Wendi McLendon-Covey Is the Comedy Icon We Need Right Now

Aldis Hodge’s career has been busy since his debut as a child actor in the 1995 film Die Hard with a Vengeance, but he says all that work has culminated in Prime Video’s Cross (November 14). “It just feels like the work that I’ve done in the past 35 years of my career has led up to this.” Hodge plays Alex Cross, a detective who uses forensic psychology to capture serial killers. The character was made famous in the popular James Patterson novels and film adaptations starring Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry. “If I wasn’t on this show, I’d be watching it, because it’s the kind of show I’ve been waiting for for a long time.” And Hodge is going to have that chance, because before the first episode even aired, Prime Video announced that they were renewing it for a second season. “That’s a huge leap of faith for them to step out for us, but it also validates the work that our entire crew, our cast, our producers and writers [are doing]. And it is very rare that it happens, but it just lets us know how special this project actually is, and how lucky we are to be a part of it.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After 10 years of playing Beverly Goldberg on The Goldbergs, Wendi McLendon-Covey was not eager for a break. “I need to go do a job where I can just throw everything at it and then come home totally exhausted.” Luckily for her, NBC’s St. Denis Medical was waiting. “I loved the premise of the show and I love this character.” McLendon-Covey plays Joyce, a colorful hospital administrator surrounded by stressed-out doctors and nurses at a quirky medical facility in Oregon. “When you’re in a hospital, you don’t think anything’s funny, but, I’m sorry, hospitals are hysterical. They’re not supposed to be, but there’s always something you can look at and say, ‘I’m glad that’s not happening to me.’” Joyce is another hysterical character in a long list of funny people McLendon-Covey has played. One in particular she can’t seem to shake: Deputy Clementine Johnson on Reno 911! The Comedy Central series has had many incarnations since it debuted in 2003. “Listen, crime will never go away. So we’ll always have a reason to get back together.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sharon Horgan has a resume packed with award-winning comedy, but when it came to crafting Bad Sisters (Apple TV+, November 13) she had to find the right balance. That’s because “a very difficult subject matter,” about Irish sisters who plot to murder the abusive husband of one of the women, had to “sit alongside quite a farce.” Adapted from a Belgian series, Horgan took “some of the murders out, and I put more of the sisters in, and more of the effects watching your family member go through this.” “I think you can take chances in the script with where you choose to have a laugh or to release the pressure, or just have something really sort of out-and-out stupid.” Now in its second season, even though that husband is out of the way, after the Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated first season, that doesn’t mean things have gotten easier for the sisters. “Life just doesn’t become hunky-dory, you’ve got this poison you’re still carrying it around.” For Horgan, she’s particularly proud that she was able to find that delicate balance of tone.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We have a new president. (Well, not new, but you know what I mean.) Former President Donald Trump pulled off one of the greatest political comebacks in political history. For some, it’s a victory, and for others, it’s a dark day. How did he do it? And where did Kamala Harris wrong? To break it down and attempt to make sense of it all, H. Alan Scott is joined by Newsweek’s Jason Lemon and Jenni Fink.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With election day just days away, we’re looking at what could be one of the closest elections in U.S. history. The question is: Will people show up to vote or is the apathy just so strong that people can’t make a decision between over the typical “lesser of two evils” stance? While Vice President Kamala Harris makes a case against former President Donald Trump and a case for unity, Trump is pulling out all the stops (and stunts) to get those middle-class Americans to vote Trump once again. To break it down and attempt to make sense of it all, H. Alan Scott is joined today by Newsweek’s Jason Lemon and Jenni Fink.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A late-night comedy show on CNN? Yes, and it's a game show, too. Have I Got News for You, hosted by Roy Wood Jr. with Michael Ian Black and Amber Ruffin serving as team captains, tests players' knowledge of the news. "On regular late-night shows, you have to teach the audience what the news story is and then you can talk about it," Ruffin says. "But here [on CNN] there's way less learning. You're all people who love knowing what's going on in the world, so it is a lot faster moving." For Ruffin, coming up with material on a news cycle is the exciting part. "You are just you, and however it hits your ear, and it makes you say whatever comes out of your mouth." Considering the show is all about reacting to the news, what's Ruffin's reaction to the presidential race? "I suppose Vice President Harris is going to win by a lot and Trump is going to pivot to even crazier old coot, and we'll all live happily ever after.... But it has to be said that I am a severe optimist, and the night Hillary Clinton lost, I was shooting a big, beautiful video about her winning." [laughs] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For Oscar-winner Kathy Bates, “it’s all about the work.” lately, she’s been working a lot. In the reimagining of CBS’ Matlock, Bates plays Madeline Matlock, a woman rejoining the workforce at a prestigious law firm in her senior years. The first season of the show, which “has caught fire with 10 million people,” says Bates, is such a success that CBS has already renewed it for a second season. “I feel grateful to play the role. I feel grateful to have this opportunity. I’m just thrilled with the numbers.” Those numbers represent a portion of society who might feel unseen. “The boomer generation has been pushed to the side. But in fact, we are a powerful force to be reckoned with.” While Bates says she was “absolutely terrified” to see her face on a billboard, she’s aware this moment in her career is rare. “To have this happen is just absolutely unreal.” “From the very beginning, I knew that the work speaks for itself. I made a choice that I was going to become the best I could be, and I was going to make it impossible for them to say no, because of what I could do as an actor.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the span of a week, former President Donald Trump went from working the drive through at McDonald’s to allegedly praising Adolf Hitler’s generals while president. Can you tell we’re just mere weeks away from election day? And in some ways, it feels like everybody is looking for an October surprise, yet it feels like with every new shocking piece of breaking news, voters keep saying–to borrow a phrase from another popular fast-food chain–“Where’s the beef?” Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris should consider changing her campaign theme song to “It’s Raining Men” by the Weather Girls, because they’re pushing out all the men like former President Barack Obama and Eminem to try and shore up those male votes. Will it work? To break it down and attempt to make sense of it all, H. Alan Scott is joined by Newsweek’s Jason Lemon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bridget Everett never thought she’d be the lead of a TV show. “I come from the downtown world in New York, a cabaret singer, and these things just don’t happen, you don’t find yourself with three seasons of HBO. It just doesn’t happen.” But it happened. On Somebody Somewhere (October 27), Everett plays Sam, a woman struggling through a midlife crisis with the help of her family and colorful friends in rural Kansas. Set in her actual hometown, Everett says, “it’s a lot of me that you’re seeing, warts and all.” “Even if you don’t look like the people on the screen, you can relate to the things that they’re going through.... Whether we’re fat or we’re short, or we’re queer or whatever—we happen to all be those things—but that’s not the focus. The focus of the story is just the human condition.” And in season three we see just how far Sam has gone in her funny (sometimes uncomfortable) journey to find herself. “Her in season three is learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all. Whitney [Houston] said it first, Whitney said it best, but you know what? It’s still true.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

George Lopez has done a lot in his long career. But now, with NBC’s Lopez vs Lopez, George knows what’s most important “is the people you get to be around and get to talk to.” One of those people includes his daughter, Mayan Lopez, who he created the show with. The two play fictionalized versions of themselves as they rekindle their estranged relationship both in the show and in real life. “Everything came very difficult to me, and I think everything’s meant to be.” One thing he never expected to be is the rare example of a Latin American success story on network TV. “When I sat at my grandmother’s house and I saw I Love Lucy and Chico and the Man, I never really thought that I would be that guy.” But now that he is that guy, thanks to the success of this series, his stand-up and his popular first self-titled series, George knows what connects him to his audience. “You don’t want to forget people have real lives, and if for some reason they find you and you give them comfort, and if you can make them laugh, that at the end of the day [is what matters].”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.