NYDP Communication Enrichment Class

June 2: The Weeknd

His real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye.
He is 32 years old.
He has been in the spotlight for almost a decade with over a dozen hits on Billboard scoring five #1’s, three Grammy’s, countless Platinums and a Certified Diamond Track.
He has been called every rapper’s favourite R&B singer
He’s known for his secret meanings behind his hit songs like Can’t Feel My Face, The Hills, and Blinding Lights.

Early Life

He was born and raised in Scarborough, Toronto where he lived with his parents and grandmother.
His grandmother often looked after him, which is why he speaks Amharic, his parents’ language, fluently.
His family immigrated from Ethiopia in the 1980s.
They were poor. His mother had several jobs to support her son and herself while the father did not take part in his son’s upbringing.
When he was very young, his father left him with his mother and grandmother to raise him. He still carries resentment for his father abandoning him.
He started smoking weed when he was only 11 years old.
When he was 16 years old, he promised to himself that he would take his life if he never made it big in the world.
When he was 17 years old, he and his best friend Lamar Taylor dropped out of highschool together and he left home. They shared a one-bedroom apartment in Parkdale, Toronto.
In the morning, Abel worked as a salesperson in a clothes store. In the evening, he organized concerts with his friends who also were eager to perform on the stage.
He used the little money that he had for hard drugs and partying. He was homeless for long periods of time. This stage of his life is the basis of his character in his album and short film “After Hours”.

Where does the name “the Weeknd” come from?

When he moved out of his mother’s house, he said his mom gave him “the worst look anyone could ever have. She looked at me like she had failed.”
He hated how he felt during that weekend, but it was the beginning of this new chapter of his life of pursuing fame.
The spelling was modified to avoid copyright issues with a Canadian band already named the Weekend.

Early Career: Mystery & Melancholy

At the start of his career, he was very anonymous.
People didn’t know if “the Weeknd” was a band or a solo artist.
He chose to not have his picture taken for almost a year, and he rarely did video interviews.
In a more recent interview, he said: “I try to shy away from press because it’s never about the art for them.”

He feels that the R&B genre is overly influenced by appearance, so he wanted to hear people’s unbiased reactions to his music.
His music career began with him uploading his own music to YouTube in 2010.
His first album, Trilogy, is a combination of his first three mixtapes: House of Balloons, Thursday, Echoes of Silence plus three extra tracks. The genre of this album is melancholy R&B and alternative soul music. He sang about partying, drug addiction, and difficult relationships with women and intimacy.
He is one of the first musicians to explore the topic of cheating without making excuses for himself or presenting himself as a good person.
He talks about himself as someone who knows they’re flawed, hates themselves, and doesn’t ask for sympathy.
In general, he has had a huge impact on new artists and the entire R&B genre, but in particular, his music changed how many musicians approach the topic of infidelity.

Rise to Mainstream Stardom

His album “Beauty Behind the Madness” dropped the ethereal, ambient elements of his earlier music and sounds more catchy, but he insisted on writing his own lyrics.
In “Can’t Feel My Face”, you can see how he was musically influenced by Michael Jackson, specifically “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough”.
On the surface, the song is about someone who hurts him who he can’t stop himself from loving. It’s very upbeat and easy to dance to. But the lyrics are darker.
The song is actually about his toxic relationship with cocaine and his struggles with quitting. The Weeknd sings, “But I love it, but I love it,” unable and not wanting to break with his “lover.”

His collaboration with Ariana Grande on Love Me Harder opened the doors to pop stardom and introduced him to Max Martin, who is the producer behind 25 number one singles.

Later in 2015, he met supermodel Bella Hadid. This was the first time he was seen publicly dating another woman. The relationship ended mutually after a year and a half.
He used the heartbreak as a chance to transform his image. His style drastically changed to electropop with his 2016 album Starboy. He also cut the signature hairstyle that he was known for.
He wrote songs about embracing the lifestyle of fame and mainstream success. He collaborated with Daft Punk, which he continued to do throughout his career.
His song “Earned It” was in movie soundtrack for 50 Shades of Grey. and his song “Devil May Cry” was in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Many stars took an interest in the musician and offered collaboration. For instance, The Weeknd had the chance to perform with Beyoncé and Sia. He has also recorded music with Kanye West.
In 2014, The Weeknd toured again: at that time, he was giving concerts in the United States. ScHoolboy Q and Jhené Aiko were his support team members.

My Dear Melancholy

In 2017, the Weeknd dated Selena Gomez for 10 months. She ended things and announced that she was officially dating her ex, Justin Bieber, just one week after her breakup with the Weeknd.
Days before the breakup, Selena and Justin Bieber were spotted having breakfast together, going to church together, and spending day and night at each other’s houses.
There were rumors that Selena was just dating the Weeknd to make Justin jealous and pursue her again. In “Call out My Name”, he sang “Guess I was just another pit stop while you made up your mind / You just wasted my time.”
In “Call out My Name”, he sings “I almost cut a piece of myself for your life”, referencing when he almost donated his kidney to her when she needed a kidney transplant. Her donor ended up being one of her best friends.
This breakup inspired his 2018 album My Dear Melancholy. In a moment of heartbreak and loss, he briefly returned to his old, sad, ambient sound.

The Performance Art of After Hours

This album and short film was released in March 2020. They were both inspired by the 1985 film After Hours and the 2019 film The Joker.
This album’s genre is synthpop, reminiscent of the 1980s.
In this album, he explores trying but failing to escape the lifestyle of mainstream success and fame. This is significant because he used to glorify fame in his album Starboy and long for fame in Trilogy. Remember that when he was 16, he said that he would take his life if he didn’t make it big.
In this short film, every attempt he makes to leave ends up with him being pulled back and more stuck than before.
At the End of Blinding Lights, he accepts his fate of being trapped in fame and it’s revealed that the blinding lights are what he sees from the back of an ambulance.
He then has a lot of plastic surgery and a red jacket, referencing Michael Jackson once again.

14:34 until 21:13

One song on this album “Save Your Tears” featured Ariana Grande, and later that year, he was featured in her song “Off the Table”

Superbowl Halftime Show

He headlined the Super Bowl LV halftime show on February 7, 2021, becoming the first Canadian solo artist to headline the show.
He reportedly spent US$7 million of his own money on the Super Bowl performance
The halftime show earned three Emmy nominations

Dawn FM

He released this album in January 2022.
The concept is inspired by 80s radio. The Weeknd described the album’s concept as a state of purgatory—a journey towards the “light at the end of a tunnel”.
Its genre is dance-pop and synth-pop songs that are heavily inspired by the 1980s new wave, funk and electronic dance music styles.
It features narration by Jim Carrey, guest vocals from Tyler, the Creator and Lil Wayne, and spoken word appearances from Quincy Jones (one of Michael Jackson’s producers) and Josh Safdie (part of Daft Punk).
This was controversial because he referenced Selena in the album, seemingly confirming the rumor about her using him to get back together with Justin. In “Here We Go Again”, the Weeknd sings, “You said you wanted your boyfriend jealous with a couple pics / And you didn’t expect to fall for me”. Selena did not respond.
One line of a song, “My new girl, she’s a movie star.” This is seen to confirm the rumor that he is dating Angelina Jolie, which began circulating in 2021. They’ve been seen and photographed together multiple times.
He’s hinted that it’s part of something bigger, but it’s unclear if it’s part of a trilogy.

Sources:

https://en.24smi.org/celebrity/62301-the-weeknd.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_FM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weeknd#2021%E2%80%93present:_Super_Bowl_LV_halftime_show_and_Dawn_FM

May 31: Adam Sandler

Adam Sandler

Adam is an Actor, comedian and musician. He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live and has been in movies like Punch-Drunk-Love and the Wedding Singer.

Who is Adam Sandler?

Adam was born on September 9, 1966. He was born in New York City.
In school Adam was always the class clown but he didn’t want to become a comedian until his brother encouraged him for at a Boston comedy club.
He was a regular on MTV’s Remote Control and on Saturday Night Live. He did this before he decided to start making movies such as Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.

Even though he’s best known for comedy he also has done some dramatic work.

Movies

Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore the Wedding Singer

in the 1990s Adam kept us all laughing with his juvenile antics and sometimes offensive stunts.
His first film came in 1995. He was in Billy Madison.
After that he was in several films including Happy Gilmore in 1996, The Wedding Singer with Drew Barrymore and The Water Boy in 1998, Big daddy in 1999 and Little Nicky in 2000.

Punch-Drunk-Love, 50 First Dates

in 2002 Adam worked with Winona Ryder in Mr. Deeds. He also worked with Emily Watson in Punch-Drunk-Love.

In 2003 he starred with Jack Nicholson in the comedy Anger Management.

In 2004 he worked with Drew Barrymore in the romantic comedy called 50 First Dates. It did very well at the box office.
Adam also worked on the movie called Spanglish that year it was a more dramatic role. It was about a husband having trouble with his wife and he developed a relationship with his housekeeper.

The Longest Yard, Reign Over Me

in 2005 Adam was in the remake of the 1974 sports comedy called The Longest Yard.
He played a convict who organized the football game between inmates and the guards. Burt Reynolds and Chris Rock were in the movie as well as the singer named Nelly.

In 2006 he played an architect that discovered a remote control they gave him the power to fast-forward or rewind his own life in the movie called Click.
In 2007 Adam took on a more dramatic role in the movie Reign Over Me.
It was about a man who loses his family in September 11 terrorist attacks. It was because of an accidental meeting with an old friend played by Don Cheadle Adam’s character begins to rebuild his shattered life.
He earned some positive reviews for his performance in the movie and Variety magazine called his acting compelling and excellent.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

in 2007 Adam returned for his comedic roles is most famous for when he produced and starred in the movie called, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.
In this movie he played a straight firefighter pretends to be in a gay relationship with a widow firefighter so that his friend can receive domestic partner benefits for himself and his children after his wife passes away. The widowed firefighter was played by Kevin James.

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

In 2008 Adam played an Israeli commando that faked his own death so that he could move to America to pursue his dream of becoming a hairdresser.
He produced and co-wrote this film.
He also produced the movie called The House Bunny at the same time. It was a sorority house comedy.

Bedtime Stories, Funny People

In 2008 Bedtime Stories was released. Adam played a man who tells his niece and bedtime stories, but they begin to suddenly come true.

Adam also starred in the movie called Funny People in 2009.

Grown-ups and Hotel Transylvania Franchises

Adam enjoyed a lot of success when he did the movie in 2010 called Grown-Ups. He was acting with actress Selma Hayek, Kevin James and Chris Rock. He even wrote the script for the movie.

In 2011 he made more than $26 million for the first weekend when the movie Jack and Jill was released.
That was very surprising because the critics did not like the movie very much.
In 2012 he provided his voice for a character in the movie Hotel Transylvania and in 2013 grown-ups 2 was made.
In 2015 he continued his voice work in the movie called Pixels and Hotel Transylvania 2. He also did a movie called the Ridiculous 6.
In 2016 he works with David Spade in the Netflix comedy The Do Over.

In 2017 he decided to take on more of a dramatic role in The Meyerowitz Stories.
In 2018 he continued his voice work when he reprised his role for hotel Transylvania 3.
In 2019 he worked with Jennifer Aniston again for the Netflix comedy called Murder Mystery and he worked in a movie called Uncut Gems. He received a lot of praise for his acting abilities in this movie.

Albums

Adam has made several comedy albums. His first album called They’re All Gonna to Laugh at You was made in 1993 and was Grammy nominated. It was an instant hit and increased his fan base because the young people liked it because it had offensive songs and sketches.
In 1996 he made an album called What the Hell Happened to Me?
In 1997 he made an album called What Your Name?
In 1999 he made another album called Stan and Judy’s Kid and lastly in 2004 he made the album Shhh… Don’t tell.
In 2018 Adam made a return to stand-up comedy in the Netflix special called 100% Fresh.
The act centred around his trademark juvenile songs along with more mature bits about life as a middle-aged father.

Wife and Kids

Adam has been married to actress Jackie Titone since June 2003.
The couple has two daughters Sadie who was born in 2006 and Sunny who was born in 2008.

Early Career and SNL

Adam was born on September 9, 1966 in New York City.
He was raised in Manchester, New Hampshire and is one of four children.
When he was 17 his brother encouraged him to perform at a Boston Comedy Club.
He continued to perform after he left Boston to attend New York University.
After he graduated, he got a recurring role on the MTV game show called Remote Control.
In 1989 he was in his first film called Going Overboard.
Dennis Miller a cast member on Saturday Night Live noticed Adam and helped him get a job on the show. Adam was on the show from 1990 to 1995.
It was on Saturday Night Live during this time that Adam created characters such as Cajun Man, Opera Man and Canteen Boy.
He returned to Saturday Night Live in May 2019 to provide a moving musical tribute to his former castmate Chris Farley when he passed away.

I hope you enjoyed Adam Sandler. Let’s finish off class by seeing him answer some burning questions with Ellen.

May 26: Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton performs in concert during her ‘Pure & Simple Tour’ at the Frank Erwin Center on Dec. 6, 2016, in Austin, Texas.

Dolly Parton is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman. She is most famously known for her success as a country music star.

She was born January 19, 1946. She is 76 years old, and she is still going on tours with new music!
Her music career started when she was just 10 years old!
In addition to country music, she also makes music in the country pop, bluegrass, and gospel music genres.
She has 11 Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and she has been nominated for Grammy Awards 50 times
She has 10 Country Music Association Awards. She is one of only seven female artists to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award.
She has won 5 Academy of Country Music Awards, also including Entertainer of the Year; 4 People’s Choice Awards; and 3 American Music Awards.
She is one of a very few musicians to have received at least one nomination from the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Tony Awards, and Emmy Awards.
In 1999, Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In 2022, she was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She first declined the nomination because she didn’t feel worthy of the honor, but she has since accepted it.

Early Life

Dolly was born in a one-room cabin in on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Pittman Center, Tennessee. Her father paid the doctor who helped deliver her with a bag of cornmeal.
She is the fourth of twelve children born to Avie Lee Caroline and Robert Lee Parton Sr.
She has described her family as being “dirt poor”. She outlined her family’s poverty in her early songs “Coat of Many Colors” and “In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)”.
There is a movie about the time in her life when she and her family lived in that one-room cabin. It’s called “Coat of Many Colors”, named after the song.

What is Dollywood?

Dolly has invested much of her earnings into business ventures in the area where she grew up: East Tennessee.
Dolly is a co-owner of The Dollywood Company, which operates the theme park Dollywood, a dinner theater, Dolly Parton’s Stampede, the waterpark Dollywood’s Splash Country, and the Dream More Resort and Spa.
Dollywood is the 24th-most-popular theme park in the United States.
This has created many jobs for locals who live in the area, and her goal is to continue to open more theme parks like it around the United States. The Dolly Parton’s Stampede business has venues in Branson, Missouri, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Starting in June 2011, the Myrtle Beach location became Pirates Voyage Fun, Feast and Adventure. She appeared for the opening, and the South Carolina General Assembly declared June 3, 2011 to be “Dolly Parton Day”.

The Imagination Library

Dolly has also given back to her hometown, Sevierville, Tennessee, through the Imagination Library.
In 1990, the high school dropout rate for Dolly Parton’s hometown of Sevierville Tennessee was at 34%.
Research showed that most kids make up their minds in fifth/sixth grade not to graduate. That year, all fifth and sixth graders from Sevierville were invited by Parton to attend an assembly at Dollywood. They were asked to pick a buddy, and if both students completed high school, Dolly Parton would personally hand them each a $500 check on their graduation day.
As a result, the dropout rate for those classes fell from 34% to 6%, and the area has kept that overall average to this day.
Parton learned from teachers that problems in education often begin during first grade when kids are at different levels in their childhood development.
The Dollywood Foundation paid the salaries for additional teachers’ assistants in every first grade class for the next 2 years, under the agreement that if the program worked, the school system would effectively adopt and fund the program after the trial period.
During the same period, Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995.
The goal of the Imagination library was that every child in Sevier County would receive one book, every month, mailed and addressed to the child, from the day they were born until the day they started kindergarten, 100% free.
What began as a hometown initiative now serves children in all 50 states of the U.S., as well as Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Each month, thousands of free books are mailed to children around the world.
On March 1, 2018 Parton donated her 100 millionth book at the Library of Congress: a copy of “Coat of Many Colors” dedicated to her father, who never learned to read or write. She says that despite this, he is the smartest man that she has ever met.

(Skip the first 2 minutes)

Famous Songs

Dolly has written about 3,000 songs throughout her amazing career. 450 of her songs have been recorded.
She has written songs for other artists too, such as:
- “There’ll Always Be Music,” sung by Tina Turner
- “Put It Off Until Tomorrow”, sung by Bill Phillips
- “Fuel to the Flame,” sung by Skeeter Davis
- “Kentucky Gambler,” sung by Merle Haggard
- “I’m In No Condition,” sung by Hank Williams Jr.
- “Circle of Love,” sung by Jennifer Nettles
- “The Stranger,” sung by Kenny Rogers
- “Waltz Me to Heaven,” sung by Waylon Jennings
- “To Daddy,” sung by Emmylou Harris

Some of her most famous songs are:
- Coat of Many Colors
- 9 to 5
- But You Know I Love You
- Two Doors Down
- Here You Come Again
- Islands in the Stream
- Jolene

Also, did you know she is Miley Cyrus’ godmother? Her and Miley have had a very close relationship throughout Miley’s entire life. Here is them performing Jolene together!

Dolly Parton’s most famous song is “I Will Always Love You”. Even though many people associate the song with Whitney Houston, Dolly wrote and released it herself. In an interview, she said, “I don’t mind if she gets the credit just as long as I get my cash!”

In another interview, she said she begins every concert with “9 to 5” and finishes with “I Will Always Love You”. Here is her performing it in 1974!

Acting Career

She began acting in two television variety shows in the late 1970s and late 1980s, but they both lasted for just one season because they caused too much strain on her voice.
Her first feature film was “9 to 5”, which came out in 1980. The movie highlights discrimination against women in the workplace and created awareness of the U.S. National Association of Working Women.
Parton’s second feature film was a movie adaptation of the musical “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”, which came out in 1982. It was the fourth highest-grossing live-action musical film of the 1980s, and the top grossing of 1982.
Her third feature film was “Rhinestone”, which came out in 1984. This movie is a comedy about a country music star’s efforts to mold an unknown artist into a music sensation.

In conclusion…

Dolly is known and beloved for so many reasons. This next video shows a few things that she is also known for!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton#1967%E2%80%931975:_Country_music_success

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=dolly%20parton%20imagination%20library

https://www.grammy.com/news/grammy-hall-of-fame-inspirations-jennifer-hudson

https://theboot.com/top-dolly-parton-songs/

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/news-entertainment/a36004232/dolly-parton-miley-cyrus-relationship/#:~:text=Believe%20it%20or%20not%2C%20Dolly,Cyrus%2C%20in%20the%20early%201990s.

May 24: Irish Step Dance

Irish step dance is a style of performance dance with roots in Ireland.
When Irish dancing it is usually done with a stiff upper body and fast and precise movements of your feet.
It is usually done in groups but also can be done with one person. There is Irish step dance competitions that can be done all over the world.

These competitions are often called Feiseanna. If only one person is dancing is called a Feis.
In Irish dance culture a feis is a traditional Gaelic arts and cultural Festival.

Wearing costumes is very important because they provide the dentist with the stage presence during competition and when performing Irish step dance. These costumes can often be very expensive.
Males and females can perform Irish dancing, but it is usually done by females. Therefore, most of the costumes are dresses.
The costumes are very colourful and performers usually curl their hair. Poodle socks are worn with dresses and shoes.
Poodle socks are socks that go to mid-calf with a very distinctive ribbing.

Riverdance is a famous Irish step dancing performance that was in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. It later was made into a very successful theatre production.

Now that Riverdance became such a large production it began to change the way Irish dance was performed and viewed.
People began to break it down and they were able to change it a bit in order to make it closer to what audiences wanted to see.
Some people consider this a betrayal to Irish tradition whereas others enjoyed it.
People saw it as a way of expanding Irish culture and it began to be widely accepted.
Another musical that came after Riverdance was called Lord of the Dance.

Michael Flatley is a very famous Irish step dancer. He was the star of many of the shows.
There are two types of shoes that are worn in Irish step dancing. Hard shoes which sound like tap dancing and soft shoes which are called Ghillies. They are like ballet slippers.
The dances that are done with soft and hard shoes are different and go by different names.
Different music with different beats are played based on the type of dance. However, they all share similar moves and rhythms.
Most competitive step dances are done by solo dancers.
Many step dancers also perform and compete in the traditional set and in Celli gatherings. This just means a traditional social gathering of Scottish or Irish people.
These competitions are organized by several different organizations and the competitions are at the local level and even at a championship level.

Competitive Costumes

Judges at competitions judge the dancers on their performance but they also look at their presentation and what they look like.
Boys and girls wear very different costumes.
Girls must wear white poodle socks or black tights. Their competition dresses have changed a lot through the years.
Historically girls wore their Sunday best. In the 1980s carefully embroidered velvet was popular.
Today different fabrics are used including lace, sequins, silk embroidered organzas.
Today some dresses have crystals and velvet is becoming popular again.
Some dancers even design the dress and costume by themselves.
The dresses can cost from $600-$4000. Some famous designers of these dresses are Gavin Doherty, Connor O’Sullivan and Elevation.
Championship dancers have the choice to wear either a wig or curl their hair. But they usually choose a wig because it’s more convenient and popular.
Believe it or not wigs can cost from $20-$150.

to prevent the dancers from looking pale or washed out the dancers usually wear makeup and tend their lakes.
There was even a rule put in place in 2005 that children under 10 were not allowed to tan their legs.
In October 2005 rule went even further stating that children under 12 were not allowed to fake tan or wear makeup.
The boys wore jackets and kilts but now they wear black pants with a colourful vest and the tie. The vest may have embroidery and crystals on it.

Kerr and Tina suggested that I find a video with Stavros Flatley. Let’s finish off class by looking at his appearances on Britain’s Got Talent. I hope you enjoyed looking at Irish step dancing.

May 19: Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande is one of the most successful artists in the world. She is a singer, song-writer, and actress.

Quick Facts

She is 28 years old
She was born on June 26, 1993 in Boca Raton, Florida
Her career started when she was just 15 years old, so she has been working for more than half of her life!
She is Italian American, and she often talks about her family, especially her Nonna (grandmother), her favourite Italian foods, and how much she talks with her hands!
She has made 6 albums: Yours Truly (2013), My Everything (2014), Dangerous Woman (2016), Sweetener (2018), Thank U, Next (2019), and Positions (2020).
She says her main musical influences are Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. She says that Judy Garland, Celine Dion, Madonna, Gloria Estefan, Imogen Heap, India.Arie, Brandy, Destiny’s Child, and Beyoncé.

Music Videos

Along with her amazing singing talent, Ariana loves to show off her acting skills in her creative and elaborate music videos.
Her music videos often feature other celebrities too who appear as cameos.

Relationships

Although she does write songs about a variety of different topics, many of her songs are about the ups and downs of being in love. Her romantic relationships have been a big part of her public image as an artist.

Quote from Thank U, Next: “Thought I’d end up with Sean, but it wasn’t a match. Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh. Even though I almost got married, and for Pete I’m so thankful, I wish I could say thank you to Malcolm, cause he was an angel. One taught me love, one taught me patience, one taught me pain, now I’m so amazing. I’ve loved and I’ve lost, but that’s not what I see. Look what I’ve found, look where it got me, and for that I say, ‘Thank U, Next’, ‘Thank U, Next’, ‘Thank U, Next’, I’m so f***ing grateful for my ex.”

Sean is Big Sean, who is a famous rapper. They dated from October 2014 to April 2015.
Ricky is one of Ariana Grande’s backup dancers, who she dated casually and is still friends with.
Ariana Grande’s most famous relationship was with Mac Miller, a famous rapper. They collaborated on the song “The Way” in 2012, and they dated from 2016 until May 2018. After the split, Ariana had called the relationship a toxic and terrifying experience due to his struggles with drug addiction, which Mac Miller openly discussed and explored in his music. Eight days after the breakup, he crashed his car while intoxicated.
Pete is Pete Davidson, who we have seen in previous week’s videos on Saturday Night Live. He’s an actor and comedian who has been on Saturday Night Live since 2014. Him and Ariana started dating in May 2018, and they got engaged one month later.
Mac Miller died from an accidental drug overdose in September 2018, and Ariana expressed deep grief over his death on social media. His fans blamed Ariana for his death, saying that she should have stayed with him and fixed his mental health because he had loved her and written music about her.
This is common with victim-blaming narratives that women should stay in relationships that are harmful to their health for their partner’s benefit.
She replied: ““How absurd that you minimize female self-respect and self-worth by saying someone should stay in a toxic relationship because he wrote an album about them. I am not a babysitter or a mother and no woman should feel that they need to be.”
Her and Pete Davidson ended their engagement and relationship in October 2018.
She started dating a real estate agent named Dalton Gomez in 2020, and they got married in 2021 after 11 months of dating. Their relationship has been kept very private from the media, but their wedding pictures became the most-liked Instagram post by a celebrity, with over 25 million likes.

Advocacy

Ariana advocates for a number of social issues, including mental health, feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, and animal rights.
She has written songs about her mental health, including “Get Well Soon”. She has also donated $5 million in free therapy for others.

Ariana grew up surrounded by gay and trans friends whom she had met through her brother Frankie Grande, who is openly gay and she says he is “like my other half.”
She has openly supported the LGBTQ+ community,
In 2013, she worked with Seventeen magazine to raise awareness about cyberbullying to reduce and prevent digital abuse by educating young people about homophobia.
In 2016, she teamed up with MAC Cosmetics to create her own line of lipsticks to raise money for people affected by HIV/AIDS.
In 2018, she wrote: “I am eternally indebted to and inspired by the LGBTQ community,” she wrote in a letter for Billboard Pride in 2018. “I hope to create anthems for you that wrap you up with comfort and make you get your best life for as long as I live. Thank you for celebrating me the way I celebrate you.”
She has received sexist comments from many interviewers, and she is known for not being afraid to stand up for herself and women in general.

Ariana Grande also regularly uses her platform to speak up for animal rights. She is vegan, and she launched an animal rescue in Los Angeles. She has four rescue dogs that she spend lots of time with.

What is she doing now?

Ariana Grande has recently become one of the hosts for The Voice.

Here are her and the other hosts having fun!

Sources:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/mac-miller-death-ariana-grande-mac-miller-social-media-721843/

https://www.billboard.com/culture/pride/10-times-ariana-grande-showed-love-for-lgbtq-community-8499494/

May 17: Celebrating Irene

Irene’s full name is Irene Kraus.

She likes to be called Irene.

Her birthday is January 25, 1977. This makes her zodiac sign Aquarius. Let’s see how many of these traits remind us of Irene.

The dates that represent Aquarius sign go from January 20 to February 18.
The lucky colours for this sign are light blue and silver
the lucky day of an Aquarius person is Saturday
lucky numbers of a person being Aquarius are 4, 7, 11, 22, and 29
they are most compatible with people that are Leo or Sagittarius.
People that are under the Aquarius zodiac sign are unique, Individualistic, active and they are freethinkers. They highly value freedom and individual thinkers but they can be rebellious.

Her favourite food is Ukrainian food.

Irene’s favourite show is Full House.

Her favourite movie is mama Mia.

Irene’s favourite hobby is playing on her computer. She enjoys soccer and enjoys watching TFC play.

Her dream vacation would be a trip to Honolulu Hawaii.

Irene’s favourite animal is a dog.

Her favourite musical group is the Backstreet Boys. I found this video taken from a concert in Las Vegas this year.

Irene’s favourite place to go is to the zoo.

I thought I would finish off celebrating Irene with a funny video with the Backstreet Boys.

Thank you Irene for letting us celebrate you today!

May 10: Mike Myers

Mike Myers is an actor and comedian.
He is best known for his time on Saturday Night Live, the Austin Powers trilogy and starring in the Shrek franchise.

Who is Mike Myers?

Mike Meyer started his comedy performances in the Second City Comedy Troupe.
He had a lot of success and fame from being on Saturday Night Live and creating such characters as Linda Richman and Sprockets.

He started in movies such as Shrek, Wayne’s World and the Austin Powers trilogy.

Early Life

He is very talented and comedic performances as well as writing.
Mike Myers was born to British parents in Scarborough Ontario. He was born on May 25, 1953.
His father’s name is Eric and he worked as an encyclopedia salesman. He was a very important influence on how Mike lives his life.
His father shared his love of British comedy with his 3 sons.
He sometimes would wake up Mike, Peter and Paul late at night to watch episodes of Monty Python or Benny Hill.
Mike began his career as a child actor appearing in some commercials.
After he finished high school, he joined the Toronto chapter of the popular Chicago comedy group called Second City.
In the mid-1980s Mike decided to go out on his own to London to perform his comedy.
He returned to Toronto though because his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Mike met Robin Ruzan soon after returning to Toronto and married her in 1993.

TV and Movies

Saturday Night Live and Wayne’s World

in 1989 Mike addition for the popular comedy show called Saturday Night Live.
The show’s creator Lorne Michaels was very pleased with the audition.
He joined the cast as a featured actor that same year and got to work with such talented comedians like Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, and Kevin Nealon.
The following season he became a full cast member of the show and created several memorable characters on the show. Some of them were Dieter, the intellectual German TV host named Wayne Campbell, a rocker with his own cable access show and Linda Richman.

Linda Richman was a character Mike created that resembled his own future mother-in-law.
He was very good at impressions. He was able to sound like anyone from Barbra Streisand to the Rolling Stones Ron Wood.
It was during his time on Saturday Night Live, Mike had his first hit film called Wayne’s World in 1992.

He brought his character on Saturday Night Live Wayne Campbell to the movie Wayne’s world. The movie also starred Dana Carvey.
Dana Carvey played his best friend named Garth.
Wayne’s World 2 was made in 1993 and had equal box office success.

Austin Powers Trilogy and Shrek

Mike left Saturday Night Live after the 1994-95 season.
He left because he was working on a new idea.
He decided to mix together the swinging 1960s and spy thrillers of England which helped them to create Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery in 1997.

This movie was a spy spoof that had Mike playing several characters along with the lead character in the film.
He even played Austin Powers nemesis named Dr. Evil. Elizabeth Hurley played Austin Powers love interest in the popular comedy and Michael York played his spy boss.
The film earned more than $55 million over its opening weekend.
Michael York said, “it’s rare one can use words like comic genius with any meaningfulness, but it’s justified” when he was talking about working with Mike Myers.
Austin Powers came to the big screen two more times with 1999’s Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and 2002s Austin Powers in Gold Member.

In 2001 Mike started another very successful film franchise. It was the Shrek franchise.
He did the voice of the title character which was an ogre with a Scottish accent.

When he was talking about the project with Entertainment Weekly, he said, “I thought it was the worst title ever and the world. It sounded like the sound I make after drinking 12 Molson Canadian beers. But I like the idea of taking the classical fairytale and turning it on its head, where the traditional villains are heroes.”
He acted alongside Cameron Diaz who played Shrek’s love interest Princess Fiona and Eddie Murphy who played Donkey was Shrek’s friend.
In 2003 Myers took on a more family friendly movie in the film adaptation of the Dr. Seuss’s classic The Cat in the Hat.
In this film he played the magical troublemaking cats and acted alongside Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston and Dakota Fanning.

He then worked on the Shrek franchise some more. In 2004 Shrek 2 came out. In 2007 Shrek the Third came out and lastly in 2010 he did Shrek Forever after.

The Love Guru

In 2008 Mike did the movie called The Love Guru. He actually co-wrote this film. This film was a spiritual comedy that Mike played an aspiring self-help idle named Guru Pitka. It didn’t do very well At the box office.

In 2009 he appeared as a British General in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Bastards.
There is a lot of speculation about Mike’s next project. He may do a 4^th instalment in the Austin Powers franchise and a stage musical based on the scraggly toothed spy.

Personal Life

Mike married his first wife Robin Ruzan in 1993 and they divorced in 2006.
In 2010 he married Kelly Tisdale and they welcomed their son Spike in 2011.

I thought we could finish class off with a video that says it’s the funniest Mike Myers interview. I hope you enjoy!

May 5: Vanessa Bayer

Vanessa Bayer is an American actor and comedian. She won an Emmy during her time on Saturday Night Live, which was from 2010 to 2017.

Early Life

She was born and raised in Orange, Ohio, which is a suburb of Cleveland.
She is the daughter of Carolyn and Todd Bayer. She has a brother, Jonah, who is a music journalist and the guitarist of the punk supergroup United Nations.
When she was 15, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Bayer said that while battling the disease, she discovered the meaning of comic relief.
“I don’t know if it made me funnier, but it was so amazing, how [comedy] made everything be O.K.”, she said.
Bayer graduated from Orange High School in 2000 and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in communication and French, graduating in 2004.

Early Career

While attending college, Bayer interned on the television shows Sesame Street and Late Night with Conan O’Brien and participated in the cast of Bloomers, an all-female musical and sketch comedy troupe.

Bayer was part of the all-Jewish cast of The Second City’s stage show Jewsical: The Musical, a musical that presented a comedic take on Jewish life and culture.
Bayer performed improvisational comedy at Chicago’s ImprovOlympic, where she trained with SNL castmate Paul Brittain as well as the Annoyance Theatre and The Second City.

Saturday Night Live

You can see the influence of her religion in this recurring character on SNL:

Because she has such a big smile, she often plays cheery housewife characters

And overly happy characters in general!

Another one of her famous recurring characters is the very nervous weather reporter, Dawn Lazarus.

She is famous for her impressions of Miley Cyrus (when she was younger) and Jennifer Aniston as “Rachel” from Friends

Recent Work: TV & Movies

In 2015, she was in the movie “Trainwreck” starring Amy Schumer and Bill Hader. She played Amy Schumer’s supportive best friend and colleague at a magazine company.

Starting in 2018, she had a recurring role on NBC’s Will & Grace playing Amy, a former baker who loses her job because of Karen and subsequently works for Karen’s baseball team.
In 2018, she was also played the supportive best friend in the movie Ibiza.

She appeared on ABC’s Single Parents in 2019 in a recurring role as Mia Cooper, the ex-wife of Taran Killam’s character.

This is funny because Taran Killam was a cast member of SNL with her!

Vanessa Bayer also appeared on Brooklynn 99, which a comedy about police officers written by another former SNL member, Adam Sandberg.

After years of being the supporting character, she’s starring in a new comedy series I Love that for You

In June 2019, she published the children’s book How Do You Care for a Very Sick Bear?, which teaches children how to support friends with long-term illnesses, not only cancer.

May 3: Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy has been an actor and comedian for a long time. He started doing standup comedy as a teenager.
He became a popular Saturday Night Live cast member and has starred in several box office movies.

Who Is Eddie Murphy?

Comedy came very easy to Eddie as he was a standup comedian even as a teenager.
When he was 21, he starred with Nick Nolte in the film 48 Hours.
He had a lot of box office success with movies such as Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, the Nutty Professor and Shrek.
He continues to star in many movies that include comedies, drama and family films.

Early Life

Eddie was born on April 3, 1961, in Brooklyn New York.
His full name is Eddie Regan Murphy.
His younger years were spent with his family in the projects of Bushwick.
His father Charles was a police officer and an amateur comedian. His mother’s name was Lillian and she was a telephone operator. He also had a brother named Charles.
Unfortunately, his parents divorced when he was three and five years later his father died and his mother went into the hospital for an extended period of time.
When Eddie turned nine years old his mother remarried Vernon Lynch. He was a foreman at the Breyers ice cream factory.
The whole family moved to the African American suburb of Roosevelt Long Island.
He watched TV a lot and realized he was very good at doing impressions even at such an early age. He did characters such as Bugs Bunny, Bullwinkle and Sylvester the cat. His mother even told him that he never talked in his own voice.
Eddie didn’t excel at being a student but instead he used school as an opportunity to develop his verbal skills even more.
His favourite thing was to play a popular game called ranking. This was when people traded when he insults with other classmates.
When he was 15 he hosted a talent show at the Roosevelt Youth Centre. Everyone enjoyed his impression of Al Green.
He began working on his comedy skills and routines after school and used to perform his standup at local bars, clubs and even Gong Show’s.
Unfortunately, his schoolwork suffered, and he ended up having to repeat grade 10.
He knew he had to turn his grades around, so he doubled up on his classes and took night school and summer school. He managed to graduate only two months later than the others.
He was voted most popular and is graduating class and his career plan was to be a comedian.

Mainstream success, SNL Cast Member

Eddie’s mother begged him to unroll at the Nassau Community College after he finished high school. He did that and worked as a part-time shoe store clerk.
However, he continued to perform in local clubs and eventually got asked to work in New York City’s The Comic Strip.

People thought his routines resembled Richard Pryor’s.
His routines were often considered to be raunchy and used a lot of profanity. This was similar in fact to Richard Pryor’s.
While he was on the Barbara Walters show Eddie said, “I don’t have to sniff cocaine to make me funny.”
Later, Eddie heard that the producers of Saturday Night Live were looking for a black cast member for the 1980-81 season.
He auditioned for the part six times and finally got a part as an extra on the show.
Eddie continued to appear sporadically throughout the season.
One night producers realized that they had four minutes of their time left with no material so they pushed him out onto the stage and told him to do his standup routine.
Rolling Stone Magazine called his performance masterful. He became one of only two cast members asked to return for the next season.

He was known for doing his impressions of Bill Cosby, Mohammed Ali, James Brown, Jerry Lewis and Stevie wonder.

He received criticism from people that said his characterization of these people were based on black stereotypes.
But he defended his performances saying that his characters were far too absurd and abstract to be taken seriously.

Movies

48 hours

in 1982 Eddie received a Grammy nomination for the live album of fresh standup material called Eddie Murphy: Comedian. The album went gold.
That same year, when he was 21, he got his first major motion picture role acting with Nick Nolte in 48 hours.
Because he was so confident, he ended up convincing director Walter Hill to adjust some of the dialogue to more sound like a black speaker. 48 hours made over $5 million in its first week.

Trading Places

in 1983 he acted beside Dan Aykroyd in the movie trading laces. He played a streetwise Billy Ray Valentine.
Paramount Pictures decided to sign Eddie who was now 23 years old to a $25 million contract to do six movies.

Beverly Hills Cop

in 1984 Eddie was in the movie Beverly Hills Cop. The movie was number nine on the list of all-time box-office hit. In this movie he played Axel Foley a policeman. The role was originally supposed to be for Sylvester Stallone.
He received a Golden Globe nomination.
In 1987 he did the movie Beverly Hills Cop 2. It received mixed reviews from the critics but was again a hit at the box office.

Coming to America

in 1988 the movie that was the highlight of his career was the romantic comedy called Coming to America.
He acted alongside Arsenio Hall in this movie.
The audience loved Eddie’s performances and the movie became a box office hit making more than $128 million in the United States alone.

In 1990 he did the sequel of 48 hours called another 48 hours. This film did not do nearly as well.

The Nutty Professor

in 1996 Eddie starred in a hit remake of the Jerry Lewis film called The Nutty Prof. period he earned a Golden Globe nomination and an Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Award for his role in this film.

Mulan, Dr. Doolittle and Bowfinger

in 1998 Eddie provided the voice of Mushu in the movie Mulan. He also starred in Dr. Doolittle alongside several different animals.
In 1999 he started the comedy called Bowfinger with Steve Martin.
In 2000 Eddie played all six lead characters in Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps.
He also was the voice of superintendent Thurgood Stubbs on the animated show called the PJ’s. He was the executive producer of the show.

Shrek and Daddy Daycare

in the summer of 2001, Eddie had two more big box office movie successes. They were Dr. Doolittle 2 and being the voice of the character Donkey in the movie Shrek.
In 2003, Eddie was in another family comedy called Daddy Daycare. In this movie he played and overwhelmed babysitter.
In 2004 he was Donkey for another sequel Shrek 2.

Dreamgirls, Norbit and Tower Heist

in 2006 Eddie agreed to do what he thought was the most challenging film role he had to date in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. He performed alongside Jennifer Hudson.
His role was a soul singer. He received a Golden Globe award and an Academy award nomination.
In 2007 he went back to his comedy roots in the movies called Norbit and Shrek the third.
In 2011 he starred with Ben Stiller and Casey Affleck in the movie called tower Heist.

Music

in 1985 Eddie released his first musical album. It was called How Could It Be? It was produced by Rick James.
The first single was called Party All the Time. It reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Wife, Children and Relationships

Eddie married Nicole Mitchell on March 18, 1993.
They had five children together. Their names are Bria, Miles, Shayne, Zola and Bella. However, they divorced on April 17, 2006.
At same year Eddie began dating Melanie Brown of the Spice Girls.
On April 3, 2007, Melanie had her baby daughter named Angel. She said that she was Eddie’s child. A DNA test confirmed that.
On New Year’s Day in 2008 Eddie married Tracy Edmonds. She was the wife of Baby Face. They were married and Bora Bora. Although the ceremony was not legally binding the couple said they were going to have another ceremony on American soil. However, they decided against it.
In 2012 Eddie started dating Paige Butcher and they had a daughter four years later named Izzy. They got engaged in September 2018 and had a son named Max in late November.
Eddie now had 10 children.
In 2015 Eddie received The Mark Twain Prize for American Humour. This recognizes people who have an impact on American society that is like the distinguished 19 century novelist and essayist best known as Mark Twain.
Eddie’s older brother Charlie died of leukemia in April 2017.

Let’s finish up class with one of Eddie Murphy’s visits to Ellen.

April 28 – Kristen Wiig

Kristen Wiig is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member in Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012. Since she made her film debut in 2006, she has had a long, ongoing career in movies.

Early Life

Kristen Carroll Wiig was born on August 22, 1973 in Canandaigua, New York, to Laurie J. (Johnston), an artist, and Jon J. Wiig, a lake marina manager.

Her ethnic background is Norwegian, Irish, English, and Scottish.

Her family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before settling in Rochester, New York. When Wiig was 9 years old, her parents divorced and she lived with her mother and older brother Erik in New York.

After graduating from Brighton High School in Rochester, Wiig attended the University of Arizona as an art student. She took her first acting class, as an elective, and was soon encouraged by her teacher to pursue acting.

Years later, she moved to Los Angeles and Wiig worked as a main company member of the Los Angeles-based improv and sketch-comedy troupe The Groundlings.

Saturday Night Live

After her time with the Groundlings, she joins the ranks of such SNL cast mates as Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, and Jon Lovitz.

Kristen has a number of recurring characters, such as….

Penelope, who always has to be better than everyone else at everything:

Gilly, a child who is always doing dangerous pranks without anybody noticing:

Apparently, she based this character off her childhood (4:12):

Target Lady, who is an overenthusiastic but awkward Target employee:

Kat, who is part of the band “Garth and Kat” that improvise every song together:

She also does amazing impressions!

Film Career

These are all of the movies that she has been in:

2020 Barb and Star Go to Visit Del Mar

2020 Wonder Woman 1984

2019 Where’d You Go, Bernadette
2017 Downsizing
2017 mother!
2016 Masterminds
2016 Ghostbusters

2016 Zoolander 2
2015 Nasty Baby
2015 The Martian
2015 The Diary of a Teenage Girl
2014 The Skeleton Twins

2014 Welcome to Me
2013 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
2013 Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
2013 Hateship, Loveship
2012 Girl Most Likely
2012 Revenge for Jolly!
2011 Friends with Kids

2011 Bridesmaids

She co-wrote and starred in Bridesmaids (2011), along with Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, and Rose Byrne. The film was a box office hit and won several awards, plus earned two Oscar nominations (Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay), and two Golden Globes nominations (Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and Best Actress).

2011 Paul
2010 MacGruber
2010 Date Night
2010 All Good Things
2009 Whip It
2009 Extract
2009 Adventureland
2008 Ghost Town
2008 Forgetting Sarah Marshall
2008 Semi-Pro
2008 Pretty Bird
2007 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
2007 Meet Bill
2007 The Brothers
2007 Knocked Up
2006 Unaccompanied Minors