This was certainly the case for reality star Charli D’Amelio and her pro partner Mark Ballas, who showed up on the “DWTS” stage completely looking the part for their “Simpsons” inspired jazz routine—yellow skin and all.
“Disney+” was the theme of the night, which meant that performances reflected not only the usual Disney fanfare, but pretty much everything that can currently be viewed on the streaming platform. To name a few fun examples—Wayne Brady and Witney Carson performed a routine from “Hamilton,” Gabby Windey and Val Chmerkovskiy chose a number based on “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and Selma Blair and Sasha Farber danced to “The Muppet Show Theme.”
While everyone brought their A-game, once D’Amelio and Ballas showed up at the end of the night, all bets were off.
Set to the iconic “Simpsons” theme song, the duo traveled their way through Springfield to land back at home on their famous brown sofa, completely bringing the cartoon to life. How D’Amelio kept her giant blue wig on is beyond me … though the “300 bobby pins” she mentioned might have helped.
Watch below:
It was bizarre. It was kooky. It was the very essence of “The Simpsons.”
Granted, this idea isn’t completely new. A similar (um … very similar) dance was performed in 2020 on the BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing.” But still, the performance was quite impressive, and undeniably fun.
“Mark my words, that is about to go viral,” praised judge Derek Hough. Len Goodman added, “I didn’t like it, I loved it. It was so tight, it was together. It was full of wit and characterization. Marge, you’re magical.”
D’Amelio and Ballas scored 36/40, but it wasn’t just the judges who were floored by the routine. YouTube has been flooded with positive comments.
“I thought this was going to be the cringiest and worst dance of the night , boy was I freaking wrong,” wrote one person.
“They deserved at least one 10. This was creative, entertaining, and perfect,” wrote another.
D’Amelio survived another week with her amazing transformation … and has possibly made us all consider Marge Simpson for a Halloween costume this year.
A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing.
Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold.
A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen.
Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project.
Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing.
Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth.
Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.
Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.
Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:
Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis
Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community
Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe
Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door
Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone.
An odd trinket bought at a thrift shop turns out to be a bona fide antique. A small fortune is found stashed inside a piece of furniture on the side of the road. These are the magical jackpot moments that seem almost too good to be true, and yet, real stories like these keep the hope alive in our hearts.
In September 2017, auto mechanic Jared Whipple received a call from a friend about an abandoned barn in Watertown, Connecticut, filled with several large canvases, each with bold, colorful displays of car parts. Considering Whipple’s line of work and his general love for vintage items, the friend thought the artwork would be of interest to him.
By the time Whipple arrived on the site, all the pieces had been disposed of into a dumpster (next stop: landfill) and were covered in debris and mold. Luckily, each was individually wrapped in plastic.
Curious, Whipple began to unwrap a few of the canvases to get a better look.
Four years of research to solve a mystery
Not only were they in good condition, but the quality of art was impeccable. Whipple immediately wanted to know more about the creator of these lovely works, but the answers didn’t come easy. In fact, the research ended up taking Whipple four years, but here’s what he found:
The works were created by Francis Mattson Hines, and he wasn’t exactly a no name. According to the Mattatuck Museum, Hines’ big claim to fame was weaving giant pieces of diaphanous fabrics around the Washington Square Arch in geometric patterns back in 1980. Though his story was publicly recognized in books and documentaries, much of Hines’ fame had diminished by the time of his death in 2016, hence the less-than-fruitful Google search.
“Not only was this artist a ‘someone,’ but he was even more well known in the New York art world than we could ever have imagined,” said Whipple.
In 2022, Whipple collaborated with art gallery Hollis Taggart to give Hines’ work the proper respect and celebration it deserves. According to CT Insider, the gallery and Whipple set up a large exhibit in both Southport, Connecticut, and New York City that ran from May 5-June 11, 2022. Each one showcased 35 to 40 pieces, which were all available for sale.
And just how much did a Francis Hines piece go for? CT Insider also spoke with art curator and historian Peter Hastings Falk, who estimated that his drawings could go for $4,500, and wrapped paintings around $22,000. This makes the entire collection, comprised of hundreds of pieces, worth millions of dollars.
That’s right. What nearly went into a trash heap is now valued as a mega fortune.
Go ahead. Pick up your jaw from the floor and read that again.
Of course, selling the art isn’t Whipple’s main focus. In addition to keeping some pieces for himself that he fell in love with, Whipple aims to work with major galleries in New York to establish Francis Hines as “a significant artist of the 20th and 21st century.”
The mechanic-turned-art-dealer told CT Insider his new purpose “is to get Hines into the history books.”
Since the exhibitions have been over, images of the art pieces are now housed on Hollis Taggart’s website where viewers can check them out and even inquire about pieces that are still available.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
Living permanently on a cruise ship seems like a dream of the uber-wealthy. You spend your days lounging on the deck by the pool or touring an exotic location. Nights are spent dancing in the nightclub or enjoying live entertainment. You no longer have to worry about traffic, cooking or laundry. Your life has become all-inclusive as long as you’re on board.
At Upworthy, we’ve shared the stories of a handful of people who’ve been able to spend their lives on a permanent cruise because they’ve figured out how to do so affordably. Or, at least, at about the same cost of living on land. Insider featured the fantastic story of Ryan Gutridge, who spends about 300 nights a year living on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas. He only leaves the ship for a few weeks a year during the holidays.
Ryan Gutridge hat 2021 begonnen, auf einem Kreuzfahrtschiff der Royal Caribbean im "Homeoffice" zu arbeiten. https://t.co/uRFeduHG65
Gutridge works in IT as an engineer for a cloud solution provider and can do his full-time job right from the ship. “I do meetings in the morning and afternoons, but I can also go to lunch and socialize or meet people at the gym,” he tells Insider. “I’ve even met people that I stay in contact with and that have come back and cruised on this ship with me multiple times since.”
Gutridge says that living and working on a cruise ship has improved his mental health. “Working from home was isolating. I don’t have kids or pets, so it’s easy to become somewhat introverted, but cruising has really helped and made me a lot more social,” he says.
So, how does he afford life on a permanent vacation?
How does he afford to live on a cruise ship?
“I have a spreadsheet that automatically records all my expenses, which helps. I also set a budget every year,” he says. “This year, my base fare budget is about $30,000, and last year when I started really looking at the numbers and evaluating how much base fare I paid to be on a ship for 300 nights, I found it was almost neck-and-neck with what I paid for rent and trash service for an apartment in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.”
Gutridge believes that the key to living on the ship affordably is loyalty programs. He found he was spending less each year thanks to his loyalty status, even as he spent more time cruising.
“Now, because I cruise so often with Royal Caribbean, I’ve moved up in its loyalty program. My drinks and internet are free. If people are going to do something like what I do, I recommend trying different brands because they all offer something different. But once you commit to one, you should stick to it so you reach those loyalty levels,” he says.
When he’s not on the ship, he makes doctor and dentist appointments and spends time with his friends. Then, it’s back on the high seas, where he has a routine. Monday through Friday, he works, eats healthy, and goes to the gym. On the weekends he’ll let loose and have a few drinks.
If the ship arrives at a location he enjoys, he’ll take a PTO day from work and go sightseeing.
“I have a strong relationship with the crew on this ship,” he says. “It’s become a big family, and I don’t want to rebuild those relationships on another ship, I joke that I have 1,300 roommates.” Eventually, Gutridge wants to get rid of his apartment and sell his car, so his primary residence is a Royal Caribbean ship.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
We’ve all done it: You snap a selfie, look at it, say, “OMG is my nose swollen?” then try again from a different angle. “Wait, now my forehead looks weird. And what’s up with my chin?” You keep trying various angles and distances, trying to get a picture that looks like how you remember yourself looking. Whether you finally land on one or not, you walk away from the experience wondering which photo actually looks like the “real” you.
I do this, even as a 40-something-year-old who is quite comfortable with the face I see in the mirror. So, it makes me cringe imagining a tween or teen, who likely take a lot more selfies than I do, questioning their facial features based on those snapshots. When I’m wondering why my facial features look weird in selfies it’s because I know my face well enough to know that’s not what it looks like. However, when a young person whose face is changing rapidly sees their facial features distorted in a photo, they may come to all kinds of wrong conclusions about what they actually look like.
Not that it should matter, of course. But we’re talking about people living in a society obsessed with personal appearance. It’s going to matter to a lot of people, and if they get the wrong impression of their face, some people will go to all sorts of lengths to change it. That’s why understanding a bit about how focal lengths on cameras can impact what we see in photographs is vital.
Winters points out that if someone is thinking of doing surgery to change their bodies, they should seek sources outside of themselves and a cellphone camera.
“I have dysmorphia and recognize that in myself,” she wrote, “but even if I didn’t, there’s not a selfie I’ve ever taken that would accurately help me make choices about my face. Mirrors are slightly better only for their minimal distortions.”
Why do people look different in selfies?
“Almost any photo taken of you with a commonly available cell phone without additional equipment will not display anything approaching an accurate summation of you but an artistic rendering of what the camera is able to capture,” she continued. “Cameras are not people. People don’t freeze frames of time for all eternity down to the pixel and automatically enhance certain features like the darkness of pores and fine lines in your skin.”
“If you want the best chance at getting good feedback pre-op about what you might want to change,” she added, “I’d recommend a skilled photographer take a series of photos of you at different focal lengths and even then none of these will be entirely accurate as none of these employ humans’ binocular vision and filtering.”
A group of friends taking a selfie. Photo credit: Canva
One collage that proves your selfie camera is lying to you
Winters shared a collage of photos of the same girl’s face at different focal lengths to show the significant difference it makes. “Notice how in different photos this child’s eyes may appear to be slightly hooded,” she wrote. “The nose appears enlarged disproportionately. Hairline seems to shift with every snap. So does jaw shape, face shape, and even the width and size of the ears.”
The same person can look drastically different in photographs. Photo credit: Facebook
The difference between each of these photos is significant, but the difference between the first and the last is stunning. Cellphone selfie cameras usually have an even smaller focal length than the 40 mm shown here (Winters points out that many smartphone selfie cameras have a focal length equivalent of around 23 mm), so they distort facial features even more. It also depends on how far away from the camera you are. The closer you are, the more distortion you’ll see. Lighting matters, too, but even the best lighting can’t cancel out what the focal length is doing.
Vox shared a video specifically about the “big nose” phenomenon with selfies, showing how drastic the distortion can be.
At a time when so many people are making decisions about their appearance based on what they see on tiny screens, this kind of education matters more than ever. A phone camera is a remarkable piece of technology, but it was built to capture moments, not to render an accurate portrait of your face. Before you book a consultation or spiral into self-criticism over a photo, take a breath and remember: the camera is distorting you, not defining you.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
Social media has become a fertile breeding ground for conversations about hygiene. Whether it’s celebrities bragging about how little their family bathes, or battles over how often people should wash their sheets or bras, there’s no shortage of strong opinions.
One of the debates that gets the most diverse responses is how often people wash their denim jeans.
Denim atelier Benjamin Talley Smith tells TODAY that jeans should be washed “as little as possible, if at all.” Laundry expert Patric Richardson adds they should be cleaned “after nine or 10 wearings, like to me, that is the ideal.” At that point, they probably have stains and are “a little sweaty by that point, so you need to wash ’em,” Richardson says.
Still, some people wash and dry them after every wear while others will hand wash and never hang dry. With all these significant differences of opinion, there must be a correct answer somewhere, right?
What the former Levi’s CEO says about washing jeans
The former CEO of Levi Strauss, Chip Bergh, has stepped up to set the record straight on when and how to wash your jeans. He caused a stir in 2014 when he said he only washes his jeans once a year, but it was for environmental reasons more than hygiene.
He later clarified his thoughts in a blog post, “The Dirty Jean Manifesto” he posted to LinkedIn.
“I made this provocative statement because I believe strongly in what our brands stand for: quality, durability and lasting products made sustainably. I also said it because I believe we don’t need to wash jeans as often as most people think we do,” Bergh wrote.
“We learned that an average pair of jeans consumes roughly 3,500 liters of water — and that is after only two years of use, washing the jeans once a week,” Bergh wrote. “Nearly half of the total water consumption, or 1,600 liters, is the consumer throwing the jeans in the washing machine. That’s equivalent to 6,700 glasses of drinking water!”
To add to the problem, denim jeans are often manufactured in places where water is scarce, such as India, Pakistan, Mexico, China and parts of California.
“True denim heads, people that really love their denim, will tell you to never put your denim into a washing machine. So that’s what I do,” Bergh explained. “If I drop some curry on my jeans, I’m gonna clean it. But I’ll spot-clean it. And if they get really gross you know, if I’ve been out sweating or something and they get really gross, I’ll wash them in the shower.”
However, when Bergh washes his jeans in the shower, he does it while wearing them and washing them with soap. The image that the scene conjures is of a cowboy bathing in a cartoon, clothes on and all.
There are a lot of different opinions on how often one should wash and dry their jeans and many of them boil down to personal preference. But the debate on the topic has brought up one very big point we should all consider: when choosing how often we wash our jeans, a big part of the decision should be considering the amount of water we use.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
Generation X (those born between 1965-1980) grew up eating classic Americana meals. During the 1970s, comfort meals like tuna casserole and salmon roquettes were popular meals.
Gen X also grew up eating some pretty unhinged (but all the more yummy) sandwiches. These meals are steeped in childhood nostalgia.
And to this day, Gen Xers are still fond of their favorite dishes they grew up eating. Together, they discussed on Reddit their most-loved home-cooked dishes that they still whip up, starting with sloppy joes.
Here are 17 iconic Gen X comfort meals to keep in mind the next time you make dinner:
“Breakfast. We will have a ‘breakfast for dinner’ at least a couple times a month. Yum!” – fadeanddecayed, KddKc
“Pizza bread! My mom would cut Italian bread into pieces, put butter and garlic salt on them, then pour some spaghetti sauce on them, cover with mozzarella cheese, and broil for like ten or fifteen minutes. Super easy and quick to make and so tasty. I’m sure my mom loved that I was so into something that took roughly zero effort for her to make.” – hornybutired
“Grilled cheese and soup.” – reincarnateme
“Meat loaf. I use 2 pounds ground beef, replace bread crumbs with minute rice, add 1 pkg beef soup flavoring, chop an entire onion for it, and mix BBQ sauce into mixture. Oh, important: do not overmix! Place all ingredients into bowl, then mix quickly 10 or 12 swirls of a large spoon. Grease loaf pan, carefully place mixture in, pat down & bake about an hour. (Extra info: for even better flavor, mix the night before, pat into loaf pan, cover with plastic, put into fridge overnight. Remove from fridge about an hour before baking. BE SURE TO REMOVE PLASTIC WRAP! [Esp. If in Pyrex glass loaf pan])” – jehardt, AbbyM1968
“White guy tacos.” – najing_ftw
“Skillet dinner. Kielbasa, bell pepper, onion, spuds in a cast iron pan. One dish. Easy peasy.” – UnimportantOutcome67
“Chicken pot pie or chicken ala king.” – sattersnaps
“Fried catfish, greens, and red beans and rice.” – User Unknown
“Shepherds pie, technically cottage pie if it’s ground beef. Homemade enchiladas, usually made as a layered casserole instead because I don’t have time to roll them. Pork chops with mashed potatoes and veggies.” – XerTrekker
“Fried rice with chicken or pork leftovers.” – AlternativeResort181
“Hot hamburgers: hamburger patty open face on Texas toast thickness bread, cover with fries then cover that with brown gravy. Wife’s variation is hamburger patty over rice with brown gravy.” – EnricoMatassaEsq
“Stuffed peppers. I make it much more easily by cooking it all in one large frying pan ‘deconstructed’. Sauté onions garlic and ground beef, add cut up peppers, tomatoes or tomato sauce, sometimes a little spinach, then add separately cooked rice, salt and pepper and serve. It comes together pretty quickly and tastes just as good as stuffing and baking peppers in the oven.” – Affectionate-Map2583
“Macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs. Seriously, that’s what I ate tonight.” – Dazzling-Walrus9673
“Homemade Stroganoff casserole. Ridiculously easy to make. Ingredients:
1.25-1.5 lbs. Ground Beef 1 each of large white onion, green pepper, and red pepper 1 can mushroom pieces, drained and rinsed 12 oz. Bag of wide egg noodles 1 can cream of mushroom soup 16 oz. Sour cream Worcestershire Sauce Louisiana Hot Sauce White or Black Pepper Panko bread crumbs
To Make: Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Worcestershire, hot sauce, garlic powder, and pepper are all to taste, depending on how much flavor and punch you want it to have. Cook noodles per instructions. Drain. Peel and slice onion (not diced), core and cut peppers into strips Brown meat, onions and peppers along with liberal amount of Worcestershire; garlic, pepper, and hot sauce. Add mushrooms. Cook until meat is fully brown, onions are translucent and peppers are tender. Drain. Combine drained meat, etc. with whole can of soup, half of the sour cream. Gradually add noodles into the mix. Add sour cream as needed to maintain consistency. Add Worcestershire, hot sauce, and pepper to taste. Dump into large, deep Corning dish or whatever. Cover too with bread crumbs. Cover and bake for forty minutes.” – CynfullyDelicious
This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
Dealing with hecklers just comes with the territory of being a comedian. But flirting with them? That wasn’t something Rebecca Reingold had prepared for.
On March 11, the New York City-based stand-up comic uploaded a recent set to her Instagram aptly captioned “We found love in a hopeless place (a comedy club).”
In the now-viral clip, Reingold shared a bit about not being “good” at flirting with men, saying that she would inadvertently “be mean” to them “because they liked it.”
Then, during the set, someone from the crowd must have been talking too enthusiastically, because Reingold playfully called them out for being loud. This someone, a man, responded that he was with his parents at the show, to which Reingold quipped, “You look bad. Your parents look a lot younger than you.”
Without missing a beat, the man in the audience responded that, given the logic she gave just moments earlier, she must like him, since she was throwing shots at him.
“Oh yeah, you’re right! That does mean I like you! You were listening. Oh my god, I’m in love,” said Reingold, blushing. “You’re so annoying but so loveable so its so tough, you know what I mean?”
Over 16 million viewers later, and people were applauding both Reingold’s ability to go with the flow, and this mysterious man’s mad game. Many were hoping that this became an actual meet-cute.
“Damn she really turned red when she realised he listened.”
“You handled this so well 👏🙌”
“… and, that is how I met your mother.”
“The fact that he did not drop the ‘I’ll shut up in exchange for your number’ line is mind boggling to me.”
“So when’s the wedding. Lol”
Romantic antagonism IRL
Perhaps people were rallying for this interaction to lead to romantic entanglement because it resembles the ever-popular enemies-to-lovers trope found in countless rom-coms and romantasies. This dynamic of building attraction through animosity and tension makes for great entertainment…but does it make for healthy relationships in real life? The annoying but accurate answer is, of course: it depends.
Primarily, it depends on a) whether both partners are enjoying the teasing and b) whether the jokes are landing in sensitive territory. If both those parameters are met, it can become its own love language. If not, then it can foster resentment.
This can obviously become even more complicated when it comes to flirting, since there is already a lot of indirect language happening between strangers. But at least in this case it looked like everyone was having a good time.
Sadly, it has yet to be revealed whether or not Reingold and this heckler ever did connect after the show. We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, be sure to give her a follow on Instagram to stay tuned on both her comedy stylings and, perhaps, her love life.
During an interview with People promoting the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada 2, Anne Hathaway was asked how she navigates growing older. She noted the importance of taking self-care seriously, remaining curious, and appreciating being in a place where you can assess decisions made earlier in life.
But it was what she said next, almost as an afterthought, that really got folks talking.
“I wanna have a long, healthy life. Inshallah, I hope so,” she casually but sincerely told her interviewer. The phrase, also spelled “insh’Allah,” translates to “if God wills” or “God willing,” and is deeply rooted in Islam.
However, it is also part of Arab culture in general. Religious or otherwise, people use it to convey resolute hope for the future while acknowledging that life follows its own plan.
Bridge-building moment
This ignited a positive frenzy online among Muslim and Arabic viewers, who were not only thrilled to hear the term used, but to hear it used correctly.
Rather than being seen as performative, the overall consensus was that this was a refreshing, bridge-building moment across cultures.
“Use it the way Anne Hathaway used it—honestly, humbly, in a moment when you genuinely want something good and know that wanting is only the beginning,” praised author Qasim Rashid.
Perhaps the timing of this interview has also contributed to its virality. Just weeks ago at Coachella, Sabrina Carpenter received backlash for her “this is weird” reaction when fans began engaging in the Zaghrouta, a celebratory, high-pitched ululation traditionally used in Arab cultures.
So, for someone equally high-profile to actually promote rather than seemingly reject a piece of Arab culture has been viewed as a kind of karmic recompense.
As HuffPost contributor Syeda Khaula Saad put it, “It just feels nice to be represented in mainstream media in an accepting, inclusive light. I hope that we get to see much more, insha’Allah.”
And as she pointed out, recently another Arabic word was brought into the mainstream when Muslim Egyptian American actor Ramy Youssef taught Elmo to say “habibi” (meaning “my love” or “my friend”) on an episode of Sesame Street.
“We have been dehumanized, portrayed in the worst way by the media for years.. I swear to GOD elmo saying ‘habibi’ made me teary and somehow healed the inner child that has been called the worst things for being different growing up,” one viewer wrote on Instagram.
It goes to show that when it comes to respecting other cultures, it doesn’t take a grand gesture. Even a word, when said correctly and with genuine intent, can extend an olive branch.
Perhaps this wisdom can be especially applied to mainstream media, where negative stereotypes run rampant alongside baffling overcorrections. Sometimes, it really is as simple as making space for what exists beyond your own lived experience and engaging with it.
Whether or not you agree that Hathaway executed this perfectly, may we all agree that the world could use more people looking to build bridges rather than reject what’s unfamiliar.
Since childhood, Kenan Thompson has practiced his craft as a comedic actor and sketch performer. As an adult, he’s been making audiences laugh at Saturday Night Livesince 2003. During his tenure, he had been in drag lampooning Maya Angelou, Jennifer Hudson, and other Black women who were public figures. In 2013, he refused to portray a woman ever again on SNL. That line in the sand ended up launching many comedy careers.
At the time, out of the 16 SNL cast members, there were only two other persons of color: Black comedian and actor Jay Pharoah, and Iranian-born American actress, Nasim Pedrad. This meant that either Thompson or Pharoah would have to don a wig and a dress if the show was spoofing a Black woman celebrity. As the longest running cast member on SNL, Thompson felt comfortable to publicly state that he wouldn’t portray a woman ever again. Pharoah backed him up and even pitched potential Black women comedians and producers.
The audition that launched a new wave of comedians
The move forced the producers to conduct a search for at least one Black female cast member by January 2014. The search led to Sasheer Zamata, who joined the cast until 2017. Since then, she’s gone on to other opportunities as a stand-up comedian and actress. Some of her roles include movies such as 2021’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Marvel and Disney+’s 2024 series Agatha All Along.
Even though Zamata claimed the spot on SNL, many of her fellow auditioners were noticed for other comedy jobs. After Zamata’s casting had been announced, the runner-up, Amber Ruffin, was almost immediately staffed as a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers. Ruffin still currently works as a writer on the show while also getting other opportunities. She wrote her own sitcom, hosted her own comedy talk show, and participates as a talking head on Have I Got News For You.
There was another future SNL all-star who wasn’t immediately cast, but hired on as a writer. However, she was promoted to a full cast member before the end of 2014. That person? Leslie Jones, who has since launched into film and television superstardom.
Many other household names were first noticed at the search
Even though they didn’t get the job, many other funny Black women broke out at that audition. Tiffany Haddish would get recurring roles in TV shows like The Carmichael Show and star in the ultra-popular film, Girls Trip. Nicole Byer would have several live-action and voice-over roles while also hosting reality shows like Nailed It. In fact, Byer co-hosts a podcast with Zamata called Best Friends.
It should be noted that these women likely would have found success without this SNL audition. Kenan Thompson would not and is not taking credit for their success. However, it is funny how refusing to wear a dress was one small push that created momentum in several different directions for so many talented people.
