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When Norm Macdonald passed away in 2021, the world grieved deeply. Macdonald, with his deadpan delivery and deliberately tasteless jokes, often dealt in anti-humor by telling jokes so corny and dated that people laughed at Norm's audacity more than the joke itself. Just as many people were outraged as were impressed by the depths of his tastelessness during his stint on "Saturday Night Live," whereon he would openly and repeatedly mention the crimes and alleged horrific acts committed by celebrities like O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson. Macdonald, like too many comedians of his generation, also made a series of transphobic jokes during his career, although he eventually (clumsily) apologized for them. "God bless trans people," he stated, "They should be given every right in the world, and anybody who wants to hurt them is bad."

Macdonald may have been appreciated, but he was never wholly mainstream, at least outside of standup and "SNL.

Is Curb Your Enthusiasm the first sitcom about an asshole? Jeff Schaffer says no.

In the academic sense, Curb Your Enthusiasm is about as textbook a comedy of manners as we’ve ever seen on television. For 12 seasons and 24 years, Larry David bristled against social norms and challenged conventions of polite society to the delight of cantankerous Curb fans everywhere, highlighting the absurdity of modern society as he sees it. However, according to entertainment journalist Joel Stein in his new essay for The Wrap titled “Bad Manners,” David and Curb Your Enthusiasm also carved out a new subgenre within the umbrella of the comedy of manners: the comedy of the asshole.

According to Stein, Curb Your Enthusiasm entered the zeitgeist during a unique period of TV history when the antihero main character was quickly becoming the most popular character archetype, just as crime dramas such as The Sopranos and The Wire...

Radio host Charlamagne Tha God told Bill Maher on Friday’s Real Time that his appeal is that his audience thinks he’s sincere in his beliefs.

Among his beliefs: that Caitlin Clark’s immediate impact on the WNBA is because – in a league where the majority of women are Black and there’s a large number of gay players – she’s different, and that makes her more of a spectacle, like Tiger Woods in golf or Eminem in hip-hop.

“Caitlin Clark has the ability to put asses in seats,” Charlamagne said. “There’s been plenty of white women basketball players that aren’t putting asses in seats.”

Still, he acknowledged there’s an inherent unfairness that comes with that. A’ja Wilson of the WNBA Las Vegas Stars has been a top player for several years, a two-time Mvp. Yet Clark got a huge deal with Nike in her first year,...

Bill Maher hosts a brand new episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, welcoming Charlamagne Tha God, co-host of the syndicated morning radio show The Breakfast Club and author of Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks, for a one-on-one interview. The episode airs on HBO at 10:00 Pm on Friday, June 14, […]

Real Time with Bill Maher: Charlamagne Tha God, Ana Navarro, Joel Stein...

Pushkin Industries, the audio company co-founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg, announced today a partnership with the Los Angeles-based production house Little Everywhere. Little Everywhere’s hit show The Dream has joined the Pushkin network. Pushkin Industries and Little Everywhere will co-produce the highly anticipated third season of the investigative series next year. Additionally, the two companies will jointly launch a finance show called Other People’s Pockets, which is expected to premiere in February 2023 and are developing further collaborative projects.

“We’ve long admired the small but mighty team at Little Everywhere from their work on The Dream and beyond,” said Leital Molad, Pushkin’s VP of Content Development, “Their production chops and creative spirit are a great match for Pushkin, and we look forward to collaborating with them for years to come.”

“We are thrilled to be working with Pushkin. From our first meeting, we have felt...

I have started to worry that I suck at pitching. My suspicions emerged from the fact that I’m not selling any shows lately. Also, because the times I have sold shows, I was accompanied by another writer, producer or actor who I split the job with: They explained the premise, and I added, “Yes, exactly.”

I’ve known I wasn’t a natural salesperson ever since I chose a career and didn’t pick salesperson despite the fact that it’s a job that pays way more and is way easier than writer. I chose a job ...

Late Thursday evening, HBO Max sent out a perplexing email that had subscribers — and even WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar — questioning what the heck is going on at the streaming service.

The message was brief, but very cryptic. According to screenshots, it had the subject line “Integration Test Email #1” and the body of the email simply read, “This template is used by integration tests only.”

Naturally, it left a bunch of HBO Max subscribers — and Twitter users wanting to get in on the avalanche of ensuing jokes — wondering what it meant or if it was some kind of marketing stunt (it wasn’t).

HBO Max apologized for the “inconvenience” in a tweet shortly after the email went out and even blamed an intern (who we surely hope still has a job) for the bungled email. In the immortal words of a certain fictional pop star, everybody makes mistakes and everybody has those days.

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced the pain of being told that you can’t talk to the most important person on your representative team because your union disagrees with his agency about packaging. It is the kind of loss you can only understand if you’ve emailed an executive’s assistant all by yourself to re-re-reschedule a meeting.

So I was thrilled on Feb. 5, when the WGA announced that it had settled with the final agency it was negotiating with, WME, which had represented me. I could finally reunite with my agent of 22 years, Richard Weitz, a man my wife ...

Comedy studio Funny or Die and journalist Joel Stein on Monday launched Best Presidency Ever, a six-episode digital series tackling the abnormality of the Trump administration.

Episodes follow a comedy clip show retro format and feature Stein, Cheryl Hines and Hal Sparks, who were all original cast members of VH1’s similarly formatted nostalgia series I Love the ’80s.

“When Trump was elected, one of the things — I think I wrote about it at the time [he did, for Time Magazine] — was being afraid of our natural inclination to normalize everything, and there’s just been this barrage of abnormal ...

Comedy studio Funny or Die and journalist Joel Stein on Monday launched Best Presidency Ever, a six-episode digital series tackling the abnormality of the Trump administration.

Episodes follow a comedy clip show retro format and feature Stein, Cheryl Hines and Hal Sparks, who were all original cast members of VH1’s similarly formatted nostalgia series I Love the ’80s.

“When Trump was elected, one of the things — I think I wrote about it at the time [he did, for Time Magazine] — was being afraid of our natural inclination to normalize everything, and there’s just been this barrage of abnormal ...

The Covid-19 pandemic has given virtual voyeurs plenty to focus on over these past few months but journalist and author Joel Stein is particularly keen on examining one feature — the bookshelf — in a new digital series for SoulPancake.

The Participant-owned content studio has partnered with Stein to host the digital series Show Your Shelf. Produced and directed by Josh Shelton, Show Your Shelf will feature Stein asking authors to discuss their book collections while exploring how literature has led them to uncover different life perspectives as well as insights they’ve discovered during quarantine. The authors will note the five ...

The Covid-19 pandemic has given virtual voyeurs plenty to focus on over these past few months but journalist and author Joel Stein is particularly keen on examining one feature — the bookshelf — in a new digital series for SoulPancake.

The Participant-owned content studio has partnered with Stein to host the digital series Show Your Shelf. Produced and directed by Josh Shelton, Show Your Shelf will feature Stein asking authors to discuss their book collections while exploring how literature has led them to uncover different life perspectives as well as insights they’ve discovered during quarantine. The authors will note the five ...

HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher hosts roundtable guests former NJ Sen. Bill Bradley, reporter Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and journalist Jeremy Scahill; news anchor Dan Rather and columnist Joel Stein are interview guests. The series continues its tenth season Friday, May 18 (10:00-11:00 p.m. live Et/tape-delayed Pt), exclusively on HBO, with an instant replay at 11:00 p.m. following the live presentation. Allowing Maher to offer his unique perspective on contemporary issues, the show includes an opening monologue, roundtable discussions with panelists, and interviewswith in-studio and satellite guests. Other HBO playdates: May 20 (11:15 a.m., 3:15 a.m.), 21 (8:00 p.m.) and 23 (11:00 p.m.) HBO2 playdates: May 18 (2:40 a.m.), 19 (9:20 a.m., midnight), 20 (7:00 p.m.) and 22 (10:00 p.m.)...

Shawn Levy (Real Steel) has daddy issues; or, at least, the protagonist of his next project does. In a recent acquisition by Fox 2000 and Levy's company, 21 Laps Entertainment, author Joel Stein's upcoming book, "Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity," has been set up for production. The story is a non-fiction account of a man's journey to discover his masculinity in reaction to learning that he's about to have a baby boy. His journey takes him on a 24-hour shift with L.A. firefighters, basic training sessions with the Us Marine Corps and even into the octagon with Ufc fighter, Randy Couture (The Expendables). Though Levy is on board to produce, director Jake Kasdan (Bad Teacher) will be behind the camera for Man Made. Hit the jump for more. EW reported on Levy's acquisition of Man Made. Known for featuring themes of struggling parents (Night at the Museum, Cheaper by the Dozen,...

EW reports that Shawn Levy will, out of mercy, assume the same producing duties as Neighborhood Watch — i.e., you’ll only see his name in one department — on the newly-bought Man Made, which Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard, Bad Teacher) is currently up to direct.

Man Made will base itself on Joel Stein‘s upcoming book, subtitled A Stupid Quest for Masculinity, which sees the writer chronicle his attempts at becoming more masculine in an ultimate preparation for the growth of his infant child. Among his adventures are “riding along on a shift with firefighters, taking on an Mma fighter, going through Marine basic training, and consulting with various tough guys.”

Kasdan, unlike Levy, hasn’t tackled any father-son dynamics in his (admittedly short and semi-strong) career, but Man Made could still have the makings of something humorous and, with any luck, even a little touching — the film’s producer certainly thinks it’s possible.

The concept of masculinity has been called into question repeatedly over the past decade, and now with men turning to old-fashioned ideals and “Mad Men” re-runs for any sort of guidance, a new book-to-film adaptation, “Man Made,” aims to achieve some answers.

EW reports filmmaker Shawn Levy (“Real Steel”) will produce the film, while Jake Kasdan (“Bad Teacher”) is slated to direct. The project is based off author Joel Stein's non-fiction book of the same name (out in May), and follows an upcoming father who examines his ability to teach his future son proper masculine values. He then sets out to physically and mentally test himself for this purpose, by “riding along on a shift with firefighters, taking on an Mma fighter, going through Marine basic training, and consulting with various tough guys about what it means to be a modern American male.”

It marks an unexpected move for Levy,...

21 Laps Entertainment and Fox 2000 have acquired film rights to Joel Stein's upcoming book "Man Made" and Jake Kasdan ("Bad Teacher") is in talks to direct says EW.

The story is a nonfiction account of the author's efforts to mentally and physically test himself in ways he’s never had to before so he can be a better role model for his infant son.

These include riding along on a shift with firefighters, taking on an Mma fighter, going through Marine basic training, and consulting with various tough guys about what it means to be a modern American male. Kasdan, Dan Levine and Shawn Levy are set to produce.

Now that he’s tackled education in his most recent job, Bad Teacher, it would seem that Jake Kasdan wants to look at the other vital element in kids’ lives: parents. He’s currently negotiating to tackle an adaptation of Joel Stein’s book Man Made.The tome, which doesn’t hit bookstores until May, focuses on Stein’s worries when he welcomes a son into the world. Concerned that he’s not enough of a man to be a good role model for the new spawn, he sets out on a quest to rediscover his masculinity.It sounds like a Nick Hornby / Tony Parsons novel, but it’s actually based on the comedy columnist’s efforts to test himself, including going through Marine training and taking on an Mma fighter.There’s no word on a scriptwriter yet, but the project does already have a producer, in the shape of Shawn Levy.

Many fatherhood comedies feature a hard-edged old man who’s tougher than he needs to be, but producer Shawn Levy has picked up a story about a new dad who needs to grow a pair.

Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment production company and Fox 2000 have acquired the upcoming book Man Made by Joel Stein (out May 15), about a guy trying to learn how to be a man so he can be a better role model for his infant son.

The struggles of parenting have been a favorite subject of the Night at the Museum and Real Steel filmmaker, though Levy will Not be directing this one.

Associated Press Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the new iPad during an event in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 7, 2012.

The unveiling of the third-generation iPad felt underwhelming to me. This is not a judgment on the merits of the new machine. After what happened with the debut of the initial iPad I am not inclined to make any snap judgments. The iPad’s debut, for all its hype, now feels like an ocean of time ago. For one thing, we did...

Ryan Gosling may have narrowly missed winning the title of People's Sexiest Man Alive for 2011 (the honor went to "Hangover" star Bradley Cooper), but the 31-year-old star has earned a different honor to hang his fedora on.

Time Magazine's Joel Stein has dubbed "The Ides of March" star the 2011 Coolest Person of the Year for, among other things, his ability to be "tough but emotional."

"Ryan Gosling, the 2011 Coolest Person of the Year, is so cool that he refused to talk to me about this honor," Stein wrote. "Faced with this problem, other magazine franchises ...

Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Whether or not Ryan Gosling gets nominated for a Golden Globe on Thursday, he's already got a major honor to celebrate.

The Canadian actor/eccentric/heartthrob/meme was named Coolest Person of the Year by Time Magazine's Joel Stein on Wednesday, earning the title for his mix of prolific acting excellence, Manhattan street peace keeping, pursuit of varied interests and dedicated following.

"We defined cool in the classic Marlon Brando way an unshakable calm mixed with a confidence that comes from not needing others," Stein wrote of the parameters for an award winner. "Cool is more how than what; we considered world leaders, singers, hackers and a newsmagazine columnist who one of us thought was an obvious pick."

Gosling, who starred in films ranging between romantic comedies ("Crazy, Stupid, Love.") to political dramas ("The Ides of March") to pulpy stylized B-movie thrillers ("Drive"), fit the bill, with a potential clincher...

"Dying young is no laughing matter," writes Sean Burns in the Philadelphia Weekly. "Except in the case of 50/50, an awkward, heartfelt and extremely funny picture directed by Jonathan Levine, from a script by Will Reiser that has the rough, pants-kicking sting of real life at its (slightly compromised) core. Reiser, a television writer for Da Ali G Show as well as assorted dreck like Garage Band Makeover, was diagnosed with a rare, operable form of cancer in his early 20s. His best friend during this ordeal was the kind of slovenly loudmouth that you'd usually find played in a Hollywood movie by Seth Rogen. Wait, scratch that. Because Reiser's best friend really was Seth Rogen, who always seems to turn up in movies as some sort of variation of himself in the first place, and now does so for real this time as Kyle, an Army-jacket clad, slob-ovian with a...

Box Office Weekend Preview: Bad Teacher, Cars 2, Leap Year’s Graphic Sex, Conan O’Brien, Better Life & More. Exclusive Clip: Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times, David Carr vs. Media, Reviews. Super 8 Ilm VFX Master Dennis Muren Talks Spielberg, Going Back to 70s. Shocker: Cars 2 Early Reviews Trend Rotten as Pixar’s Magic Carpet Ride Touches Down. Last Weekend's Box Office: Green Lantern Opens Soft, Will Lose Money. Trailers The Muppets New Trailer, plus Seven Things Joel Stein Learned on Set, Muppets Last by “Not Being Cynical”; plus Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method; Almodovar's Crazy, Sexy, Scary The Skin I Live In; and Footloose in need of More Kevin Bacon. Also: Wild Ducks Review: Davis Guggenheim’s Ibm Short Reveals Genius News & ...

Time humorist Joel Stein recently reported on his visit to the set of Disney's The Muppets, which arrives just days before Turkey time on November 23 (check out the new trailer below). James Bobin directs from a script (by Jason Segel and his Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller) based on Jim Henson's beloved characters. Segel also stars alongside Amy Adams and cohorts Zach Galifianakis, Emily Blunt, Ed Helms, Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris, Rashida Jones and more. Here are some highlights from Stein's visit: 1. "Between takes, Segel out-Muppets the actual Muppets, his grin still Kermit-wide long after the real Kermit the Frog closes his mouth and collapses around puppeteer Steve Whitmire's hand." 2. Of the plot, Stoller tells Stein: "They're all pretty lonely ...

Time magazine held their annual dinner in New York Tuesday to celebrate its 100 Most Influential People in the World issue, and featured such honorees as Chris Colfer, Amy Poehler, Raaaiiiin! and Mark Wahlberg.

Joining them were a hodgepodge of eclectic celebs, which made for a fascinating event.

Below you can see a vid from Fox News (sorry) which starts off with a soundbite from perennial honoree Skeletor, then talks to Chris about what's up on Glee.

Amy Poehler and Chris Coy Colfer

Rain and Bruno Mars

Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari

Amy and Chris again

Blake Lively and Seth Meyers

Sting

Kerry Washington and Bruno Mars

Fancy tables

Kerry Washington, Martha Stewart, Amy Poehler

Bruno Mars, Mark Wahlberg, Phillip Lawrence

Chris Matthews and Martha Stewart

George R.R. Martin and Parris McBride

Chris Colfer, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers

Meghan McCain and Unnamed Hottie

Chris Colfer and Joel Stein

Darren Criss and...

Now That is funny! Glenn Beck leaving Fox News to compete with Comedy Central? [Apr. 21] Glenn Beck says he's not going to hold back against Jon Stewart of The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report, both comedians and commentators for the Comedy Central cable television network, once The Glenn Beck Show is discontinued by Fox later this year. Both Stewart and Colbert have repeatedly lampooned Glenn Beck for some of his outrageous commentary, including impersonating Beck's end-of-the-world fatalism. "I am going to make sure that Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart do not occupy the space of comedy alone," Glenn Beck said, according to Death and Taxes magazine. News commentator Glenn Beck has said he'll be leaving his show later this year, but that he has no animosity toward Fox News. He has said he's looking for opportunities to change media and says he will not be doing it in New York,...

At a recent tour stop in Albany, Glenn Beck made a few announcements that roused the press. Chief among them: he planned sell his Connecticut mansion and leave New York City.

But he also made another, more surprising statement. "I'm going to make sure," Beck told the sold-out crowd, "that Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart don't occupy the space of comedy alone."

Despite his reigning status as resident media melodramatist, Beck has always had an interest in the comedy form. In 2008 he traveled the country with "Unelectable," traipsing around the stage sporting a neon-orange hunting jacket and holding a toy rifle, mocking the liberal view of right-wingers. In 2009, he followed suit with his "Common Sense Comedy Tour," which was simulcast across the country in 440 theaters.

But taking one's act on the road, amidst fans, is different than becoming the conservative version of Stewart or Colbert. Thus far, no successful news...

Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a Wtf Thought for the Day or grist for some other post. And inevitably, I end the week with most of that material unused. But there's no reason to let this stuff go to waste: I can still share it with you, for your amusement, and start the new week with a clean slate. Herewith this week's leftover links, in no particular order: 5 Tools Writers Used to Dodge the Egypt Internet Crackdown Amazon rolling out Netflix-like unlimited video streaming for Prime subscribers? Smashwords Founder Mark Coker Predicts Drop in eBook Prices Camille Grammer: Marriage Ruined By Kelsey Grammer's Love Of Fox News Apps Alter Reading on the Web Joel Stein, Time Writer, Rips Time's Web Strategy In Tweet...

Really Joel Stein? Have you not learned anything from Mel Gibson’s racist mistakes? The writer quickly came under fire for publishing a piece in Time called “My Own Private India,” an openly mocking and hugely insensitive opinion piece about the large, expanding Indian population in Stein’s hometown, Edison, New Jersey. And it featured gems like, “Were they from some Indian state that got made fun of by all the other Indian states and didn’t want to give up that feeling? Are the malls in India that bad? Did we accidentally keep numbering our parkway exits all the way to Mumbai?” Nice, Stein. Kal Penn to the rescue! The Indian-American actor wrote a piece for the Huffington Post called “The ‘Hilarious’ Xenophobia of Time’s Joel Stein” calling out all the Bs in Stein’s piece. And we have to add, Penn’s piece was written better as well.

Time magazine has offered an apology to readers after actor Kal Penn criticised a recent article about Indian people. Penn wrote a scathing response to Time contributor Joel Stein's satirical story 'My Own Private India', on the growing Indian population in his hometown of Edison, NJ. "Time sincerely regrets that any of our readers were upset by Joel Stein's recent humour column 'My Own Private India'," a representative for Time said in a statement. It continued: "It was in no way intended to (more)...

Kal Penn has lashed out at journalist Joel Stein's Time magazine piece. The former "House" star sarcastically applauds Stein for his "hilarious" account of his Edison, NJ hometown titled "My Own Private India."

In the piece, Stein observed how his town changed from a mostly white suburban town in 1989 to one of the biggest Indian communities in the county.

Some snippets of his articles include:

"In retrospect, I question just how good our schools were if 'dot heads' was the best racist insult we could come up with for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose."...

There are a couple new Cinemax videos - not that kind of Cinemax video - for next weekend's highly anticipated Predators featuring an overly hammy Joel Stein, entertainment writer for Time. But as far as behind-the-scenes videos go, these are quite helpful.

For starters, there's a tour of Troublemaker Studios in Austin, where Robert Rodriguez directs (and now produces) all his stuff. In this case, they didn't shoot all of Predators in Austin, mostly because there are pretty specific location shoots that had to happen somewhere else. They chose Hawaii.

The second video is more of a junket interview with clips, and features more of director Nimród Antal, who is also featured in the first video for a minute or so.

Joel Stein, forgettable I Love the 80s participant and Time magazine humor (?) columnist, wrote a new piece about immigration called “My Own Private India.” Specifically, his ode to post-post-colonialism discusses the large Indian expat community in Edison, New Jersey. He writes, “I never knew how a bunch of people half a world away chose a random town in New Jersey to populate. Were they from some Indian state that got made fun of by all the other Indian states and didn't want to give up that feeling? Are the malls in India that bad? Did we accidentally keep numbering our parkway exits all the way to Mumbai?” All good questions! And oh god, there’s so much more: racial stereotyping, condemnations of Indians’ aesthetic choices, pseudo-solidarity with anti-immigration proponents in Arizona because both Mexicans and Indians love spicy food and how unwhite is that?, and observations that Indians look, smell,...

New York, May 1 – Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag have been placed on Time magazine’s list of “Least Influential People of 2010″.

Time contributor Joel Stein says of Montag: “You used to be famous for being famous. Then you were famous for getting lots of plastic surgery and selling only 658 copies of your album in its first week. Now you’re not famous. That was fast.”

He says about Pratt: “Montag fired him as her manager. It’s like we need a whole other list of the uninfluential.

Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Palin, Lady Gaga and former President Bill Clinton were some of the names who recently made Time magazines "100 Most Influential People In The World" list, but things didn't fare as well for stars including Heidi Montag and "Golden Girl" Rue McLanahan, who made the mag's "Losers" list.

Time Contributor Joel Stein put the plastic surgery-loving "Hills" reality starlet and the television veteran on his "Least Influential People of 2010" list, which he nicknamed "Losers," on the mag's Web site.

Heidi was put on the list for losing her fame, while her husband, Spencer Pratt, ...

Copyright 2010 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Just in time for you to kick back with a Friday evening cocktail: Time's Joel Stein takes a hard look at the netherworld of meat-infused drinks. We're talking vodka with beef bullion, whiskey with pancetta, and alcoholic chocolate shakes with a splash of BBQ sauce and a McNugget on the rim. (Yes!) This both makes me hungry and leads me to remember my favorite new blog that's been making the rounds: An elegantly simple collection called Men With Meat Names. The usual suspects are all there: Lamb (Wally), Hamm (Jon), and the Bacons (Francis and Kevin). But some others still...

Not only are they capable of lighting up the silver screen, they are also some of today's most talented young actresses, commanding huge fees - in some cases, in the millions. Many have won multiple awards, while others have starred in some of today's biggest box office hits. In short, we're listing down the cream of the crop!

Just like our recent Top 50 hottest young actors, we've narrowed down our list from 88 to 50, and set an age limit. If you miss seeing some of your favorites, so do we - including Maggie Gyllenhaal (31 years old) and Amy Adams (34 years old). Definitely some of the names you'll see on the list are emerging talents - the ones you will see getting the big roles in the near future - and some of them already have, with awards and nominations to boot.

Here's the updated Top 30 list! The names are getting more...

Not only are they capable of lighting up the silver screen, they are also some of today's most talented young actresses, commanding huge fees - in some cases, in the millions. Many have won multiple awards, while others have starred in some of today's biggest box office hits. In short, we're listing down the cream of the crop!

Just like our recent Top 50 hottest young actors, we've narrowed down our list from 88 to 50, and set an age limit. If you miss seeing some of your favorites, so do we - including Maggie Gyllenhaal (31 years old) and Amy Adams (34 years old). Definitely some of the names you'll see on the list are emerging talents - the ones you will see getting the big roles in the near future - and some of them already have, with awards and nominations to boot.

Here's the updated Top 30 list! The names are getting more...

Not only are they capable of lighting up the silver screen, they are also some of today's most talented young actresses, commanding huge fees - in some cases, in the millions. Many have won multiple awards, while others have starred in some of today's biggest box office hits. In short, we're listing down the cream of the crop!

Just like our recent Top 50 hottest young actors, we've narrowed down our list from 88 to 50, and set an age limit. If you miss seeing some of your favorites, so do we - including Maggie Gyllenhaal (31 years old) and Amy Adams (34 years old). Definitely some of the names you'll see on the list are emerging talents - the ones you will see getting the big roles in the near future - and some of them already have, with awards and nominations to boot.

Here's the updated Top 30 list! The names are getting more...

"Real Time with Bill Maher" continued host Bill Maher's smack down on the Democrats, who he described as "the new Republicans." Maher lampoons the sacred cows of politics and popular culture weekly on his HBO series, and last week he suprised the both the left and the right with his lashing out against President Obama, who he urged to use some "audacity" per the president's campaign slogan promise in fighting against "corporate douchebags." Maher hosted his roundtable that included political strategist Paul Begala, reporter Katty Kay and humorist Joel Stein. Journalist Hooman Majd and a very nervous but charming columnist Meghan McCain were his interview guests. The show is posted below, including "New Rules" and the HBO after show:...

Bill Maher did a very interesting thing on the last, "Real Time with Bill Maher." On his HBO show that lampoons the sacred cows of politics and popular culture, Maher suprised the right with his lashing out against Obama, who he urged to use some "audacity" per the president's campaign slogan promise. "Real Time with Bill Maher" continues its seventh season in prime time Friday, June 19 (10:00-11:00 p.m. live Et/tape-delayed Pt), exclusively on HBO, with an instant replay at 11:00 p.m. following the live presentation. Maher spins his satirical eye on a wide swath of contemporary issues, the show includes an opening monologue, roundtable discussions with panelists, and interviews with in-studio and satellite guests. The roundtable...

• The Hangover held onto the No. 1 position with $33.4 million at the box office this weekend. [Variety] • Think Kim Jong-il is creepy? He’s got nothing on Kim Jong-un. [NY Times] • Joel Stein helped Glenn Beck write his jokes for Beck’s recent comedy tour. Too bad the only thing funny to come of it were Beck’s enraged fans in the comments section of our review. [Page Six] • That www.facebook.com/that’swhatshesaid URL you were longing for may be taken already, so you better get to Facebook and register now! [USA Today] • Megan Fox is single and on the prowl. Her first victim: Korean pop-star Rain. [The Sun]...

Making it overnight in Hollywood, the boxoffice slump and celebrity worship were among the topics touched on Tuesday night in a wide-ranging Q&A with Robert J. Dowling, The Hollywood Reporter editor-in-chief and publisher, conducted by Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein. The two chatted in the downtown amphitheater of the California Plaza as part of the "Public Square" lecture series hosted by the cultural organization Zocalo and the Los Angeles Public Library. The event was far from a lecture, however, as Dowling and Stein traded quips and moved freely from topic to topic.