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Punkie Johnson Comedy Special Sets YouTube Premiere Date (EXCLUSIVE)

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EXCLUSIVE: Former Saturday Night Live cast member Punkie Johnson has announced that her debut stand-up special, Long Tiddie Short Story, will premiere on Hartbeat’s LOL Stand-Up YouTube Channel October 21st.

In the special, Johnson steps into the ring to reflect on her time at SNL, her complicated relationship with queerness, and her own questionable life choices. It’s billed as a brutally honest and unfiltered hour about marriage, sex, drugs, and what can transpire when you pretend to be “normal.”

Johnson taped the hour at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Directed by Steven Feinartz, it’ll be available as a comedy album across audio streaming services on November 13, available for pre-order on October 21. The special is produced by Feinartz and Danielle Lee and exec produced by Johnson, Ethan Stern and Dominic Del Bene.

Hartbeat reunites with Johnson after producing her 2023 SiriusXM show, Love Thang, for Kevin Hart’s LOL Radio. Recently, she’s also filmed a role in their upcoming Barbershop TV series for Prime Video. The special joins a growing stand-up slate from Hartbeat, including the second installment of LOL Live at Hulu, with new half-hour specials currently rolling out monthly, as well as Funny AF, the stand-up competition series that was picked up for a second season after drumming up major viewership at Netflix.

The deal to distribute Johnson’s special was spearheaded by Hartbeat President & Chief Distribution Officer Jeff Clanagan and VP, Comedy Eric Weil.

Clanagan told us, “Punkie is exactly the kind of singular comedic voice we want to champion at Hartbeat. We’ve had the opportunity to work with her across radio, television and now stand-up, and bringing her debut special directly to audiences on YouTube reflects our larger strategy of creating more ways for great comedians to reach fans wherever they are. We’re excited to continue building with Punkie and supporting her work across platforms.”

Weil added, “Punkie has the rare ability to be completely fearless and deeply personal at the same time. Long Tiddie Short Story is unmistakably her — honest, unpredictable and incredibly funny. We’re proud to be part of her first stand-up special and to continue a creative relationship with Punkie that has grown across radio, television and stand-up.”

A comedian, actress and writer from New Orleans, Louisiana, Johnson was with SNL for four seasons beginning in 2020. Touring nationally these days while developing original television and film projects, she’s previously been seen starring in two seasons of Lena Waithe’s The Chi, with additional roles in HBO Max’s Love Life, Netflix’s Space Force, HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show and CBS’s Ghosts.

Johnson also served as a writer/consultant on Peacock’s reboot of Queer as Folk and appeared in the cult hit comedy film Bottoms opposite Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott. She is repped by Ethan Stern at Underscore, WME and Ziffren Brittenham.

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Jennifer Coolidge Returns For Season 2 Of ‘The Watcher’

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The real estate agent who sold Naomi Watts’ Nora Brannock and Bobby Cannavale’s Dean Brannock their nightmare home is returning for season two of The Watcher.

Jennifer Coolidge, who played the ambitious and brassy realtor who donned pastel-colored power suits, is back for the second season.

It comes after Netflix revealed that the second season of the series, from Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, is going into production, nearly four years after being renewed. Production begins this fall in New York.

Coolidge joins Watts, Cannavale, Margo Martindale, who played nosy neighbor Mo, and Isabel Gravitt, who played the married couple’s daughter Ellie Brannock, in returning.

The series followed the Brannock family who moved into what was supposed to be their suburban dream home, and quickly became a living hell. Ominous letters from someone calling themself “The Watcher” were just the beginning as the neighborhood’s sinister secrets came spilling out.

The season ended with the Brannocks moving out of the house to a New York apartment but Dean and Nora found themselves pulled back to the house.

Created by Murphy and Brennan, the latter serves as showrunner and the pair exec produce alongside Crystle Roberson Dorsey, who also directs, Nissa Diederich, Karl Frankenfield, Scott Robertson, Todd Kubrak, Tanase Popa, Naomi Watts, Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman, Eric Newman & Bryan Unkeless, and Max Winkler.

The White Lotus star Coolidge recently starred in A Minecraft Movie and is starring in the sequel, A Minecraft Movie Squared as well as Rebel Wilson-directed feature Girl Group.

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Carla Gugino, Fred Hechinger, Tom Pecinka & Riley Prior Join ‘A View From The Bridge’

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Additional cast for the upcoming Off Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge has been announced. Joining previously announced Sam Rockwell and Alfred Molina will be Carla Gugino, Fred Hechinger, Tom Pecinka and Riley Prior.

Performances for this strictly limited, 13-week engagement begin on November 27, with an opening night on Sunday, December 13, at the historic Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa.

Gugino will play the character of Beatrice, with Hechinger as Rodolpho, Pecinka (the Tony-nominated actor from Stereophonic) playing Marco and Prior as Catherine. (Marin Ireland, who had been previously announced for the role of Catherine, has left the production due to scheduling conflicts.)

The previously announced Molina will play Alfieri.

The new castings were announced today by producers Mark Berger and Sam Rockwell.

Neil Pepe directs, with scenic design by Scott Pask, costume design by Sarah Laux, lighting design by John Torres and sound design by Palmer Hefferan.

The synopsis: “Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge tells the story of Eddie Carbone (Rockwell), a Brooklyn longshoreman whose tightly held world begins to unravel when his wife Beatrice’s cousins, Marco and Rodolpho, arrive from Italy seeking a new life in America. As Catherine, the niece Eddie has raised as his own, falls in love with Rodolpho, Eddie’s protectiveness curdles into jealousy, setting him on a course toward an irreversible act of betrayal that fractures his family and his community. Set in the immigrant neighborhoods of 1950s Brooklyn, Miller’s searing tragedy explores the tensions between devotion and desire, justice and loyalty, and the promise and pressures of the American Dream.”

A View from the Bridge was first produced Off Broadway in 1965 at the Sheridan Square Playhouse starring Robert Duvall and Jon Voight, with direction by Ulu Grosbard and assistant direction by Dustin Hoffman. This 2026 production marks the first time since 1965 that it will have an Off Broadway production (it has been staged five times on Broadway over the decades.)

A View from the Bridge is produced by Play Hooky Productions.

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Sterling K. Brown Joins Baseball Drama ‘The Comebacker’

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Academy Award nominee and Emmy-winner Sterling K. Brown has joined Tom Hanks and Callum Turner in The Comebacker, a baseball drama Marielle Heller is directing for Sony Pictures.

Patricia Clarkson and Amy Madigan are also in the dugout for what is being described as a love letter to baseball and is based on a short story by Dave Eggers, the author behind A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

Heller wrote the script for adaptation, which tells of the relationship between a pitching coach (Hanks) for the New York Mets and his pitcher (Turner) who gets hit by a line drive while on the mound.

Madigan is the owner of the team while Clarkson is the coach’s wife.

Brown will play the manager of the team.

Gary Goetzman will produce for Playtone alongside Heller and Leah Holzer for Defiant By Nature. Major League Baseball and the Mets are also involved.

Working Barn will executive produce along with Charles Miller.

Brown is an Academy Award nominee and three-time Emmy Award-winner who currently stars and exec produces the Hulu dramatic thriller series Paradise, recently renewed for a third season.

The actor earned a best supporting Oscar nomination for his work in American Fiction and is known for his work as one of the stars of This is Us. (And let’s not forget his wounded and tethering work in Black Panther.)

This year he earned strong notices for his work as a ruthless father in Amazon/MGM’s film Is God Is. Next up, he’ll star opposite Natalie Portman in Roadside Attraction’s The Gallerist and will appeaer in Amazon/MGM’s live-action film Voltron.

He is repped by CAA, JWM Entertainment Group, and Johnson Shapiro.

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