DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

CNN —Comedian and actor Richard Lewis, whose self-deprecating humor and acerbic wit in shows like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Anything but Love” entertained audiences for decades, has died, according to his publicist Jeff Abraham. In April of 2023, Richard revealed that he had been living with Parkinson’s disease. ‘Enthusiasm’ for a lasting friendshipArguably best known for his role on “Curb,” Lewis just recently shared that the decision to play himself on the hit series was creator David’s idea. Lewis and David’s relationship extended beyond the screen, having been in each other’s lives since their 20s. Lewis performed stand-up comedy for 50 years until he took his final bow in 2018 at Chicago’s Zanies.

Persons: Richard Lewis, ”, Jeff Abraham, Abraham, “, Richard, Lewis, Johnny Carson ”, Larry David, Jamie Lee Curtis, Prince John, Mel Brooks ’, Robin Hood, ” Richard Lewis, Ethan Miller, Lewis ’, ” “ Richard, ” Lewis, David, David “, Larry, ” Larry David, John P, Johnson, “ Richard, he’s, I’ll, ” Lewis ’, Joyce Lapinsky Organizations: CNN, Software, Bellagio, HBO, Warner Bros, ”, Ohio State University Locations: Los Angeles, Las Vegas , Nevada, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Chicago’s

☆ Why Quinta Brunson actually loved having fewer episodes for 'Abbott Elementary' season 3
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Palmer Haasch | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The "Abbott Elementary" creator is also busy with the show's third season, which premiered Wednesday. After winning the Emmy Award for best actress in a comedy series in January, she’s now in the thick of “Abbott Elementary” season three. Many broadcast series saw reduced episode counts in the post-strike television season, and "Abbott Elementary" season three clocks in at 14 episodes — eight less than season two. Brunson in "Abbott Elementary" season three. "Abbott Elementary" season three airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m.

Persons: Quinta, Taika Waititi, Abbott, Brunson, —, Quinta Brunson, she’s, Waititi, Mel Brooks, ”, “ Abbott, Gilles Mingasson, Jalen, Jason Kelce, Brandon Graham, Josh Segarra, Kimia, Benjamin Norris, “, castmates, I’ll Organizations: Quinta Brunson, Service, ABC, Philadelphia Eagles Locations: Philadelphia

☆ 19 people who have won an EGOT, the most coveted award in Hollywood
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Olivia Singh | Palmer Haasch | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Mel Brooks got his EGOT by acting, writing for TV, and writing a musical. Mel Brooks is known for the musical "The Producers." REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniEmmy AwardsOutstanding writing achievement in variety, "The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special" (1967)Outstanding guest actor in a comedy series, "Mad About You" (1997)Outstanding guest actor in a comedy series, "Mad About You" (1998)Outstanding guest actor in a comedy series, "Mad About You" (1999)Grammy AwardsBest spoken comedy album, "The 2000 Year Old Man In The Year 2000" (1998)Best long form music video, "Recording The Producers – A Musical Romp With Mel Brooks" (2001)Best musical show album, "The Producers" (2001)Academy AwardBest writing, story and screenplay – written directly for the screen, "The Producers" (1969)Tony AwardsBest book of a musical, "The Producers" (2001)Best musical, "The Producers" (2001)Best original score, "The Producers" (2001)

Persons: Mel Brooks, Mario Anzuoni, Sid Caesar, Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Tony Awards

☆ Elton John achieves elite EGOT status with Emmy win
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Elton John officially joined the elite EGOT club when he won an Emmy on Monday for his Disney+ special “Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium.”John joins the ranks as the winner of an EGOT – the acronym reserved for those who win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony – and finds his place among other legendary performers including Jennifer Hudson, Mel Brooks, John Legend, Whoopi Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn, and more. In 2000, John won a best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theater Tony for the play “Aida.” He is also a six-time Grammy award winner. The rock star’s EGOT was completed on Monday with his win in the outstanding variety special category for the 2022 “Dodger Stadium” special, which captured his final North American tour performance at the Los Angeles baseball stadium amid John’s farewell tour. Tonight is a testament to the power of the arts and the joy that it brings to all our lives,” he said. “Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my career, I am incredibly grateful.”

Persons: Elton John, ” John, Oscar, Tony –, Jennifer Hudson, Mel Brooks, John Legend, Whoopi Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn, John, Tony, ”, EGOT, he’s “ Organizations: CNN, Disney, Dodger, Los Angeles Locations: “, American

☆ Opinion: An anti-Muslim tirade inspires a beautiful response
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Opinion Dean Obeidallah | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The former government official made vile anti-Muslim comments while jeering at the Egyptian food cart worker about the Israel-Hamas war with remarks such as, “If we killed 4,000 Palestinian children, you know what? Alarmingly, it appears one such horrific incident may have occurred on Saturday in Burlington, Vermont, when three Palestinian students were shot. Even before Seldowitiz was charged, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said on social media: “This Islamophobic bigotry is absolutely reprehensible. As CBS New York reported, “what happened at the food cart has seemingly only brought people together.” One of the food cart workers, Bahaa Hassan, told CBS: “We have mostly Jewish customer in this building. Unbeknownst to us at the time, we filmed this video last weekend in the very neighborhood where Seldowitz had been taunting the Arab food cart worker.

Persons: Dean Obeidallah, Obama, Stuart Seldowitz, jeering, Seldowitz, “, Fayoume didn’t, Mohamed Hussein, Seldowitiz, Mark Levine, Bahaa Hassan, Stephanie Merabet, Max Brooks —, Facebook Max, Mel Brooks —, Abdul Organizations: CNN, CNN —, National Security, New York Police Department, Hamas, Defamation League, Cornell University, Islamic Relations, CAIR, ADC, CBS, East, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Manhattan, Israel, New York, Alarmingly, Burlington , Vermont, New York City, York, United States

☆ How an Army combat medic pivoted to filmmaking, thanks in part to a Sundance program that fostered directors like Ryan Coogler and Chloe Zhao
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Directors Lab, which goes back 40 years and claims graduates from Quentin Tarantino and Gina Prince-Bythewood to Ryan Coogler to Chloe Zhao, is a supercharged accelerator for new filmmakers. Rashad Frett, right, a member of the 2023 Directors Lab, speaks with Michelle Satter, founding director of the Sundance Institute's Feature Film Program. It's a 20-minute short that screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January; Fretts' time at the Directors Lab was devoted to developing it into a feature, filming multiple scenes. But it took a few tries before his application to join the Directors Lab was successful, he said. Rashad Frett works on his short film "Ricky" during this year's Directors Lab, conducted by the Sundance Institute.

Persons: Rashad Frett, Frett, Quentin Tarantino, Gina Prince, Bythewood, Ryan Coogler, Chloe Zhao, Michelle Satter, who's, Sciences Jean Hersholt, Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, Carol Littleton, Satter, —, Jonathan Hickerson, he'd, Spike Lee, Ricky, Lin Que Ayoung, It's, Fretts, Sam Emenogu, Joan Darling, Joan Tewkesbury, it's, he's, Reed Alexander Organizations: Army, Sundance, Labs, Hollywood, of Motion Picture Arts, Sciences, New York University, NYU, Sundance Film, Lab, Sundance Institute Locations: New York, Sundance, Utah, New, Hollywood

☆ Men’s Tights Aren’t Just for Elizabethan Aristocrats Anymore
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Nick Haramis | More About Nick Haramis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

AFTER SATIRIZING EVERYTHING from the western to the Stone Age, Mel Brooks in 1993 released the movie “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” a sendup of “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” which had come out two years earlier. Although Brooks’s parody was uniformly idiotic — Maid Marian wears an Everlast chastity belt; Blinkin, a blind servant, gropes a Braille edition of Playboy — many of the laughs were at the expense of so-called feygeles, a Yiddish slur for gay men. During a musical number with a cancan interlude, the heroic outlaw assures the audience he’s not one. “We may look like pansies,” he and his Merry Men sing, “but don’t get us wrong or else we’ll put out your lights. To protect the social order, sumptuary laws were passed that discouraged commoners from dressing above their class.

Persons: Mel Brooks, Robin Hood, “ Robin Hood :, Marian, ”, we’ll, William Shakespeare, Richard Thompson Ford Organizations: Playboy

☆ Fact Check-Fake Atlantic headline calls white supremacy a ‘multi-species movement’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A circulating screenshot of a purported article by The Atlantic headlined “White Supremacy is now a multi-species movement” is fabricated and echoes a similar fake headline addressed by Reuters Fact Check in May. A spokesperson for The Atlantic said the screenshot is a fake. Anna Bross, senior vice president of communications for The Atlantic, said via email that the screenshot was fabricated. Reuters has previously addressed fake headlines attributed to The Atlantic (here), (here), including an example that circulated in May 2023 depicting a similar headline about white supremacy (here ). The Atlantic did not publish an article headlined “White Supremacy is now a multi-species movement.” The screenshot circulating online is fabricated.

Persons: ’, Mel Brooks, ”, Adam Goldsteinowitz, Anna Bross, Read Organizations: Atlantic, The Atlantic, The, Reuters Locations: Europe, Nazi

☆ Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks to get honorary Oscars
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters - Actor Angela Bassett and veteran filmmaker Mel Brooks will receive Academy Honorary Awards this year in honour of their careers and contribution to cinema, Hollywood's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has said. The Academy announced it had voted to present the awards to two-time Oscar nominee Bassett and "The Producers" writer Brooks, as well as to editor Carol Littleton at its Governor Awards in November. "Across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting. Mel Brooks lights up our hearts with his humor, and his legacy has made a lasting impact on every facet of entertainment," Yang added. Writer, director, actor and producer Brooks, who turns 98 on Wednesday, began his career writing comedy routines for Sid Caesar's TV shows.

Persons: Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, Bassett, Brooks, Carol Littleton, Michelle Satter, Jean Hersholt, Janet Yang, Yang, Carol Littleton’s, Tina Turner, Exhale, Ramonda, Sid Caesar's, Oscar, Robin Hood, Littleton, Satter, Marie, Louise Gumuchian, Ed Osmond Organizations: Hollywood's Academy, Motion Picture Arts, Sciences, The Academy, Sundance, Jean, Governors, Sundance Institute, Academy, Thomson

☆ Angela Bassett and Mel Brooks Are Among Those to Receive Honorary Oscars
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just a few months after Angela Bassett came close to clinching a supporting-actress Oscar for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” she’ll become one of four Hollywood figures to receive an honorary Oscar at this year’s Governors Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced. Also getting honorary Oscars will be the director Mel Brooks and the editor Carol Littleton, while the Sundance Institute’s Michelle Satter will be presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The awards “honor four trailblazers who have transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and movie fans,” the academy president Janet Yang said in a statement. Bassett, 64, was first nominated for playing Tina Turner in the biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” and also starred in films like “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” “Malcolm X” and “Boyz N the Hood.” Her awards-season run for Wakanda Forever” earlier this year netted her a Golden Globe, and though she lost the Oscar to “Everything Everywhere All at Once” supporting actress Jamie Lee Curtis, Bassett is still one of only four Black actresses to have received more than one Oscar nomination for acting.

Persons: Angela Bassett, Oscar, “, she’ll, Mel Brooks, Carol Littleton, Michelle Satter, Jean Hersholt, ”, Janet Yang, Bassett, Tina Turner, Stella, ” “ Malcolm X ”, Jamie Lee Curtis Organizations: Academy of Motion Picture Arts, Sciences, Sundance, Globe

The sketch series is the sequel to Mel Brooks' classic movie, "History of the World, Part I." The first two episodes of "History of the World, Part II" debuted March 6 on Hulu. How to watch 'History of the World, Part II'"History of the World, Part II" is now available to watch exclusively on Hulu. Can I watch 'History of the World, Part II' for free? Where can I watch 'History of the World, Part I'?

☆ ‘History of the World, Part II’ Review: Mel Brooks Blazes Back to the Past
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( John Anderson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

‘I’m American treasureMel Brooks ,” announces the writer, director, producer and comedy institution as he introduces his 40-years-in-the-awaiting “History of the World, Part II” on Hulu. To others, merely a legend.” As prepared as a viewer might be to laugh out loud, he or she will still laugh out loud. If Mr. Brooks hadn’t titled his 1981 comedy “History of the World, Part I,” there wouldn’t have been decades of speculation about whether a sequel ever would be made. Why has Mr. Brooks produced one now, at the age of 96? “No repeats.” Neither condition is met entirely, but that was a choice of Mr. Brooks, who serves here as a writer and executive producer.

☆ Actor Viola Davis achieves elite EGOT status with Grammy win
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Danielle Broadway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 5 (Reuters) - Actor Viola Davis on Sunday won a Grammy for her audio recording of her memoir "Finding Me," granting her entry into the elite ranks of EGOT winners with an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award. Davis is the third Black woman to earn this title, and the 18th person in history, and was thrilled to celebrate the moment on stage. as she won a Grammy for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording. "I wrote this book to honor the six-year-old Viola, to honor her, to honor her life, her joy, her trauma, her everything." Other EGOT winners include Jennifer Hudson, Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn and Whoopi Goldberg.

☆ ‘Knock at the Cabin’ Review: A Daft Devil’s Bargain
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Kyle Smith | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

M. Night Shyamalan is one of the few filmmakers of his generation who has made himself a brand. If his surname were a bit shorter, he might even have made himself a household adjective by now. To buy a ticket for one of Mr. Shyamalan’s films is to accept an invitation to be wowed by a deliriously intriguing premise and, in the third act, to witness with delight the world being turned upside down. Mr. Shyamalan also carries the unfortunate distinction of having perpetrated more terrible movies than practically anyone else in his class of blockbuster auteurs: “The Village,” “Lady in the Water,” “The Last Airbender,” “After Earth.” This list is not comprehensive. Once he made a thriller about murderous trees (“The Happening”) whose script seemed as though it got lost on the way to Mel Brooks ’s office.

☆ Freddie Roman, Catskills comedy scene staple and former Friars Club dean, dies at 85
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Comedian Freddie Roman, the former dean of The Friars Club and a staple of the Catskills comedy scene, has died. Roman died Saturday afternoon at Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach, Florida, his booking agent and friend Alison Chaplin said Sunday. His uncle and grandfather owned the Crystal Spring Hotel in the Catskills, where Roman started emceeing at age 15. In “Catskills on Broadway,” Roman commented about everything from his childhood in Queens to his “retirement life” in Florida. He was also made Dean of the New York City Friars Club, where he mentored many aspiring comedians and infused the private club with young talent.

☆ Apple's App store has become an ad-infested imitation of its former self, which is not good for iPhone users or developers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Michael Gartenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Apple used to carefully curate its App store, helping developers gain visibility and customers find what they needed. These days, it seems to be more about maximizing Apple's revenue than serving customers or helping developers flourish. Thus, the App store was born to give iPhone's beautiful hardware and elegant operating system thousands of apps, created by programmers running their own app businesses. Now, after 15 years of iPhones, I find the App store to be an imitation of its former self. The developer had gone to great lengths to try to show how copycat apps slipped through Apple's app review system.

☆ This Pulitzer Prize-nominated columnist interviewed dozens of aging people. Here's what he learned about the 'spiritual side' of retirement
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Aditi Shrikant | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

He interviewed a priest who said he was going to retire "in the graveyard" and a winemaker who said they'd retire "in the vineyard." CNBC Make It chatted with Lopez about how to face retirement and find purpose after working. 'Be ready to adapt'Aditi Shrikant, CNBC Make It: You interviewed dozens of people on retirement. This pandemic was serving us a preview of what our retirement would be when I'm spending more time at home. I'm still working three-fourths of the time, but I'm working mostly from home.

☆ An exclusive Miami island is getting a slew of $30 million-plus condos — and you have to be invited to buy them
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Related Group and its partners have closed on the last developable parcel of land on Fisher Island. Fisher Island, a seven-minute ferry ride south of Miami Beach that sits at the intersection of Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, has long been the stomping ground of the elite. Wealthy people can be discreet about their mansions, but we know that Oprah, Julia Roberts, and Mel Brooks are former Fisher Island residents. The enclave has also won some superlatives: Bloomberg determined Fisher Island was America's wealthiest ZIP code in April 2018, with an average income of $2.5 million in 2015. Fisher Island made headlines in 2020 for nabbing COVID-19 antibody tests for all the residents of its about 800 homes in the early days of the pandemic.

Search resuls for: "Mel Brooks"

18 mentions found