Louis CK's Comedy Cellar set described as 'uncomfortable'
Louis CK returned to the stage twice in New York on Sunday, Aug. 26, marking his first major performances since sexual misconduct allegations about him arose last fall. The reactions were mixed, at best, according to Vulture, which spoke with two women who caught the comic's set. "It felt like he was being thrust upon the audience without telling them," one woman said of Louis' Comedy Cellar set (via Us Weekly). "The audience was very loud when Louis C.K. walked in. They were clearly supportive and surprised when he showed up, but there were a number of women sitting in the front row." The second woman pointed out: "There were at least four to five females that I could see, and three or four of them were not having it. They were just looking at him, deadpan, straight, not having it." According to those audience members, Louis covered familiar terrain, much of which seemed "uncomfortable" for some people in the room. In one joke, for example, his use of the phrase "clean as a whistle," dovetailed into a quip about rape whistles not being clean. "When he said 'rape whistle' people were laughing, and I was just sitting there like, 'Oh my f—. This is so uncomfortable and so disgusting.' Everyone around me was laughing," said one of the people who saw the show. "That was just depressing." Regarding last year's allegations, Louis has confirmed that he behaved inappropriately, given the position of power he had in the comedy world when the female comics who accused him of showing them parts of his anatomy had met with him. He has also apologized. As for his set, the owner of the Comedy Cellar pointed out Louis reportedly performed twice that night. "He just walked in and went on. That's it. No advance warning," said Noam Dworma. "We're not the first place he appeared. He did a spot at Governor's [of Levittown], which is a comedy club in Long Island, apparently before he came here. I found this out late in the day. And it was a very, very light crowd and he apparently wasn't happy with it and he decided on a spur of the moment to come to the Comedy Cellar." He described the response as generally "warm," but said he did get one complaint from an audience member. Louis has been spotted hanging out at the Comedy Cellar and the restaurant upstairs from the club at other other times this year.
David Foster and Katharine McPhee crash a wedding ahead of their own 'I do's'
Sounds like David Foster and Katharine McPhee are already feeling the wedding vibes. The couple, whose engagement news broke last month, ended up introducing themselves to a pair of newlyweds in Canada shortly after watching them get married from the vantage point of their hotel balcony in Victoria. Speaking to TMZ, Whitney Madian explained that the stars showed up at her reception following her trip down the aisle to marry her now-husband, Shant, at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel. It seems the two were signing Whitney and Shant's guest book when Whitney noticed them and went over to say "hi." As they all chatted, Whitney learned David and Katharine had seen the ceremony and thought it was so "beautiful," they apparently wanted to share their congratulations in the guest register. Whitney added that she and her new, famous bride-to-be pal also compared rings. Their guest book inscription reads, "Hey Whitney and Shant, A huge congrats from David Foster and Kat McPhee."
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Teresa Giudice slammed for daughters' makeup, exposed bra
Teresa Giudice and her daughters have spent the past few days in the Bahamas, enjoying the sun and the occasional family dinner. In one case, however, Teresa's evening with Gia, 17, Milania, 13, and Audriana, 9, drew criticism after she posted a photo from their outing online. "Sister Love 💕 #bahamas #family #laughing," Teresa captioned the shot. It wasn't long before comments started rolling in about the way the girls were dressed. "Are you f***ing kidding me with the makeup and clothes these little girls have on!!" wrote one user (via Yahoo). "Where is the parental control here!!" A second reply read, "Beautiful girls, but no need for makeup or an unbuttoned shirt. That's not age-appropriate." There were also some who defended Teresa and pointed out that she's doing the best she can while her husband, Joe, continues to serve his prison sentence for conspiracy and bankruptcy fraud. "Your girls are all so beautiful. Despite it all you are doing an amazing job," wrote one positive user. Another chimed in: "Any adult with sense knows not to say negative comments about children."
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How Lady Gaga avoided 'the buffet' of drug options available when her career took off
In "A Star Is Born." Lady Gaga plays a young singer who falls for an older rock star with a drugs and alcohol problem. That problem is not foreign to Lady G, who has been candid about her own struggles with cocaine. Luckily, she overcame them before her career took off — but that didn't stop people around her from offering her drugs. "There was a buffet of options," she says in a new profile for the Los Angeles Times. "It's very lonely being a performer. There's a certain loneliness that I feel, anyway — that I'm the only one that does what I do. So it feels like no one understands. And the urge to use is because you're searching for a way to quell the pain." Although "there was stuff everywhere" when she began to get some acclaim, she managed to stay clean. "But I had already partied when I was younger so I didn't dabble. I was able to avoid it because I did it when I was a kid," she said. As she told Howard Stern back in 2011, "I think that I was lonely and there was something about the drugs that made me feel like I had a friend. … I did it all alone in my apartment while I wrote music. And you know what? I regret every line I ever did. … Don't touch it. It's the devil." Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's "A Star Is Born," hits theaters Oct. 5.
Mariah Carey gets $2M win in lawsuit with South American promoter
Mariah Carey's off the hook in the defamation and breach of contract suit promoter FEG Entretenimientos S.A. filed against her and her production company, Mirage, after the singer canceled two concerts in Chile and Argentina in 2016. According to The Blast, Mariah canceled the shows because she wasn't paid as promised. She initially took the promoter to court in an attempt to get her money, but FEG countersued, pointing to a tweet she posted that read, "Devastated my shows in Chile, Argentina & Brazil had to be canceled. My fans deserve better than some of these promoters treated them." FEG claimed the post was defamatory, but the judge ruled this week it was simply Mariah's "opinion." Mariah will not be forced to fork over at least $2 million of the $3 million FEG was demanding of her, as that $2 mil accounts for the defamation claim. Her entertainment company could still have to come up with $1 million for the concerts the singer bailed on. Earlier this month, Mimi announced she was canceling shows in Australia and New Zealand due to a scheduling conflict. The shows had previously been rescheduled from February to October.
Brad Pitt's Make It Right foundation faces lawsuit over post-Katrina homes
Wednesday, Aug. 29, marked the thirteenth anniversary Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where Brad Pitt worked tirelessly to improve housing options for residents in one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in the city during the years that followed. Unfortunately, his efforts may have been in vain. Local TV station WWL reports the star's Make It Right Foundation is set to be sued by an attorney representing Lower Ninth Ward residents who bought homes built by the foundation at greatly discounted prices. Built in 2008, the green energy houses seemed like a great deal — until they started falling apart. In addition to structural damage and deterioration, residents are reportedly complaining of sicknesses and headaches. According to the attorney, Make It Right promised repeatedly fix the problems but never did. Requests for comment were not returned by the foundation.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds 'couldn't be more in love'
Hollywood's hardly known for creating long-lasting romances, but it doesn't sound like the love between Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds is going anywhere. "They have such a solid relationship," an insider tells Us Weekly. "They truly couldn't be happier and more in love." Since tying the know in 2012, Blake and Ryan, who starred in "Green Lantern" together in 2011, have welcomed two daughters, James and Inez. "Their kids are the most important thing in their lives," says the source. "They do everything they can to make sure they have a normal upbringing. When they're not working, they really spend as much time as they can home and away from all the craziness," the insider says of their home life in Westchester County, New York. It probably doesn't hurt that the two are comfortable teasing each other, which they do with evident glee on one another's social media pages. "We poke fun at each other," Blake admitted at a press event for her new film, "A Simple Favor." "All day long we joke around with each other," she added, "because that's my best friend."
'Top Gun: Maverick' delayed by a year
The "Top Gun" sequel Tom Cruise has been making with Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller and Glen Powell, won't see the light of day for another two years. That's according to Deadline, which reported this week that "complex flight sequences" set production back. Rather than being released on July 12, 2019, "Top Gun: Maverick," will now hit theaters June 26, 2020. Other changes to the plan for the film have been trickling in in recent months, as well, including Val's July announcement that he will be back to reprise his role as Ice Man.
David Burtka: Neil Patrick Harris was 'not who I signed up to marry' when he played Hedwig
While Neil Patrick Harris is arguably the biggest star associated with Wigstock, the New York City gay community's Labor Day weekend drag celebration, it's NPH's husband, David Burtka, who deserves credit for bringing it back to life 17 years after its last official incarnation, the couple recently told the New York Times. For David, though, crossdressing is best kept to the stage. Neil's award-winning stint as the transgender rock star, Hedwig, is a case in point. "I, as his husband … I like manly guys," David said in a joint appearance with Neil on "In-Depth with Larry Flick" this week (via the Daily Mail). "He had shaved his body, he had lost all this weight, he had become sort of asexual as this character … he'd take his shirt off, I could see the bones in his back." He went on to say Neil's work on the 2014 Broadway musical made for a "difficult time" at home. "There was no smell on him — his body was shaved, there was no hair on him, so he became this sort of androgynous being that I didn't sign up to marry," David explained. "It was very strange … not who I married. Also, being Hedwig is a tragic place to live." David and Neil, who met on the set of "How I Met Your Mother," said "I do" in Italy in 2014.