The comedian was captured on video Friday morning riding a motorized podium in midtown while dressed as Spicer.<\/b>
\nMelissa 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 \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d
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\u2019s \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d
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 \u201cBrown Eyed Girl\u201d and \u201cWild Night, \u201d 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\u2019 60s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish band Them, known for their song \u201cGloria.\u201d As a solo singer, he combined soul, R&B, Celtic folk and jazz with mysticism. He is a member of the Rock n\u2019 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 \u201cno-talent guy\u201d and \u201cthere\u2019s nothing funny about what he says.\u201d The president also took credit for Colbert\u2019s improved ratings, saying he didn\u2019 t start doing better until he started attacking Trump.
Colbert responded on his CBS \u201cLate Show\u201d on Thursday. As if talking to Trump, Colbert said that \u201cdon\u2019 t you know I\u2019 ve been trying for a year to get you to say my name?\u201d He added: \u201cI won.\u201d
\u201cMaking jokes about you has been good for ratings, \u201d Colbert said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost as if a majority of Americans didn\u2019 t want you to be president. But you know who\u2019s got really bad ratings these days? You do.\u201d
Colbert eclipsed NBC\u2019s Jimmy Fallon to make CBS\u2019 \u201cLate Show\u201d the most-watched program in late night right after Trump\u2019s inauguration, and he hasn\u2019 t looked back since.
Trump said Colbert\u2019s show was \u201cdying\u201d and was going to be taken off the air until the relentless attacks began. CBS did have concerns about the \u201cLate Show\u201d and named a new behind-the-scenes executive who has led a turnaround. The president also said that when he was on Colbert\u2019s show, \u201cit was the highest ratings he ever had.\u201d
Trump\u2019s visit to the show on Sept. 22,2015, was seen by 4.6 million people \u2014 the second biggest audience Colbert has had on the \u201cLate Show.\u201d 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\u2019s 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: \u201cPLEASE DON\u2019 T BUY THIS IF YOU\u2019 RE OFFERED IT.\u201d
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\u2019s 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: \u201cI\u2019 m not shy of loud music.\u201d
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\u2019s 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 \u201cLa Bamba\u201d and \u201cTwist and Shout.\u201d
At issue is the National Party\u2019s use of the song \u201cEminem Esque\u201d in a 2014 television campaign ad that was run 186 times before it was pulled off the air. Eminem\u2019s publishers Eight Mile Style say the track is a rip-off of the rapper\u2019s acclaimed 2002 song \u201cLose Yourself, \u201d while the party says the song was inspired by the rapper\u2019s hit but is different.
National Party lawyer Greg Arthur said there wasn\u2019 t much originality in the music behind \u201cLose Yourself\u201d and the industry practice of making so-called \u201csound-alike\u201d songs that were different enough to avoid copyright issues was well-established.
But Judge Helen Cull made some pointed observations during Arthur\u2019s summing up. She said when the two songs were overlaid, they kept the same beat and pattern, and sounded almost \u201ccontemporaneous.\u201d
\u201cIt doesn\u2019 t make it legitimate because somebody hasn\u2019 t yet sued, \u201d the judge said. \u201cIt\u2019s a question of whether it is so alike that a sound-alike is crossing the line and becomes copyright infringement.\u201d
Briefly
\u25a0The Fox network is getting in the Christmas spirit with its announcement Friday of \u201cA Christmas Story, \u201d a live TV musical scheduled for December.
The three-hour special is inspired by the film \u201cA Christmas Story\u201d and the Tony Award-nominated Broadway show, \u201cA Christmas Story: The Musical.\u201d
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, recent Tony Award nominees for the musical \u201cDear Evan Hansen, \u201d and lyricists of \u201cLa La Land\u2019s\u201d Oscar-winning song, \u201cCity of Stars, \u201d also scored \u201cA Christmas Story: The Musical.\u201d They will compose new songs for the television version.
Compiled by Janet Graham from Free Press news services
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n

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