Two Strikes, Two Ballsy Moves By Organized Labor
SAG-AFTRA has joined the WGA in defying the greedy show business C-Suites
We’re almost a dozen years removed Occupy Wall Street, eight years from the start of Bernie Sanders’s first presidential campaign, and three years from discovering in the pandemic just how immoral we’ve been as Americans tying health coverage to employment and still making health-care too expensive for too many of us.
Earlier this week, the actors union — SAG-AFTRA — joined the Writers Guild in going on strike, failing to reach a new contract from the producers of the AMPTP.
But it’s not just about my friends who write or act, or just about everyone else who works in show business (I’ve spoken to plenty of people who wish IATSE had gone on strike in 2021). It’s about my friends in comedy and music getting stiffed thanks to digital music streamers like Spotify. It’s about the workers at Amazon and Starbucks. It’s about the Uber and Lyft drivers. It’s about teachers and nurses. In NYC, we almost had a huge hospital strike earlier this year. This weekend, my own representative, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, met with the Teamsters as hundreds of thousands of UPS workers may strike come August.
AOC shouted out Franchesca Ramsey on her IG Stories, too, for anyone interested in learning more about the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
We all know how many millions Bob Iger and David Zaslav and the other C-Suite executives in show business are raking in — and now we know how offensive that hoarding looks when 87 percent of SAG-AFTRA’s members earn less than the $26,470 required in a year to receive health insurance through the union.
We’re all victims because this latest stage of capitalism rewards profits over people.
And it’s been going on for longer than we’d like to admit.
Rogue One resurrected the late Carrie Fisher and Peter Cushing through digital trickery in 2016, seven years before the AMPTP’s “groundbreaking” AI proposal to turn virtually all actors into day players, recording their likenesses and voices to reuse in perpetuity however they like without having to pay for it ever again.
Cristela Alonzo shared how ABC mistreated her when she scored a sitcom in 2014.
Michael Royce explained the vast disparity between residuals actors and writers receive from broadcast or cable TV (under old contracts) vs. streaming platforms (not covered under the contract), through one episode he co-wrote of the One Day At A Time revival, which debuted on Netflix, moved to POP in season four, and then also aired on CBS due to pandemic programming shortages.
“For the Pop showings I got (lower) cable residuals, but the CBS repeat paid me half the network residual (exactly what it should be for a co-written episode),” Royce wrote on Twitter today. “...that one CBS repeat of one episode of ODAAT paid me roughly the same as I've been paid IN TOTAL for one episode of ODAAT streaming on Netflix 24/7 for the last 4-6 YEARS. In other words, 1 network repeat residual = 5 years of streaming residuals This is why we're on strike”
“It's easy to get mad at Ted Sarandos or David Zaslav or Bob Iger, but they get paid so much because their only job is to make rich people richer. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA aren't fighting against rich CEOs. They're fighting against an entire system incentivized to exploit workers,” comedy writer Nick Jack Pappas wrote on Twitter on Friday. “The wealthiest 1% hold 53% of ALL stocks. The top 10% hold 88.6% of ALL stocks. Every dollar these media companies don't give to a writer or actor, they hand to millionaires and billionaires. When you say actors and writers are spoiled, you're on the wrong side of history.”
, former head writer of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, wrote eloquently and passionately about the matter on his Substack, :If you’d like to help the entertainment workers impacted by these strikes, you can donate to any of these funds listed by WGA strike captain Olga Lexell.
2023 Emmy Nominations: Comedy Thoughts
The Television Academy announced this year’s Emmy nominees, just hours before the deadline passed for the producers to negotiate a new contract with the actors, which obviously made the news a bit more bittersweet and poignant at the same time, reminding us what we loved on TV and why we loved it. Here are some of the highlights for comedians and comedy fans…
Best Animated Program: Not sure what the Netflix movie, Entergalactic, is doing in the same category as episodes from Bob’s Burgers, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, Rick and Morty, and The Simpsons, but it’s not the only odd decision this year.
Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series: Abbott Elementary (ABC • Wendy O'Brien, Chris Gehrt); The Bear (FX • Jeanie Bacharach, Jennifer Rudnicke, Mickie Paskal, AJ Links); Jury Duty (Amazon Freevee • Susie Farris); Only Murders In The Building (Hulu • Bernard Telsey, Tiffany Canfield, Destiny Lilly); Ted Lasso (Apple TV+ • Theo Park)
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series: Bill Hader picked up a nod for the final season of Barry (he was nominated in each of his show’s four seasons), this time up against Christopher Storer for The Beef, Amy Sherman-Palladino for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Mary Lou Belli for The Ms. Pat Show, Declan Lowner for Ted Lasso, and Tim Burton for Wednesday.
Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special: Two stand-up specials made the cut in this category, with Joel Gallen (Chris Rock: Selective Outrage) and Linda Mendoza (Wanda Sykes: I’m An Entertainer) nominated.
Al Yankovic has received his first two Emmy nominations, making the cut for both Outstanding Original Music & Lyrics (“Now You Know”) as well as Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or Movie for his own biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on Roku.
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series: Past winners and SNL alums Bill Hader (Barry) and Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) go up against Jason Segal (Shrinking), Martin Short (Only Murders In The Building) and Jeremy Allen White (The Bear).
In the Drama Series lead acting category: Bob Odenkirk has a shot for his final season of Better Call Saul, especially if the three Succession actors split the vote, which would be very Succession-like.
Kumail Nanjiani is up for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series of Movie for Welcome to Chippendales (he previously scored a nomination for guest actor in a drama for The Twilight Zone). Ali Wong is likewise up for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series of Movie for Beef (she also has a nod int the voice-over category for Tuca & Bertie, and had a nomination last year for writing her Netflix special, Don Wong).
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series: Christina Applegate (Dead To Me); Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel); Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary); Natasha Lyonne (Poker Face) Jenna Ortega (Wednesday).
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series: Two actors from Barry (Anthony Carrigan and Henry Winkler), two actors from Ted Lasso (Phil Dunster and Brett Goldstein) one each from The Bear (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Abbott Elementary (Tyler James Williams), all up against James Marsden as himself in Jury Duty. Kinda wild not to see Harrison Ford here since his Shrinking co-stars received nods.
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series: Two actresses each from Abbott Elementary (Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph), two from Ted Lasso (Juno Temple and Hannah Waddington), Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Ayo Edebiri (The Bear); and Jessica Williams (Shrinking).
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series: Jon Bernthal (The Bear); Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel); Nathan Lane (Only Murders In The Building); Pedro Pascal (Saturday Night Live); Oliver Platt (The Bear); Sam Richardson (Ted Lasso)
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series: Becky Ann Baker (Ted Lasso); Quinta Brunson (SNL); Taraji P. Henson (Abbott Elementary); Judith Light (Poker Face); Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso); Harriet Walter (Ted Lasso)
Outstanding Actor In A Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series sees a face-off among Kevin Hart, Ben Schwartz (both for Roku’s Die Hart 2: Die Harter) or Tim Robinson!
Outstanding Actress In A Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series finds Die Hart 2’s Nathalie Emmanuel and Paula Pell alongside Jasmine Guy (Chronicles of Jessica Wu)
Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance: Julie Andrews (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story); Alex Borstein (Family Guy); Mel Brooks (History Of The World, Part II); Maya Rudolph (Big Mouth); Wanda Sykes (Crank Yankers); Ali Wong (Tuca & Bertie)
Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Competition Program: Nicole Byer (Nailed It!), Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph (Baking It), Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness (Queer Eye), Padma Lakshmi (Top Chef), RuPaul (RuPaul's Drag Race)
Outstanding Game Show Host sees Jeopardy!’s Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings vs. Family Feud’s Steve Harvey, Password’s Keke Palmer, Wheel Of Fortune’s Pat Sajak
Outstanding Comedy Series: Abbott Elementary, The Bear, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Only Murders In The Building, Ted Lasso, Wednesday
Outstanding Television Movie includes actual movie movies now? Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas, Fire Island, Hocus Pocus 2, Prey, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Outstanding Talk Series, redefined more narrowly to bump Last Week Tonight into Scripted Variety: The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Problem With Jon Stewart
Outstanding Scripted Variety Series: A Black Lady Sketch Show, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Variety Special (Live): Chris Rock’s first Netflix live special made the cut, up against The Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show Starring Rihanna, Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium, The Oscars, and the 75th Annual Tony Awards
Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded): As I predicted, big names only here… Carol Burnett: 90 Years Of Laughter + Love, John Mulaney: Baby J, Lizzo: Live In Concert, Norman Lear: 100 Years Of Music & Laughter, Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would, Wanda Sykes: I’m An Entertainer
Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama Or Variety Series: Awkwafina Is Hangin’ With Grandma, Better Call Saul Filmmaker Training, Carpool Karaoke: The Series, I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson, Only Murders In The Building: One Killer Question
United Shades Of America With W. Kamau Bell is up against My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman And Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Obama/Oprah, Stanley Tucci in Italy and Padma Lakshmi’s Taste the Nation for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series Or Special
Game Show finds Jimmy Fallon’s That’s My Jam in the mix — alongside mainstays Family Feud, Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right
And last but not least, the writing categories…
Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series:
Barry • Bill Hader
The Bear • Christopher Storer
Jury Duty • Mekki Leeper
Only Murders In The Building • John Hoffman, Matteo Borghese, Rob Turbovsky
The Other Two • Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider
Ted Lasso • Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Jason Sudeikis
Outstanding Writing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie
BEEF • Lee Sung Jin
Fire Island • Joel Kim Booster
Fleishman Is In Trouble • Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Prey • Patrick Aison, Dan Trachtenberg
Swarm • Janine Nabers, Donald Glover
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story • Al Yankovic, Eric Appel
Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah • Head Writer Dan Amira, Lauren Sarver Means, Daniel Radosh, David Angelo, Nicole Conlan, Devin Delliquanti, Zach DiLanzo, Jennifer Flanz, Jason Gilbert, Josh Johnson, David Kibuuka, Matt Koff, Trevor Noah, Joseph Opio, Randall Otis, Zhubin Parang, Kat Radley, Scott Sherman, Ashton Womack
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver • Daniel O'Brien, Owen Parsons, Charlie Redd, Joanna Rothkopf, Seena Vali, Johnathan Appel, Ali Barthwell, Tim Carvell, Liz Hynes, Ryan Ken, Mark Kramer, Sofia Manfredi, John Oliver, Taylor Kay Phillips, Chrissy Shackelford
Late Night With Seth Meyers • Head Writer Alex Baze, Seth Reiss, Mike Scollins, Sal Gentile, Jermaine Affonso, Karen Chee, Bryan Donaldson, Matt Goldich, Dina Gusovsky, Jenny Hagel, Allison Hord, Mike Karnell, John Lutz, Seth Meyers, Ian Morgan, Amber Ruffin, Mike Shoemaker, Ben Warheit, Jeff Wright
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert • Head Writers Ariel Dumas and Jay Katsir, Delmonte Bent, Michael Brumm, Aaron Cohen, Stephen T. Colbert, Paul Dinello, Glenn Eichler, Gabe Gronli, Barry Julien, Michael Cruz Kayne, Eliana Kwartler, Matt Lappin, Caroline Lazar, Pratima Mani, Felipe Torres Medina, Opus Moreschi, Carley Moseley, Asher Perlman, Tom Purcell, Kate Sidley, Brian Stack, John Thibodeaux, Steve Waltien
Saturday Night Live • Head Writers Alison Gates, Streeter Seidell, and Kent Sublette, Gary Richardson, Will Stephen, Celeste Yim, Bryan Tucker, Rosebud Baker, Dan Bulla, Michael Che, Mike DiCenzo, Alex English, Jimmy Fowlie, Martin Herlihy, John Higgins, Steve Higgins, Vannessa Jackson, Colin Jost, Erik Kenward, Ben Marshall, Lorne Michaels, Jake Nordwind, Ceara O'Sullivan, Clare O'Kane, Ben Silva, Asha Ward, Auguste White, Pete Schultz (Weekend Update Head Writer), Megan Callahan-Shah, Dennis McNicholas, Josh Patten, KC Shornima
Outstanding Writing For A Variety Special: One pleasant surprise here, as Kate Berlant, Andrew DeYoung and John Early earned nods in this category for their Peacock sketch special, Would It Kill You To Laugh? Starring Kate Berlant & John Early (which was on my 2022 Top 10 list). They’re up against Carol Burnett: 90 Years Of Laughter + Love (written by Jon Macks and Carol Leifer) Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, John Mulaney: Baby J, Wanda Sykes: I’m An Entertainer
R.I.P. Daniel Goldberg
Writer/producer Daniel Goldberg, a longtime collaborator of Ivan Reitman, died on Wednesday at age 74. Goldberg co-wrote the scripts for Meatballs and Stripes, and produced on Junior, Beethoven, The Late Shift, Space Jam, Private Parts, Road Trip, Old School, School for Scoundrels, Due Date, and The Hangover trilogy.
Industry News and Notes
The New York Comedy Festival announced their headliners for the 2023 edition (the first without a proper Carolines on Broadway brick-and-mortar location), running Nov. 3-12. General ticket sales start on Monday via Ticketmaster.
FRIDAY, NOV. 3: Daniel Sloss – CAN’T at Town Hall; Take a Banana for the Ride: A One Man Show by Jeff Ross at The Venue at Hard Rock Hotel
SATURDAY, NOV. 4: Take a Banana for the Ride: A One Man Show by Jeff Ross at The Venue at Hard Rock Hotel; Ilana Glazer Live! at BAM; Sam Morrill: The Class Act Tour at The Theater at Madison Square Garden
SUNDAY, NOV. 5: Take a Banana for the Ride: A One Man Show by Jeff Ross at The Venue at Hard Rock Hotel; The Robyn Schall Experience at Town Hall
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 8: Margaret Cho: Live and LIVID! at Town Hall; Nick Mullen & Adam Friedland Live at Town Hall
THURSDAY, NOV. 9: Pod Meets World: The Kids Wanna Jump! Tour at Town Hall; Donnell Rawlings at The Venue at Hard Rock Hotel; Jimmy Carr: Terribly Funny at Carnegie Hall; Giggly Squad at the Beacon Theatre; Nate Jackson: I’ll Do It Myself
FRIDAY, NOV. 10: Donnell Rawlings at The Venue at the Hard Rock Hotel; Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life at the Beacon Theatre; Anthony Jeselnik: Bones and All at Carnegie Hall; Michelle Wolf: It’s Great to Be Here at Town Hall; Bill Burr Live at Madison Square Garden; Nicole Byer at Apollo Theater; Dave Attell and Friends at Town Hall; Tim Dillon: American Royalty at Carnegie Hall
SATURDAY, NOV. 11: Atsuko Okatsuka: Full Grown Tour at Town Hall; Donnell Rawlings at The Venue at the Hard Rock Hotel; Matteo Lane: The Al Dente Tour at Carnegie Hall
What else is new?
Now that Joel Kim Booster’s Fire Island has multiple Emmy nominations, even more reason to tune in to the new podcast, Finding Fire Island, which debuted July 6 on the Broadway Podcast Network. The docu-series features Booster, Margaret Cho, Matt Rogers, DJ Lina Bradford, Paul Rudnick and more talking about how Fire Island became a gay mecca.
There’s going to be an official Andy Kaufman documentary? Clay Tweel will have access to the Kaufman family as well as the archives from his late manager, George Shapiro, with David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants and Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Pucks producing with Campfire Studios and Fifth Season.
Kill Rock Stars announced the relaunch of their comedy division with the release of the debut comedy album 'Timeless' from Papp Johnson (Black-ish, That Damn Michael Che) on Friday, Aug. 11. Kill Rock Stars previously released albums from W. Kamau Bell, Cameron Esposito, Hari Kondabolu, Kurt Braunohler, Frangela, Ian Karmel, and Emily Heller. "Kill Rock Stars is comedy. We started as a spoken word label and expanding to comedy was a natural move. Comedy is the new punk rock and this excellent and hilarious Papp Johnson release marks the official reboot of our comedy program, " says original KRS founder Slim Moon who returned to the label in 2019. "We are very proud and very excited."
Tim Dillon’s 2023 American Royalty Tour will kick off Sept. 15 in Charlotte, with dates across North America through Dec. 9. Tickets on sale via LiveNation.com.
HGTV announced Retta will star in Ugliest House in America: Summer Road Trip, premiering Aug. 7.
FOX announced Krapopolis, the all-new animated comedy from Dan Harmon, will debut Sept. 24, after the live NFL broadcast that Sunday.
Issa Rae’s Raedio has signed a multi-year deal with Def Jam Recordings.
Last Week’s Specials
New on Amazon for rent/sale
420 Friendly Comedy Special (Keith Lowell Jensen, Jasper Redd, Dan Gabriel, and Ngaio Bealum) via Apprehensive Films, Stand Up! Records
New on 800 Pound Gorilla Media
July 11 — Ben Roy: Hyena
July 14 — J.B. Ball: It’s My Privilege
New on Dry Bar Comedy
New on YouTube
July 12 — Толя Николаенков: Попробуй ещё раз RUSSIA
July 13 — Vince Carone: Bad Father (via Four by Three)
July 13 — Marwan Mouneimne: Yalla America
July 14 — Spencer Adamus: Easy to Kill (via Folks Films) CANADA
July 15 — Anubhav Singh Bassi: UPSC INDIA
Plus a 27-minute documentary from Tom Segura about his tour that led into his Sledgehammer special, a 2006 special from Dale Jones, some raw footage from Bob Zany, and the free re-release of Helen Bauer’s Little Miss Angel Baby Face, previously released for purchase in June on 800pgm.
THIS WEEK: 10
LAST WEEK: 16
THIS MONTH (JULY): 12+10 = 22
RUNNING TOTAL for 2023: 374+10=384
Fun Things To Do In NYC
This weekend’s show I plugged in The New York Times: Pete Holmes returned to the city this weekend with four shows at City Winery, two each on Friday and Saturday.
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