Ken Jeong was honestly one of the actors I was not expecting to see at all in Two and a Half Men, because I feel like I grew up in a time where he was just always famous. However, there was a time before his big breakout roles. 

You might know Jeong primarily from his role in the Community cast, or his part in the The Hangover film series, or maybe even his starring role in the sitcom, Dr. Ken – perhaps even from his judging role on The Masked Singer; he’s been everywhere. But he also guest-starred on Two and a Half Men during the second season.

Jeong had a role in the episode, “Woo-Hoo, a Hernia Exam!” where he played "Male Nurse," with no name for his character. Ironically, however, his parts were what I remembered the most from the episode, considering his comedic timing was on point even back then. Nothing quite like Jeong’s character telling Alan that he’s not a real doctor. 

Kristin Bauer Van Straten

While Kristin Bauer Van Straten had main roles before her small role on this long-running sitcom, her career began to take off years later, thanks to her excellent work in the field of television. These include main roles in the True Blood cast, as well as portraying Maleficent in Once Upon a Time, and several recurring and guest roles. Before all of that, though, she played Laura in two episodes of Two and a Half Men. 

Bauer Van Straten was actually the first woman we ever saw Sheen's character get with (in the pilot episode), and she came back for one more episode before we, as usual, never saw her again, as Charlie isn’t a big “commitment” person.

Paget Brewster

Paget Brewster was a surprise to me when I first saw her in Two and a Half Men, because I only saw her as Emily Prentiss in Criminal Minds, a role she began in 2006 and came back for with the Criminal Minds: Evolution reboot. She also had a part on Season 4 of Friends, where she played Kathy, where a lot of fans saw her.

However, Brewster had a role in the Season 2 episode, “A Lungful of Alan,” where she played Jamie Eckleberry, a young woman who was bullied by Charlie as a kid and wanted to get revenge on him as an adult. Honestly, she was hilarious in this role, and I low-key expected her to come back again, but I’ll be satisfied with her one appearance. 

Megan Fox 

Megan Fox is primarily known now for her roles in several films, including the Transformers series, the iconic horror film, Jennifer’s Body, and many other thrillers and action movies, but before she was making films, she started in television. 

She played the part of Prudence in the Season 1 episode, “Camel Filters and Pheromones,” as the young granddaughter of Charlie’s housekeeper, Berta, who causes problems the moment she steps through the door – problems that older men should not be involved in. It surely is a hilarious guest-role, and one that I really liked. 

Noel Fisher 

In the same episode as Megan Fox, Noel Fisher actually had a small guest role as well. Fisher is primarily known now for his role as part of the Shameless cast, where he played Mickey Milkovich for several seasons, as well as parts in shows such as Castle Rock, The Calling, The Conners, and more. 

But, before all that, he played Freddie on Two and a Half Men. It’s a very quick role but one that I spotted all the same. 

Yvette Nicole Brown

Last but not least, we have Yvette Nicole Brown, who is honestly one of my favorites. I’ve followed Brown for many years, as she was a part of one of my favorite childhood television shows, Drake and Josh, but was also a lead in Community, another favorite of mine. Besides that, she’s guest starred on so many shows that I’m sure, somewhere, you have seen her.

Before she started to take over your television, however, Brown started in smaller guest roles, one of which was when she played Mandy in “Just Like Buffalo” (Season 1, Episode 23) as one of Judith’s housewife friends. It’s a small part, but it was so fun to see her have this small role. Even then her personality shined through. 

Who do you remember seeing on Two and a Half Men that even we might have forgotten about? With twelve seasons, I’m sure there are plenty of guest-stars we could bring up. 

Six seasons and a movie! The prophecy has been fulfilled! Well, it's going to be, anyway. 

Community was beloved by many when it premiered on NBC way back in 2009, igniting careers for some of its cast and crew such as Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi and so many others, but since its ending in 2015, fans have been wondering if a side-comment made about The Cape from Season 2 of the show would come true for Community. 

The comedy ended up getting those six seasons, but it’s been long rumored and hoped that a movie might someday happen. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the cast got back together for a virtual table reading of one of the episodes, reigniting those rumors of a possible movie. The Community movie has officially been announced. But when exactly is this film going to come out? Who is going to return to Greendale Community College? This is what we know. 

What Is The Community Movie Release Date?

At the time of updating this in May 2024, there is no set release date for the Community film, but we do have plenty of other updates that give us hope that it’ll at least come out soon. Maybe not as a part of the 2024 movie schedule, but maybe as a part of the one in 2025.  

Also, according to a Deadline report from September 2022, the Community movie is actually going to be premiering on the streaming service, Peacock, NBC’s exclusive streaming platform for some of their shows.

Community has been streaming on Netflix for years at this point, with all six seasons there, and is arguably one of the best shows to binge on Netflix, in my opinion. But, as the Deadline article said, Peacock won the rights to the film in a “competitive situation.” 

It’s not that big of a shocker that the movie would land at Peacock, considering that the series originally aired on NBC, and ever since its cancellation it’s only grown in popularity through streaming platforms like Netflix. 

Several Cast Members From Community Are Set To Return

Confirmed in the Deadline article from September 2022, we know now that several of the original stars of the Community cast are set to return for the sequel film:

Joel McHale as Jeff Winger

Joel McHale is confirmed to return as Jeff Winger in the Community movie. The actor even tweeted out his excitement for the film on Twitter, simply sending “.” while tagging his former cast members’ Twitter handles before the film was officially announced.  

McHale has appeared in films like The Happytime Murders, Becky, Happily, and more since Community ended, and also hosts a show called Crime Scene Kitchen, which was renewed for Season 3. He currently stars in Animal Control. 

Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry

Gillian Jacobs will return as Britta Perry for the movie. The actress has appeared in movies like Magic Camp, Life of the Party and more, and has held roles in major TV shows such as Invincible and The Bear. 

Alison Brie as Annie Edison

Alison Brie will return as Annie Edison. Her best movies and shows include Mad Men, GLOW, BoJack Horseman, The Post, Promising Young Women and many more. 

Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir

Danny Pudi will return as Abed Nadir for the film. He held a voice role in the reboot of Ducktales, and played a main part on Mythic Quest. He also appeared as part of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender cast. 

Jim Rash as Craig Pelton

Jim Rash is confirmed to come back as Dean Craig Pelton. He has since appeared in TV shows like Girlboss, black-ish, Harley Quinn, Solar Opposites and more. 

Ken Jeong as Ben Chang

Ken Jeong will be back as Ben Chang for the Community movie. Jeong has hosted a variety of TV shows since then, and even had his own television series called Dr. Ken. 

Donald Glover as Troy Barnes

For a time, it seemed that Donald Glover returning as Troy Barnes would be near impossible, since Glover has had a very busy schedule with new films and his own TV shows like Atlanta and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. However, we can confirm that he will be back as Troy. 

Glover himself confirmed the news in an interview with GQ back 2023, and fans have been eager to see him return to the role after his departure. 

Dan Harmon was quick to say that Glover’s return would probably happen in an interview with Variety in October 2022, so it’s not that surprising that the actor/creator said he would be returning.  

Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley Bennett

Also confirmed is Yvette Nicole Brown, who will come back as Shirley Bennett for the film. Jeong confirmed the news in an interview with The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon back in January 2024, so it looks like the gang will be all back together. Brown has appeared in various TV shows, such as Big Shot, Mom, Soul Man and more. She even earned a PrimeTime Emmy nomination for her role in A Black Lady Sketch Show.

Is anyone else as excited as I am to see this?

Chevy Chase Will Not Be Back

As expected, it’s been confirmed Chevy Chase will not be back as Pierce Hawthorne. That’s not surprising, as even the Deadline article from 2022 reported that Chase had problems with Harmon behind-the-scenes. 

Then, in an interview with the New York Post in April 2024, McHale himself confirmed that Chase was most likely “not interested” in returning and that even if he was, he’s “not allowed to:”

The Community Film Will Feature A College Reunion

Thankfully, we have some idea of what the Community film will be about. In an interview that Glover did with The Hollywood Reporter in February 2024 before Mr. and Mrs. Smith, he revealed a few details about the movie, including that it’ll involve a college reunion, and that Dan Harmon told him directly what it would be about:

Other than that, there isn’t that much out there confirmed – but I for one am down for a college reunion and Abed being a huge film director. 

Dan Harmon And Andrew Guest Wrote The Film

As confirmed by the Deadline article in 2022, Dan Harmon, the creator of Community, wrote the film alongside Andrew Guest, who has written on shows such as 30 Rock, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and of course, Community, where he wrote six episodes. 

While the screenwriters are set, Harmon is not set to direct the film, and this has not changed as of May 2024. However, he does have people in mind, according to the statement that was in the Variety article: 

I’m sure that as more news begins to come out about the film, we’ll get an update on who is set to direct. But wow, could you imagine the Russo Brothers returning to comedy after directing the likes of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame? I would adore them in the Community world again, but only time will tell. 

Filming Should Begin In 2024

This is probably the news that everyone has been looking forward to for a while. In March 2024, Deadline confirmed that the Community movie is looking to film in the same year, and that Peacock is “working around” Glover’s schedule. McHale says that he has read the script and that it is complete, and that the plan is to film later in the year.

He added that he would be “shocked” if they didn’t begin filming soon. A 2024 filming date makes me excited – and hopefully, that means we might get it next year. 

With this news in mind, I can’t wait to see where this Community movie goes and how our characters are going to return to Greendale after being away from it for so long. Are we going to get Troy and Abed in the morning again? Another Spanish rap? All these questions I need answers to.  

For the first time since exiting Saturday Night Live in 1995, comedic actor Mike Myers is once again a TV star, so to speak, with the release of his new Netflix series The Pentaverate, a delightfully absurd story of local journalists, secret organizations and a growing trust in conspiracy theories. Myers portrays a variety of characters within the show’s universe, with a smattering of excellent co-stars filling out the roles that the Wayne’s World vet didn’t take on, including the always exuberant Ken Jeong. The Masked Singer host just so happens to be a superfan of Myers, and told CinemaBlend that being part of The Pentaverate amounted to one of the best experiences of his professional career. 

Without getting bogged down with spoilery details, suffice to say Ken Jeong plays a casino-owning mogul named Skip Cho, whose knowledge about chaos theory is almost as expansive as his adoration of powdered stimulants. The role allowed Jeong to share quite a few scenes with Mike Myers throughout the six-episode stretch — which is largely the case for everyone, considering how many characters Myers played — and when CinemaBlend spoke to Jeong and fellow co-star Debi Mazar ahead of The Pentaverate’s release, the Community vet was overflowing with praise and adoration for the comedy series’ creator. In his words: 

I love the idea of Ken Jeong chilling by himself in a movie theater, completely agog while watching the introduction of Myers' Fat Bastard. How many friends did Jeong tell to get in his bell-lay?

One of the spotlights of Netflix’s May releases, The Pentaverate seems like it’d be the ideal project for anyone like Jeong who’d want to get fully invested in watching Mike Myers in his element, since the beloved Canadian was the glue bringing the project together. Ken Jeong continued laying out the compliments, drawing attention to just how many different talents Myers showcased both on screen and behind the scenes. 

How many actors working today could be compared to the athletic trifecta of LeBron, MJ, and Durant? (Donald Glover, perhaps, although he also might be the one to make that comparison himself.) To Jeong’s point, it’s rather amazing that Mike Myers and his writing team crafted these six scripts knowing just how much work needed to happen to pull everything off, and was then able to pull off showrunner duties on top of having to sit in the makeup chair for hours and hours amidst filming for all of his various characters. It’s a wonder he didn’t make one of his roles someone who sleeps a lot, just to have a point in his day when he could lay back and relax a little. 

Ken Jeong also had praise specifically for how Mike Myers crafted the role of Skip Cho, and not only because it was geared for Jeong in the first place, but for how there was still a certain amount of narrative depth for a role that could have easily served solely for one-liner comedy. 

I think it’s safe to say that Ken Jeong appreciates Mike Myers quite a bit more than he does a certain former politician who was unmasked this season on The Masked Singer. And now let’s start the speculation train regarding Myers being one of the celebs in Season 8. Considering the past two years have seen him reprising Wayne Campbell and Dr. Evil for Super Bowl commercials, it would be awesome if the SNL vet performed as one of his many fictional characters, as opposed to himself, to really throw the judges for a loop. 

The Pentaverate is currently available to stream for anyone with a Netflix subscription, and it absolutely should be watched by anyone who has ever enjoyed anything from Myers’ career, since it synthesizes the comedian’s influences and sense of humor splendidly. 

There are a lot of movies and shows leaving Netflix in February 2022, but the popular streaming service has found a way to make the major departures sting a little less with some spectacular additions. One of those new series, Murderville, is an improvisational murder mystery show that follows Will Arnett’s Terry Seattle as he and several celebrity guests (playing themselves) solve various crimes and find themselves in one zany situation after another.

But you may be wondering exactly where you’ve seen those celebrity guests as well as the cast of characters created specifically for this show. Well, to save you time and solve the mystery, we’ve come up with a comprehensive list of the Murderville cast and why they look so dang familiar.

Will Arnett (Detective Terry Seattle)

Taking on the role of Terry Seattle, the homicide detective at the center of Murderville, is Will Arnett, who is no stranger when it comes to offbeat comedies or Netflix shows, having previously appeared on BoJack Horseman and was a fixture of the Arrested Development cast (the revival on Netflix) prior to that.

There’s a good chance you have seen or at least heard Arnett in movies like The LEGO Movie (and The LEGO Batman Movie), Hot Rod, Let’s Go to Prison, Ratatouille, and dozens of others. His TV work includes The Incredibly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, Riviera, and The Morning Show, to name only a few.

Haneefah Wood (Chief Rhonda Jenkins-Seattle)

Stepping in as Chief Rhonda Jenkins-Seattle on Murderville is Haneefah Wood, who has put together a string of great performances on a number of popular comedy series over the course of the past two decades.

These shows include everything from Baskets to Law and Order: Criminal Intent and Truth Be Told to The League, with others sprinkled in throughout. Wood also took on the role of Blanche Hodel in the 2016 Fox production of Grease Live!.

Lilan Bowden (Medical Examiner Amber Kang)

Taking on the role of Medical Examiner Amber Kang on Murderville is Lilan Bowden, who has made countless one-off guest appearances on some of the most iconic comedy series in recent memory.

Throughout her career, Bowden has appeared on everything from Parks and Recreation to Life in Pieces and Drunk History to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Bowden’s most prominent role to date is probably that of Rebecca “Bex” Mack on the Disney Channel original series Andi Mack, which ran from 2017 to 2019.

Philip Smithey (Detective Darren ‘Daz’ Phillips)

Portraying Detective Darren “Daz” Phillips on Murderville is Philip Smithey, who has appeared on a variety of TV shows, movies, and even a popular sports video game franchise throughout his career.

If you played NBA 2K19 then you’ll most certainly find Phillips (or at least his voice) familiar as he provided the motion-capture and voice-work for the “My Player” character in the chart-topping basketball video game. Smithey has also shown up on Switched at Birth, Johnson, Code Black, Grace and Frankie, Grey’s Anatomy, and a whole lot more.

Annie Murphy

The rest of the Murderville cast consists of celebrity guests playing themselves in each of the Netflix series’ episodes. Starting off is Annie Murphy, the Primetime Emmy Award-winning actress who received multiple accolades and endless praise for her portrayal of Alexis Rose on the smash hit comedy series Schitt’s Creek.

Upon the conclusion of one of the best shows to binge on Netflix, Murphy became the lead of the Kevin Can F**k Himself cast, the darkly funny AMC comedy series. And it looks like Murphy will be sticking around on Netflix a little longer as she is set to appear on the upcoming second season of Russian Doll.

Conan O'Brien

Longtime late night talk show host, Saturday Night Live writer, and Simpsons scribe Conan O’Brien also appears on an episode of Murderville, as seen in the show’s hilarious teaser trailer along with the other celebrities. O’Brien seems to be busy as ever following the conclusion of his long-running TBS series Conan, especially now with the promising Netflix improv series, which is par for the course for the respected comedian and fixture of late night TV.

Over the years, O’Brien has served as host of Late Night, The Tonight Show, and Conan, but has also appeared on countless TV shows and a long list of movies (mostly as a cameos). This includes 30 Rock, Futurama, Spin City, How I Met Your Mother, and Silicon Valley. And Let’s not forget his seemingly random inclusion in the PlayStation game Death Stranding.

Ken Jeong

Doctor-turned-comedian Ken Jeong is one the most recognizable faces on the Murderville cast and perhaps just about any project he has been involved with throughout his career. Whether he’s stealing scenes in The Hangover movies, jumping up with pure joy as a panelist on The Masked Singer, or being part of some of the craziest Community stories, Jeong has done a lot over the years.

Just watch any popular comedy series going back to the early 2000s and you’ll see Jeong in one form or another. This list includes The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, MadTV, and even the criminally underrated Grounded for Life, to name just a small portion of his output.

Kumail Nanjiani

Kumail Nanjiani, who became an internet sensation when he got absolutely jacked for Eteranls, shows up as himself on Murderville, and helps (or at least tries to help) Will Arnett’s Terry Seattle solve one of the detective’s many homicide investigations.

The star of movies like The Big Sick, Stuber, and The Lovebirds, Nanjiani has become one of the most prominent faces in comedy in the past decade, thanks in part to his unique sense of humor and side-splitting performances on shows like Silicon Valley, Portlandia, and one-off appearances on a variety of other shows.

Marshawn Lynch

Unlike the rest of the celebrity guests on the Murderville cast, Marshawn Lynch is not a trained actor but instead a Super Bowl champion running back who spent a large portion of his 12-year NFL career with the Seattle Seahawks. 

Despite that, Lynch is one of the most charismatic and electric faces you’ll see on TV, whether it be in various Skittles commercials, appearances on Conan, and those epic interviews he would reluctantly give during his NFL career. But this isn’t to say Lynch hasn’t appeared on TV shows over the years, as he has shown up on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The League, and Westworld.

Sharon Stone

Last but certainly not least on the list of the Murderville cast is Golden Globe winner Sharon Stone, who brings with her decades of experience. 

Throughout her career, Stone has given memorable performances in Basic Instinct, Casino, The Quick and the Dead, The Disaster Artist, and dozens of other movies. Her TV work includes The Practice, Ratched, and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

Murderville is just one of the new Netflix shows you can enjoy on the popular streaming service. If you want to know what else will be joining the hilarious murder mystery on Netflix and other platforms, check out CinemaBlend's 2022 TV schedule.

Warning: reported spoilers are ahead for Season 7 of The Masked Singer.

The Masked Singer is a much-debated TV show whenever Fox is airing a new season for fans to watch and guess, but now a celebrity contestant has already reportedly been revealed for the next season, and his identity led Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke to initially walk off. Former New York mayor and controversial Republican politician Rudy Giuliani was reportedly unmasked during filming of the upcoming seventh season, and that resulted in the two judges leaving the stage. 

Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke reportedly left the Masked Singer stage – where they have served as judges and panelists from the very beginning – as soon as Rudy Giuliani was unmasked, according to Deadline, while Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger are said to have remained behind to do the usual banter with the unmasked contestant. There are no details about how host Nick Cannon reacted to the reveal, but Jeong and Thicke did allegedly return to the stage. 

Whether or not they returned in time to join Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Scherzinger in talking to Giuliani is unknown at this time, and it hasn't been revealed what mask the politician was wearing prior to being voted out. The episode of his unmasking won't air until Season 7 kicks off next month, unless Fox changes things around to cut Giuliani from the season altogether to avoid airing the walk-off. At the time of writing, the network has not commented on the reports of Giuliani's unmasking or Jeong and Thicke walking off. 

Considering the clues that fans have managed to piece together for famous faces (some of whom are arguably far less well-known than Giuliani) and Giuliani's fairly distinctive speaking voice, I'm guessing it won't take long for viewers to figure out which mask he is wearing. Not all of the masks for Season 7 have been announced just yet, but a sneak peek called "The Good, The Bad, And The Cuddly" previewed some of them, including a frog wearing a crown, a sassy-looking firefly, a horned gladiator, a Cyclops-looking monster, an animal wearing a spacesuit, and a lemur with sparkly legs. There are undoubtedly more costumes that will be revealed in the weeks as Season 7 approaches. 

As far as is known, Giuliani is the first unmasking to provoke such an extreme and immediate reaction from the judges, although not the only polarizing one with political ties. Former Alaskan governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin participated as The Bear in Season 3. This also isn't the first time that a political figure's attachment to a competition show resulted in some extreme reactions, as something similar happened with ABC's Dancing with the Stars when Sean Spicer was cast for Season 28, although Spicer said that the other cast members were supportive of him. (The same can't quite be said of then-co-host Tom Bergeron, who threw some shade.)

See all of what The Masked Singer has in store next when Season 7 premieres on Fox on Wednesday, March 9 at 8 p.m. ET in the 2022 TV schedule. 

We’ve had comedies in the past where grown men behaved badly. But it really wasn’t until 2009’s The Hangover that it pretty much became a genre in itself. So much so, that Bridesmaids was often, some might say unfairly, referred to as a “female version” upon its release in 2011. To note, The Hangover cast, which included the likes of Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, and many others, most likely had no idea what a massive hit the film would eventually become. In fact, The Hangover was, at the time, the highest grossing R-Rated comedy of all time, until it was surpassed by, you might have guessed it, The Hangover Part II in 2011.

Why did this story about men who go on a wild bachelor party that goes wrong resonate so much with audiences? Honestly, if I knew the answer to that, I’d be a multimillionaire, since I’m pretty sure nobody would have imagined that it would become a whole trilogy of films. That said, with a cast like this, I actually kind of get it, since it’s so jam-packed with stars. So, what are those stars doing today? Well, you saw the title of this article. You’re about to find out.

Bradley Cooper (Phil Wenneck)

Yes, while Bradley Cooper was in a bunch of notable films before The Hangover, namely Wet Hot American Summer and Wedding Crashers, I think it’s safe to say that a lot of movie-goers began to fall in love with the talented actor with The Hangover. Since then, he’s had a very successful career, both in television and in film. On the TV side, Nip/Tuck fans will remember his brief stint on the show as Aidan Stone, and he also did some episodes on TV shows based on films he’s been in such as 2015’s Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, and also a few episodes of Limitless.

On the film side, some of his most notable work, post the first Hangover, was The A-Team, Silver Linings Playbook, where he was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor, American Hustle (Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination), American Sniper (Best Actor nomination again), and 2018’s A Star Is Born, where he was again nominated for Best Actor, but he also directed and sang the hit song, “Shallow,” which won a Grammy for Best Original Song. MCU fans will know him best as talking raccoon, Rocket, in the Guardians of the Galaxy series. 2021 is actually a really busy year for Cooper, because he’ll be in an untitled Paul Thomas Anderson movie, a psychological thriller called Nightmare Alley, and is also voicing Rocket again in Thor: Love and Thunder.

Zach Galifianakis (Alan Garner)

While Bradley Cooper was definitely one of the breakout stars of the first Hangover, I like to think that Zach Galifianakis (and one other actor I will get to later) also shot into the stratosphere after this film. I actually wonder what he’s had a bigger role on, the big screen or the small. On the TV end, prior to The Hangover, I remember seeing him in some of my favorite shows like Wonder Showzen, The Sarah Silverman Program, and Tim and Eric Awesome Show. Great Job!. After The Hangover, he was in the immensely popular Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, which even became a movie, Comedy, Bang, Bang, and of course, Baskets.

On the film end, he’s been probably even more prolific following The Hangover. Besides two Hangover sequels, he also did another Todd Phillips comedy, Due Date with Robert Downey Jr., costarred in the underappreciated The Campaign with Will Farrell, and could arguably be considered one of the greatest Jokers ever in Lego Batman. He’ll next be voicing a robot in the sci-fi animated comedy, Ron’s Gone Wrong, as the titular character.

Ed Helms (Stu Price)

Ed Helms was actually pretty well known prior to The Hangover since he portrayed Andy Bernard on The Office, but his brand of humor was definitely appreciated in the raunchy comedy. On TV, he’s been popping up here and there since the hit movie in shows like The Mindy Project, The Muppets, and as a voice on Bojack Horseman. He’s also currently on the Peacock original show Rutherford Falls.

Film-wise, Ed Helms was in one of my favorite comedies of the past few years, Cedar Rapids. He also played Clark Griswold’s son, Rusty, in Vacation, the sixth movie in the series, and was even the narrator for the Disney Nature documentary, Penguins. His latest movie is the Nikole Beckwith comedy Together Together.

Ken Jeong (Leslie Chow)

Ken Jeong is the other big star who really broke out after his role in The Hangover. He'd been in a string of great films prior to that movie as well, most notably Knocked Up, Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, and Role Models. But, after The Hangover, I feel like he was in everything. Some notable films include Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Crazy Rich Asians, and he even had a surprising cameo in the once biggest movie in the world, Avengers: Endgame, as a security guard. In 2021 alone, if all goes according to plan, he will have been in six movies, including Tom & Jerry, Boss Level, and even a My Little Pony film called, My Little Pony: A New Generation as a voice actor. He is also supposed to star in Charlie Day’s directorial debut, El Tonto, which still doesn’t have a release date yet.

Ken Jeong is probably most known for his TV work. The very real doctor was probably most famous for his role as Ben Chang on Community, but he also starred in his own show titled (What else?) Dr. Ken, which ran for two seasons. He can currently be seen as a judge on The Masked Singer, as well as its spin-off, The Masked Dancer. His next TV role is TBA for a release date, but it will be a voice role for a series based off of the movie Wonder Park, called Adventures in Wonder Park.

Justin Bartha (Doug Billings)

Funnily enough, we barely even saw Justin Bartha in the first Hangover movie even though he’s the actual groom they’re having the bachelor party for in the first place. We got to see a lot more of him in the sequels, though. On the TV end, he was on 17 episodes of The Good Wife sequel, The Good Fight, and he most recently had a recurring role on the crime drama, Godfather of Harlem.

In film, Justin Bartha starred in movies like CBGB, Sticky Notes, Against the Clock, and will next be seen in the upcoming Jason Mamoa action thriller, Sweet Girl, on Netflix.

Heather Graham (Jade)

Heather Graham's first movie was all the way back in 1984, in the Diane Keaton film, Mrs. Soffel. Since then, she's been in a ton of great stuff before The Hangover, such as Swingers and Boogie Nights. In fact, The Hangover was actually more of a resurgence to her career rather than a jumping off point. Following The Hangover, she was also featured in The Hangover Part III, Horns, the Netflix flick, Love, Guaranteed, and will also star in an upcoming horror film called Oracle.

On the television side, she’s been in shows like Portlandia, Californication, Get Shorty, and was also Rita Blakemoor in the recent The Stand series.

Mike Tyson (Himself)

Lastly, if you ask anybody—anybody at all—what they remember most about the first Hangover movie, they will almost certainly tell you that they remember when the four friends actually looked at the pictures of the night they blacked out on, and then, they’ll tell you they remember Mike Tyson singing “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins before he knocked out Zach Galifianakis’s character.

Since The Hangover, “Iron” Mike Tyson has been keeping busy. Besides reappearing in The Hangover Part II, he was also in Scary Movie 5, playing himself, and Ip Man 3. He was also in a number of TV shows, most notably the grossly underappreciated animated comedy, Mike Tyson Mysteries. Last year, he got back in the ring to fight Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition match, and with Logan Paul recently calling him out, maybe we’ll see Tyson strap on the gloves again to fight the YouTube celebrity. Only time will tell.

The Hangover is one of those lighting in a bottle movies that we may never see again ever in our lifetimes. Sure, R-Rated comedies are still being made, but I can’t think of any that might blow up like The Hangover, but who’s to say? For news on 2021 movies (or maybe you’re already thinking ahead to 2022 movies) make sure to stop by often!

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen Episode 11 of The Masked Singer, the identity of the Russian Dolls will be revealed.

As Season 5 of The Masked Singer inches toward the Final 3 and the big season finale, viewers watched the Five Fan Favorites vie for a spot in the semi-finals. The fierce competition has seen talented contestants such as Bobby Brown, Tamera Mowry-Housley and actor-singer Tyrese Gibson go home early, and the same complimentary boasts can be said about the latest elimination, with the Russian Dolls being unmasked. Despite the surprise elimination, the group still left a mark on the competition, and subsequently revealed the most surprising thing about being figured out.

As with many Masked Singer contestants, the Russian Dolls’ time on the Fox series was a rollercoaster of guesses. The judges were all over the place, naming groups across all music genres, from Sugarland to Boyz II Men to the Jonas Brothers. But Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and guest judge Rob Riggle hit the nail(s) on the head(s) with their final guesses, as the set of Russian Dolls were revealed to be the siblings comprising the pop-rock group Hanson. After the group’s reveal, Taylor Hanson spoke with TV Insider and expressed his desire for a specific judge to pinpoint the group’s identity.

Taylor Hanson’s words spoke to the relationships that he and his brothers have developed as veterans in the entertainment industry since breaking it big in 1997. Surprisingly, Jenny McCarthy’s first guess was actually the R&B group Boyz II Men, which was technically in the same harmonious ballpark. McCarthy eventually came around after reflecting on her past interactions with the brothers, which is how fellow judge Nicole Scherzinger figured out the trio out. As the Hanson brother pointed out, it’s quite the rewarding moment to have the judges finally figure the contestants' identities out.

Another Hanson brother revealed he had a different goal in mind for who should have guessed the pop group's identity. Zac Hanson wanted a certain doctor-turned-comedic actor to get the group on the first guess, saying this about everybody’s favorite hopeless judge:

As television’s favorite mostly clueless panelist, Ken Jeong certainly deserved the bone that Zac Hanson wanted to throw his way. Despite how self-awarely annoying Jeong can be from time to time, his misguided guesses make the Fox singing competition all the more entertaining and head-scratching. Zac Hanson's words reflected The Masked Singer fanbase’s love-hate relationship with the comedic actor, who also went on to join the Masked Dancer group of judges.

It was sad to see the Russian Dolls leave the Fox series, as their immense talent filled the stage in surprising ways every week. Now, as the competition rolls toward the finale, fans can root for Chameleon, Black Swan, Piglet and Yeti from here on out. To see who makes it to the Final 3, you can watch The Masked Singer Wednesday nights on Fox at 8 pm ET.

Spoiler alert: For anyone who hasn’t seen Episode 7 of The Masked Singer, the Crab’s identity is revealed.

The Masked Singer Season 5 has been a wild ride so far, from the game-changing wildcard factor to the amazing (if not always surprising) reveals. This week's ep marked the Fox series entering the semi-finals, and the competition made every effort to impress fans watching the mystery celebs fight to eventually be in the Top 3. But in another surprise twist, The Masked Singer delivered a double elimination, with one of the eliminated contestants being the Crab. While he'd been a fan favorite, there was a tense moment from an earlier episode that left viewers worried after Crab had to suddenly leave the stage and remove his mask. Following the elimination and subsequent unmasking, viewers and the judges finally got answers.

While Episode 7's surprise twist threw everyone for a loop, including the four judges, it meant everybody would finally know who the Crab was. The Masked Singer's Ken Jeong and Jenny McCarthy, in particular, were hot on the Crab’s trail from the beginning, and once the final guesses were shared, Jeong and McCarthy were proven correct, with iconic R&B bad boy Bobby Brown unveiled as the harmonious crustacean. While Brown’s reveal was surprising to some, the real question fans had tied back to his unsettling health scare. Speaking with EW, the singer explained what lead to the terrifying moment:

Making such a discovery while competing on The Masked Singer would be scary and totally unexpected for anyone. Having watched Bobby Brown’s performances for many years prior to his work on the Fox hit, I know he’s a performer who loves moving energetically and dancing around the stage with no restrictions. So, as he pointed out, being inside a full-body costume and performing a full routine was very restrictive for him. He isn’t the first Masked Singer contestant to state that sentiment about donning such a heavy costume, either, though some celebs have had zero issues with their costumes. Thankfully, Brown was still able to enjoy himself, which was made pretty obvious by his performances.

Bobby Brown also revealed that The Masked Singer was must-see television for him and his family before he was brought into the show. When asked to give a piece of advice to future contestants, the singer spoke directly to the reality of his own experience, saying:

Having seen the panic-laced incident in real-time, I think Bobby Brown gave some truly sage advice about costume choices, especially for what is ostensibly a singing competition. Those amazing costumes can also seem very cumbersome while watching the performers struggle with movement and breathing from time to time. Maybe one of The Masked Singer's next big changes should be focused on redesigning some of the costume types.

While it was sad to see Bobby Brown go, the competition remains fierce as the Super 8 turned to Special 6 with talent such as Black Swan, Piglet and Yeti still in the running. You can watch The Masked Singer every Wednesday on Fox at 8 p.m. ET, with the competition taking a break for a non-elimination sing-along episode next.

When a certain show about a community college ended up airing long ago back in 2009, no one expected it to become as big of a hit as it did, and creating the stars that came along with it. Now, more than a decade later, Community has developed a cult following, to the point where there have been plenty of rewatches, and even a cast reunion recently. Pretty sure all of us are still waiting for that “six seasons and a movie” plot point to finally come true.

However, it’s been nearly six years since the end of Community, and one can only wonder what the Community cast has been up to since then. From Alison Brie to Donald Glover, they have truly been all over the map in terms of work, and we’re here to catch you up to date on where they have been since the famed show about six adults in a community college came to a close.

Joel McHale (Jeff Winger)

As the main star of the show, I’m pretty sure that at some point, we all wanted to punch Jeff Winger in the face – but usually, he would save himself not that long after and make me like this once-lawyer even more. Joel McHale did a fantastic job of bringing that character to life – and making my emotions change about him about as much as he changed partners.

Joel McHale himself has been pretty busy since the end of Community. In regards to films, he’s kept it pretty low-profile but has had several guest and recurring appearances on TV shows like the Netflix hit Santa Clarita Diet, Mr. Iglesias, the superhero show Stargirl, and X-Files. McHale has also had a couple of voice roles in animated shows, such as Regular Show and BoJack Horseman. In terms of upcoming projects, a new film titled Queenpins is due to release soon, so keep an eye out for everyone’s favorite ex-lawyer in theaters soon.

Gillian Jacobs (Britta Perry)

Be honest – you also got annoyed by Britta just as much as Jeff at some point, but at least she had a good heart for most of Community. Gillian Jacobs portrayed the famous activist for the entire run of the series and has been working hard since its end. Like many of her costars, she’s had several recurring and guest roles on big TV shows, such as the HBO comedy Girls and the Netflix show Love. On the big screen, she’s had plenty of roles in comedies to show off her joke skills, like Hot Tub Time Machine 2, Ibiza, Life of the Party, and the 2020 Disney+ release Magic Camp.

For upcoming movies, Gillian Jacobs does have a couple of new films coming out, the comedy Mark, Mary & Some Other People, and the action film Violence of Action, but there are no set release dates yet. However, it’s sure to be interesting to see her in a film that different from her normal comedic roots. She's also expected to be seen in The Fear Street movies coming to Netflix.

Danny Pudi (Abed Nahir)

Arguably, I’d say that Abed Nahir was one of the most remembered characters from Community just for the randomness that he would spew from his mouth and the absolute craziness that would occur whenever he decided to stir up trouble. Danny Pudi did an excellent job of portraying Abed and has kept himself busy since the end of the show. Though he's appeared in major films like Star Trek Beyond, mainly, he’s stepped into the world of voice work, so you might recognize his voice from several other animated shows. His most prominent piece of voice work has been portraying Huey in the Hulu reboot of DuckTales. In terms of live-action acting work, Danny Pudi has been seen on several other shows in guest appearances like Dr. Ken but has mainly stuck to a lot of voice work.

Danny Pudi has a couple of movies coming out this year – the Disney+ release Flora & Ulysses and a black comedy film Corner Office, with the former having released back in February. It’s fun to see that he’s stepped a little bit more back into the live-action world, but hopefully, we can see even more of Danny Pudi’s hysterical jokes and scenes – whether that be in person or animated.

Yvette Nicole Brown (Shirley Bennett)

I swear to God, I have seen Yvette Nicole Brown everywhere. Shirley Bennett was one of my favorite characters out of everyone in the group in Community – just for how religious and yet absolutely ridiculous, she was. It was like a complete 180 constantly for her character and that’s what made her so fun. Yvette Nicole Brown shined in this role and has had plenty of work since the end of this show.

Prior to her role on Community – and I’ll just put this in here because I loved her in this – Yvette Nicole Brown played Helen from the iconic Nickelodeon show, Drake & Josh (one of my all-time favorites), but since the end of Community, she’s been busy on television and film alike. In terms of movies, she’s had several roles and cameos in big-time hits such as Avengers: Endgame, and the Disney+ release Lady and the Tramp.

On television, Yvette Nicole Brown has had so many guest and recurring appearances that if I wrote them all down here, you’d be reading this article for days. Just trust me on this one – you’ve seen her most likely on many comedy shows. Brown is also a prominent guest on talk shows, such as The View, The Talk, and The Real. Another big side-hustle that she does is that she loves The Walking Dead, and has appeared on the post-talk show, Talking Dead, several times because of it. Stars have to have their obsessions with TV just like us, right?

With future projects, Yvette Nicole Brown does have an upcoming movie coming out in 2021 titled Broken Diamonds, a drama that made its debut at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. She's also set to appear in the Disney+ series Big Shot, so keep an eye out for this iconic actress to return back to our screens in the future.

Alison Brie (Annie Edison)

Alison Brie is amazing in every single way in my opinion because she is a true master of genres. Her role on Community as Annie Edison showed that she had some serious comedy chops and could make me laugh until my stomach hurt, but she’s had plenty of work in other shows and movies as well. For example, Alison Brie had a recurring role in the AMC drama Mad Men, and then a main role on the Netflix hit, GLOW, as well as a part in the animated series, BoJack Horseman ­­– three very different genres, and she was amazing in each part.

She’s also had plenty of work in movies since the end of Community as well, such as the biopic- comedy film The Disaster Artist, the Academy-Award nominated The Post, and most recently, Promising Young Woman, one of the standout hits of 2020 and has recently been nominated for the Best Picture award at the 2021 Academy Awards.

A future project Alison Brie has coming up is a new TV series that is in pre-production, called Roar, but not much info has been released yet. Even so, it’ll be exciting to see the return of her to TV soon since GLOW was recently canceled. I think we all need a little bit more Alison Brie in our lives to make us laugh again.

Donald Glover (Troy Barnes)

Let’s just get this down in writing right here – in my opinion, Donald Glover is right for leaving the show and Troy back in Season 4 of Community, because he has done some amazing things since the end of it – even if his character was iconic. Let’s start out with film and television. Donald Glover has made appearances and had roles in many blockbuster films, like Spider-Man: Homecoming, and even portraying a young version of Lando Calrissian in Star Wars in Solo: A Star Wars Story. On television, he’s created a hit FX series titled Atlanta, a comedy-drama that won Donald Glover a Primetime Emmy.

But that’s just film and TV. Donald Glover is also known as his music counterpart, Childish Gambino, for which he has released several albums since the end of Community. He's won several Grammy awards, including Song and Record of the Year for "This is America." So this man really is a jack of all trades.

In terms of what he has coming up, Donald Glover is extremely busy. He is currently working on a reboot of the classic Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie film, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, where he will be playing Mr. Smith. He is also writing and moving into Seasons 3 and 4 of Atlanta after a long wait, so fans of the show, be on the lookout for him to return to our TV screens once more.

Ken Jeong (Ben Chang)

Is this man the face of many memes everywhere? Yes, for sure. But Ben Chang, while problematic, was a funny as heck character and Ken Jeong is the reason behind it. Since the ending of Community, Ken Jeong actually had his own series for a while, titled Dr. Ken, for which many of his Community co-stars guest-starred on it. He’s also made appearances in many films, like his role in the rom-com Crazy Rich Asians, and the Disney+ movie, Lady and the Tramp, as well as the 2021 release, Tom and Jerry.

But where you’ve most likely seen him the most since then is his competition shows. Ken Jeong is currently a panelist on both The Masked Singer and The Masked Dancer, where people have to guess what celebrity is hidden behind costumes. He does have a new movie coming out soon, El Tonto, another comedy film, but there’s no set release date up yet. I’m still just as excited though.

Chevy Chase (Pierce Hawthorne)

Pierce Hawthorne was most certainly not the most accepting character but he sure was funny, and Chevy Chase delivered those lines and iconic scenes amazingly. Since Community ended, Chevy Chase has kept it relatively low key in terms of acting. He’s more known for many of his comedic roles back in the '90s and '80s, but he has been in a couple of movies like Hot Tub Time Machine 2, The Last Laugh, and The Incredible Mr. Dundee. And he reprised his role as Clark Griswold for the 2015 comedy Vacation.

As for what's ahead, Chevy Chase does have a voice role in a new movie coming out soon, called Panda vs. Aliens. I think I can make a pretty educated guess what that is going to be about, so I can only imagine what a comedic legend like Chevy Chase is going to bring to the table.

Jim Rash (Craig Pelton)

The dean of Greendale was one of my favorite parts of Community, because he was so random and out there, and I adored that. Jim Rash, the man behind the memorable Dean Craig Pelton, has had plenty of work since the show's end. He has popped up in many films, such as Captain America: Civil War, Thoroughbreds, and a film out right now tightly Long Weekend, a romantic science fiction comedy-drama – jeez, talk about a lot of genres. And that's just acting. As a writer, Jim Rash won an academy award for co-writing the screenplay for the 2011 movie The Descendants.

He’s also developed a pretty prominent voice acting career as well. Jim Rash has a role on DuckTales on Hulu as Gyro Gearloose, and a recurring role on the cartoon Harley Quinn, and the Star Wars animated series as Flix on Star Wars Resistance. Jim Rash has a new show coming up in the future titled My Dad the Bounty Hunter that is in pre-production, so I’m looking forward to watching my favorite dean back on TV again – and to be honest, don’t we all want someone to love us the same way the dean loved Jeff?

Now that is one talented cast. Which of their future projects are you looking forward to the most? Hopefully, some of them will be in some new 2021 releases.

The first three movies — Wonder Woman 1984, The Little Things, and Judas and the Black Messiah— released through Warner Bros. new release model fell more into the superhero and crime thriller dramas, respectively, but the fourth entry in a long list of titles being released in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously is a little more family-friendly but features a cast just as impressive as its predecessors. Seriously, the Tom and Jerry (or Tom and Jerry: The Movie) cast is one of the most impressive of the bunch, and in terms of animated features in recent years.

With everyone from Chloë Grace Moretz taking on the role of a young hotel employee doing her best to avoid disaster and find a solution for the titular cat and mouse, to Michael Peña doing his best impression of an evil mastermind, the live-action cast is something else. Combine that with Frank Welker (along with archival footage of Tom and Jerry original creators), Bobby Cannavale, Lil Rel Howery, and more filling out the voice cast, Tom and Jerry will leave you saying “I’ve seen/heard that face/voice before.”

To save you time (and sanity), we’ve put together this breakdown of the Tom and Jerry cast and where you’ve seen (or heard) them before.

Chloë Grace Moretz (Kayla)

Leading the live-action cast in Tom and Jerry is Chloë Grace Moretz, who portrays Kayla, the recently hired Royal Gate Hotel employee and wedding planner at the center of the story. Since landing a breakout role in the 2005 horror remake The Amityville Horror, Moretz has become and remained one of the most prolific and celebrated faces in young Hollywood. Over the years, Moretz has done everything from play the foul-mouthed and lethal Mindy McCready, aka Hit-Girl, in Kick-Ass and its sequel, Kick-Ass 2, bring the truth as Rachel Hansen in 500 Days of Summer, and even returned to the horror genre with Let Me In and Suspiria.

Michael Peña (Terrance)

There to thwart Chloë Grace Moretz’s Kayla in Tom and Jerry is Michael Peña’s Terrance, the meddling deputy hotel manager whose villainous scheme can bring all sorts of troubles for everyone at the Royal Gate Hotel. In recent years, Peña has become best known for his scene-stealing performance as Luis in Ant-Man and again (with truth serum) in its followup Ant-Man and the Wasp. The accomplished actor’s career doesn’t start and end with the MCU (to which he will return in 2022), however, as Peña has given outstanding performances in dramas like Crash and End of Watch as well as television series like Eastbound and Down and Narcos: Mexico.

Colin Jost (Ben)

Ben, one half of the couple engaged to get married at the Royal Gate Hotel, is played by none other than Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost. The “Weekend Update” host and one of the head writers of the popular sketch comedy show makes a rare film appearance in Tom and Jerry, having only acted in two other movies over the years. When Jost isn’t busy with SNL or being married to Scarlett Johansson, he spent some of his time appearing on WWE television, most notably at WrestleMania 35, where he participated in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Rob Delaney (Mr. DuBros)

Rob Delaney, joined by his impressive mustache, portrays Mr. DuBros, the owner and manager of the Royal Gate Hotel in Tom and Jerry, the latest in a long line of comedies for the comedian-turned-actor. In recent years, Delaney has been seen in Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw (with all those cameos), and Bombshell, but he is probably best known for playing one of the co-leads in the Amazon original comedy series Catastrophe which he created and wrote alongside co-star and on-screen wife Sharon Horgan (and the late Carrie Fisher). Delaney is next set to appear in the Disney+ Home Alone reboot.

Ken Jeong (Jackie)

Jackie, the chef and baker at the center of the wedding preparations in Tom and Jerry is played by Ken Jeong, whose decades-spanning career has led to unforgettable performances in The Hangover, Community, and Crazy Rich Asians to name only a few. In addition to working as a standup comedian and actor, Jeong is also a licensed physician, which became the basis of his 2015 ABC comedy series Dr. Ken. More recently, Jeong has entered the game show genre, appearing as a judge or host on multiple shows including The Masked Singer (and its spinoff The Masked Singer) as well as I Can See Your Voice.

Pallavi Sharda (Preeta)

Bollywood actress Pallavi Sharda, who portrays the other half of the married couple to be, Preeta, doesn’t have nearly as many credits as her co-stars, but her body of work is impressive, nonetheless. Appearing in Bollywood titles like My Name is Khan, Dus Tola, and Love Breakups Zindagi, Sharda has also shown up in movies like Lion, Beecham House, and Retrograde in the past five years.

Frank Welker (Tom Cat; Jerry Mouse)

Providing the vocal effects for both Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse in Tom and Jerry this time around is primarily the prolific Frank Welker with archival recordings from William Hanna, Mel Blanc, and June Foray being used throughout the latest version of the classic cartoon. We rarely see Frank Welker’s face in any of his performances, but his voice has been featured in everything from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and essentially every animated version of the franchise since 1969, providing the voice of Fred Jones, in addition to all sorts of other minor characters. Welker, a longtime voice-actor for Hanna-Barbera, has gone on to voice characters like Jabberjaw, Crime Globe in The Super Globetrotters, and pretty much any given cartoon. He also provided vocal effects for Tommy Boy (the deer), Mars Attacks! (the martians), and Scoob! (Scooby-Doo).

Nicky Jam (Butch Cat)

Voicing the unsavory and unfriendly alley cat Butch is Nicky Jam, the American singer and songwriter known for his contributions to the Latin trap and reggaeton musical genres. When he’s not releasing hit singles like “X,” “Travesuras,” and “El Amante,” the award-winning artist has been trying out his hand in big-budget action flicks like xXx: Return of Xander Cage alongside the returning Vin Diesel and Bad Boys for Life, in which he portrayed Lorenzo “Zway-Lo” Rodriguez.

Longtime Kevin Hart collaborators Joey Wells, Harry Ratchford, and Na’im Lynn provide the voices of the various members of Butch’s gang of stray cats.

Bobby Cannavale (Spike)

A Tom and Jerry movie wouldn’t be the same without Spike, the oversized American Bulldog featured heavily as one of Tom’s fiercest foes throughout the property’s history. Providing the voice for Spike this time around is Bobby Cannavale, yet another actor to have appeared in both Tom and Jerry and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (he plays Jim Paxton in Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp). Cannavale has also appeared in The Irishman, Mr. Robot, and Homecoming. Cannavale also falls in the middle of the Venn diagram of actors who have appeared on Sex and the City, Law & Order, and Oz.

Lil Rel Howery (Tom’s Shoulder Devil)

Ah, the classic trope of a character having a “devil” and “angel” on his shoulders is alive and well in Tom and Jerry, and none other than Lil Rel Howery is voicing Tom’s more sinister side this time around. The Chicago native has appeared on various TV comedies and stand-up comedy specials over the years, but he’s best known for his role as TSA officer Rod Williams in Get Out and if not that then Charlie in Bird Box. Howery was recently featured in the cast of Judas and the Black Messiah.

Tone Bell (Tom’s Shoulder Angel)

Since we’ve already knocked out Tom’s Shoulder Devil, I guess we have to talk about the kinder and more logical figment of the cat’s imagination. Portraying Tom’s Shoulder Angel in Tom and Jerry is Tone stand-up comedian and actor Tone Bell. Bell’s television appearances include a main role on the Netflix comedy series Disjointed and the BET drama American Soul in which he plays Richard Pryor. His film credits include The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Sylvie’s Love, and Little to name a few.

These are just the main members of the Tom and Jerry live-action and voice cast. With random animated (and live-action) characters popping up throughout the movie, including some classic Hanna-Barbera legends appearing from time to time, the cast of the latest animated film featuring the iconic cat and mouse duo is absolutely stacked. You can check out the live-action/computer-generated hybrid come to life in theaters or on HBO Max until the end of March 2021. And if you want to know what else is coming to theaters (and streaming services) this year, check out CinemaBlend's 2021 movie release schedule for all the latest updates.

Spoilers ahead for the Group B premiere of The Masked Dancer Season 1 on Fox.

The Masked Dancer made its time slot debut on January 6 with an episode that continued to demonstrate the show's significant similarities to and differences from The Masked Singer. The second group of secret celebs strutted their stuff for judges Ken Jeong, Paula Abdul, Ashley Tisdale, and Brian Austin Green along with host Craig Robinson, and it was Ice Cube (no, not that Ice Cube) who was ultimately unmasked as a particularly beloved science guy: Bill Nye. Ken Jeong rather uncharacteristically guessed correctly, and his overjoyed reaction left fans with reactions of their own.

Ken Jeong showed off a surprising knowledge of Bill Nye when he put together the Ice Cube clues and came to the conclusion that the Bill Nye the Science Guy and Bill Nye Saves the World star was underneath the mask. When Ice Cube was unmasked and proved Jeong -- whose almost constant failed guesses on The Masked Singer have become a running joke -- correct, Jeong seemed genuinely emotional as he celebrated, shouting:

I'm not sure that any viewers would consider Ken Jeong's victory to be one of the happiest times in their own lives, but I for one got a kick out of how overjoyed Jeong was when Bill Nye turned out to be Ice Cube, as he'd guessed. It also made me feel a little guilty for being so entertained at how off-base some of even his most earnest Masked Singer guesses have been. I'm not the only one feeling some kind of way about Jeong's victory, as proved by social media.

"Wow!" is right, based as much on Ken Jeong's Masked Singer guessing history and his overwhelmed response to being correct about the Ice Cube. Whether or not this is the beginning of a trend remains to be seen; his victory this week is at least something to be treasured.

Ken Jeong was quite literally jumping for joy after identifying Bill Nye as the Ice Cube, and he evidently wasn't the only one who connected the dots between the icy clues and the beloved Science Guy.

Ken Jeong's wrong guesses on The Masked Singer probably mostly result in viewers laughing at him, but his celebration of getting it right on The Masked Dancer makes me think that these viewers were probably laughing with him. Gotta love a judge with some self-awareness and self-deprecation, right?

Not that I want Ken Jeong to leave The Masked Singer, but maybe The Masked Dancer is just ideal for his talents as a judge. Despite the format and stage similarities, guessing dancer identities is a whole different game from guessing singers when there is only body language to go by, and not necessarily body language from trained dancers.

Somebody on social media saw fit to go for a gif of the Science Guy himself to celebrate Ken Jeong's correct guess, and it's worth noting that Bill Nye looked like he enjoyed his Masked Dancer experience despite his early elimination. Maybe even he could be happy for Jeong!

Considering this was only the second episode of The Masked Dancer ever, Ken Jeong has a pretty great record of guesses. If he keeps it up, then maybe he'll become the MVP judge that he hasn't managed to become over on The Masked Singer. In his defense on the Masked Singer front, though, the rest of the judges panel is made up of professional singers, while Jeong comes from a comedy (and medical) background.

See how Ken Jeong continues to perform as a judge with new episodes of The Masked Dancer airing Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. For more of what's on the way in the new year, check out our 2021 winter and spring premiere schedule.

Fox made a brilliant decision when first ordering a U.S. version of South Korea's The Masked Singer. Its ratings success can easily be measured by the network airing four seasons in the span of slightly less than two years, along with a Season 3 premiere that earned the coveted post-Super Bowl time slot. Adding another notch to the franchise's belt is the upcoming spinoff series The Masked Dancer, and below is a quick rundown of just about everything viewers should know before going into Season 1. (Bonus detail: it's currently an event series, but Season 2 will probably happen if the ratings are solid.)

The Masked Dancer's Judges Include Ken Jeong And More

In true spinoff form, The Masked Dancer isn't just an offshoot by name, but it also includes one of the flagship series' stars. For the new show, resident excellent-guesser Ken Jeong is joined by American Idol vet Paula Abdul, Beverly Hills 90210 vet Brian Austin Green and the High School Musical series' Ashley Tisdale. All three non-Ken judges have many years of combined experience within the worlds of music and choreographed dancing – and it's not like Ken can't belt out a tune – so they should all make for qualified game show detectives. Plus, Green already has the expertise of being a former Masked Singer contestant.

Another bonus detail! The Big Bang Theory vet Mayim Bialik already confirmed via wardrobe malfunction post that she will be one of the guest judges during the season, partly in promotion of her own new Fox series, the fourth-wall-breaking comedy Call Me Kat.

Craig Robinson Is The Masked Dancer's Host

Anyone who's a fan of Craig Robinson knows that the comedic entertainer knows how to get his groove on, both with his voice and his moves. So he's as natural a fit for The Masked Dancer as Nick Cannon was for The Masked Singer. Viewers can probably expect to see Robinson bust a move at least once during the show's nine-episode season. Fingers crossed it happens at least once an episode, though.

The Masked Dancer Features 10 Contestants

The Masked Singer has featured everywhere from 12 to 18 celebrities across its four seasons, so The Masked Dancer is setting a franchise low by only featuring ten different celebrity contestants. Everyone has to start somewhere, though, and The Masked Dancer is kicking things off with a lineup of themed costumes that includes Cotton Candy, Cricket, Disco Ball, Exotic Bird, Hammerhead, Ice Cube, Miss Moth, Sloth, Tulip, and Zebra. As it goes with seasons of the flagship series, expected to be impressed, confused, and sometimes a little creeped out by the over-the-top visuals.

The Masked Dancer Originated As A Parody

Not every TV show can make the claim that its existence ties back to a spoof segment from a TV show on a completely different network. But so it goes here, with The Masked Dancer being ordered straight-to-series at Fox after a popular run of spots on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which went on to include enough Masked Singer judge cameos that it almost seemed silly for it not to exist as a full-blown series. Will the Fox show pull a fast one on fans by featuring a star who already showed up on Ellen? It's definitely a possibility.

The Masked Dancer Will Feature More Clues Than The Masked Singer

At this point, The Masked Singer viewers are aware that some of the clues used for its contestants are incredibly silly and hard to decipher, but take note that the producers were aware of that notion when putting The Masked Dancer together. They totally understand that it's more difficult to recognize someone's dance steps as opposed to someone's voice. Here's what Brian Austin Green had to say during the show's panel at Fox's virtual Television Critics Association presentation.

What's more, Paula Abdul followed that up by saying the clues are absolutely everywhere for viewers to pick up on. Not just in the clue packages, but also from within the costumes that the contestants are wearing, as well as the stage decorations and even in the choreography. It'll be interesting to see how particular dance moves may provide pertinent information about one of The Masked Dancer's competitors.

The Masked Dancer Will Include A Clue Type That Couldn't Happen On Masked Singer

Not only will The Masked Dancer include more all-around clues than its predecessor, but the spinoff series will also introduce a new kind of clue that wouldn't have been possible to utilize on The Masked Singer without the risk of spoiling people's identities. Here's how executive producer Craig Plestis explained it during the show's TCA panel.

Hearing someone's undisguised voice would definitely be a major giveaway clue on The Masked Singer, but that element wouldn't necessarily shake things up on The Masked Dancer. At least, assume the celebs they apply that clue to don't have the world's most recognizable voices. So don't expect to see Friends vet Maggie Wheeler or Picard's Patrick Stewart or South Park's Eric Cartman. (If any show on TV would feature an animated character as a contestant, it's going to be one of Fox's Masked shows.)

The Costumes Were Designed Differently For The Masked Dancer

To be sure, the elaborate and eye-grabbing costumes that are created for The Masked Singer aren't exactly designed to making stage performances easy feats for singers. But the producers had to come up with a different game plan for The Masked Dancer, since it requires a different set of physical skills, and all while being produced under COVID-19 guidelines. According to executive producer Craig Plestis, the designers took care to consider the wide variety of movements that go along with dancing. In his words:

Clearly, the biggest takeaway from that answer is: we're gonna see contestants flipping around at some point, and it's probably going to look weird and/or awesome. One of The Masked Dancer's trailers did show a contestant falling to the ground from a large hoop, which may have involved some flips, but hopefully that wasn't a serious accident.

The Masked Dancer Premieres On December 27

Before 2020 has bid everyone its final farewell, Fox is giving viewers a post-Christmas taste of The Masked Dancer on a special night. The competition spinoff will debut on Sunday, December 27, at 8:00 p.m. ET, with the network giving the series premiere a key time slot after that day's NFL games, which is consistently helpful for The Simpsons and Fox's other animated series. After that, though, The Masked Dancer will flip to regularly airing on Wednesday nights starting on January 6, where it will serve as the lead-in for the game show revival Name That Tune.

Well, you should have just read when The Masked Dancer will make its premiere on Fox, so we won't reiterate that. But while you're waiting to start logging your guesses, head to our Fall 2020 TV premiere schedule and our Winter and Spring TV premiere guide to see what other new and returning shows are on the way.

Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Masked Singer's Holiday Sing-Along special. Read at your own risk!

The Masked Singer brought back its sing-along special for the 2020 holiday season, and surprisingly, the online community seemed to respond better to it than last year. This may be because the holiday spirit has everyone ready to see contestants sing Christmas songs, or because panelist Ken Jeong took the stage to sing a song.

In a rare appearance on The Masked Singer stage, Ken Jeong got dressed up like a toy soldier and performed a rousing rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy." It was certainly something to be seen, so check out the video of the performance below that fans are saying, was actually pretty good.

Was Ken Jeong's performance the best the show had ever seen? Hardly, but fans were certainly impressed with how the panelist performed, especially given that he's not one of the people on the panel famous for singing.

Ken Jeong is an actor, former doctor, and he's not bad at singing. I think that's enough to qualify him as a triple threat, even if the performance itself was a little shaky. Ken's flubs were not lost on The Masked Singer fans, some of whom felt the need to call attention to it in their congratulations.

While that note is valid, I should point out that Ken Jeong's primary role in The Masked Singer is comic relief. Part of the performance was certainly meant to be silly, as evidenced by his holding of the high note super long at the end. Beneath that comedy was some real skill, because let's be honest, he killed that high note.

It's at this point that I should note that Ken Jeong may not be a singer for a living, but he did have a solid musical number in the Netflix animated film Over The Moon that was far better than this performance. That note is mainly for those who weren't a fan of the performance but appreciated the comedic chops and energy Ken brings to The Masked Singer all the same.

The Masked Singer's Holiday Sing-Along still wasn't quite the event that was worth having instead of the finale a week early in my opinion, but I can say that I enjoyed it more than the last holiday special. If next year's special (if it happens) brings in another performance from Ken Jeong, I'd certainly be along for the ride all over again. Maybe next year he can duet with Robin Thicke or Nicole Scherzinger and really make some magic happen!

The Masked Singer's Season 4 finale airs Wednesday, December 16 starting at 8:00 p.m. ET. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on the franchise, and for more news happening in television and movies.

Spoilers ahead for the series premiere of Ken Jeong's I Can See Your Voice on Fox.

A new reality competition show hit the airwaves this fall to pair with The Masked Singer, and host Ken Jeong's I Can See Your Voice is officially the ideal show for 2020, in my humble opinion. The premise of the show sounded somewhat unlikely ahead of the premiere, and more than a little bizarre even on a network with the bonkers Masked Singer as its mega-hit. That said, after the series premiere aired following The Masked Singer's Season 4 premiere, I'm more than ready to keep watching.

In the series premiere of I Can See Your Voice, contestant Shannon Davis was tasked with identifying good singers vs. bad singers from a group of six, based on no more than lip-syncing skills and some crazy clues, with a prize of $10,000 per correct guess. Full-time celebrity detectives actress Cheryl Hines and singer Adrienne Bailon-Houghton were joined by guest detectives in former boy-bander Nick Lachey, previous Masked Singer contestant Kelly Osbourne, and comedian Arsenio Hall to advise Shannon on her guesses.

Shannon left I Can See Your Voice with $100,000 after risking her $30,000 to see if the Stylist was a good enough singer to duet with Nick Lachey, and it made for a fun hour of television. So, now that I Can See Your Voice is positioned to potentially become Fox's next big unscripted hit, let's look at some reasons why it's the ideal show for this year.

The Premise Is Fun

On paper, the premise of I Can See Your Voice is pretty strange and a little hard to follow. Once the action began, however, it became clear that this is a show that can pack a lot of fun into one hour of primetime, and who doesn't need a little fun in 2020 with the pandemic and everything else? Whenever Shannon was correct, she won $10,000, and that was great! When Shannon was wrong, everybody got to hear a great performance! Win-win, right?

Ken Jeong As Host

The Masked Singer already proved that Ken Jeong is comfortable in front of the camera for a musical competition show, but he also shares the spotlight with three other judges and host Nick Cannon. With I Can See Your Voice, Ken Jeong serves as master of ceremonies and can do more than deliver the silly guesses on The Masked Singer. He genuine enthusiasm and hope for Shannon to win shone through, and his commentary was funny while also moving the game along and making the rules of the brand new game clear.

The Judges Are Enthusiastic

While Shannon didn't come out on top of every challenge, the judges were clearly on her side all along, with no mocking comments from the star-studded peanut gallery. They were enthusiastic and engaged, and they honestly looked completely invested in the game. These didn't seem like celebrity judges who were appearing just to promote themselves or their work, but to help Shannon and add some entertainment in the process. Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Bailon-Houghton are permanent members of the panel, so they can be counted on weekly. Honestly, what's not to love about watching stars do their best to help somebody play a game and win some money? And Nick Lachey even sang!

Audience Reactions

I Can See Your Voice filmed over the summer when a lot of television productions were still shut down due to the pandemic, so it was entirely possible that episodes wouldn't feature a lot in the way of audience interaction. It came as a pleasant surprise (to me, at least) that an audience cheering and laughing was part of the finished product, and a disclaimer at the end of the hour ran to reassure that the show did follow safety protocols. The disclaimer revealed that "visuals of audience featured in this episode included pre-taped shots, as well as shots from" other studio shows due to health restrictions.

We got an audience to help I Can See Your Voice feel like real escapism, and I for one am already waiting for the next episode. It's good, harmless fun involving some hijinks, twists, and turns. Sign me up for more! New episodes of I Can See Your Voice air on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox, following new episodes of The Masked Singer.  For some additional viewing options now and in the coming weeks, check out our 2020 fall TV premiere schedule!

The Masked Singer has been a blast as far back as its first season but, as fun as the ride has been, there have been some mysteries and questions about its process. Fans have speculated about things like how judges go through with their guesses and, until recently, they've been in the dark about what actually is and isn't expected.

Now executive producer Craig Plestis has pulled back the curtain a bit on the process, and demystified some of what goes on in regards to the judges' guessing:

As some may have expected, The Masked Singer's judges aren't allowed to have google out like the viewers at home. That's probably why their guesses are so bad right out the gate but improve as the weeks go on. As Craig Plestis, said the producers can only ask the team not to hop on the internet to search for clues when they get home, but there's really no way of stopping them from doing so once filming is done for the day.

I think the going home and googling rule was honored in Season 1 but has fallen by the wayside in Season 3. There's no denying the judges have gotten way better at correctly identifying contestants down the stretch and were possibly a little embarrassed to be in the dark for so long in Season 1 when viewers at home had pegged some contestants during the first episode.

With that being said, it's hard not to credit the judging team even if they are googling at home. These pre-recorded seasons mean they're not participating in guessing with the hive-mind fandom. That certainly has to make things a lot more difficult when one isn't able to bounce ideas off the masses, which the judges would be able to do if the episodes were at least taped closer to airings. When asked if Season 4 would have any live episodes, Craig Plestis told TV Guide they were still working out details for the coming season.

The Masked Singer will return to Fox for Season 4, though we have no idea when to expect it. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more updates on the show, and for the latest news happening in television and movies.

It is currently a great time to be a Community fan. Not only has the show recently arrived on Netflix, allowing even more people to discover its brilliance, but the cast recently reunited with showrunner Dan Harmon for a special table read that will be arriving online later this month. And as if all that weren’t enough, the making of said table read was also followed by the cast staying together for a special episode of the Ken Jeong and Joel McHale-hosted podcast The Darkest Timeline, and in it there are many great never-before-shared stories about the making of the show and the relationships within the group.

We highly recommend checking out the whole episode, as a big part of its greatness is just watching Dan Harmon and the cast banter, but we also wanted to take the time to highlight it by recognizing some of our favorite moments:

Danny Pudi Distinctly Remembers When He Knew Donald Glover Was Eventually Going To Leave The Show

In the years since his time on Community, Donald Glover has become one of the biggest stars in the world, not only earning awards for his FX series Atlanta, but also his music career. His albums have won him great acclaim and five Grammys – and it was actually because of the star’s Childish Gambino persona that Danny Pudi knew that it was only a matter of time before Glover left the show to pursue other endeavors.

The recent table read for the cast unlocked a lot of memories in the mind of the actor who starred as Abed on Community, and including a moment he shared with Donald Glover off-set. The duo was hanging out at the Blue Sky Tank on the Paramount Pictures lot (which is a parking lot when not in use), and Glover gave Pudi the chance to listen to his song “Heartbeat.” His immediate reaction?

Given that “Heartbeat” was released in late 2011, it’s likely that Danny Pudi first heard the song while they were filming Season 3 of Community – and he would prove to be right a few years later, and Donald Glover amicably left the show in the middle of Season 5.

Donald Glover Had An Extremely Weird Character He Played Behind The Scenes

As discussed throughout the reunion, a lot of the magic in Community was found because of the freedom that the cast was given to improvise – and evidently the comedic improvisation and role playing didn’t end when the cameras stopped rolling. As revealed in rather blunt terms during the recording, Donald Glover had a character he slipped into during breaks who was a homeless man obsessed with trying to perform fellatio on Joel McHale.

Rather than be anything physical, the game was that Glover’s character would try and trick McHale into putting his penis into his mouth. The two stars provided some examples for context:

Ken Jeong Got Blackout Drunk And Started Ranting At Donald Glover At A Cast Reunion Dinner

The entire Community reunion podcast special is a testament to how much all of these people legitimately enjoy each other’s company, but that sentiment apparently went a touch overboard last fall when the cast and Dan Harmon got together for a dinner. For an unexplained reason, Ken Jeong had been drinking a few beers throughout the day before the event, and so by the time he finished drinking his way through the evening he was blackout drunk.

As described by Jim Rash, who says he has a lot of video from the night, Ken Jeong wound up spending the night screaming in the faces of Danny Pudi and Donald Glover as though they were a mile apart instead of just a few feet, and his rantings to Glover specifically included lauding him for his work on something called Alien Bralien – a project that doesn’t exist.

Ken Jeong Would Not Stop Improvising His Breakdance Exit In One Episode

Continuing the discussion from earlier, improvisation was definitely a major asset on the set of Community given the impressive talent of the cast, but one thing revealed during the reunion was that it was also occasionally a way that the schedule got strained. A first act scene in the second season episode “Accounting For Lawyers” is a prime example, as Ken Jeong spent take after take expanding on a bit even when he was told to simplify what he was doing.

The end of a scene where Chang talks to the study group about the school’s upcoming Pop 'n' Lock-a-thon, Ken Jeong was told to perform breakdance moves while heading out the door, and they kept being more elaborate take after take. Given that the subject came up when Alison Brie talked about it as a scene that was hard to get through because of breaking, Ken Jeong surely felt egged on by his co-stars, and as a result ignored Dan Harmon’s pleas for something faster. Said the showrunner,

Gillian Jacobs Caught Ken Jeong Mid-Rant On The Set Of Dr. Ken, And Started Cracking Up

Following the discussion of his unstoppable improv, Ken Jeong delivered a blanket apology to everyone, and explained that he has a better perspective on it all now because of his time making Dr. Ken – which he co-created, produced, and starred in following the end of Community. Having been in the position that Dan Harmon was in, he now has a better understanding of the stress involved in making a network series… and that revelation led Gillian Jacobs to share a funny anecdote.

Weird as it sounds, Ken Jeong added to Gillian Jacobs story by saying that he was ultimately grateful for her presence:

Community’s Budget Was So Small That The Art Department Decorated The Wrap Party

Community was never a big ratings hit, and thus never a big money-earner for the studio, and a natural extension of that was the series having a thin budget to work with year after year. This wasn’t just in the later seasons either, as the reunion podcast episode reveals serious penny pinching was happening from the beginning. For example, the art department wasn’t able to fully enjoy the Season 1 wrap party because the event was held on set, and they were given the task of both decorating it, and deconstructing it.

Said Dan Harmon,

Rough.

Community’s Line Producer Straight-Up Lied To Dan Harmon About The Show’s Budget

The budget of Community was a popular topic of conversation during the reunion, and through the back and forth a kind of paradox was discovered. While the cast and crew was repeatedly told how little money the show had, there were also some major expenditures – with two examples being Professor Hickey’s desk machine and Shirley Island in the Season 5 episode “Geothermal Escapism.” So how did that happen? The answer was provided by Ken Jeong later in the episode, with the actor/filmmaker revealing a secret that producer Patrick Kienlen shared when the two worked together on Dr. Ken:

Some say that limitations breed creativity, so I guess we should thank him?

There Was A Possum Living In Community’s Prop Room

One of the weird details featured in “Documentary Filmmaking: Redux” is a bit that finds Dean Pelton in possession of a strange new pet: a possum that lives in his office. It’s strange and funny, perfectly matching the tone of Community – but what makes it even better is the fact that it seems like it was inspired by a funny behind-the-scenes incident. Specifically, at one point during the show’s production there was a possum that took up residence in the prop room.

It was a memory that Gillian Jacobs brought into the conversation about Community’s limited budget, and Donald Glover added that it provided him a funny revelation:

During A Scene In “Introduction To Statistics” Gillian Jacobs And Yvette Nicole Brown Were Basically Blind

It would be a struggle to find any actor that really loves to do night shoots, as there’s simply not a lot that’s enjoy able about being up at 3am waiting around while you get to perform the same scene over and over again from multiple angles. In the context of Community, making the Season 1 Halloween episode “Introduction To Statistics” was rough because it required the stars to be on call for some late nights – but it was a particularly difficult experience for Gillian Jacobs and Yvette Nicole-Brown, because there was one scene where they were both basically blind.

Jacobs described the night, saying,

It was only then that Yvette Nicole-Brown revealed to Gillian Jacobs for the first time that she too was dealing with the same contact lenses issue that night, creating a literal circumstance of the blind leading the blind.

These are just some of the highlights from the Darkest Timeline episode, so if you like what you’ve read here, go and give it a listen yourself.

It's somehow been over eleven years since the students and faculty from Greendale Community College entered our lives, but fans are ready for Dean Pelton to enter us all over again. (Wait, did the Dean write that sentence?) Community's renewed popularity on Netflix has kicked some of the dust off the #SixSeasonsAndAMovie argument, and fans are once again wondering if Jeff, Britta, Abed and everyone else might one day get their own feature film. For the first time in a while, creator Dan Harmon has some forward-leaning news.

Dan Harmon currently has Rick and Morty Season 4 airing on Adult Swim, and is in the process of working on Season 5. You know what else he's doing? Apparently having conversations about making more Community happen! Below is the encouraging message Harmon gave to TheWrap, saying that Community's upticks in popularity have definite effects on the marketplace. In his words:

By all means, long-time Community fans have watched the show go through about as many hardships as a fan-beloved comedy could without completely falling apart. From Dan Harmon's exit in Season 4 to the assortment of casting changes to the NBC cancellation to the Yahoo Screen resurrection, Community soared on where other shows likely would have fallen hard. So while tenacious fans do indeed know better than to form lofty expectations about the show's future, we also know that Community is a survivor.

As well, it's known that MCU directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who directed several Community episodes in its first three seasons, have expressed interest in directing a potential feature if the details would work out. Netflix-friendly Joel McHale has also talked about there being more murmurings about a follow-up Community project, so here's hoping those murmurs and conversations turn into full-blown big-budget agreements in the nearest future.

Of course, Community recently cause big waves by announcing nearly the entire cast (minus the plethora of guest stars) would be reuniting for a video chat table read of the Season 5 episode "Cooperative Polygraphy." The charitable event should be a good time for all, with The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal joining the fun as a special guest, which probably means Walton Goggins isn't reprising his role.

The group also recorded an episode of Joel McHale and Ken Jeong's podcast The Darkest Timeline, in which former co-star Donald Glover realized the cast had kept him out of the loop on their big group chat. Everyone should know by now not to keep Glover out of anything.

All six seasons of Community are currently available to stream on Netflix and Hulu, so keep watching it and keep talking about it and keep on making the marketplace take notice! In the meantime, head to our Summer 2020 TV premiere schedule to see all the new and returning shows that are on the way.

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Based on the novel of the same name by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians became one of the biggest movies of 2018. Both a critical and commercial hit, earning over $200 million worldwide and securing several award nominations, Jon M. Chu's film adaptation was the first major Hollywood movie since 1993's The Joy Luck Club to feature a majority cast of actors of Asian descent inside a modern setting, and it was certainly a well-received film. With plans to turn the film into a trilogy set in place for sometime in the near future, we'll return to these romantic cast of characters, played by Henry Golding, Constance Wu, Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh, and more, soon. But since its major success, many of the movie's stars have only continued to see their stars shine brighter. Let's take a look at what Crazy Rich Asians cast has been working since the film's release.

Constance Wu (Rachel Chu)

An actress who found her breakthrough role with ABC's Fresh Off the Boat, Crazy Rich Asians proved to be a major breakout for the actress, leading her to more career possibilities. Notably following her Golden Globe-nominated performance in that film, becoming only the fourth Asian woman to be nominated for that award, Wu was seen in the lead role in the acclaimed crime drama, Hustlers, which also starred Jennifer Lopez. Wu also played a voice-only role in the animated movie, Next Gen. Up next, Wu will be seen in the drama film, I Was A Simple Man, and she'll also lend her voice to Wish Dragon. She also recently appeared in the sixth and final season of the aforementioned Fresh Off the Boat, and it appears that she wasn't thrilled about the acclaimed show being renewed for that many seasons, as she made clear on Twitter.

Henry Golding (Nick Young)

A Malaysian-born English actor, model, and TV host, Henry Golding gained fame across the pond, notably as the host of BBC's The Travel Show, but he became an international success when he played the romantic lead in Crazy Rich Asians, which became his first professional acting credit. Since starring in this box office smash, Golding continues to gain more high-profile roles, notably in 2018's A Simple Favor and as the romantic lead in last year's Last Christmas, which also starred the actor's Crazy Rich Asians co-star, Michelle Yeoh. Most recently, Golding starred in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen. Up next, the rising performer will play the title role in Snake Eyes, which is expected to be released later this year (or perhaps next year, at this point). Golding will also soon set to be seen in the romantic drama Monsoon, which will get its stateside release soon.

Michelle Yeoh (Eleanor Sung-Young)

A Malaysian actress who became famous in the 1990s through Hong Kong action films, then became an international success thanks to Tomorrow Never Dies and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Crazy Rich Asians was one of Yeoh's biggest hits in recent years as she played the part of Eleanor Sung-Young, Nick's domineering mother. Since the film's release, Yeoh has also been seen in Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy and, most recently, Last Christmas. Though the actress has most prominently appeared on Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access. Up next, Yeoh is set to appear in a number of new movies, including Boss Level, Gunpowder Milkshake, and Everything Everywhere All At Once, but the biggest role she has coming up is a part in the forthcoming Avatar sequels. Yeoh is also lending her voice to Minions: The Rise of Gru, which will come out next year.

Awkwafina (Peik Lin Goh)

Awkwafina was previously best known as a rapper, though the performer only continues her ascension as a high-profile actress. Certainly, 2018 proved to be a big year for the rising actress, starring in Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean's 8 in the same summer, while her second EP, In Fina We Trust, was also released. The comedy star proved herself tremendously as a dramatic actress through her outstanding performance in The Farewell, for which she won a Golden Globe. Unfortunately, Awkwafina was snubbed at the Oscars. Awkwafina was also seen in Jumanji: The Next Level, and she stars, produces and writes the Comedy Central series, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens. Next, Awkwafina stars in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Breaking News in Yuba County, and she'll soon be heard in Raya and the Last Dragon and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.

Gemma Chan (Astrid Young Teo)

Playing fashion icon and socialite Astrid Leong-Teo, Gemma Chan had a standout role in Crazy Rich Asians. The English actress has appeared in several movies and TV shows, including Humans, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Doctor Who, Transformers: The Last Knight, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, to name a few. Since Crazy Rich Asians, Chan has continued to build her resume. She appeared in Mary Queen of Scots, and she also starred in Captain Marvel. The actress also starred and co-wrote an episode of I Am and she provided her voice to BBC's Watership Down. Next, Chan will star in The Eternals and she also has a role in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming drama, Let Them All Talk, which hits HBO Max later this year.

Lisa Lu (Ah Ma)

A prolific, acclaimed actress with decades of experience to her name, Lisa Lu gave another strong performance in Crazy Rich Asians playing the part of Shang Su Yi, also known as Ah Ma. An actress/producer seen in The Last Emperor, Bonanza, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Joy Luck Club, and several other productions for both big and small screens, Lu is a celebrated actress with three Golden Horse Awards to her name from the 1970s. Since Crazy Rich Asians, Lu hasn't appeared in any other films or shows, though she did act in the short film Penzai. It's expected to be released soon.

Ken Jeong (Wye Mun Goh)

Best known for his work in Community and The Hangover trilogy, Ken Jeong is a dependable comedic talent, and he has stayed active in the past ten-plus years. One of Jeong's most noteworthy roles was Wye Mun Goh, the wealthy father of Peik Lin Goh (Awkwafina), in 2018's Crazy Rich Asians. Since then, the doctor-turned-comedian has starred in several movies and TV shows, including Lady and the Tramp, Fresh Off the Boat, Saving Zoe, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, and an Avengers: Endgame cameo. Additionally, Jeong provided voice roles in BoJack Horseman, Wonder Park, The Simpsons, and Bob's Burgers. He also had a Netflix special released in 2019 and he's currently seen as a panelist on The Masked Singer. Next, Jeong stars in My Spy, Boss Level, Tom & Jerry and more, including voice roles in Scoob!, The Emperor of Malibu, and Adventures in Wonder Park.

Sonoya Mizuno (Araminta Lee)

A Japanese-born British actress, ballet dancer, and model, Sonoya Mizuno has been seen in a variety of unique and exciting projects. In addition to her role in Crazy Rich Asians, where she played Araminta Lee, the bride-to-be and the heiress to a billion-dollar chain restaurant, Mizuno is best known for her work with writer-director Alex Garland. She has appeared in both of his directorial efforts, Ex Machina and Annihilation, and she was most recently seen in the lead role of Devs, his FX-Hulu mini-series, which premiered earlier this year. Additionally, in the fall of 2018, Mizuno starred in Netflix's mini-series, Maniac, where she played a prominent role. She was also recently seen in All About Nina and The Domestics. Next, Mizuno will star in the new HBO Max series, The Flight Attendant, alongside Kaley Cuoco.

Chris Pang (Colin Khoo)

As Colin Khoo, Araminta's fiancé and Nick's childhood best friend, Chris Pang played a prominent character in Crazy Rich Asians. An Australian actor-producer of Chinese descent, Pang was previously best known for 2010's Tomorrow, When the War Began before the 2018 romantic studio comedy. Since Crazy Rich Asians, Pang has been seen in last year's Charlie's Angels and Empty By Design, which he also produced. He was also recently cast in an untitled Amazon pilot from producer Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood). Pang is also soon set to be seen in the Sundance hit, Palm Springs, and he has a role in the upcoming sports movie, Underdogs Rising.

Jimmy O. Yang (Bernard Tai)

As the spoiled, party-loving former classmate of Colin Khoo and Nick Young, comedian Jimmy O. Yang gets a splashy, occasionally scene-stealing role in Crazy Rich Asians. Beyond this supporting role, Yang is best known for playing Jian-Yang in HBO's acclaimed Silicon Valley. That series wrapped its run after its sixth season aired late last year. Recently, Yang was seen in Like a Boss and Fantasy Island. He'll next star in Netflix's Space Force. He also appeared in The Simpsons and Fresh Off the Boat, which also stars Constance Wu, and he played a voice-only role in The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. He'll next be seen in the lead role of The Opening Act, which also stars Ken Jeong, and he provides his voice to Wish Dragon. He also recently wrote a memoir titled How to American: An Immigrant's Guide to Disappointing Your Parents.

Who is your favorite Crazy Rich Asians star? Let us know in the comment section below.

One of the biggest crimes in TV history is that Troy and Abed in the Morning never became an actual morning talk show (though it inspired a great coffee mug). Thankfully, the next best thing is possible, in that each of Community's six seasons are currently available to binge on Netflix. The pop culture-driven ensemble comedy was far more of a critical darling than a ratings monster when it aired on NBC (and then Yahoo Screen), but the tides of popularity are now turning quite quickly for Community.

Similar to how modern classic TV series like Friends, The Office, and Breaking Bad reached previously untapped swarms of binge-happy viewers, Community is once again being quoted by both viewers who have been down with Jeff Winger's law advice for years, and those who are only now becoming familiar with how Britta fares in each of the multiple timelines. Twitter has seen a constant stream of Community-centered love since the show popped up in Netflix's library on April 1, such as the following shower of appreciation.

And Jesus wept! There are definitely episodes from the Dan Harmon-less fourth season that I could go most of my life without seeing again, but the majority of Community's episodes belong in the upper echelon of scripted comedy. As much credit goes to the writing and BTS crew as it does to cast members such as Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Allison Brie, Chevy Chase, Donald Glover, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong. (Not to mention the efforts made by short-term stars such as Paget Brewster and Keith David.)

Even though Community's cast became untethered after its first three seasons, everyone who stuck around managed to keep things interesting through all the paintball fights and pillow forts. (Not to mention all the unexpected cameos, such as those from Breaking Bad's Vince Gillian and Lisa Loeb.) That said, even Dan Harmon admitted that the show faced its biggest blow whenever Donald Glover exited. It's unclear how this fan feels about it, but the love for Greendale is more than evident.

New viewers have been pretty celebratory about finally hunkering down and watching Community, too, for one reason or another. Such as finally grasping the meaning behind one of the show's most iconic and bizarre moments...

For many comedy fans whose Netflix appreciation has waxed and waned depending on what licensed shows were available, Community's arrival on the service has been Dean-omite. It's a show that rewards rewatches, thanks to the abundance of movie/TV references, callback jokes and Jim Rash's Dean, obviously. The tweet below definitely wasn't the only one that shared the central claim.

As of this writing, Community is #7 in TV for Netflix's daily Top 10, behind some of the company's more insanely popular original programming such as the WTF docu-series Tiger King and the Jason Bateman-led crime drama Ozark. Pretty great news for a show that is more niche comedically than The Office or something like the current #3 offering, The Big Show Show, fronted by WWE superstar The Big Show. In any case, its Top 10 presence has been visibly available to everyone accessing Netflix's interface, so fans know what that means.

It means the return of the in-universe tag "#SixSeasonsAndAMovie" to call for the long-awaited movie. Netflix already got targeted with that campaign in previous years, given its big budgets, its willingness to resurrect dead shows, and the company's working relationship with various cast members. With his streaming talk show not quite working out, Joel McHale (Santa Clarita Diet) very recently returned to the service for Tiger King's follow-up reunion installment, and Netflix also has solid relationships with Gillian Jacobs (Love, Ibiza), Allison Brie (GLOW, Horse Girl), Danny Pudi (Harvey Girls Forever), and Jim Rash (Beyond Stranger Things, Girlboss). Plus, both Yvette Nicole Brown and Ken Jeong appeared in BoJack Horseman, among other projects.

While most of the Community enthusiasm has been one-sided in favor of Greendale's glory, there are more than a few who are reacting to the uptick in chatter by pointing out that all the new fans have had ample chances in the past to get behind the show. Not just during the struggle-filled original run on NBC and the single season with Yahoo, but also Community's streaming past on Hulu and Amazon. Here's a more insightful and less biting take on that viewpoint.

At the end of the day, we should all be able to agree that the more places there are to currently stream Community, the better.

Personally, I go for Netflix for Community binges and Hulu for episodes to fall asleep to. But while we're agreeing about how great Community is, can we also agree that the following should automatically be included as an alarm in all mobile devices, and also ovens timers and doorbells.

In case it wasn't already beyond obvious, all six seasons of Community are available to stream on Netflix and Hulu.

The Masked Singer has, obviously, been a huge hit for Fox. Season 3 of the singing competition just debuted after the Super Bowl, and some of the reason for its popularity is the fun of watching the celebrity panelists try and guess who might be under those crazy costumes, not to mention seeing if their guesses match up with yours. Well, if you're wishing that there were more singing shows with nutty themes that allowed you to watch Ken Jeong gesticulate wildly while wearing flashy clothes, you're in luck! Jeong now has another music-themed competition coming later this year.

Ken Jeong is now working on the new, unscripted, music guessing game show I Can See Your Voice. The show will see a new contestant every week try to win a cash prize by attempting to tell the difference between good and bad singers...even though they've never actually heard anyone sing a single note on the show. How will this work? A panel of famous comedians, experts and a music superstar will help to lead each contestant through several rounds of true or false evidence, lip sync challenges and laugh out loud hidden clues in order for them to try and locate a good singer.

At the end of the episode, the singer of the contestant's choosing will pair up with that day's music superstar to reveal whether or not a true singing talent was plucked from the group, because they'll then be tasked with singing a duet. This, of course, will either result in a life-changing musical collaboration which will show the audience just how beautiful music can be, or make us all want to throw our televisions out of the highest window while wearing the thickest earmuffs allowed by law.

I can already see why Ken Jeong is involved in a show with this level of potential aural insanity, because it seems right up his weirdo alley. Jeong is on board to host and executive produce I Can See Your Voice, which is based on a South Korean show with the same format. Here's what he had to say about helping to bring the series to viewers in the United States:

Alright, there Mr. Jeong. Those are some big words, but I admire your optimism and total lack of humility! It's certainly true that Americans are obsessed with The Masked Singer, which is, itself, based on a South Korean show, so Jeong might be completely correct that we'll eat this oddball idea up as well. As for Jeong's claim that he's the "smartest" panelist on the current hit, all i can say is, keep being you Ken Jeong. We love it.

There's no word right now on when, exactly, I Can See Your Voice will debut on Fox, what celebrities we can hope to spy there or how many episodes the show will get, but stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest. Until then, check out what you can see right now by taking a gander at our 2020 winter / spring premiere guide!

Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Masked Singer's double elimination semifinal special on December 11. Read at your own risk!

It has been a wild week on The Masked Singer with three competitors removed all over the course of two nights. Two competitors narrowly missed their shot at the finals in the most recent episode, and surprisingly, one of them had their identity guessed by comedian Ken Jeong. Honestly, his pick may be the biggest shock of the season, but let's get into the Thingamajig's reveal with the on-the-money guess by Jeong after talking about Leopard's elimination.

Yes, The Leopard's time is finally up on The Masked Singer. Some would argue it was a long time coming given some particularly poor performances, though when the mask came off there's no denying the man beneath it is singing royalty. The leopard removed his fearsome fake face, and revealed himself to be none other than "Kiss From A Rose" singer Seal.

Seal is a musical talent, though it's definitely clear he has a zone in which he's most comfortable. Seal also wanted to keep the judges off his trail, which led to his persona that was considerably goofier than his usual stage presence and voice. The gimmick worked well enough on many who watched The Masked Singer, who guessed celebrities like RuPaul or Billy Porter instead.

The Masked Singer's other elimination of the evening was another brain buster for many of the judges, save one. For once, Ken Jeong had a guess prior to the Thingamajig's unmasking that wasn't outlandish, and was actually right on the money. That's right, the same judge who swore Björk was on Season 2 correctly guessed The Thingamajig as Indiana Pacers all-star Victor Oladipo ahead of his actual reveal.

Victor Oladipo's unmasking wasn't just significant because it silenced several doubters of his identity; it also allowed the judges to attempt and spark a little romance. Nicole Scherzinger had been flirting with Thingamajig for weeks, and now that the mask was off Jenny McCarthy wanted to know if the two would go on a date. Oladipo said he was down, though there have been no photos of the two on the web that shows either was serious about getting anything started.

With The Masked Singer's two latest exits, it's down to the Flamingo, Rottweiler, and Fox for the big title. Truthfully, I think it's down to Flamingo and Rottweiler for the title, though Fox definitely deserves to be in the top 3. The real question is, will Ken Jeong shock the world and guess another contestant's identity before Season 2 draws to a close?

The Masked Singer Has Revealed Its First Season 3 Costume In The Most Ridiculous Way

The Masked Singer Season 2 finale airs on Fox Wednesday, December 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET. Stick with CinemaBlend for all the latest news regarding the competition, and to stay up to date on what's happening with television and movies.

Due to an uncomfortable fracas involving Kevin Hart and his social media past, the most recent Academy Awards went completely host-free for the first time in a while, and the 2019 Emmys chose to do the same. The Oscars went pretty decently without an anchor, and the Emmys followed suit in a mostly enjoyable way.

Fox definitely loosened things up for the 71st Primetime Emmys, giving everything room to breathe, from the thank-you speeches to the various segments that focused specifically on nominated shows and actors. For the most part, there were no major change-ups, but The Odd Couple vet's Thomas Lennon served as a commentator running throughout the telecast. (Check out all the winners updated live when you're done reading, too.)

The Emmys Opening

In place of an opening montage, musical or otherwise, the Emmy producers and writers put together revolving door of presenters, which humorously and sincerely paid respect to the past year of television. First with a goofy Homer Simpson sight gag, and then with an energetic bit with Anthony Anderson and his Emmy-hungry mother. Bryan Cranston then came out to celebrate some of the night's nominees, which obviously meant it was one of the evening's most captivating moments.

The final stretch of the opening featured Ben Stiller paying respect to the history of TV comedy via wax figures of deceased legends such as George Burns and Lucille Ball, and the very much not deceased Bob Newhart. Perhaps surprisingly, that back-and-forth routine went right into the first award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy, which was won by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's Tony Shalhoub.

All in all, the free-flowing nature didn't feel as contrived as it could have, and it set up an evening of off-the-cuff and often self-deprecating fun. It wasn't absolutely perfect, but

Host-less Emmys Moments That Worked

As the biggest new addition to the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, Thomas Lennon was hit or miss, though I always enjoy the Reno 911 actor in any situation. Lennon used his most dulcet tones to pepper in oddball details about the various winners, among other things. (Such as Ben Whishaw's last name coming from the sound a bicycle makes as it goes past you: whish-aw!) I'll admit the bite-sized humor definitely wasn't for everyone, but learning how many Emmy trophies it takes to make a Rita Moreno was better than just hearing audience applause, right?

Stephen Colbert, who was seen several times giving steely glares to other late night hosts, took the stage with Jimmy Kimmel, who hasn't spoken too kindly about having hosting the Oscars in the past. The pair had a fun bit about not being able to do anything very well beyond hosting things. But after they complained about it, Alexa then took over and read out the nominees for Outstanding Comedy Actress. I liked it.

The winners got to go on for longer than usual, even though no one seemed to be trying to take the stage for too very long. Really, though, Alex Borstein and Phoebe Waller-Bridge could have stood up there for another 10 or 15 minutes each.

It was easy to judge the presenters' bits for themselves, rather than making arbitrary comparisons between them and however amusing the host is, which is how I usually think about things. (Maybe I'm alone there.) For instance, if the Emmys had someone absolutely nailing it as host, and then spent 90 seconds on Maya Rudolph and Ike Barinholtz mislabeling all of the nominees (except for Ted Danson) due to sight issues, I might have sighed extremely loudly. But here, I giggled loudly.

It wasn't exactly due to the lack of a host, but I rather like the bits whenever they showed what was happening behind the scenes, showing how chaotic it is in the camera room. (Especially before bringing out the chaos-friendly Kardashian sisters.) I wish TV technology was at a point where viewers had the option to watch the entire broadcast from that point of view, stress-inducing as it might be.

Host-less Emmy Moments That Didn't Work

Perhaps the most shameful (or shameless?) bit of the 2019 Emmys telecast came when The Masked Singer's Ken Jeong and Nick Cannon took the stage. Jeong offered up a watered-down version of Ellen DeGeneres' Oscar tweet moment, but via the TikTok app. It was basically a TikTok ad, and not a very well-developed one at that. Jeong shined pretty hard on Comedy Central's recent Roast of Alec Baldwin, but was a mug for hire here, while Cannon just watched from nearby.

I wasn't particularly fond of the way the voiceover announcer would list nominees for certain categories, with the celebs brought out merely to announce the winner and present the award. Who looks at Bradley Whitford and Jimmy Smits and says, "Let's pare down the amount of time these guys are on stage." Pure maniacs, that's who.

Without anyone to spearhead things, the show came out of commercials rather abruptly and awkwardly, and I wasn't always sure what was happening when I wasn't looking directly at the TV.

Final Thoughts

While it might not have been the smoothest or the most cohesive night of TV awards, the 2019 Emmys were a largely enjoyable affair. A lot of that had to do with the big wins, of course, along with the more emotional speeches. (The In Memoriam segments are always good for a few teary-eyed moments as well.) Was this year's show better than those in the most recent past?

In some ways, yes, but not in every way. Having a host around does help tie everything together, and for all that the giant screen and the set pieces helped to keep the show going forward, this year's Emmys felt arguably more scattershot than it could have been. Still, though, with the Oscars possibly remaining host-free for more than just a single run, the Emmys could continue to go with this format as well. And I'm okay with that. For now, at least. Let us know what you guys thought below!

One thing's for sure, there's a long time to wait until we know anything about next year's Emmy Awards. But a lot of the future nominations will come out of the 2019 fall TV season, which is set to kick off in earnest in the next weeks.

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The 71st Primetime Emmys got off to a great start with its intro, but when a telecast starts off with Bryan Cranston giving an incredible monologue, things can only go downhill from there. Such was the case not long after, when The Masked Singer's Ken Jeong and Nick Cannon took the stage (though without the show's latest contestant) and structured a whole bit around social media platform TikTok.

For those that don't know even after that segment, TikTok is a social media platform where users create miniature videos. More often than not, people record funny or cool memes on the platform, and Ken Jeong was hoping to do the same for his daughter where he captured the Emmys audience screaming to include within a video of her. Jeong's daughter got her wish for a cool TikTok video, perhaps, but the viewers couldn't help but poke fun at the awkward bit. That's putting it lightly in some cases.

The results are in from Twitter, and the verdict is "yikes." Ken Jeong and Nick Cannon didn't necessarily do anything wrong, but that TikTok bit just dragged on for an uncomfortable amount of time, and still felt unrehearsed. Then there came that moment in the middle where the two entertainers had to stall for time while the TikTok video was being edited for the viewers to see.

You'd think since they're on the same show, Nick Cannon and Ken Jeong could carry out an amusing conversation if need be! If nothing else, some more on-the-nose Masked Singer promos. But no. Despite Jeong and Cannon's best efforts to keep the bit going, the awkwardness of the moment lingered on long enough that the world noticed. Some even pointed out the irony in the bit's length, which was the opposite of all the things that make Tik Tok appealing.

It was an unfortunate moment in what was a surprisingly smooth run of the Emmys, running without a host this year. Ken Jeong appeared to be aware the moment was painful, and signed off towards the end by joking this presentation was the end of his career. Nick Cannon was silent, perhaps in legitimate fear that he was becoming a meme amidst this ham-fisted confusion.

The moment may not have been the end of Ken Jeong's career (he is on The Masked Singer Season 2 after all), but some joked it may just be the end of Tik Tok. Many referenced the bit as the show's sad attempt at relating to the younger crowd, and in doing so may have convinced the scores of young folks that use it the app may not be all that cool after all.

If the 71st Primetime Emmys successfully kills Tik Tok, it will certainly be one of the most memorable award shows that has aired in a while. Perhaps it'll even spark a new tradition where the Emmys always goes without a host and will annually bring out celebrities to make apps feel less fun for their users. Jokes aside, this may be a sign that maybe brands shouldn't encourage celebrities to promote their software during an award show?

And for those who may have thought the skit would've been forgotten as the night drug on, think again. No amount of awards that went out during the night were enough to make the awkwardness of the Tik Tok bit feel any less than what it was for some.

While there were plenty of people who hated the moment, surprisingly Tik Tok was on board with it. While Emmys viewers continued to make jokes at Ken Jeong's expense, Tik Tok's official account was there to give some props to the actor for doing something "cool" for his daughter and keeping their brand strong.

Hey, at least someone loved it. Others weren't just upset by the awkwardness, but kind of miffed that the segment took up so much time compared to what was allotted to other celebrities.

Was it the worst Emmys bit in existence? Far from it, probably, which may be an indicator that this year's award show may be one of the stronger ones in recent memory. After all, if the worst thing we can say at the end of the night was that Ken Jeong and Nick Cannon made things a bit uncomfortable, that's a win in my book.

2019 Emmy Awards: Full List Of Winners Updated Live

Continue to stick with CinemaBlend as the Emmys roll on at Fox for all the best moments and other big reveals. Also, we have a fall premiere guide for the upcoming television season, so be sure to check that out!

Televised singing competitions tend to follow a pretty standard formula. At the beginning, we're introduced to a bunch of hopefuls, some of them will be amazing "I can't believe this person doesn't already have a recording contract" level singers, while others will either not quite be ready for the big time yet, or they'll just be delusional about their level of talent. As the weeks wear on, the competitors will be whittled down, we'll get some live shows that force the singers to be on their game in front of millions of viewers and eventually the show will crown a winner.

Sure, there are differences in judges, expected and unexpected on-stage shenanigans, how they score the singers and the like, but, overall, we get a lot of singing mixed with the tear-jerking personal stories of those looking to break out and make their mark on the music industry. Well, if you're tired of singing competitions that do the same thing over and over, there's a new one coming up that might just get you intrigued again. Fox is bringing us The Masked Singer on January 2, and the premise of this competition is so weird that it has to be seen to be believed. Take a look:

I don't know about you, but this is so weird it just might work. OK, so first off, instead of a group of wanna be music stars trying to take their fate into their own hands by trying out for a nationally televised singing competition, The Masked Singer will have 12 already well-known stars take to the stage to sing their hearts out. The major catch, as you can plainly see, is that each of them will be covered head to toe in very elaborate costumes to conceal their identity and keep things like age, looks, popularity and the width and breadth of their careers from influencing voting.

And, can we just back track a second and talk about those costumes? Whoever is working behind the scenes to create these things is not playing around. No one went to Party City, outfitted a bunch of celebrities and then pocketed most of the cash. Oh no, just in the clip we see a wide variety of well-covered people-sized animals, aliens, elusive DJs, random critters, insects, toys and what turns out to be things that just don't occur in the real world. Thank heavens, too. I cannot imagine what would happen if someone met any of these folks in a dark alley when they were a little bit tipsy. I have a feeling there might be a few heart attacks in a situation like that. Really, just look at this:

I think we're looking at a hippo with a hat (which happens to exactly match the hippo's skin tone), who is also wearing eyeglasses, possibly with a slight tint to them and who, for some wacky reason, has one gold tooth. Who knows what's going on with the rest of this getup. As far as I'm concerned, if you lower the lights in that studio a bit (or, even without that), this is pure nightmare fuel. Who among us would not be at least momentarily terrified by a sight such as this on a cold, dark night?

But, I digress. The Masked Singer will feature 12 celebrities competing with their, hopefully, lovely voices over the course of 10 episodes. As you can see from the clip, a large part of the show is just trying to guess who is under all the costuming each week. And, the famous folk who will be competing are either not all mainly known as singers, or they have many other talents, as well. All are said to be true household names and have, between them, 65 Grammy nominations, 4 Super Bowl titles, 16 multi-Platinum albums, 4 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 16 Emmy nominations and 9 Broadway shows. So, the people who agreed to take part are no slouches when it comes to their chosen careers or competing.

Like we've seen in most singing shows, each week will have one singer getting voted off of the show. At that point, though, the guessing game will be over, because when they're told to pack their bags, they also finally take off what must be a ridiculously hot mask and reveal who they are. Prepare for everyone to be surprised, because no one, not even the other contestants, know who they're competing against. But, The Masked Singer has promised to do us all a solid as we're at home playing our guessing games, because clues to each singer's identity will be sprinkled throughout each show.

To shepherd us along each week as The Masked Singer moves along with its weirdo competition, we'll have host Nick Cannon, late of America's Got Talent, which he hosted from 2009 through 2016, and panelists Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong, Nicole Scherzinger and Jenny McCarthy. I think it's a nice touch to have two singers on the panel, in order to better evaluate the actual singing that'll be going on. But, considering the nature of this vocal competition, it's also nice to have two funny people around to give the audience prime off the cuff comments on the voices, costumes and who might be hiding under there.

In case you're wondering who came up with this nutty idea, you can credit some incredibly inventive South Koreans for creating the show for that country (where its title translates to King of Mask Singer). It first aired in February 2015, and currently has 177 episodes under its completely covered belt. The show has been such a hit, that it's already been adapted for several other countries. Shows with the same basic premise have aired in China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, with over half a billion fans around the world making various versions of the show a viral hit and leading to the upcoming American show being touted as part of a "worldwide phenomenon."

The Masked Singer will debut on Fox on Wednesday, January 2. You can keep your anticipation for this new singing competition in check by checking out our 2018 fall TV premiere guide, and seeing what else is hitting the small screen in the coming weeks.

Television has been in an era of reboots and revivals recently, but that's not to say that nothing original ever happens, and TBS has a new show in the works that is definitely something new. Former basketball great Shaquille O'Neal is teaming up with sitcom veteran Ken Jeong for an unscripted comedy on TBS. Yes, really. Here's what we know so far.

Shaq and Ken Jeong are working on a new unscripted comedy pilot, which currently has the working title of Unqualified. That title should be a giveaway that the prospective show wouldn't feature Shaq slam-dunking or Jeong doing standup every week. No, the show will follow the oddball twosome as they tackle odd jobs in each episodes.

While one might think that these two men don't have a whole lot in common, that doesn't have to be a bad thing for Unqualified. Both have found success in different areas of life, with Ken Jeong leaving his real-life gig as a medical doctor to play a doctor on television. As for Shaq, he currently provides commentary for Inside the NBA on TNT, and his shenanigans regularly deliver plenty of laughs.

Does Unscripted mean the end of Shaq's MCU ambitions? Perhaps. Still, if the pilot makes it to series, viewers can look forward to seeing him team up with Ken Jeong for a show that could be as funny as it is unexpected. The pilot will feature Shaq and Jeong working as mall rent-a-cops, substitute teachers for a kindergarten class that hopefully won't be traumatized, train conductors, and party clowns. Fingers crossed that neither goes full Pennywise for the clown gig!

In case you're wondering if Unqualified will only see the two men trying their hands at fun jobs, that won't be the case. Although Shaq and Ken Jeong will indeed give jobs that have interested them a shot, they'll also try jobs they're not so crazy about. For Shaq, could anything really be worse than the sharks he faced on Shark Week this past summer? Shaq and Jeong will be "summoned to their temporary employment by unsuspecting people via a digital portal."

Ken Jeong and Shaq will both executive produce the project as well as appear in front of the camera. If their partnership strikes you as coming out of nowhere, you're likely not a fan of TBS' Drop the Mic. The two faced off for an episode of the rap battle series, and they evidently had a good enough time doing it that they're happy to work together again. If the pilot scores a series order, they could spend a great deal of time together! Check out their rap battle:

We'll have to wait and see if Unqualified does indeed score a series order from TBS. The pilot could be just the right combination of oddball fun and celebrity hijinks to attract an audience. For some viewing options now and in the not-too-distant future, swing by our fall TV premiere schedule.

Ken Jeong is both a comedian and a doctor, but in recent years, he has spent more time making people laugh than saving lives. During his latest stand-up set, Jeong did both. The Community actor found himself in an unusual situation when a woman in Phoenix started having a seizure during his stand-up show on Saturday night. But thanks to Dr. Ken's medical background, he assisted the lady while paramedics quickly arrived on the scene.

TMZ covered the story. It was early into Ken Jeong's stand-up set over the weekend when a woman in the third row began seizing. At first, Ken Jeong reportedly believed the lady was pulling a prank on him, but the audience made it apparent that her medical emergency was no joke. As soon as Jeong realized the extreme seriousness of the situation, however, the television actor quickly departed the stage and ran to her assistance. Before he pursued a life in comedy, Dr. Ken Jeong was a practicing M.D. in the 1990s, and he used his training to good use. Jeong cleared the area, assuring that she had space, and Ken Jeong cared for her while the paramedics arrived on the scene. The doctor wasn't alone in his life-saving efforts; there was also an EMT in the audience.

Ken Jeong cared for the woman until the ambulance arrived, and sources on the scene claim that she regained consciousness under his care, was eventually stable enough to return to standing. Shortly after she was taken to the hospital, Jeong resumed the show, to a thunderous round of applause. He also reportedly addressed the unusual situation briefly in his set, saying something to the effect that he was happy to assist. We're sure this situation, while scary at the moment, will serve as good material for his future stand-up. In any case, we're happy to know that everyone was okay and that Dr. Ken Jeong was able to save the day during his stand-up set. It's not every day that you see your entertainer save someone's life in front of you.

Ken Jeong's medical background shouldn't be a surprise to his fans, as his experiences as a doctor were loosely chronicled in the ABC sitcom Dr. Ken, which he not only starred in but co-created alongside Jared Stern and John Fox. The short-lived series ran for two seasons between 2015 and 2017.

Beyond his stand-up comedy and his life-saving efforts, Ken Jeong can next be seen in Crazy Rich Asians, which comes to theaters on August 17th. He's also soon set to be seen in the dramedy Elsewhere and the adventure-comedy Departures, both of which are expected to come out later this year. Ken Jeong is also currently filming a role in Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween. Also, this recent stand-up experience isn't the first time Ken Jeong treated someone while working as a comedian. He also helped Danny Pudi on the set of Community after his co-star ate an assortment of bad things.

Fox is at it again. The network hopped on the live musical bandwagon with Grease: Live in January 2016, and they plan to keep things going with A Christmas Story Live! on December 17 at 7 p.m. For the uninitiated, A Christmas Story is a 1983 film about nine-year-old Ralphie Parker and his family and the comedic trials and tribulations they go through during a holiday season in the 1940s. Little Ralphie only wants one thing for Christmas (a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle), and he spends the film trying to convince everyone that it's the perfect gift for him while also dodging bullies, dealing with his cranky father and being comforted by his kind mother.

The movie has become a holiday classic, while Christmas and/or Christmas Eve are frequently home to all day marathons of the film. Its popularity even spawned a Broadway musical in 2012, which was nominated for three Tony Awards. This live version of the story will be based on both the film and that musical, with songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who scored the Broadway show, once again teaming up to compose new songs for A Christmas Story Live!

After announcing the three hour project in May, Fox was slow to let us in on who would be filling the show with song come December. But, now, casting information for the special is finally starting to trickle in, so read on to see who we can expect to hit the stage in a few months!

Andy Walken - Ralphie Parker

The people behind A Christmas Story Live! knew they would have to get the casting of Ralphie Parker right, as the boy they chose for the part would have to lead the production. Well, after a nationwide casting search, 11-year-old Seattle, Washington native Andy Walken has finally nabbed the role. The young actor got his first credit in 2015 with a part on NCIS, and has since been seen in Heartbeat, The Most Hated Woman in America and Escaping Dad.

Maya Rudolph - Mother Parker

As I mentioned above, Ralphie often butts heads with his cranky dad and gets tormented by bullies, but, he's got his mom on his side all the way. As the nurturing and supportive Mother Parker, Maya Rudolph will be lending her talents to A Christmas Story Live! While best known for the seven hilarious seasons she spent on Saturday Night Live from 2000 to 2007 (where her impressions of Donatella Versace and Beyonce garnered many laughs), the funny lady has appeared in many films and other TV shows over the years. Rudolph has worked her magic in 50 First Dates, Away We Go, Grown Ups, Bridesmaids and television shows The Grinder and Maya & Marty among many others.

Matthew Broderick - Adult Ralphie

Anyone who's seen the film knows that A Christmas Story has a narrator in the form of an adult Ralphie who relives the tale for our enjoyment, and for the live version that role will be taken on by star of stage and screen Matthew Broderick. In the movie, the audience never actually sees Ralphie as an adult, we only hear his voice. And, while it seems like a shame to cast someone as well known as Broderick and only have him lend his voice to the production, we don't know right now if he'll actually appear on screen for the broadcast. The Tony winner has been entertaining the masses for decades, and has starred in films such as War Games, Ladyhawke, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Lion King, The Producers (he also starred in the Broadway play) and Tower Heist.

Jane Krakowski - Miss Shields

Since Ralphie is a little boy, one person who plays a big role in his life is his teacher, Miss Shields, and for the Fox version of the musical Jane Krakowski will take on that part. Krakowski is best known for her work as the nutty Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock, but she's recently gained notice for another wild character, Jacqueline, on the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Krakowski's no stranger to singing and dancing, either, as she won a 2003 Tony award for her work in the Broadway musical Nine.

Chris Diamantopoulos - Old Man Parker

As Ralphie's dad, known in the movie only as Old Man Parker, actor Chris Diamantopoulos has signed on to fill his cantankerous shoes. Possibly best known for his recent work in the HBO hit Silicon Valley, Diamantopoulos has also appeared in Good Girls Revolt, Episodes, Hannibal, The Office, Arrested Development and 24, among many other shows. He also recently starred in the popular Broadway musical Waitress.

Ana Gasteyer - Mrs. Schwartz

Even though young Ralphie has a few bullies to contend with, he does also have a few friends to have childhood adventures with, and, lucky for those friends, they have parents. As the mother to Ralphie's friend Schwartz, SNL vet Ana Gasteyer will be taking on the role of Mrs. Schwartz. While known for her impressions of celebrities like Martha Stewart and Celine Dion, Gasteyer has gone on to appear on a wide variety of shows since her time on the sketch comedy, including Suburgatory, The Good Wife, Lady Dynamite and People of Earth. She also graced the small screen in Grease: Live! and has starred in Broadway productions of The Rocky Horror Show, The Royal Family and Wicked.

Tyler Wladis - Randy Parker

The story of Ralphie Parker just isn't complete without his infamously meatloaf-hating little brother, and for Fox's A Christmas Story Live! that part has gone to Tyler Wladis. The young actor has, so far, mostly done theater work in Syracuse, New York and Maine, so he should be great with the live aspect of the show.

JJ Batteast - Flick

Even if you've never seen the whole film of A Christmas Story, you've probably seen the most famous scene from it, and it's all thanks to Flick's poor decision. Broadway actor JJ Batteast, who appeared in Motown the Musical, will play the kid who gets his tongue stuck to a frozen flagpole in the live production.

Sacha Carlson - Skut Farcus

Remember those bullies that Ralphie and his friends come into contact with? Well, Skut is the main neighborhood bully that makes life a living hell for the kids, and the character will be played by Sacha Carlson.

Ken Jeong - Salesman and Restaurant Owner

In a slightly surprising move, actor Ken Jeong, who's best known for his comedic turns on both the big and small screens, will be playing two parts in the live production of A Christmas Story. Jeong has signed on to play both a Christmas tree salesman and a restaurant owner in the show. The doctor turned actor has made a big impression on audiences with his roles in The Hangover, Community and his own series Dr. Ken.

David Alan Grier - Santa Claus

It's not a Christmas special without Santa, and A Christmas Story Live! has nabbed The Carmichael Show's David Alan Grier to fill the fat man's fluffy red suit. Grier is a three-time Grammy and Tony nominee who made his live TV musical debut in 2015 when he played The Cowardly Lion in NBC's The Wiz Live! but he's mostly known for his comedic roles on In Living Color from 1990-2001.

Be sure to bookmark this page, as we'll be updating it as the cast of Fox's A Christmas Story Live! continues to be revealed!

One of TV's quieter and consistent hits, the ABC comedy Dr. Ken has kept audiences chuckling for almost two seasons now, and along the way, star Ken Jeong has welcomed several of his former Community co-stars to the show. It sounds like Season 2 will cap off with the weirdest cameo appearance yet, as it won't be an actor, per se, but rather Community creator Dan Harmon, and the role will be as meta as the series that spawned this reunion.

Stop me if you've heard this one. For Dr. Ken, Dan Harmon will be taking on the role of someone who has created a new TV comedy series that is set within a community college, according to Deadline. Having seen Ken do stand-up at an open mic, Harmon's character invites Ken to audition for the show, but things do not go very positively, to say the least. Guess that TV creator should CHANG his mind about approaching random comedians with job offers, amirite?

Considering Dan Harmon's temperament with the world of network TV, and the fact that he doesn't do a ton of on-screen acting, it's rather surprising that he'll be showing up on Dr. Ken. He'd seemingly be more likely to appear as a live-action distraction on Rick and Morty, which he co-created, or even to see animated Rick and Morty make cameos on Dr. Ken. But the art-imitating-life concept behind Harmon's character fits right into the Community mindset, so this is definitely the best way to make the appearance happen. As well as a solid way to close out Season 2; the episode, titled "Ken's Big Audition," is set to air on Friday, March 31.

Dr. Ken hasn't been renewed for Season 3 yet, though there hasn't been any cancellation news, either. Though the overall viewership is consistent, the comedy has a bit of a ratings issue when it comes to the key demographic, which is likely a big part of ABC's decision for the show's future. It's unlikely Community cameos will be enough to secure another year of episodes, but Dr. Ken can't stop and won't stop.

The first time Ken Jeong was joined by his former co-stars happened in Season 1 when Joel McHale and Danny Pudi added a double dose of Greendale pride. Jim Rash hopped in later to put a Dean-t in things, and even Fresh Off the Boat's Randall Park's appearance counts, since he showed up on Community twice. What's more, an upcoming non-finale Dr. Ken episode will welcome Jonathan Banks, who added his presence to the community college following his Breaking Bad stint.

It's a good time to hear about Dr. Ken news, as the series airs tonight and every other Friday night on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET. Check out our list of the best Community characters and then head to our midseason premiere schedule to see what will be premiering in the coming weeks.

By now you have probably heard the old adage "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV." It's become a fairly well known pop culture catchphrase over the years, and most of the time it pretty accurately describes typical TV doctors -- they tend to not actually know anything about real medicine. However, what you might not know is that comedian Ken Jeong is a licensed physician in real life, and he once had to use his medical expertise on his Community co-star, Danny Pudi. Jeong recently explained:

During a recent Reddit AMA session, Ken Jeong was asked to open up regarding any funny, or generally weird stories that occurred on set during his tenure on Community. He responded with the above recollection of a time in which actor Danny Pudi (who portrayed the socially stunted Abed) was dared to eat a ton of junk food on set and became overcome with heartburn. Obviously, being the consummate medical professional that he is, Dr. Ken Jeong leapt into action and treated his co-star. Pudi should've known that Tabasco, mustard, and candy don't mix very well, though.

There aren't a lot of details to jazz up this story, but we have a feeling that most doctors don't relish talking about life or death scenarios. Regardless of that fact, it's a good thing Ken Jeong was there to help Danny Pudi, with his heart burn assist the cast and crew in their mission to produce six seasons and a movie. Sadly, we have a feeling that we will be waiting for that movie for a very long time.

Of course, as some of you probably already know, Ken Jeong's career as a medical professional has actually come into play several times over the course of his career as an actor. One of his first major silver screen roles came in the 2007 comedy, Knocked Up, in the form of Dr. Kuni -- an ornery OB-GYN with a bad attitude. Following that, Jeong also has also started to headline his own sitcom (aptly titled Dr. Ken) in which tells a comical, semi-biographical account of his career as a medical professional. The guy has a knack for drawing from his own experiences.

I suppose there's really only one thing left to take away from this story: if you ever find yourself having a medical emergency (or at least some heartburn) on a film set, then you better hope Dr. Ken Jeong is a member of the cast. Make sure to catch the season premiere of Dr. Ken on Friday, September 23 at 8:30 p.m. EST on ABC. For more information concerning all of the most high anticipated fall television debuts, make sure to check out CinemaBlend's comprehensive fall premiere schedule and fill our your television viewing calendars accordingly!

Sure, Kevin Hart and Ice Cube are both big stars, but when their buddy cop comedy Ride Along opened in January of 2014, won the box office race, and became a hit, it took many people by surprise. Earning a solid $134 million domestically ($154 million worldwide) with a modest $25 million budget, the fact that a sequel, oddly enough titled Ride Along 2, is on the way surprised absolutely nobody.

But what is the movie going to be about? Where does the action go down? Who is going to be involved in front of the camera and behind? And, most importantly, will it be as much damn fun as the first movie? As the release date for Ride Along 2 quickly creeps up on us, as we do with many major releases, we’ve compiled everything we know about the film thus far in one convenient place. So take a moment to peruse our collection of all the information we have about Ride Along 2. And you might as well star off by checking out the trailer.

Now here's everything you could possibly want to know about Ride Along 2. Enjoy!

The Director

Director Tim Story is no stranger to big movies and has all of the tools you’d want from someone at the helm a film like Ride Alone 2. He’s guided big studio superhero blockbusters, like 2004’s Fantastic Four, as well as the follow up, 2007’s Rise of the Silver Surfer. With that experience he should have a nice grasp of the action side of the equation, and with experience directing the likes of Barbershop (which stars Ice Cube), Think Like A Man (which stars Kevin Hart), and the Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah team up Taxi, he has ample experience on the comedy side, too.

Then there’s the fact that Tim Story directed Ride Along, and if you’re trying to replicate the success of the first movie, who better to have at the reins of the second? Not only is he intimately familiar with the material, he already has a grasp of the story, the characters, their motivations, what drives them, and the comedic timing and dynamic between the two leads. He’s in a perfect position to balance Hart’s manic comedy with Ice Cube’s pitch perfect straight man. In short, there’s no one else to have sitting in the big chair for Ride Along 2 than Tim Story, and fans of the first film should rest comfortable at night knowing the sequel is in good hands.

The Story

Ride Along follows Ben Barber (Kevin Hart), a fast-talking, video game-obsessed security guard who wants to become a cop. Ben also wants to marry his girlfriend, Angela (Tika Sumpter), but her brother, the hard-nosed, plays-by-his-own-rules detective, James (Ice Cube), doesn’t approve and tries to scare off his brother by taking him on the most hellish ride along he can concoct. This, of course, turns into harrowing series of criminal encounters, shootouts, and hostage scenarios through the streets of Atlanta, where Ben ultimately earns James’ begrudging respect and approval, and proves his worth to everyone.

Ride Along 2 picks up a few years later. After graduating from the police academy, Ben is now a full-fledged Atlanta cop (god help the residents of the Peach Tree State). But not too much has changed, as he still annoys the hell out of his future brother in law. Though his marriage is imminent, he and James are sent on an important mission to Miami, and the Atlanta environs are swapped out for the tropical paradise of South Florida. Ben and James have to venture to the Sunshine State; team up with the Miami Police Department and a smart, gorgeous detective, Maya Cruz (Olivia Munn); and work a case against a new drug supplier named Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt). Ben still needs to prove himself to James and his superiors, keep himself safe, and get back to Atlanta in time to marry his girl. There promises to be fast cars, tense situations, and Ben fucking it all up for everyone and just maybe saving the day.

Kevin Hart

If it feels like you can’t throw a rock without hitting Kevin Hart over the last few years, you’re not far off. In addition to hit movies like Ride Along and Think Like a Man, the 36-year-old comedian has been everywhere, showing up on TV and on the big screen, and in numerous stand-up comedy specials. Earlier this year, he teamed up with Will Ferrell for the prison comedy Get Hard, and he has become an in-demand host for big awards ceremonies, guiding the likes of the BET Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards - which he hopes will lead to bigger things as an emcee, like hosting the Oscars or Emmys.

And Kevin Hart is definitely not going away anytime soon. His standup career is booming, and he has a number of high-profile movies on the way that will only serve to raise his standing as a movie star. In addition to Ride Along 2, he is also teaming up with everyone’s favorite beefy action star, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in next year’s action comedy Central Intelligence. So, I hope you’re a fan, because Hart is going to continue to be everywhere for the foreseeable future.

Ice Cube

After beginning his career as a member of the seminal hip hop group, N.W.A., who had their story told earlier this year in the biopic Straight Outta Compton, where he was played by his own son, Ice Cube has become perhaps one of the most unlikely of movie stars. He started with dramatic roles, like in John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood, Trespass, and Higher Learning, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination, but he then showed that he has lyrical, dramatic, and comedy chops in the Friday films.

Though he has such a natural presence and continues to play the badass so well in dramatic and action movies, and has starred in more adult-oriented comedies, somehow Ice Cube managed to become a huge success in family friendly movies like the Are We There Yet? franchise, among others. This softer side is a definite change from his days spinning stories of street life with N.W.A., though he still finds time to get in the studio and releases new tracks from time to time, when he can fit it into his busy acting, producing, writing, and directing schedule.

Olivia Munn

Though Olivia Munn started out her acting career in low-budget horror flicks and small gigs in movie few people remember, it was her stint as the co-host of geek culture series Attack of the Show that started her ascent. And that ascent has taken a sharp upturn lately with roles in the likes of Magic Mike, The Newsroom, and more. Oh yeah, she’s also going to play the first big screen version of the mutant Psylocke in next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse, which is sure to be a boon to her career.

We don’t know a ton about Munn's role in Ride Along 2, but it sounds like it will be a fairly sizeable part. She plays Maya Cruz, a detective with the Miami Police Department who teams with Ben and James to take down the big baddie. Given Munn’s penchant for comedy, as well as her ass kicking abilities (if you’ve seen those videos of her practicing her Psylocke moves, you know what we’re talking about), we hope to see both on full display.

Ken Jeong

You probably know Ken Jeong best as the little naked guy who jumps out of the trunk and latches onto Bradley Cooper in The Hangover, as the batshit-crazy disgraced Spanish teacher Ben Chang in the recently ended sitcom Community - or some similarly outlandish role that have been his bread and butter in recent years. But you know what? He’s also a freaking doctor. That’s right, he’s licensed to practice medicine in the great state of California, and you’ve seen his wiener. Jeong plays up this fact—that he’s a doctor, not that millions of movie fans have seen his penis — in his new ABC sitcom Dr. Ken, where he plays, you guessed it, a doctor.

When Ride Along 2 pulls up to the theater, you’ll see Jeong play a character named A.J. We don’t know much about him at this point, but considering we see him riding in the back of a police car with Ben and James, it looks like he plays some sort of criminal who shows up to provide some of the actor’s trademark comic relief. Perhaps he’s a snitch or informant who leads them to the big bad drug dealer, or an undercover officer working the case from the inside. One interesting fact is that there is another actor credited as A.J. on IMDb, a young kid named Andrew Ortega, so we have to wonder what that means. Maybe A.J. has some long-standing connection to one of the lead cops.

Benjamin Bratt

Veteran actor Benjamin Bratt has the unique ability to be funny, charming, and chilling, which are all skills that will likely come in handy in a movie like Ride Along 2. He plays Antonio Pope, the big drug dealer out of Miami that Ben, James, and the rest of the law enforcement officers try to take down. You don’t get to be a kingpin without being vicious, so you know there will be scenes where Bratt strikes fear into the heart of his underlings, but he also appears to be a smooth operator, and there will be ample opportunities for laughs facing off against Kevin Hart and Ice Cube.

Over the course of his long career, Bratt has played cops and criminals, gangsters and federal agents, and even lent his voice to a number of animated projects, like Despicable Me and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. He also got to play a superhero, at least vocally, lending his voice to Superman in some recent Justice League animated movies.

Tyrese Gibson

With his recurring role as Roman Pearce, the fast-talking comedy relief of the blockbuster Fast and Furious franchise, former model Tyrese Gibson has now fully left the world of fashion behind for a burgeoning career on the big screen. Starting with guest spots on TV shows like Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper and Martin, he’s gone on to lead dramas like Baby Boy and Waist Deep. These days he can be seen in all manner of high-octane action flicks, like several installments of the profitable Transformers series, Death Race, and more. Over the years, he’s also maintained a music career, belting out sweet and smooth R&B jams on a number of albums that, while maybe not the biggest sellers, definitely have a solid audience. If that’s not enough, he also wrote a best-selling book in 2012 called How To Get Out Of Your Own Way. And who knows, maybe one day he’ll get to live out his dream of playing Green Lantern.

In Ride Along 2, Tyrese plays D.J., and while we don’t know the precise nature of his character, from what we’ve seen in the trailers, my guess is that he’s a cop. We see him and James in a scene that could be straight out of a Fast and Furious movie, where a bunch of street racers gather to party, hang out, and drive much faster than the speed limit. They appear to be in the midst of some sort of undercover sting, which Ben, true to form, interjects himself into with disastrous results.

The Release Date

In the movie industry, the early part of the year, January and February, is usually regarded as a dead zone, a place where studios dump movies that didn’t come together quite like they hoped or that just plain suck. To some degree, that’s changed over the last few years, thanks in part of the likes of American Sniper, which was a massive hit after going wide in January (though it, admittedly, did premiere before the end of the year for awards season contention). Part of this is likely due to the limited amount of theatrical real estate—there are only so many weekends in a year—and studios have had to test their luck. For instance, the upcoming Power Rangers movie is slated for a January bow.

Ride Alone is one of those movies that found success in this time period, and attempting to replicate the windfall of its predecessor, Ride Along 2 opens on January 15, 2016. With an audience that already exists and that is hungry for more, this could be a nice bit of counter programming. Moviegoers may very well be in the mood for some comedy fun after a long season of blockbusters like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Hunger Games, and weighty awards bait. We’ll have to wait and see.

The fall TV landscape can be a vicious beast. When new shows premiere each year, they face the double whammy of having to entice audiences and the critics, the latter of whom can sometimes be loud in their approval or disapproval of projects. Recently, Ken Jeong, the lead of ABC’s new sitcom Dr. Ken, had some pretty strong things to say to critic Christian Fan, who called the actor's comedy “yellowface.”

The comedian had a few choice things to say to the blogger and critic on social media, also noting that Fan was invited to a special event and that he was treated more respectably than he managed to give back. It’s no wonder he’s upset. The comments the critic made were of a pretty personal nature. He wasn’t just attacking Dr. Ken. Instead he was attacking the comedy persona Ken Jeong has cultivated.

The responses related to a blog post that Fan wrote for the Center for Asian American Media that was harsh on Ken Jeong’s abilities. As the first tweet noted, he actually called Jeong’s comedy “yellowface buffoonery.”

While the critic did note he laughed while on Dr. Ken’s set, it’s hard to get past the paragraph that totally says Ken Jeong is doing yellowface. Honestly, shows earn bad reviews all the time. Actors and actresses are sometimes seen as dull or unfit for a particular role. However, taking that a step further and slurring a person’s comedy just because it didn’t come across as well as it maybe could have is just needlessly turning the knife.

It’s part of being a performer to accept criticism when it comes, but obviously there are limits to what actors and actresses are willing to take. If you would like to see what Ken Jeong brings to the table on his new sitcom, you can catch Dr. Ken on Friday, October 2 at 8:30 p.m. ET. In addition, you can find out when the rest of your fall favorites are returning with our fall TV premiere schedule.

Six seasons and a movie! So goes the refrain of fans of the embattled, formerly NBC sitcom Community. It took some doing, but the saga of the misfit students of Greendale Community College did in fact get a sixth season, and star Ken Jeong has hopes for not only a movie, but another year as well.

Jeong is working on Dr. Ken for ABC, a comedy series that he both stars in and executive produces, but talking to Variety, there’s no question that he is up for more Community, producers just need to call and he’ll be there. They caught up with him as he was leaving for the day and he said:

While his enthusiasm is definitely welcome news for fans, his words aren’t exactly the most encouraging things you’ve ever heard. Sure, Jeong would sign on in a second given the chance, and from what we’ve heard, so would many of the other key cast members—at least the one that haven’t already jumped ship—but though it is bound to be a topic of conversation, the wheels don’t appear to have started rolling in any real capacity.

Then again, Community is a show that has battled through all obstacles and come back from the dead before. Despite a rabid and almost immediate cult following, it was on the verge of being cancelled numerous times. NBC and creator and showrunner Dan Harmon split, leading to the much-maligned season 4, and though he returned for season 5, that year got a limited number of episodes. Along the way, core members of the cast, including Chevy Chase and Donald Glover, left the series, and the show was cancelled. However, Yahoo ultimately came to the rescue, and a web only season 6 recently wrapped up its run.

Though Community may be the little show that could, we’ll have to wait and see if it has a future, either more episodes or an actual movie. However it shakes out, if there is more in store, you can bet Ken Jeong and his Ben Chang will be there. He’ll be knocking on doors, and as he says, "There’s always room for a little Chang in anything."

Ken Jeong’s uproarious performance as Mr. Chow in The Hangover was off-the-walls, batshit crazy, and also one of the most life changing roles of his career. But the reason he accepted the part is particularly moving. The 45-year-old comedian recently revealed that the only reason he joined the Hangover crew was by the urging of his wife, who wanted to get his mind off her breast cancer diagnosis.

Jeong is one of the subjects of a new PBS documentary series, called Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies. In it he shared the emotionally charged story of how he came to play one of the most ridiculously over-the-top characters of cinema. Though it was a small role back in the 2009 film, Mr. Chow provided most of the more memorable moments. As quoted by The Korea Times, Jeong said he wasn’t going to accept the part, even though it was offered to him. However, his wife, Tran, encouraged him to do it. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer, leaving Jeong to care for her and their 1-year-old twins as she underwent chemo. "She thought I was suffering from caregiver burnout," he said, which was the push he needed to take on the film.

Jeong channeled his rage towards his wife’s condition into his performance, and it paid off handsomely. In 2010, Jeong’s psychotic antics earned him an MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment, specifically the scene in which he leaps out of a trunk butt naked and lands on Bradley Cooper’s face. While fans were expecting more laughs during the comedian’s acceptance speech, they were moved by his words in support of his wife.

Speaking with MTV News directly after his acceptance speech, he explained that he wanted to take that time on stage to both raise awareness and praise his director Todd Phillips and his co-star Cooper. As he said, they were the only two people outside of his family who knew at the time, and they were both extremely supportive of Jeong on the set.

Tran has been cancer free for the past six years, but Jeong continues to fight the good fight. Since his MTV Movie Awards speech, he’s been volunteering for the organization Stand Up To Cancer that includes promoting the PBS doc. Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies was filmed by Barak Goodman and Ken Burns and will air on the network on March 30, 31 and April 1.

Ken Jeong, better-known as Señor Chang these days, is back at it. He was among those who disappeared into the small screen ether, along with the rest of his Community co-stars, when the comedy show was cancelled, only to later be picked up on Yahoo Screen. While we will no longer see him on NBC, he has just been given another chance at network television with the recent greenlight for his ABC comedy pilot Dr. Ken.

The old saying goes that “art imitates life and life imitates art,” but nobody has really defined where the medical profession fits into the mix with the famous quote, until now. Jeong, a former general practitioner, has been given the go-ahead with Dr. Ken, where, according to Variety, he will play a frustrated HMO doctor trying to balance his work, marriage and children, but isn't doing very well with any of them. Jeong will not only star in the hopeful series, he will also write and co-executive produce the Sony Television and ABC Studios pilot, along with Jared Stern (The Internship) and Mike O'Connell.

As funny as Ken Jeong M.D. may sound for a television show, it actually really does have roots in reality. Before Jeong made it in Hollywood, he was indeed a medical doctor. A “doctor by day, comedian by night,” so to speak. Jeong talked about it in a segment with NPR in April of 2014.

It is not a question of whether Jeong is hilarious or not, it is a matter of whether his style of comedy speaks to the individual. His blossoming career, with new gigs always appearing in his path, is proof he has been connecting with a growing audience. He first caught people's attention in Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, the film he credits for opening the door to his role as Mr. Chow in Todd Phillips' The Hangover (which ultimately changed his life overnight). You may not remember him in the former, but I argue there is no way anyone could have come out of the latter without noticing him.

There's no word as of yet as to when we'll get word on Dr. Ken's future on ABC, but in the meantime, you can catch Jeong in the upcoming 13-episode Season 6 of Community, premiering on March 17 on Yahoo Screen.

A recent binge-watch of The Office brought to light several great appearances by actors who were either lesser known, or at the very least, on the rise to screen success when they first appeared on the NBC series. In fact, we found ten actors whose paths crossed with the Dunder Mifflin staff before they hit bigger fame with other roles.

To be clear, these aren't guest appearances. With more than 200 episodes aired before The Office wrapped up, the series has seen some great guest spots and cameos in its time. However, this list focuses on actors you may not have recognized at the time of their appearance, but are much better known today.

Amy Adams

Appearance: Season 1, Episode 6 (finale) - "Hot Girl" (first appearance. 2 additional appearances in Season 2)

Role: Katy

With three appearances in The Office, including the titular role in the Season 1 finale, not to mention girlfriend status to one Jim Halpert, there's a good chance you did know Amy Adams was in The Office. But considering her steep rise to fame -- including five Oscar nominations, four of which she earned after her Office appearances -- there's no doubt that Adams deserves a spot on this list. The American Hustle star entered The Office as a purse peddling "hot girl" and exited as Jim's discarded flame during "Booze Cruise."

Kevin McHale

Appearance: Season 4, Episode 6 - "Launch Party"

Role: Delivery Kid

Kevin McHale didn't have a ton of roles before taking on the part of Arty in Fox's Glee, but one of his early small screen appearances was The Office, in which he played a smartass pizza delivery guy from Pizza by Alfredo (where pizza is like a "hot circle of garbage," according to Dunder Mifflin's Kevin Malone). With shaggy hair and an attitude that was about one part stoner and two parts sarcastic, bored, obnoxious teenager, McHale's character allowed himself to be kidnapped by Michael while the pizza problem was sorted out (or eventually dropped).

Wendi McLendon-Covey

Appearance: Season 5, Episode 8 - "Business Trip"

Role: Concierge Marie

Ok, technically McLendon Covey had Reno 911! under her belt by the time she made her one memorable Office appearance, but this was pre-Bridesmaids and pre-Goldbergs, both of which have brought her more of the acclaim she deserves. In The Office, she played the Canadian hotel concierge Marie, who helped Michael find some night-life during his business trip, and then showed him a bit of one-on-one night-life... after which she promptly booted him out of her room.

Evan Peters

Appearance: Season 7, Episode 1 - "Nepotism"

Role: Luke Cooper, Michael's nephew

While building his resume with a role in Kick-Ass, and just a year shy of appearing in the first season of American Horror Story, Evan Peters dropped in at The Office to play Michael's bratty nephew Luke, who was hired on as the worst office assistant ever. You may not remember his attitude, or the fact that he brought people the wrong coffee, but you might remember Michael spanking him in front of everyone before Luke eventually took off, never to be seen again. For reference, Luke's favorite movies were Citizen Kane and Boondocks Saints.

Anna Camp

Appearance: Season 6, Episode 4/5 - Niagara

Role: Penny Beesly

Right around the time she was making us laugh and roll our eyes with her performance as the cheerful, vampire-loathing Sarah Newlin in True Blood, Anna Camp dropped in on a very special double-episode of The Office to play Pam's sister and bridesmaid Penny for the big Beesly-Halpert Niagara Falls wedding extravaganza. The Pitch Perfect star's sense of humor was demonstrated best with the dance moves we saw her showing off on her way down the aisle.

Ken Jeong

Appearance: Season 2, Episode 9 - "E-Mail Surveillance"

Role: Bill, an improv guy

Earlier in his career, before making appearances in Knocked Up, Role Models and eventually, The Hangover, Ken Jeong appeared in The Office as Bill, one of the guys in Michael's improv group. Michael often imagined himself as a detective, but during improv, he was more of a villain, as he continuously pulled an invisible gun on his improv partner. Ken Jeong's Bill was one of his victims, and he was also the one who got to deliver the awkward excuse to Michael when the rest of the improv group went out for drinks after and Michael wasn't invited.

Melissa Rauch

Appearance: Season 6, Episode 2

Role: Cathy Duke, Pam's hospital roommate

Melissa Rauch was already playing Bernadette in The Big Bang Theory when she made her brief appearance on The Office in 2010. Introduced as Cathy, Rauch was wheeled into Pam's hospital room to take the second bed while Jim and Pam settled in as new parents. Rauch's character barely speaks in the episode, but may be most memorable for being the mother of the baby Pam accidentally breast fed late at night, when she was half asleep and thought Cathy's infant was hers. Whoops.

Kyle Bornheimer

Appearance: Season 4, Episode 9 - "Local Ad"

Role: Ad company representative.

Prior to starring roles in a few TV comedies -- Perfect Couples, Romantically Challenged, Worst Week and more recently, Family Tools -- Kyle Bornheimer visited Dunder Mifflin as one of two ad company reps who had the misfortune of being tasked with getting Michael to come up with a creative way to close out the branch's local TV ad. Michael insulted his work and tried to make a bigger task out of the ordeal than necessary, which nearly caused Bornheimer's character to walk, but the ad eventually did get made and we never saw the ad guy again.

Yvette Nicole Brown

Appearance: Season 3, Episode 4 - "The Return"

Role: Paris, Staples Employee

Before she was Shirley Bennett in Community, Yvette Nicole Brown appeared in The Office as Paris, Dwight's new co-worker at Staples, where he took up employment temporarily after a minor scandal at Dunder Mifflin. Brown's character attempted to make smalltalk with Dwight in the Staples break room, but after a very brief, very Dwight conversation, she decided that she didn't like him, his giant head, or his beady little eyes. "That's all I got to say on the matter."

David Mazouz

Appearance: Season 8, Episode 5 - "Spooked"

Role: Bert California, son of James Spader's Robert California

If you've been watching Gotham, you know David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne. Mazouz also played Kiefer Sutherland's son in Touch. In The Office, he's the son of James Spader's boss character Robert California. Mazouz's Bert visits Dunder-Mifflin with his dad on Halloween, and spends much of the episode bonding with Dwight, who eventually convinces Bert to fire Toby as revenge for Toby clipping Dwight's (costume) wings. Seeing Mazouz play James Spader's son with Gotham and Avengers: Age of Ultron in mind conjures some weird ideas about a DC/Marvel mashed up universe where Bruce Wayne is Ultron's son... and also a zombie.

Quick! Think of the sleaziest, most unseemly way to make money possible. I haven’t the slightest idea what filth you thought of, but I can tell you Ken Jeong’s answer: murdering a celebrity in order to win a death pool.

It’s a scheme just crazy enough to work, and it’s the premise of a new comedy The Hangover star just boarded. Currently titled Untitled Celebrity Death Pool, the flick will follow a sleazy nightclub owner, obviously played by Ken Jeong, who falls deeply in debt to a loan shark. Naturally, his solution is to bet big on David Hasselhoff in the title death pool, then set off to California on a mad quest to murder the ex-Baywatch star.

You might think this premise would strike David Hasselhoff himself as pretty offensive, but he’s completely on board, both figuratively and literally. He’s given his stamp of approval by officially joining the cast as a fictionalized version of himself who may or may not be murdered.

In addition to Hasselhoff, Hulk Hogan has also boarded as another celebrity who may or may not get murdered. More celebrities are also in talks according to Variety, though none have been brave enough to officially sign on the dotted line. Something tells me the B-list will soon come flocking, however. Nothing says fun like a paycheck and a chance to remind the world you still exist.

The flick was written by Peter Hoare and is being helmed by Darren Grant. If that names sounds familiar, it’s because he’s responsible for Diary Of A Mad Black Woman, which is not the worst film ever released by any measure. The pic will be co-financed by WWE Studios and Hyde Park Entertainment, which is not nearly as bad as it sounds.

WWE Studios is way more legitimate than you think. The studio has had its hand in flicks like The Rundown and The Call, the latter of which was way better than it should have been. Moving forward, an upcoming Vince Vaughn flick is on the docket, as well as a few others that have real breakout potential.

We’ll keep you updated on Untitled Celebrity Death Pool once more celebrities start boarding. Until then, I’ll fantasize about a dream cast that involves Dustin Diamond, Donny Most and William Daniels.