Latest news with #Groundlings
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tim Bagley claims he couldn't audition for 'SNL 'because 'they wouldn't hire openly gay people'
Tim Bagley says any dream of his to join the Saturday Night Live cast was crushed early on. During a recent appearance on SiriusXM's The Julia Cunningham Show, the 67-year-old comedic actor claimed that despite having a promising start as part of the Groundlings — an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe that launched the careers of many SNL stars — in 1989, he couldn't audition for the sketch comedy series because he was out as a gay man. "I was out as a gay man and people knew that they would not hire openly gay people," Bagley alleged about SNL boss Lorne Michaels and late manager Bernie Brillstein. "[They] had kind of a thing where they did not hire gay people, so I never got to audition," the Somebody Somewhere star continued. "All my friends did, and I was always kind of a standout at the Groundlings, but I was out. That [was] the problem with being out back then was there were no guardrails. I mean, if somebody didn't want to have you on their show, they just [didn't have to]. They weren't trying to seek out LGBTQ people back then." As it happens, Bagley is not the first person to accuse SNL and Michaels of having issues with hiring openly queer people during the peak of the show's popularity. Comedian James Adomian told the Daily Beast in 2018 that he thinks being openly gay kept him from getting a spot on the cast, though he did get to audition several times in the early 2000s. "It certainly didn't help that I was openly gay," Adomian said. "I think that Lorne Michaels is afraid of America's dads." Still, Bagley — who has proven his comedic chops with guest appearances on shows like Will & Grace, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm — noted that SNL has boasted its LGBTQ+ representation over the years, especially with cast members such as Kate McKinnon and Bowen Yang becoming prominent figures on the show. "It's taken quite a long time... he was the actual first conscious, you know, gay person hired," Bagley claimed. "It's taken a long time, but the SNL machine has kind of changed or shifted, and I know that there are people that have come out since." SNL's first openly gay cast member was actually Terry Sweeney, who Michaels brought onto the season 11 cast when he returned as executive producer to the show after a five-year hiatus in who had joined the cast after starring on the Logo sketch comedy series The Big Gay Sketch Show, became the first openly lesbian cast member in the history of the show when she joined in 2012. John Milhiser joined the cast as an openly gay man in 2013, followed by more LGBTQ+ cast members such as Yang, Punkie Johnson, and the show's first nonbinary performer Molly Kearney. Other LGBTQ+ cast members who were not out professionally during their time on SNL include Denny Dillon, Danitra Vance, and Sasheer Zamata. Yang started at SNL as a writer in 2018 before being promoted to cast member the next year for season 45, becoming the show's first Chinese American cast member and one of only a few out gay stars in the show's history. He's made a name for himself at the legendary sketch show with impressions of JD Vance and Fran Lebowitz, and out-of-the-box "Weekend Update" characters like the Iceberg That Sank the Titanic and viral baby pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng. Not to mention, Yang has also scored four Emmy nominations during his time on SNL, including making history in 2021 as the first featured player to be nominated. He's also the lead of a fan-favorite sketch from last year in which the actor "reveals" himself to be a toxic straight man that the night's host fall in love with. The OG sketch featured Sydney Sweeney and the sequel, titled "Bowen's Still Straight," included Scarlett Johansson. Yang can next be seen in Wicked: For Good, coming to theaters later this year. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tim Bagley claims he couldn't audition for 'SNL 'because 'they wouldn't hire openly gay people'
Tim Bagley says any dream of his to join the Saturday Night Live cast was crushed early on. During a recent appearance on SiriusXM's The Julia Cunningham Show, the 67-year-old comedic actor claimed that despite having a promising start as part of the Groundlings — an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe that launched the careers of many SNL stars — in 1989, he couldn't audition for the sketch comedy series because he was out as a gay man. "I was out as a gay man and people knew that they would not hire openly gay people," Bagley alleged about SNL boss Lorne Michaels and late manager Bernie Brillstein. "[They] had kind of a thing where they did not hire gay people, so I never got to audition," the Somebody Somewhere star continued. "All my friends did, and I was always kind of a standout at the Groundlings, but I was out. That [was] the problem with being out back then was there were no guardrails. I mean, if somebody didn't want to have you on their show, they just [didn't have to]. They weren't trying to seek out LGBTQ people back then." As it happens, Bagley is not the first person to accuse SNL and Michaels of having issues with hiring openly queer people during the peak of the show's popularity. Comedian James Adomian told the Daily Beast in 2018 that he thinks being openly gay kept him from getting a spot on the cast, though he did get to audition several times in the early 2000s. "It certainly didn't help that I was openly gay," Adomian said. "I think that Lorne Michaels is afraid of America's dads." Still, Bagley — who has proven his comedic chops with guest appearances on shows like Will & Grace, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm — noted that SNL has boasted its LGBTQ+ representation over the years, especially with cast members such as Kate McKinnon and Bowen Yang becoming prominent figures on the show. "It's taken quite a long time... he was the actual first conscious, you know, gay person hired," Bagley claimed. "It's taken a long time, but the SNL machine has kind of changed or shifted, and I know that there are people that have come out since." SNL's first openly gay cast member was actually Terry Sweeney, who Michaels brought onto the season 11 cast when he returned as executive producer to the show after a five-year hiatus in who had joined the cast after starring on the Logo sketch comedy series The Big Gay Sketch Show, became the first openly lesbian cast member in the history of the show when she joined in 2012. John Milhiser joined the cast as an openly gay man in 2013, followed by more LGBTQ+ cast members such as Yang, Punkie Johnson, and the show's first nonbinary performer Molly Kearney. Other LGBTQ+ cast members who were not out professionally during their time on SNL include Denny Dillon, Danitra Vance, and Sasheer Zamata. Yang started at SNL as a writer in 2018 before being promoted to cast member the next year for season 45, becoming the show's first Chinese American cast member and one of only a few out gay stars in the show's history. He's made a name for himself at the legendary sketch show with impressions of JD Vance and Fran Lebowitz, and out-of-the-box "Weekend Update" characters like the Iceberg That Sank the Titanic and viral baby pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng. Not to mention, Yang has also scored four Emmy nominations during his time on SNL, including making history in 2021 as the first featured player to be nominated. He's also the lead of a fan-favorite sketch from last year in which the actor "reveals" himself to be a toxic straight man that the night's host fall in love with. The OG sketch featured Sydney Sweeney and the sequel, titled "Bowen's Still Straight," included Scarlett Johansson. Yang can next be seen in Wicked: For Good, coming to theaters later this year. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fortune Feimster and Jacquelyn 'Jax' Smith are heading for divorce after 5-year marriage
Fortune Feimster and her wife of five years, Jacquelyn "Jax" Smith, are divorcing, the former couple posted Monday on social media. "Together, we have made the difficult decision to end our marriage," they wrote in a statement posted on their Instagram accounts. "We've been separated for a little bit, both of us dealing with tough health situations in our families, so it wasn't something we were ready to talk about." Read more: At 50, Chelsea Handler has it all: 'I'm a queen with or without a husband' They continued, "While we are sad to see this chapter of our lives come to a close, we wish each other nothing but the best as we move forward. We've had 10 years together, and there's so much to celebrate about that and so much we will look back on fondly." "The Mindy Project" actor, a Groundlings veteran, requested privacy in the wake of the news. Smith was a kindergarten teacher and later joined Feimster's creative team, executive producing three of her comedy specials, "Sweet & Salty" in 2020, "Good Fortune" in 2022 and "Crushing It" in 2024. The two met at a 2015 Pride event in Chicago, dated long distance for a few years, got engaged in 2018 and married in a small ceremony during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The women's families attended the wedding via Zoom. Read more: Fortune Feimster used her relatable voice in comedy to write her own success story "I want people to know me and Jax are like everybody else," the 44-year-old comedian told People in October 2022. "We happen to be gay but our story is not much different from other people's. ... You don't have to be gay to relate to an engagement story." Divorce? Definitely — albeit unfortunately — relatable. Feimster credits Chelsea Handler with launching her career as a writer-performer-standup comedian. She is credited as a writer on almost 600 episodes of "Chelsea Lately" between 2011 and 2014. 'She was putting people on TV that no one else was putting on TV,' Feimster told The Times in 2023, 'and not really caring if you fit the mold of who should be on TV. ... She was the first person who gave me the 'yes' when everyone was telling me 'no.'' Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Fortune Feimster and Jacquelyn ‘Jax' Smith are heading for divorce after 5-year marriage
Fortune Feimster and her wife of five years, Jacquelyn 'Jax' Smith, are divorcing, the former couple posted Monday on social media. 'Together, we have made the difficult decision to end our marriage,' they wrote in a statement posted on their Instagram accounts. 'We've been separated for a little bit, both of us dealing with tough health situations in our families, so it wasn't something we were ready to talk about.' They continued, 'While we are sad to see this chapter of our lives come to a close, we wish each other nothing but the best as we move forward. We've had 10 years together, and there's so much to celebrate about that and so much we will look back on fondly.' 'The Mindy Project' actor, a Groundlings veteran, requested privacy in the wake of the news. Smith was a kindergarten teacher and later joined Feimster's creative team, executive producing three of her comedy specials, 'Sweet & Salty' in 2020, 'Good Fortune' in 2022 and 'Crushing It' in 2024. The two met at a 2015 Pride event in Chicago, dated long distance for a few years, got engaged in 2018 and married in a small ceremony during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The women's families attended the wedding via Zoom. 'I want people to know me and Jax are like everybody else,' the 44-year-old comedian told People in October 2022. 'We happen to be gay but our story is not much different from other people's. ... You don't have to be gay to relate to an engagement story.' Divorce? Definitely — albeit unfortunately — relatable. Feimster credits Chelsea Handler with launching her career as a writer-performer-standup comedian. She is credited as a writer on almost 600 episodes of 'Chelsea Lately' between 2011 and 2014. 'She was putting people on TV that no one else was putting on TV,' Feimster told The Times in 2023, 'and not really caring if you fit the mold of who should be on TV. ... She was the first person who gave me the 'yes' when everyone was telling me 'no.''
Geek Tyrant
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Review: PEE-WEE AS HIMSELF Was a Beautiful and Captivating Tribute to Paul Reubens — GeekTyrant
I was able to view the two-part HBO Documentary Pee-wee as Himself ahead of its release tonight on Max, and as a lifelong fan of the Paul Reubens character, I was anxious to see how it was created, and what was happening behind the scenes. I grew up watching and rewatching Pee-wee's Big Adventure , quoting it with my sisters and framing my own sense of humor around it. I watched Pee-wee's Playhouse, and I played with my drawstring Pee-wee doll all the time. Pee-wee was the pinnacle of humor and zany fun. It was cool to see how this doc highlighted Reubens' upbringing, and he told viewers about the kids shows he loved, which influenced him when he made his series. He talked about his time at college and in the Groundlings, which allowed him to play and create tons of characters alongside some awesome colleagues you'll definitely recognize. Reubens took so many photos and videos throughout his life, it was like having a front row seat to his life and career, including the birth and rise of his biggest character, Pee-wee Herman. But as with any great rise, there was also a fall. As a kid, I heard chatter about the trouble Paul Reubens had been in, but I didn't know the details, and I frankly didn't care. It didn't change the memories I had made in watching him onscreen, and it felt to me like it came and went. This documentary didn't shy away from the scandals Reubens faced, and he was open and honest about his struggles. He was also funny in his interviews in a quirky and quiet way that really had me laughing. The end of the documentary was shaped by the fact that Paul Reubens passed away unexpectedly to most people, as he had kept his struggle with cancer a secret. I knew it was coming, but the footage chosen for the final moments of the doc did make me tear up. My husband and I passed our love of Pee-wee on to our kids, and the day we learned that Reubens had died, my daughter said, 'I guess Pee-wee is on to his final adventure.' I'm glad his final months were unknowingly documented, and we were able to get a glimpse into his thoughts and memories before he was gone. This was a special watch for fans, and I hope you enjoy it. Pee-wee as Himself parts 1 and 2 will air back to back on HBO tonight, Friday, May 23rd, and will then be available to watch on Max.
