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New York Post
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Joey Chestnut gives behind-the-scenes look at ‘hungry' prep for Nathan's return
Competitive eater Joey Chesnut eats up the chance for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby ahead of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on Sunday, which Chesnut has won 16 times. Q: What is so great about a Nathan's hot dog? A: Oh my gosh, it's a 100-year-old recipe — more than that now — it's good from the start. There's no reason to change something that isn't broken. It really is a unique taste, an all-beef hot dog, natural tasting … it's simple, but it's delicious. Advertisement Q: How would you describe your mentality on game day? A: I'm hungry. That's all it is. I'm staying hungry no matter what. I'm expecting to eat uncomfortable and bloated and I'm ignoring whatever feelings it takes to get there. Q: Right before the first at bite, what is going through your gut? A: I think the hardest part of the contest is the first one. Stay calm, don't try to swallow the hot dogs whole. My first instinct is to try to swallow whole, which is not a good thing, your muscles are not stretched out yet, I don't want to cough, right? Stay calm, take a normal bite and work into the rhythm, which is hard. Sometimes I over-attack the food, my muscles aren't ready to work for me right away. Stay calm, and don't shove too much in at once. Advertisement 11 Joey Chestnut competes in Raising Canes Chicken Finger Eating Contest during Fanatics Fest NYC at the Javits Center on June 20, 2025 in New York City. Q: Who is your biggest threat? A: My biggest threat is myself if I get in my own head, if I let something bother me, that's when I can make mistakes. … There's a guy from Montreal [James Webb], I think he is amazing, he's young, he's fit. This guy likes to work out so he's gonna be pushing himself really hard. If I let myself mess up, he's the only one that could really catch me. Advertisement Q: Do you feel any pressure? A: I wouldn't say pressure, it's more of support. Every once in a while you get a little bit of pressure from people who are betting. Like, 'Oh, you need to get this Over.' I'm like, 'Oh my god, the Over's really high this year (laugh).' Q: What is the Over? Advertisement A: I think some people are putting the Over at 74, or 72. That's high. Even though the record's 76, it's gonna be hard for me to push myself. I know like minute six if I have a chance at the record. I have a tendency to get lazy if I don't think I can get the record. I would love to get the Over. I'm gonna really try hard. Q: Which one has been your sweetest victory? A: The first one was really, really amazing. Beating [Takeru] Kobayashi for the first time was awesome. I go back three years ago, I had a broken leg, I had a cast on, and like 2 ¹/₂ weeks before my mom passed away, and less than a week later my dog died. And during the contest there was like a protestor who got in front of me — everything was going wrong that year. It was like **** the ***** worst year, I was still able to get it done. Q: After the competition, do you actually have dinner that night? A: No, no, usually I'm in bed. Sometimes I'm going for a walk if I get up from sleeping. If I can, maybe some yogurt, maybe a little salad. I don't really have much until the next day. Even if I'm not hungry, I'm trying to eat salad, just trying to keep things moving. 11 Joey Chestnut competes in Raising Canes Chicken Finger Eating Contest during Fanatics Fest NYC at the Javits Center on June 20, 2025 in New York City. 11 Joey Chestnut, winner of the 2021 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest. AP Q: How about the sickest you ever got? Advertisement A: Oh my god, there's been a couple of times. When I talk about heat, it's because of those hot days. If I'm devastated before the contest, I can tell like right after if the food's not settling and if my body's gonna reject it. The only way you get better is by getting your body to accept it. That's something I don't necessarily practice for is to be dehydrated. I want to say 2006 was probably my worst time getting sick. But it's been a while. Q: What would you say about the New York sports crowd at Coney Island and you being a fan favorite? A: The audience at Coney Island, you feel like you're at the center of the world. It really feels amazing. There's energy, electricity like no other place. Q: What is your mindset the night before the competition? Advertisement A: Stay calm. I usually watch some old practices, almost kind of simulated contests just swallowing air, go through the motions. Usually I'm in bed before 9 p.m., wake up about 5 a.m. and start doing stretches and yoga and burping exercises to get my stomach loose and stretched after sleeping. 11 Joey Chestnut eats an Impossible hotdog after he ate 57 hotdogs in five minutes at the Pop Goes the Fort eating contest on Fort Bliss, Texas on July 4, 2024. Justin Hamel for the NY Post Q: What do you mean by swallowing air? A: I do burping exercises where I swallow air and burp it up just to get those muscles used to being stretched. Advertisement Q: You drink a concoction of liquids the night before? A: There's aloe vera juice and things to make sure that I'm hydrated, and also empty, I'm finishing up my cleanse. Q: I read that you drink milk to stretch out your stomach. A: I do drink milk like a big baby. I'm a believer that if your body can digest milk, it's great for you. Every now and then I'll drink half a gallon of milk in the morning with some water. That's a nice healthy stretch. Advertisement Q: What is the last food you eat the night before? A: The day before I usually have to eat a hot dog at the weigh-in. Before that, I usually have some eggs for breakfast. Maybe a little bit of protein, like protein shake that day. I go in really, really empty the day of the contest. 11 The annual Nathan's Famous 4th of July Hot Dogs and Buns eating contest in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Paul Martinka Q: Why eat one hot dog at the weigh in? A: [Co-founder of Major League Eating] George Shea likes to make the eaters do a faceoff and eat one hot dog (laugh). He's kind of the boss, and I kind of do what I'm told. Q: What's the purpose of the weigh-in? A: Competitive eaters, we're sizing each other up. Q: When you say sizing each other up, what do you mean? A: We're friends, but we also talk trash … we're posturing (laugh). I like the weigh-in because it's my last chance to really get in the other eater's heads a little bit. Q: What makes you so good about psyching the other opponents out? A: I don't know … I convince myself that there's only one outcome this contest. Once I think they can see that I'm convinced, and the audience is convinced, it's really hard for them to overcome. If I convince myself, then everybody else falls in line. 11 Fans arrive to Coney Island Nathanâs Hot Dog eating contest on July 4th, 2024. Paul Martinka for NY Post Q: What are the strengths of your game? A: I love to eat. I'm a natural eater. It's one of the hardest things for me to control. I need to make sure that I control my eating so that I'm not heavy. I'm competitive, that's another strength. I'm really good at problem solving. Where a lot of athletes, they have coaches, competitive eaters don't have coaches. It's all kind of self-taught. I had to figure things out trial and error. It's been a really good combination being able to push myself. Q: Any area you need to improve that you consider a weakness? A: I wish I liked to work out (laugh). My cardiovascular, I've noticed it more and more as I'm getting older, where I'm slowing down not because I'm full, it's because I haven't been hitting the gym like I should. If I'm running more, if I'm cycling more, if I'm lifting weights more, I can push my body harder. I'm so jealous of people that love to get up early and work every day. That's life. Some people don't like the feeling of being bloated after eating, and I don't mind that. I hate running, even though I have great respect for it. Q: Do you like it hot on July Fourth? A: No, I don't like it hot, Jesus! Oh my god, I'm nervous, I've been seeing the weather you guys are having over there, and I'm like, 'Dang it.' The last time I made a record it was 75 degrees, and it was like a perfect day. When it's warmer, my body just runs out of steam towards the end. I'm really hoping a cold front comes in. And you know whatever happens, I'm gonna eat like a beast. Q: When do you get to New York? A: I get in [July 1]. 11 Joey Chestnut and Livvy Dunne compete in Raising Canes Chicken Finger Eating Contest during Fanatics Fest NYC at the Javits Center on June 20, 2025 in New York City. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock Q: Who are you coming in with? A: My fiancée, two sisters are coming out, one of my buddies. Q: Does your fiancée, Brie, cook for you? A: Of course (laugh). She loves to cook, and she's great. I'm super, super lucky. It worked out perfect. Q: How did you meet her? A: I was at a bar drinking in San Francisco and this guy sees me from outside as he's walking by, and he comes in and starts talking to me. And we were talking for like 20 minutes and then all of a sudden the girl and a dog come in — 'Hey, you left me outside.' So I was like, 'You left her outside?' The guy was an idiot. So then I went out and took a picture with her, and met the dog, Zeus, and a year later we matched on Tinder. Q: How does she feel about your career? A: She knows I love it a lot (laugh). She knows it's me. When I'm in training, we do all these little low-carb meals. … She has all these homemade salad dressings. She's awesome. She works with my crazy diet so that I can keep doing it. Q: Any marriage plans? A: It'll happen. We're both in our 40s. No children, we just got dogs, and a garden. Eventually just get a little courthouse wedding and have a party maybe. Q: Did you watch the event last year, when you were banned because of a sponsorship conflict? A: Yeah, I watched it. I told people I didn't, but I watched it (laugh). It was hard, but it was good practice 'cause I know one of these days I'm gonna be either older or somebody's gonna be beating me, and I'm gonna have to retire. It was good practice for when that day comes. It made me appreciate that … if I can do it, I want to be there. Q: As you've gotten older, have you made any changes to your training? A: Definitely, I train a little bit less. It takes me a little more time to get back to my normal weight. When I was younger, I could just be a beast, like practicing every third day. Now it's like every five or six days, maybe even a week between them. It takes a little more time to recover. You gotta find a way to do it. There's no other option. Q: Do you eat hot dogs when you're not competing? A: Yeah! Baseball games, and at home. If I'm going on my diet, I actually have a lot of willpower not to get a hot dog 11 Joey Chestnut on his way to eating 57 hotdogs in five minutes at the Pop Goes the Fort eating contest on Fort Bliss, Texas on July 4, 2024. Justin Hamel for the NY Post Q: Do you put mustard, relish or ketchup on your hot dog? A: Always mustard. I definitely put raw onions on. Baseball games, I usually want to get mustard. At home, I put everything on it. Q: Growing up, did your parents put hot dogs on the grill? A: My dad was big on hot dogs. He called them tube steaks (laugh). Q: What is the biggest adversity you had to overcome? A: I remember when I had that broken leg. There were infections, it healed crooked, now it's about a half an inch shorter than the other leg, but I'm finally walking without pain. Q: Three dinner guests? A: My mom; Babe Ruth — hot dogs, he had a good time; Winston Churchill. Q: Favorite movie? A: 'Inglorious Basterds.' 11 Druski, DJ Khaled, CEO of Fanatics Michael Rubin, Joey Chestnut, and Livvy Dunne compete in Raising Canes Chicken Finger Eating Contest during Fanatics Fest NYC at the Javits Center on June 20, 2025. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock Q: Favorite actor? A: Leonardo DiCaprio. Q: Favorite actress? A: Nicole Kidman. Q: Favorite singer/entertainer? A: One of my biggest regrets, had a chance to go see Tom Petty live, and I had to go to a burrito contest that day. Q: Favorite meal? A: I get cravings — some days it's prime rib, if I'm at a baseball game, I love hot dogs. I get a lot of cravings for tacos. Q: Do you have a favorite team to watch? A: I live in [Westfield] Indiana, so I go to this minor league team in Indianapolis, and this year I went to Opening Day in Cincinnati. 11 Joey Chestnut walks the blue carpet at JAY-Z's Iconic The 40/40 Club in partnership with Fanatics Sportsbook at the center of Fanatics Fest NYC at Javits Center on June 20, 2025. Getty Images for Fanatics Q: Are you recognized by the hot dog vendors? A: I'm sure they do, but the baseball fans recognize me like crazy. Throughout the game, I'm eating hot dogs and chugging beers with baseball fans, which is not a bad deal. Q: What's your second-favorite competition? A: I haven't done a rib contest in a while. I'm craving a rib contest. A good rib contest, where they're cooked right, I have a really great technique. I lost this one recently, last couple of years in Buffalo, there's wing fest, I really love that contest. Buffalo's a great city. Hopefully, this year I can go to that contest and get the win. That city is an amazing city. It's one of the most underrated cities. It's open till 4 a.m., all the bars have great food. I overdo it a little bit. Q: Boyhood idol? A: Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, the Bash Brothers. Q: You didn't play baseball, did you? A: Just Little League. My dad made me try the marching band in high school. 11 Joey Chestnut Champion hotdog eater attends the Mystics against the Fever game on June 3, 2025 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. NBAE via Getty Images Q: What did you play? A: Trumpet. Q: Boyhood dream? A: I remember I was playing with a fire engine, and my mom asked me if I want to be a firefighter when I grew up. I was like, 'No, I want to be the dog on the back of the fire engine (laugh).' Q: What drives you? A: I think I have perspective. I know how lucky I am. I used to have a normal job in construction management, and now I get to travel, eat, make other people happy, meet people. It's a really good gig, and as long as I'm healthy and having fun, I'm gonna keep doing it. Q: How long do you want to do this? A: I think Tom Brady won his last Super Bowl when he was [43], right? Getting older and pushing your body it gets harder, but it's really satisfying if you can still do it. Q: Goals? A: Stay healthy and treat people the way I want to be treated. Q: What are you most proud of about your career? A: Really that first victory. People said it couldn't be done. Q: Why did they think it couldn't be done? A: Kobayashi had such a lock. He had everybody convinced that he was special. I refused to believe it. That's why it's so important for me to convince myself and convince the other people. Once everybody's convinced, it's hard for the other eaters to convince themselves. Q: Broadway Joe Namath guaranteed a Super Bowl. Will you guarantee a victory on July Fourth? A: I can't guarantee it, but I can guarantee it's gonna be really, really hard for somebody to beat me. If somebody beats me, they will have had to earn it. I can guarantee if my body works for me even 80 percent, I'm gonna blow everybody away.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Mayor Adams: I helped rolled out free NYC bus pilot program but Mamdani's lousy negotiating skills killed it
Socialists apparently don't understand the art of the deal. Democratic mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani is a terrible negotiator unfit to lead NYC, according to Mayor Adams, who told The Post this week he witnessed his rival's political deal-making ineptitude firsthand. Mamdani – whose Marxist pledge to provide free bus service citywide is a centerpiece of his mayoral campaign — asked Hizzoner for help bringing a pilot program for free buses during an April 2023 dinner at Gracie Mansion with the mayor, Adams recalled days after Mamdani shockingly won the Democratic mayoral primary. Adams — a Dem seeking re-election as an independent — agreed to help convince Gov. Hochul to add funding for the five-borough pilot in the upcoming budget, and even let Mamdani post a video of him on social media gushing how much he loved the concept. 5 Mayor Eric Adams says he once played a huge role helping Zohran Mamdani score Albany support to bring a pilot program providing fare-free buses to the Big Apple – only to have it crash and burn the following year because the socialist Queens assemblyman and mayoral hopeful is a horrific negotiator unfit to lead the city. 'I have always told my team to work with anyone — regardless of their politics — if it meant improving the lives of New Yorkers,' Adams said. 'So when Zohran Mamdani came to me in 2023 asking for help pushing for free bus service in the state budget, it was my team that went to Albany and got it done.' Days after the one-year, $15 million program expired Aug. 31, 2024, state Assemblyman Mamdani and state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) gushed it was a 'resounding success' in an op-ed they penned for The Nation. 5 The fare-free bus pilot programs on the Bx18A/B (Bronx)), B60 (Brooklyn), M116 (Manhattan), Q4 (Queens), and S46/96 (Staten Island) routes ended on August 31, 2024. MTA However, during 2024 budget negotiations, Mamdani ruined any chances of extending the pilot by butting heads with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and voting against the state budget in protest over a landlord-friendly measure that allowed home-repair costs to be passed on to rent-stabilized tenants, sources told The Post. An irate Heastie reportedly threatened to pull the bus pilot if Mamdani voted against the budget, and it was ultimately excluded. 5 Mamdani has made bringing free bus service citywide a centerpiece of his NYC mayoral campaign. Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Mamdani and Heastie have since denied the confrontation happened. Adams – who has made 'Get Stuff Done' a motto of his three-plus years in office – said the 33-year-old socialist pol's failure to complete a layup and get the pilot program extended shows just how unprepared Mamdani is to run the city. 'Here's what Zohran doesn't want you to know: the only reason those free buses weren't renewed is because he failed to negotiate it back into the budget the following year,' said Adams. 'There is something so cruel about promising New Yorkers things you cannot — and have not — delivered on, which is precisely what Zohran Mamdani's entire platform rests on,' added the mayor, who has repeatedly ripped the millennial pol as a 'snake oil salesman' making progressive promises he can't keep. 5 Adams said it was him — not Mamdani — who convinced Gov. Kathy Hochul (pictured) in 2023 to fund a fare-free bus pilot program. Robert Miller Besides subsiding free buses citywide, Mamdani's Soviet-style proposals include freezing rents for regulated apartments, free child care and opening city-run grocery stores. 5 Mayor Adams holds Wednesday's New York Post with headline 'NYC SOS' following Mamdani's win in Democratic primary. Brian Zak/NY Post The long lefty laundry list — estimated to cost $10 billion— would be paid for by taxing the Big Apple's ultra-wealthy under Mamdani's plan, but critics say it's severely flawed because such action must be taken by state pols and not the sitting mayor. Mamdani's campaign did not return messages.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
Socialist NYC mayoral contender Zohran Mamdani wants to hike property taxes for ‘richer and whiter neighborhoods'
Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani wants to hike property taxes for 'richer and whiter neighborhoods' in an eyebrow-raising proposal that aims to ease the burden on homeowners in the outer boroughs. The soak-the-rich proposal is buried in Mamdani's campaign platform that calls to fix the city's notoriously skewed property tax system, in which ritzy brownstones are hit at lower rates than homes and rentals in lower-income neighborhoods. 'Shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods,' the proposal reads. Advertisement 3 Democratic nominee for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, plans to hike property taxes has drawn some concern that it will tax 'richer and whiter neighborhoods.' Democrats and many Republicans have long pushed to fix the out-of-whack system that ends up hitting poorer, often largely black and brown neighborhoods, with higher property taxes than their neighbors in swanky areas that tend to be majority Caucasian. But Mamdani's specific mention of 'whiter,' wealthier neighborhoods drew outrage from some observers. Many right-wing commentators accused Mamdani, who would be the city's first mayor of South Asian descent if elected, of targeting white New Yorkers, with one labeling him a 'RACIST.' Advertisement City Councilman David Carr (R-Staten Island), who's part of the bipartisan push to reform the property tax system, said Mamdani should tone down the 'rhetoric' if he's going to help tackle a very real imbalance. 'The objective of our reforms is to make our property tax system fairer and more transparent and to ensure that middle- and working-class homeowners aren't subsidizing lower taxes for wealthy property owners,' Carr said. 'It's not about blaming people based on race or class or political affiliation, and if Zohran Mamdani wants to come on board, then he should drop the divisive rhetoric.' Mamdani, 33, a two-term Queens assemblyman, pulled off a stunning upset in Tuesday's ranked-choice Democratic mayoral primary, trouncing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in first-pick votes after running an unabashedly socialist campaign focused on affordability. Advertisement The city's tangled property tax rules are the result of a 50-year-old court decision, a subsequent state law setting assessment caps to prevent middle-class owners from being taxed out of their homes and a complicated set of overlapping rules. 3 The proposal is a part of Mamdani's campaign platform in a call to fix the tax system currently in place in the Big Apple. The result is a system where 'small homeowners in Brooklyn and Queens can pay a higher tax rate than owners of luxury co-ops on 5th Avenue in Manhattan,' the pro-reform group Tax Equity Now points out. Tax Equity Now New York filed a still-ongoing lawsuit against the city in 2017 that argued the process unfairly taxes renters and homeowners in lower-income neighborhoods compared to wealthier areas. Advertisement Predominantly black neighborhoods such as Canarsie and East New York face higher effective tax rates than others that are largely white, a recent study by the Community Service Society found. 'There is no good reason why homeowners in Cambria Heights, a residential community that is 90% Black, should pay an effective tax rate that is double those paid by homeowners in Park Slope or East Village, which are 62% and 50% White, respectively,' the study states. The meat of Mamdani's proposal calls to remove artificial caps on assessments — a solution pushed by advocates and lawmakers across the political spectrum. 3 The proposal states, 'Shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods.' 'The Mayor can fix this by pushing class assessment percentages down for everyone and adjusting rates up, effectively lowering tax payments for homeowners in neighborhoods like Jamaica and Brownsville while raising the amount paid in the most expensive Brooklyn brownstones,' the proposal states. Mamdani's campaign didn't respond to The Post's requests for comment. But many New Yorkers in affluent neighborhoods weren't happy about their property taxes potentially going up. Advertisement Ron Centola, a 73-year old retiree, has rented on the Upper East Side for 30 years, but still opposes redistributing wealth. 'Here's the thing, I'm wealthy, I don't want my wealth redistributed,' he told The Post Friday. 'I work for my money, why should I give it away?' Another Upper East Sider — Shanice Gilbert, 33, a college assistant — noted not everyone in her hifalutin neighborhood is rich. Advertisement 'Not everybody here is wealthy, how is that going to work?' she said. 'It's a mixed environment, it's a very diverse environment. How are you going to do that?' Cam Macdonald, general counsel for the Empire Center, said as mayor, Mamdani could adjust the percentages, if he's elected in November. Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters But Macdonald argued Mamdani's campaign needs to show their math for how it will affect the city's revenue — of which more than 30% is derived from property taxes. Advertisement The proposal, he noted, also 'does nothing to fix the structural issues under state law that have led to the disparities.' Other planks of Mamdani's proposal — including 'circuit breakers' to make sure low- and moderate-income homeowners aren't burdened, and to stop treating co-ops and condos as if they were rentals — concede that the state legislature would need to make those changes, not the mayor. Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association representing rent-stabilized apartment owners, has been an outspoken critic of Mamdani's promise to freeze rents on those dwellings. Advertisement But he said the issue of property taxes might be an area of common ground for his group and Mamdani. 'A reform of property taxes would be absolutely instrumental in saving this housing,' he said of rent-stabilized homes. 'On property taxes, I think he would have some strange bedfellows here. I think there are many many outer-borough elected officials who have this issue and have found not enough support to actually make meaningful change.' One Park Slope woman, who lives in a $3 million brownstone, told The Post she agrees with Mamdani even if her 'modest' $5,000-a-year taxes rise. 'Private homeowners have a real deal,' she said. 'I think people in co-ops and condos get hammered. I'm all for it. People got to share.' — Additional reporting by Khristina Narizhnaya, Georgett Roberts and Mikella Schuettler
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Maggie Wheeler on filming 'Friends,' 'Everybody Loves Raymond' roles in '90s heyday
Oh. My. God. Maggie Wheeler was pulling double duty on two of the biggest sitcoms of the '90s. The actress, 63, looked back on playing Janice in 'Friends' while guest-starring as Linda Gruenfelder in 'Everybody Loves Raymond' while attending an event for the latter show at The Paley Museum in New York City on June 16. Ray Romano (Ray Barone), Patricia Heaton (Debra Barone) and series creator Phil Rosenthal were also present. Advertisement 8 Maggie Wheeler at The Paley Museum anniversary event on June 16. / MEGA 'I feel very, very fortunate, not only to have been in such exceptional shows that live on and that have captured the hearts of millions of people,' Wheeler exclusively told The Post on the red carpet, 'but to have been able to do them at the same time was very, very special.' Wheeler appeared as Janice, Chandler Bing's (played by the late Matthew Perry) longtime on-again, off-again girlfriend, across all 10 seasons of 'Friends,' which aired from 1994 to 2004. Advertisement She debuted as Linda Gruenfelder, Debra's friend, in Season 1 of 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' appearing in 12 episodes. 8 Wheeler portrayed Janice in 'Friends' across all 10 seasons of the NBC sitcom. ©NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection 8 Wheeler guest-starred as Linda Gruenfelder in 12 episodes of 'Everybody Loves Raymond.' CBS Her other roles have included Marva Kulp, Jr. in the 1998 remake of 'The Parent Trap' and Anita Warrell in the ABC sitcom 'Ellen.' Advertisement 'I had a smile that I couldn't wipe off my face during that era because I was working with such great comedians, such great writers, having a chance to play these women who I love,' Wheeler said. 'To be able to bring such extraordinary writing to life — that is the best gift an actor can have,' she added. 'I got to do it in two places at the same time. I'm very lucky.' 8 Wheeler is also known for her role as Marva Kulp, Jr. in the 1998 remake of 'The Parent Trap.' ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection Regarding filming in front of a live studio audience for both series, Wheeler described the experience as a 'living organism.' Advertisement 'I think that's one of the things that makes these sitcoms feel so wonderful and be so much fun: the theatrical sort of experience that you have with the audience,' she said. 'You know when a joke works, you know when it doesn't, and everyone gets to hover around and make changes in the moment.' 'It's a really alive process, and one that I really loved,' she concluded. 8 Wheeler as Janice and David Schwimmer as Ross Geller in 'Friends.' ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection On 'Friends,' though, that experience came with a twist: Wheeler was kept out of sight so Janice's appearances would come as a shock to the in-studio audiences. 'I wasn't allowed to even really wander around craft services,' she said during the April 14 episode of 'Still Here Hollywood' with Steve Kmetko. 'They made me stay in my dressing room.' Wheeler explained that she would sneak down to set and hide behind a black scrim, completely blocked from the audience's view until her entrance. 8 Wheeler was kept out of the in-studio audience's sight until her entrances as Janice. ©NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection Often met with gasps and laughter from the audience, she said Janice's appearances were 'a little bit of a rockstar feeling.' She compared it to how audiences would respond to Kramer's (Michael Richards) entrances on 'Seinfeld.' Advertisement Wheeler also has a special memory from the 'Everybody Loves Raymond' set: her oldest daughter Juno took her first steps there. 'I was on the stage, and my husband was with my baby,' she told People in June. Wheeler shares daughters Juno and Gemma with her husband, Daniel Borden. The pair have been married since 1990. 8 Wheeler's oldest daughter took her first steps on the set of 'Everybody Loves Raymond.' Gemma Remington/Instagram Advertisement 'My daughter took her first steps, and he didn't know who to tell, so he carried her out onto the lot, and it was dark. It was late at night. Only the security guard was out there, and he said, 'She walked! She's walking,'' she recalled. 'So many things happened during those early years. I am so excited that I was able to be part of it.' 'Everybody Loves Raymond' ran for nine seasons on CBS from 1996 to 2005. At The Paley Museum, Romano and Heaton shut down rumors of a possible revival. 'The obvious is Peter [Boyle] and Doris [Roberts] and one of the kids — they're no longer with us,' Romano, 66, told The Post. 'We're all heartbroken. They're a big part of the show, the dynamic.' Advertisement 8 Heaton and Wheeler at The Paley Museum anniversary event on June 16. Getty Images Heaton, 67, added: 'To try to do it again without the cast members that we've lost would be a disservice to the show.' Boyle, who played Romano's on-screen father Frank Barone, died from multiple myeloma and heart disease in 2006 at 71. Roberts, Romano's mother, died in 2016 at 90. Sawyer Sweeten, one of Romano and Heaton's on-screen twin sons (Geoffrey Barone), died by suicide in 2015 at 19. Advertisement However, Romano revealed that a reunion is in the works. 'Will there be a reunion? That we would love to do,' he said. 'So I think we're considering and working on that happening.'
New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Defiant GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa insists on staying in NYC mayoral race
He wants to be New York's guardian angel. Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa defiantly insisted that he's not going anywhere Thursday — as calls mount for him to drop his longshot bid over fears of socialist Zohran Mamdani's surging campaign. The pressure campaign on Sliwa amped up as Mamdani surprisingly trounced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday's Democratic primary — and both the Guardian Angels founder and the Queens assemblyman will face Mayor Eric Adams in November. 5 Sliwa insisted that he would remain in the mayoral race despite calls for him to drop out. 5 Sources said Mayor Adams, who is running as an independent, hasn't given up his Hail Mary hope of taking over Sliwa's spot on the coveted GOP party line in the general election. AP 'I'm focused on one thing: winning this race and saving New York City from the corruption and collapse he created,' Sliwa told The Post of Adams on Thursday. 'He's not running against a fantasy. He's running against me. I'm the only one capable of beating Zohran Mamdani and I'm going to do it.' Sources said Adams, who is running as an independent, hasn't given up his Hail Mary hope of taking over Sliwa's spot on the coveted GOP party line in the general election. Adams has been gunning 'big time' for Sliwa's spot as recently as Wednesday, and even told bigwig donors that the red beret-wearing vigilante was dropping out for a job in the Trump administration, according to the sources. 5 Republicans, big business leaders and even some moderate Democrats are panicked over the prospect of Mamdani sailing to victory against a divided field of opponents. AFP via Getty Images But Sliwa scoffed at the idea. 'It's laughable that Eric Adams is telling donors I'm headed to the White House,' he said. 'He's clearly panicked.' Republicans, big business leaders and even some moderate Democrats are panicked over the prospect of Mamdani sailing to victory against a divided field of opponents: Sliwa, Adams, independent Jim Walden and perhaps even a stubborn Cuomo also running as an independent. Follow The Post's coverage of the NYC mayoral race Even if Cuomo does end up deciding to carry on his campaign, sources said he's viewed as a loser unlikely to stop Mamdani. But Adams viewed Mamdani's victory as a way to resurrect his own waning re-election hopes, casting himself as the best chance to stop the socialist from winning, sources said. Likeminded big donors have also been pushing to get Sliwa a job in the Trump administration to clear the lane for Adams, sources told Post financial correspondent Lydia Moynihan. Grabbing the GOP line would make Adams' task easier, but many hurdles remain. 5 Adams reportedly views Mamdani's victory as a way to resurrect his waning re-election hopes, casting himself as the best chance to stop the socialist from winning, sources said. John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock According to an obscure New York election law that aims to stop party jumping, Adams would need to gain the backing of three out of five Republican county chairs, or Sliwa would have to die, be named a judge or move out of New York City for Hizzoner to take the GOP nomination. A GOP insider said Adams was 'big time' trying to boot Sliwa, with no success. 'It's immense pressure,' the insider said Thursday. '(Adams) is still calling around to county chairs as recently as yesterday… They are telling him no, he has his chance and they are behind Curtis.' 5 'He's not running against a fantasy. He's running against me,' Sliwa told The Post. 'I'm the only one capable of beating Zohran Mamdani and I'm going to do it.' AP But Staten Island Republican Chair Michael Tannousis said he hasn't heard about Adams' overtures, making it unlikely the mayor's machinations will work. The island is the backbone for the Republican party in the city, and Sliwa easily carried it over Adams when the two faced off in 2021's mayoral election. Adams ended up trouncing Sliwa, carrying 67% of the vote to the Republican's 28%. John Catsimatidis, a billionaire Republican and ally of Adams, said Sliwa is unlikely to budge. 'I don't think Curtis is getting out,' he said.
