duo

Cleveland High football coach Mario Guzman loves the Nigerian connection of Oluwafemi Okelola and Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi, both running backs.

Spelling their names might be the biggest challenge.

They should be major offensive contributors, joining quarterback Domenik Fuentes to fuel the Cavaliers’ attack.

Last season, Odebunmi rushed for 1,139 yards and 11 touchdowns. Okelola had 111 yards rushing and made 83 tackles and had two interceptions on defense.

The Cavaliers open their season on Friday against Narbonne.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Hugo Lara and Manolo Cabrera — the Mexican DJ pair better known as RØZ — casually strolled through Sightglass Coffee in Hollywood, one gripping a half-melted iced coffee, the other an empty Erewhon juice bottle.

To any onlooker, they might appear as two standard Gen Z Angelenos in sardonic streetwear: 22-year-old Cabrera flaunted a hat that referenced the 2008 financial crisis while 25-year-old Lara’s faded tee read, “You don’t dream of a better version of yourself.”

But over the past year, this fresh-faced pair from Querétaro, a small state just outside Mexico City, has dominated the festival world circuit. Spinning heart-thumping electronic beats and Latin house rhythms, RØZ has taken the stage at many a popular event, such as the most recent Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Lollapalooza Chicago, Hard Summer, EDC Las Vegas and Sueños.

“We’ve had huge crowds at festivals, even the workers on stage are like, ‘No way, you filled more venues than yesterday’s headliner,’” Cabrera told The Times. “We filled it up and people started leaving for the next person, which is obviously not cool. It feels awful. But you do think: good! They value Latinos and Mexicans now.”

Besides regaling ravers at their concerts — which will continue for the remainder of the calendar year, including a 20-city North American tour that kicks off in Boston on Oct. 21 — RØZ has landed another major artistic goal.

“Everyone will give [the album] a different interpretation, but I think the through line is the idea of drama, or poetic essence,” said Hugo Lara.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Last Friday, they released their first full-length album, “Se Esta Haciendo Tarde.” It’s a 19-track, introspective debut that solidifies the duo’s standing in the EDM world as both masterful mixers and vocalists.

“We are neither fully DJs, or fully singers, but artists,” said Cabrera. “Our shows, with the album, are going to be us playing synths, at another point singing and at another point we mix some songs.”

Featuring cameos from Latin superstars like Peso Pluma, J Balvin and Ryan Castro, the LP itself is hard to define as simply house music; RØZ is known best for peppering its EDM with a heavy dose of Latino sazon. It’s a sonic recipe that the two former schoolmates have been mastering since they were under lockdown from COVID.

This era also saw the commercial rise of other Mexican artists in their generation: Natanael Cano and Latin Mafia were among the most prominent Mexican acts who maximized their creativity during the isolation period and used social media platforms like TikTok to gain traction.

“It’s like if Fred Again, Skrillex, Frank Ocean, Mora and Bad Bunny adopted a child and raised him,” said Cabrera about their own music, which they began uploading to the streaming platform Soundcloud in 2022.

At the start of their disc jockey journey, they remixed already established songs, from Bad Bunny and Bomba Estéreo’s “Ojitos Lindos” to Bellakath’s “Gatita.” By 2024, they would release their frosty original track, “Cora de Hielo” under Warner Music Mexico; this featured Natt Calma and Mau Moctezuma, artists whom they met through the local indie scene.

Their subsequent releases went viral — including the dark-synth pop “Flashes” with Yng Lvcas and atmospheric “Apaga la Luz” with a rather mellowed performance from Peso Pluma — which were released under LT:Vision Records, Queens Road Music and Atlantic Records.

“At that time, emotions were secondary [in the music],” said Cabrera when looking back on those early songs. “Perhaps we didn’t resonate with the artist’s lyrics, we might have helped with some ideas. But with this [new] project, we wanted to find more of a balance — we want to be transparent, while also releasing f— bangers.”

Inspired by the transient beauty of cherry blossoms, known in Japan as sakura — which is illustrated in their album cover, alongside a dark pegasus — much of the LP also hinges on melodrama. Glitchy beat drops in “Acelero Lento” (featuring Chitra) fade into acoustic ballads. The bouncy freestyle rhythm in “Soho” melts into feverish pop harmonies. There’s also an interlacing spiritual hymn in “Yo Gospel” (featuring Rodrii) that showcases the heavenly vocals of an American-style church choir.

“Everyone will give [the album] a different interpretation, but I think the through line is the drama, or poetic essence,” said Lara. “Perhaps in 10 years we will listen to the same song and have a different interpretation.”

The new LP is imbued with various Latin genre fusions. In “Ya es de Noche” (featuring Rodrii and Olisso) they open with neo-perreo rhythms that slowly wade in and out of a cumbia-guided trance. In “Hanami,” named after the traditional Japanese custom of observing a floral bloom, RØZ is joined by Colombian producer Sky Rompiendo, whose pulsating reggaeton beats undergo a warping process, as their lyrics harp on romantic tension.

“Cherry blossoms only last a while, so it was our way of saying that we must appreciate the moment in which beauty exists,” said Lara.

The magnetic pull of RØZ — whose stage name is pronounced like the second syllable in “arroz” — cannot be overstated. They’ve already sold out six shows in their upcoming tour, which will wrap up Feb. 27 in their home state of Querétaro. Their popularity comes at a time when electronic music was registered as the largest-growing genre in the U.S. in the first half of 2026, per Luminate’s 2026 data report, which also found that casual monthly listenership in Latin music peaked at 54% of streams in the first quarter.

The growing admiration for Latin-fused EDM by Latino listeners was most visually evident during their Coachella debut in April. One attendee uploaded a video to Instagram showing the jammed entrance to the Sonora Tent, which reached full capacity before the duo began their Sunday set: “Coachella underestimating the Latino crowds like [what do you mean] I can’t see RØZ [because] it’s at full capacity both weekends,” the subtext on the video read.

Even before their breakout year, on the night of their first U.S. performance on the rooftop of the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles last August, the line to get inside stretched across the Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk with attendees eager to hear the pair’s early tracks.

Still, it doesn’t surprise RØZ that a Latino act like themselves might be early on the call sheet — or left to assemble a last-minute crew after their original team ran into visa processing delays ahead of the first Coachella weekend. “In this genre that we’re moving in, you’d never picture a Latino headliner. Latinos are always put down, down, down,” said Cabrera.

But some milestones have given them faith that the mainstream world is opening up to putting Latino acts at the top of the bill; including the fact that Colombian singer Karol G was the first Latina Coachella headliner this year. “And with music in Spanish, not English,” marveled Lara.

And rather than sulk about the conditions of Latino artists, RØZ is ready to put up a fight.

“Just because I’m Mexican or Latino doesn’t mean that I can’t connect with people the same way a person from the United States can,” said Cabrera. “Headlining is possible, without a doubt.”

In 2021, when HBO Max’s “Hacks” first introduced us to fading Vegas comic Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), we briefly met Vance’s hyper-devoted young talent manager Jimmy LuSaque Jr. (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla Schaeffer (Megan Stalter), the braying, inept assistant foisted upon him. Over the years this turbulent pairing found its groove, opening their own agency while Kayla discovered boundaries (sort of). By “Hacks’” fifth and final season, which concluded this spring, a growing Jimmy-Kayla fan base was clamoring for a spinoff. “We’re not doing it, but I wish,” says Stalter as she sits beside Downs during a video call from Hudson Yards in Midtown Manhattan. “I think it would work.”

These days, Stalter, who is nominated for supporting actress in a comedy, is making her Broadway debut as the campily reimagined Mary Todd Lincoln in Cole Escola’s “Oh, Mary!” Meanwhile, Downs, who is also co-creator, co-showrunner, writer and director on “Hacks,” is nominated for supporting actor, writing and comedy series (as executive producer). Is there a dream of a future project in which he wears just one hat? “I love doing all the jobs,” says Downs, who started out as a writer-performer. “But I’d love to do a superhero so that I could just work on my nutrition, my fitness and my lines.”

Paul, one early Megan sighting was her stand-up act at Echo Park’s Little Joy. What about her made you think you’d found your Kayla?

Downs: She’s so singular and funny. It’s like stream of consciousness and yet also material. We’d written the part before we’d seen Meg, but [after seeing] her in person, I came back to my co-creator, Jen Statsky, and I said, “It’s hers to lose.” There’s something about her that’s fearless, uninhibited.

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Meg, correct me if I’m wrong, but your first “Hacks” audition involved a dark, blurry self-tape.

Stalter: It wasn’t that well shot. My brother was filming, and he does a good job, but his apartment in New York was really slanted and there’s lots of dogs running around. I was in a weird outfit. And that’s where I did my self-tape.

Was submitting a bad self-tape part of a strategy to land the role?

Stalter: I didn’t know [the tape] was bad until years later when I watched it. [Laughs] I was a really experienced performer — I’d done stand-up and improv for nine, eight years. But I wasn’t experienced with auditioning. This part was the first thing I ever read where I was like, “I can see myself in this.” I really, really wanted it. I really tried hard to prepare for the audition.

When did it become clear that a Kayla/Jimmy scene has its own oscillating frequency?

Downs: Even before we started, there was just inherent chemistry. I think we just really tickled each other. But, not, I mean, physically.

Stalter and Downs with Earl Brown, right, in “Hacks.”

When Jimmy is passionately advocating for something and Kayla is in the same frame, she’s often gesticulating, scrunching up her face or emitting noises like “pffffft.” But it never comes off as scene-stealing. How? Why?

Stalter: I can’t help but do it. Kayla’s so expressive. Even if I’m not talking, my face is doing a lot. Kayla can’t hide her feelings.

Downs: To know when not to derail something is a very hard thing to do. But Meg is a true comedian in that she understands not only how to improvise within the lane of the scene, but also the give and take.

Stalter: You’re going to make me cry.

Downs: She gets the comedy, the music of it. It’s like Mozart.

Stalter: [sob-choked voice] Stop. I’m not Mozart. You’re Mozart. And if I’m Mozart, then you’re Beethoven. And I don’t know why I’m crying.

Megan Stalter. (David Urbanke / For The Times)

In comedies, personal reps are always outrageous hustlers. Why take on the challenge of finding laughs in a manager who instead is sensitive, kindhearted?

Downs: We wanted to subvert what you’ve seen on TV before in terms of a manager. There’s also so many big personalities on the show. You need a counterbalance to that. One of the reasons we started to lean more and more into Jimmy working hard, being earnest, doing the right thing, is because he was in some moments the voice of the audience, the person that was grounded [amid] the chaos around him.

Was there a specific moment when it dawned on the “Hacks” team that Jimmy and Kayla deserved more airtime?

Downs: It was certainly something we felt. There was so much feedback. At a certain point, we were seeing people online saying, “Where are Jimmy and Kayla in this episode?” “Hacks” is about duos, but it was this particular duo that people really responded to. And then executives started to come and visit on days we were shooting. There were those kinds of little signals that happened.

True or false? When Meg graduated to series regular in Season 3, Paul insisted she be paid the same amount of money as him.

Stalter: [Surprised] Who told you that? Who told you that? [leans over and puts her head on Downs’ shoulder] That’s so nice. Thank you!

Downs: I’ve never said this before, but it was important to me that Meg and I had parity. So I said, “I don’t want to be paid more than her.” You can’t have Jimmy without Kayla. Or you can. But it won’t be as funny.

Stalter: Well, the first season I was paying to be on the show. [Laughs]

Downs: Yeah, we charged. So I felt bad.

Paul W. Downs. (David Urbanke / For The Times)

Who came up with the idea of using your red carpet appearances to send up celebrity culture? The costumes alone!

Downs: I’ll speak for myself, but [near the end of our final season] I started to get scared about not performing with Meg. And it was thrilling and exciting. It’s like doing improv and sketch when you first started. It’s so fun.

A highlight: Striking poses in orange leather ensembles identical to the matching attire worn by Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at the “Marty Supreme” premiere.

Stalter: It’s my favorite idea, but it wasn’t mine.

Downs: [“Hacks” producer] Genevieve Aniello said, “You guys should do something ‘Marty Supreme.’ Look at these outfits.’” And Meg was bold enough to be like, “We should do it at the Critics Choice Awards.” And I was like, “That’s in six days. That’s insane.” And Meg was like, “We’re going to get it done.”

Was there any blowback?

Stalter: We were at the SAG Awards and we walked past Timothée and I said, [singsongy voice] “Hey, it’s us…” And he goes, “Oh, should we get a picture?” He was so nice. But I then realized that he thought we came up for a picture.

Downs: But we weren’t, we were just walking to our seats. [Laughs] That night his publicist came over and showed us her phone. She’d sent him a photograph of us and he’d written back “incredible.”

Stalter: It was in lowercase.

Downs: It wasn’t screaming “INCREDIBLE,” just “incredible.” I said, “Oh good, he’s not upset.” And she was like, “No, he loves it.”

Stalter: I think he probably never does all caps.

Downs: That’s real star power.

(David Urbanke / For The Times)

One balmy October day in Havana, as the Cuban French sister act Ibeyi plotted the video for “Offerings” — an electro-spiritual ballad from the new album “Offering,” released in June — Lisa-Kaindé Díaz unceremoniously asked her twin Naomi Díaz, to ceremoniously shave her head on camera.

Naomi was accustomed to Lisa-Kaindé’s whims long before they became professional artists. But to take a blade to her sister’s voluminous curls would be a bridge too far.

“I was like, ‘Hell no. I’m not doing that!’” Naomi recalled to The Times, over a Zoom call from Paris.

“As always, when I come with my woo-woo stuff, Naomi is eye rolling like, ‘Girl, what is this s—?’” said Lisa-Kaindé. “But this time around, Naomi was like, ‘OK.’”

The music video ended with Lisa-Kaindé releasing her locks into the sea.

At the core of Ibeyi, which translates to “twins” in the Yoruba language, is the polarity between sisters. Lisa-Kaindé is the bleeding heart who whispers divinity into her lyrics, and Naomi grounds them with the beating pulse of her percussion. They sing in unison, both in tension and harmony. This is the synergy that illuminates their atmospheric approach to the Afro-Cuban jazz tradition.

Born into a musical family in Paris — their mother the French Venezuelan singer Maya Dagnino, their father the Grammy-winning Cuban percussionist Anga Díaz (of Irakere and Buena Vista Social Club) — the 31-year-old sisters jump-started their music careers at 18 when they were discovered by British producer Richard Russell, who also helms the indie powerhouse XL Recordings. After releasing a self-titled debut in 2015, the Díaz sisters appeared in the utopian short film for Beyoncé’s “Lemonade,” then released two more albums under XL: 2017’s “Ash” and 2022’s “Spell31,” which Lisa-Kaindé admitted underperformed expectations.

For “Offering,” they parted with XL and braved the studio as independent artists, inviting new collaborators into the project such as producer Michael Brun (J Balvin, Victoria Monét)and the famed Cuban conguero Pedrito Martinez.

“Things didn’t go the way you wanted them to go, now what does it free?” said Lisa-Kaindé. “It freed a lot of things, in our personal and professional lives,” she added.

The duo returned to their roots in Havana last fall to film the visuals for “Offerings” — as well as other singles “Aset” and “Hurry Hurry,” which were co-directed by Corry Van Rhijn and Roman Pichon Herrera. Family, friends and neighbors filled the frames with dancing and dominoes; their apartments painted in shades of mint, butter yellow and palomino pink, flecked with a patina cultivated by humidity and time.

As Cuba remains a topic of heated debate in the U.S. — or a political football — the Díaz sisters remind listeners that the island nation is still home to over 10 million people, including their relatives, whom they’ve visited regularly since they were little girls.

In 2027, Ibeyi will embark on a North American tour, which kicks off Jan. 27 at the Fillmore in San Francisco and includes a stop at Pacific Electric in Los Angeles on Jan. 29. (“I want everybody to cry, dance and twerk that ass at our shows!” said Naomi.) The Díaz sisters spoke to The Times about their season of upheaval and the recovery that informed their first independent outing yet.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What has changed for you the most since you released “Spell31?”

Lisa-Kaindé: A lot has changed, personally and in the world. We needed to stop for a little bit and gather our thoughts, reflect on our career and all that we have done. We went from anger to sadness to acceptance. We left XL Recordings, which was our home for 10 years [and] three albums. We also stopped working with Richard Russell, whom we love. He was one of the first people to hear the album. But we really needed to experience something new.

Naomi: We started when we were 18, and now we’re independent and more in control than ever. We tried to find new producers with whom we felt a deep connection. That was like leaving a marriage and going on Tinder and having lots of bad dates… Our sound is so strong that we’d eat them, so we had to find producers whose sound could stay strong with ours.

I hear a lot of heartbreak in this album, but also making peace with that. How do you personally heal from the pain of such endings?

Lisa-Kaindé: We just go through the s—. There’s no other way. I think we should all be courageous to change. Look into the mirror and be like: “Who am I? What do I want to do?” And just live. L-I-V-E. It could also be L-E-A-V-E.

You have a T-shirt that says, “I used to make spells, now I make offerings.” What does that mean to you?

Lisa-Kaindé: “Spell31” [went] hand-in-hand with my high expectations. I felt like we needed to put a spell on the world, so that the world would love us. When “Spell31” didn’t meet the expectations I had, it was painful. I went into a meditation and came out thinking: “I used to make spells. Now I make offerings.” Suddenly it was so obvious I was trying to feed myself from the wrong source of protein. What if I just gave without expecting anything?

Some of your lyrics name orishas from the Yoruba religion, such as Elegua and Olokun. What does your spiritual practice look like?

Lisa-Kaindé: The older we grow, the more religious I’m becoming … but Naomi lives her spirituality in very different ways. For her, twerking in a sweaty club can be one of the most spiritual things ever. She’s getting more and more gangster.

Naomi: It’s how we grew up. We never use the word “spiritual,” but spirituality can be a lot of things. To me, there’s nothing more spiritual than being in [famed Atlanta strip club] Magic City. Some people are gonna light a candle. Everybody can do whatever the f— they want.

Lisa-Kaindé: It’s about living in a way that is aligned with what makes you vibrate, what makes you feel alive.

What was it like for Naomi to cut Lisa’s hair in the video for ‘Offerings?’

Naomi: I was scared that she would not like her reflection. She came [to me] with, “Can you be the one shaving my head?” And I was like, “Hell no. I’m not doing that!” She was like, “Please, [it’s] really important for me as a twin.”

We didn’t have any mirrors. It was tough, but [as] I was doing it, I was like, “I hope she’s gonna love herself.” At one point I looked at her and I was like, “Oh, you’re so beautiful!” And she was like, “If Naomi tells me I look beautiful, I am.” It was really powerful.

In the closing track, ‘Lucky,’ you sing: ‘We can’t manifest for s—; God will always choose for us.’ Be honest, is this in response to those trending videos on social media about manifestation magic?

Lisa-Kaindé: Funny enough, we’ve never talked about this to the press. … But I went kind of cuckoo with the manifestation while making “Spell31.” I started writing three times a day: “It’s gonna do well.” It was the first time I ever did that. And when it didn’t work, I was like, “What do you mean? I did all of the things y’all told me to do!” And that’s why I’m saying we can’t manifest for s—. What happened was exactly what was supposed to happen.

My own outlook changed after a priestess told me to keep an altar to bring offerings to my ancestors. If you want something … you have to give the universe something to work with!

Lisa-Kaindé: You need to give! That doesn’t need to be a religion or whatever. Just be kind. It’s an exchange. There’s always a price — and that doesn’t have to be a terrible thing. It could be a very beautiful thing. I think it’s better if there’s a price. You’re not just demanding the universe to give you something just because you say it enough times.

I sense more thunder in the sounds of ‘Offering,’ especially in Naomi’s percussion. ‘Mosh Pit’ is a storm of trap and acoustic elements. Can you talk about making this song?

Naomi: This was the first song we made for the album. We met Michael Brun, who is Haitian and lives in New York. We wanted a tough energy, we wanted dragon energy in this song. I listen to a lot of rap and trap, so there’s a little more of myself in this. Ibeyi is like a needle between Lisa and I; for 10 years, the needle moved a little more toward Lisa, but now it’s moving toward me. Life is like that.

You shot multiple music videos in Cuba. What made you decide it was time to make these videos in Havana?

Naomi: We recorded the videos in September and October. We wanted to show Cuba because it’s remembering our dad. Home is Paris, London and Havana for us.

Lisa-Kaindé: After having done the visuals from “Spell31” inside the studios … we needed something more personal. We had never done visuals in Cuba, but I think it’s because we’re very protective of Cuba. We’re protective of what the world sees Cuba as, whether it’s the old ladies smoking cigars, or the American cause. We’d go there in the summers [for] our whole lives. We wanted to show something beyond what tourists see. These are the people who actually live there. It’s important to know how people live.

Naomi: We wanted to be with our people and show the real Yoruba, Cuban way of living. Parties full of elderly people, young people … everybody twerking!

This big house party happens in the video for the song ‘Aset.’ Can you tell me about shooting the party scene?

Lisa-Kaindé: Funnily enough, I think our family was more involved behind the scenes. Naomi’s best friend helped with all of the wardrobe because she’s a fashion girlie. One of the directors we’ve known since we were 15 years old, he’s like a brother to us. We also worked with a conguero, like our dad, his name is Karín. We filmed the “Offerings” video in his house. Then we went to La Playita 26, which is not far from our old house, to look at the sea.

Naomi: What’s beautiful is that it was all real. It was also [full of] people we didn’t f— know. But it was raw.

Lisa-Kaindé: The day we filmed “Aset,” when I saw Naomi dance, I was like: “Here we are. Here is that freedom [we’ve been] missing.”

Eighty years ago, though the Arsenal of Democracy had vanquished the Axis and weathered a withering Depression, the recovering American people found themselves rich in bills but short on laughs. Enter Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, who debuted together on July 25, 1946.

Unlike Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, or Hope and Crosby, who relied on tightly scripted setups, this disparate yet kindred duo captured America’s heart by being viscerally, uproariously and unpredictably wild.

Martin and Lewis were the founding fathers of an anarchic, side-splitting brand of comedy that combined pratfalls, ad-libbed wordplay and a sustained demolition of the fourth floor. Orson Welles observed that the duo’s combustible zaniness was so hilarious that it made you wet your pants.

The boys cavorted about the stage, kibitzing with bandleaders and the audience alike. In between trading impromptu quips, Martin and Lewis overturned tables, cut ties, sheared suits and spritzed seltzer on one and all.

The suave, dashingly handsome Italian crooner clowning around with his gawky, rubbery Jewish buddy brought the house down every time. It was nonstop, jocular pandemonium: Commedia dell’arte 2.0.

“Saturday Night Live,” Second City, David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld and Adam Sandler all owe a debt to the artists who started life as Dino Crocetti and Joseph Levitch.

Martin and Lewis created a novus ordo seclorum, in its way innovating like America’s founders, spawning a new comedic order of the ages.

Their alchemy was as ineffable as it was infectious. Variety’s first review of the act noted, “All they do cannot be detailed, but virtually every bit of it is good for solid laughs.” Carl Reiner similarly declared: “I saw what I thought was the funniest ad-libbed thing I had ever seen. It was a riot, and we never stopped laughing.”

In their own madcap way, Dino and Jer epitomized Cicero’s notion that comedy is the imitation of life, the mirror of custom and the image of truth.

Martin and Lewis became the monarchs of all media, conquering radio, nightclubs, television and the silver screen. In 1948, they appeared on Ed Sullivan’s first television show, “Toast of the Town.” From 1950 to 1955, the Martin-and-Lewis-hosted “Colgate Comedy Hour” frequently bested Sullivan in the ratings.

When Hollywood beckoned, the boys answered the call, cavorting, cutting up and reconfiguring reality on the silver screen. They starred in 16 films, bringing their boisterous bromance to capacity-crowd movie theaters.

Though their big-screen adventures could not capture the comedic chaos of their stage act, Martin and Lewis transformed even the most pedestrian screenplay into box-office gold. As film critic Ciara Maloney explained, “Their brilliance shines through the weakest material: the ineffable, bewitching something between them — an intimacy, an immediacy, an ingenuity — frozen in amber for those of us who would never see it in the Copacabana.”

The essence of this duo was the outré interplay between the Prince and the Putz, the Leading Man and the Monkey. Though he was the comedian by trade, Lewis fully credited Martin as the “genius” of the pairing: “He kept the center. He was the spine of the act. And the monkey was constantly attached to that spine, on the spine, next to it.”

From “Sailor Beware” to “The Stooge,” “Living It Up” and “Artists and Models,” theirs was a comedy partnership that came to symbolize America. It is little wonder that presidential historian Tevi Troy called the 1950s “The Martin and Lewis Decade.”

However, many Americans didn’t see these two celebrities as distant icons. Film critic Jenna Ipcar has described how “a perfect comedy duo will make their audience feel like a lucky participant instead of just a passive observer, a welcome guest in a secret world.” Martin and Lewis embodied that ideal.

The boys’ bittersweet final performance took place at New York’s Copacabana on July 25, 1956. Exactly 10 years after their debut in Atlantic City, N.J., Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis had pioneered a new brand of comedy, soothed postwar America’s psyche and made a nation laugh again.

Rosario A. Iaconis, chairman of the Italic Institute of America, writes about Italy and its cultural influence. He is at work on a novel about Harry S. Truman.

Jack White stepped in when Charley Crockett accidentally hired, then fired, a satanic doo-wop duo. Happens to everyone, right?

The outlaw country singer apparently thought the husband-and-wife duo known as Twin Temple were like Black Sabbath when he invited them to open two shows for him this week, a July 14 date in Troutdale, Ore., and another on July 18 in Paso Robles. With songs including “Satan’s a Woman,” “Lucifer, My Love,” “Let’s Have a Satanic Orgy” and “Burn Your Bible,” it’s anyone’s guess how Crockett missed the duo’s shtick.

“Today we were informed that Charley Crockett has decided to remove Twin Temple from his upcoming shows next week due to our Satanic imagery,” the musicians wrote on Instagram last week.

“Unfortunately, that means we will not be able to perform for you next week as planned. We are really disappointed as we were looking forward to getting back out and seeing you, and also what it meant as far as bringing different types of people and music lovers together. We are sorry to everyone who was planning to see us.

“We’re grateful for your support, not only of Twin Temple, but more importantly of artistic freedom. HAIL SATAN! 93/93”

Crockett, who dropped his 16th studio album, “Age of the Ram,” in April, posted his own since-deleted message on social media, writing, “Hail Satan? Not me Jack.”

Twin Temple, composed of married couple Alexandra and Zachary James, weren’t out of work for long. White, the former White Stripes frontman, who happened to be kicking off a world tour in support of his new album, “Frozen Charlotte,” caught wind of the debacle and stepped in.

“Twin Temple, Would you like to open my show in L.A. on September 29th at the Hollywood Palladium? Let me know,” White posted on Friday, adding, “Get in front of me Satan!”

The duo was quick to accept, commenting on White’s invite, “Unholy hell…. Sir Jack, you have no idea what this means to us. Lifelong fans- dead leaves on the dirty ground was one of the first songs I (Alex) ever learned on guitar. We were actually planning on coming to this show. It would be a most infernal pleasure to play the devils music with you.”

On Tuesday, Twin Temple announced their third record, “Doomed Lovers,” produced by Shooter Jennings (who also produced Crockett’s “Age of the Ram” and other recent albums). The album will drop Oct. 9 via their own Pentagrammaton Records. The duo told Rolling Stone on Tuesday that they were sad about the turn of events with Crockett but confirmed that their swanky Satan-loving doo-wop isn’t a sham.

“Satan’s the original outlaw, right? He’s a rebel angel,” Alexandra told the outlet. “He’s the one who questioned authority, fought for himself, refused to bow down or conform, and was like non serviam. That was a metaphor that resonated very strongly with me.”

She added, “It’s really fun to go shopping for a human skull and a Ronettes record in the same day, and we get to do that with our band.”

While Twin Temple has been booking shows and working on the album announcement, Crockett has continued to post about the drama from the road. “Well, now I know how it feels when they try to cancel you on the right AND the left,” he wrote on Facebook on Monday. “The thing is, I never subscribed. America can be a One Eyed Jack, but I’ve seen your other side.”

A brand-new series of Celebrity Gogglebox kicked off this month as Channel 4 fans saw some familiar faces on their screens.

There’s good news for Celebrity Gogglebox fans as a beloved duo has made their return to the programme.

The popular Channel 4 programme, which first aired almost seven years ago, made its return to screens last week for a brand new season.

Last week, viewers saw some familiar favourites back on the show, giving their thoughts and reactions to the latest television offerings.

These included the likes of Shaun Ryder and Mark ‘Bez’ Berry, Vicky Pattison and Pete Wicks and Jennifer Saunders with her daughter Beattie.

While there were also some new additions, such as George Clarke and Max Balegde, Julian Clary and Nigel Havers and Olivia Attwood with her mum Jennifer, one duo was noticeably absent.

Rylan Clark and his mum, Linda, first joined the programme back in 2019 and have been firm staples on the beloved show.

Although they may have missed the first episode of the new series, they were back in action this Friday (June 12).

Sharing a clip on Instagram, the 37-year-old said: “Guess who’s back on Gogglebox… It’s Linda! We are very excited to be back this Friday night.”

Turning the camera to his mum, Rylan asked if she was excited to be back on the show, and she confirmed she was. He finished off the video by adding: “Right, we’ll see you Friday night!”

It wasn’t long before people commented on the post, with many thrilled to see them back on the show.

One person said: “Love you guys. So good to see you back and looking lovely as always.” Someone else shared: “Hey Linda, about bl**dy time.”

Another fan added: “Glad you are both back, was hoping you would.” While one person commented: “I wondered where you guys were last week!!! Good to have you back again. Love your banter.”

Someone else shared: “Delighted to hear this news – missed the pair of you last week & was hoping you would be back.” As another person added: “Good to see you back Linda..and Rylan of course. Cannot wait to see you both back on.”

While on X, one person said: “Rylan and his mum back.” As another added: “I love @Rylan’s mum so much.”

Celebrity Gogglebox is available to watch on Channel 4