The comedian was captured on video Friday morning riding a motorized podium in midtown while dressed as Spicer.
Melissa McCarthy has gone into the streets of Manhattan to lampoon White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
The comedian was captured on video Friday morning riding a motorized podium in midtown while dressed as Spicer, presumably a sequence that will air when McCarthy hosts the next “Saturday Night Live.”
In the video, McCarthy is seen gliding in the middle of traffic in front of the Time Warner Center, not far from Rockefeller Center, the longtime home of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”
NBC would not comment on the video.
Spicer has been a frequent target of McCarthy, who has mocked him in the past in skits where she fires a water gun at the press corps and uses a lectern to ram a journalist.
Van Morrison to get lifetime achievement award
Grammy winning Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, who wrote songs like “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Wild Night, ” will receive a lifetime achievement award for songwriting at the Americana Honors and Awards show on Sept. 13.
The Americana Music Association announced on Friday that Morrison will also headline a concert the following night as a part of the Americana Festival.
Morrison rose to prominence in the’ 60s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish band Them, known for their song “Gloria.” As a solo singer, he combined soul, R&B, Celtic folk and jazz with mysticism. He is a member of the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
Colbert to Trump: I won
Stephen Colbert has gleefully responded to insults hurled his way by President Donald Trump, cheering the fact that he finally got Trump to say his name.
Trump told Time magazine that Colbert was a “no-talent guy” and “there’s nothing funny about what he says.” The president also took credit for Colbert’s improved ratings, saying he didn’ t start doing better until he started attacking Trump.
Colbert responded on his CBS “Late Show” on Thursday. As if talking to Trump, Colbert said that “don’ t you know I’ ve been trying for a year to get you to say my name?” He added: “I won.”
“Making jokes about you has been good for ratings, ” Colbert said. “It’s almost as if a majority of Americans didn’ t want you to be president. But you know who’s got really bad ratings these days? You do.”
Colbert eclipsed NBC’s Jimmy Fallon to make CBS’ “Late Show” the most-watched program in late night right after Trump’s inauguration, and he hasn’ t looked back since.
Trump said Colbert’s show was “dying” and was going to be taken off the air until the relentless attacks began. CBS did have concerns about the “Late Show” and named a new behind-the-scenes executive who has led a turnaround. The president also said that when he was on Colbert’s show, “it was the highest ratings he ever had.”
Trump’s visit to the show on Sept. 22,2015, was seen by 4.6 million people — the second biggest audience Colbert has had on the “Late Show.” His premiere two weeks earlier drew 6.6 million, the Nielsen company said.
Rowling urges fans not to buy stolen prequel
J. K. Rowling is urging Harry Potter fans not to buy a handwritten prequel to the boy wizard’s adventures that was stolen during a burglary in England.
Rowling wrote the 800-word story for a 2008 charity auction, where it sold for 25,000 pounds ($49,000 at the time) .
West Midlands Police said Friday that it was stolen, along with some jewelry, during a burglary in Birmingham, central England between April 13 and 24.
Rowling tweeted a picture of the manuscript Friday with the message: “PLEASE DON’ T BUY THIS IF YOU’ RE OFFERED IT.”
Investigating officer Paul Jauncey appealed to any Potter fans who see the story or are offered it for sale to contact police.
Set three years before Harry is born, the story tells how the boy wizard’s father James Potter and godfather Sirius Black get into trouble with a policeman before escaping with broomsticks, drumsticks and a little bit of magic.
Judge hears case involving Eminem song
Turn up the volume, the judge told the lawyers in a case involving an Eminem song: “I’ m not shy of loud music.”
It was one of many incongruous moments during a two-week trial that ended Friday at the High Court in Wellington. The judge may not rule for months in the case in which music publishers for the Detroit rapper are suing New Zealand’s ruling conservative political party for copyright infringement.
The judge and phalanx of gowned lawyers listened studiously to plenty of profanity-laced rap. They also listened for similarities between such classic songs as “La Bamba” and “Twist and Shout.”
At issue is the National Party’s use of the song “Eminem Esque” in a 2014 television campaign ad that was run 186 times before it was pulled off the air. Eminem’s publishers Eight Mile Style say the track is a rip-off of the rapper’s acclaimed 2002 song “Lose Yourself, ” while the party says the song was inspired by the rapper’s hit but is different.
National Party lawyer Greg Arthur said there wasn’ t much originality in the music behind “Lose Yourself” and the industry practice of making so-called “sound-alike” songs that were different enough to avoid copyright issues was well-established.
But Judge Helen Cull made some pointed observations during Arthur’s summing up. She said when the two songs were overlaid, they kept the same beat and pattern, and sounded almost “contemporaneous.”
“It doesn’ t make it legitimate because somebody hasn’ t yet sued, ” the judge said. “It’s a question of whether it is so alike that a sound-alike is crossing the line and becomes copyright infringement.”
Briefly
■The Fox network is getting in the Christmas spirit with its announcement Friday of “A Christmas Story, ” a live TV musical scheduled for December.
The three-hour special is inspired by the film “A Christmas Story” and the Tony Award-nominated Broadway show, “A Christmas Story: The Musical.”
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, recent Tony Award nominees for the musical “Dear Evan Hansen, ” and lyricists of “La La Land’s” Oscar-winning song, “City of Stars, ” also scored “A Christmas Story: The Musical.
