joke

It used to be Wales’ players and coaches winding up the Irish in Dublin.

Trimble himself was left on the floor by Shane Williams in Wales’ Triple Crown victory in 2008 as the wonder wing scored the crucial try at Croke Park.

Four years later, Trimble was left flailing at a rampaging Jonathan Davies who sprinted away to cross for two tries in the 2012 victory that set Wales onto a Grand Slam.

Wales and Ireland’s relations in the past have been spicy, mainly in Warren Gatland’s first stint in charge as head coach.

Gatland, a former Ireland coach, stated the Welsh players disliked the Irish players the most in 2009, while you would often see the likes of Mike Phillips, Liam Williams and Gethin Jenkins scrapping with Paul O’Connell, Rob Kearney and Ronan O’Gara.

That edge has disappeared in recent years.

It has not been helped by Ireland’s dominance of this contest, with Wales having not won this fixture since 2021 and not tasting victory in the Six Nations in Dublin since 2012.

The rivalry is crying out for some attitude.

Wales captain Dewi Lake provided a bit of that by saying he believes his side can beat their opponents on Friday, while attack coach Matt Sherratt has predicted they can give their Irish opponents a scare.

Those are bolder sentiments that some Welsh supporters are crying out for.

Others prefer a more understated approach and head coach Tandy is deliberately more cautious in his messaging.

Understandable, maybe, as he faces his eighth match in charge with six defeats and a one-point win against Japan marking his reign so far.

Asked whether he believes this squad can go to Dublin and win, Tandy replied: “We are at the point where we can go there and be competitive.

“That’s where it is. If we are competitive and bring large parts of what we did against Scotland, then I think we’ll be in the game to get the result we all want.”

Tandy was later again asked whether Wales can believe they can win. His response?

“I absolutely believe in this group,” said Tandy. “I believe in what we’re building and the players believe to and have grown in confidence.

“We’re starting to understand more about what’s needed. I believe we will have a competitive performance on Friday night.”

Whether a competitive showing is enough to give credence to talk of a mini Welsh revival remains to be seen.

One thing is for certain, Lake, Tandy and the loyal travelling Welsh supporters will hope nobody is laughing at this Wales side after they have performed at the home of Irish rugby on Friday night.

Politicians going on entertainment shows is hardly new, but Vice President Al Gore’s appearance on “Late Show With David Letterman” Wednesday took the use of popular culture further than before.

Politicians, classically, have used popular culture programs two ways: First, to repair and humanize their image, as Richard Nixon did playing the piano on the Jack Paar show in 1960 or appearing on “Laugh-In” in 1968, or as Bob Dole recently did appearing with Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” to tell self-deprecating jokes and demonstrate that he is more than just a mean guy.

Second, politicians have used popular culture to reach out to new audiences, as President Clinton did during the campaign last year, appearing on Arsenio Hall’s show and on MTV.

“The important thing about going on MTV was not what he said, but the fact that he was there, reaching out to young people on their channel, welcoming them into the process,” Clinton media adviser Mandy Grunwald explained.

Gore’s appearance on Letterman’s new CBS show was slightly different. He did crack jokes with Letterman about his stiff image and the job of being vice president–even reading his own Top 10 list of good things about the office, including “After they sign a bill, there’s a lot of free pens.” But the vice president actually wanted to build support for a substantive public policy, his plan for reinventing government.

He demonstrated the government’s method of safety-testing an ash tray, or “ash receiver, tobacco (desk type).” Gore and Letterman donned safety goggles and smashed the ash tray with a hammer on a U.S.-mandated maple plank.

“This is a step beyond the talk shows,” or playing the saxophone in dark sunglasses, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania.

And that made it risky too.

In effect, the Clinton Administration “has embraced popular culture as part of a general strategy, to use it to get their message out,” said Robert Lichter, director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a research group in Washington that studies TV.

“The danger is you can be used up by popular culture,” since the entertainment world does not operate by the same rules as the world of politics and journalism.

Politicians cannot demand equal time. And a politician with real power can look foolish tangling with an entertainer.

Vice President Dan Quayle discovered the risks after he criticized the fictional TV character Murphy Brown for her decision to have a child out of wedlock.

Not only did “Murphy Brown’s” producers retaliate with a program that denounced Quayle’s ideas in a way that was unadorned and quite serious political rhetoric, but the 1992 Emmy Awards show was converted into a diatribe against Quayle and the Republican Party for its criticism of Hollywood’s values.

According to Lichter’s Center, which monitors political humor on late-night shows, Leno, Letterman et al. are more focused on politics than ever.

In his first six months in office, Clinton has been the brunt of nearly 400 late-night jokes. George Bush, after six months, had been the brunt of about 60.

Gore, meanwhile, has been the brunt of as many jokes as Quayle was in his first six months as the First Sidekick.

“Let me give you an idea of just how boring our new vice president is,” Letterman had said of Gore on an earlier night. “Al Gore’s Secret Service code name is Al Gore.”

The men’s team was criticised after several players appeared to laugh when Trump made his comment, but Knight said: “I think there’s a genuine level of support there and respect. That’s being overshadowed by a quick lapse.

“The guys were in a tough spot, so I think it’s a shame this storyline and narrative has kind of blown up and [is] overshadowing that connection and genuine interest in one another and cheering each other on.”

US men’s player Charlie McAvoy subsequently apologised for his team’s response, saying it was “not reflective” of how his side view the women’s squad.

“Certainly sorry for how we responded to it in that moment,” the Boston Bruins player told reporters before an NHL game on Thursday. “Things just happened really quick there.

“If you know the men’s team, and if you know the relationships that we have, the amount of time that we’ve spent with the women’s team and how we’ve supported them, it’s certainly not reflective of how we feel and look at them and their accomplishments.”

Knight, 36, ended her Olympic career with 15 goals, the most by any US male or female player.

She said she hopes the Trump controversy proves to be a “really good learning point, to really focus on how we talk about women, not only in sport but in industry”.

She said: “Women aren’t less than, and their achievements shouldn’t be overshadowed by anything else other than how great they are.”

U.S. women’s hockey star Hilary Knight wasn’t a fan of a comment that President Trump made about her team days after it claimed Olympic gold at the Milan-Cortina Games.

“I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke, and unfortunately, that is overshadowing a lot of the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats,” Knight said Wednesday during an appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

On Feb. 19, the U.S. defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime for a third gold medal in women’s hockey; the team won gold in 1998 and 2018. Three days later, the U.S. men’s hockey team also won gold by defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime.

After the men’s game, Trump addressed the U.S. players by phone in the locker room, extending an invitation for them to attend his State of the Union address two days later and adding a seemingly dismissive comment about the women’s team.

“I must tell you, we’re gonna have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump said during the call. By not inviting the other American gold medal hockey team, the president said, “I do believe I’d probably be impeached.”

Trump’s comment was met with loud laughter in the locker room. But Knight said she and her teammates aren’t spending much time thinking about the remark.

“We’re just trying to focus on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts and continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history, as well as the double gold for both men’s and women’s at the same time and really not detract from that with a distasteful joke,” Knight, who has won two gold medals and three silvers in five Olympics with the U.S. team, said.

“It was unfortunate, but yeah, I think really focusing on celebrating all great things that have come out of the Olympics and feeling the love and the support and getting back in our respective communities and sharing this journey with them, that’s what it’s all about and that’s what makes this moment super special.”

The majority of the men’s team met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday before being honored at the State of the Union address, where they received a bipartisan standing ovation lasting about two minutes. During his address, Trump announced that goalie Connor Hellebuyck will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

The women’s team confirmed in a statement Monday that it declined an invitation to attend the State of the Union address “due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games.” Trump said during the address that the women’s team would be visiting the White House “very soon.”

Amid the controversy over Trump’s locker room comment, hip-hop legend Flavor Flav invited the women’s hockey team to a special event celebrating their achievement in Las Vegas. He later extended the invitation to “ALL Female US Olympians and Paralympian medalists” for the “She’s Got Game Weekend” from July 16-19.

“It was definitely super special, after everything that’s been going around online, to have someone step up like that and really go to bat for us,” forward Alex Carpenter said of Flav’s invitation during a Seattle Torrent news conference on Wednesday. “I think we’re fully gonna take advantage of that and go have some fun and celebrate like we deserve to.”

U.S.men’s team member Jeremy Swayman told reporters at Boston Bruins practice Wednesday that the laughter heard in the locker room following Trump’s comment does not reflect how the players feel about the women’s team and its accomplishments.

“Yeah, we should have reacted differently,” Swayman said. “We are so excited for the women’s team, we have so much respect for the women’s team, and to share that gold medal with them is something that we’re forever grateful for. And now that we’re home we get to share that together forever and see the incredible support we have from the USA and share in this incredible gold medal.”

Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal for the U.S. men against Canada, said the men’s players were caught “in the moment” during the president’s call that came during the middle of their victory celebration.

“Obviously it is what it is now, but we have so much respect for the women’s team and they have so much respect for us,” Hughes told reporters after his New Jersey Devils’ 2-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. “We’re all just proud Americans and we’re happy that we both swept the Olympics.”

Knight said she thinks there is “a genuine level of support and respect” between the U.S. men’s and women’s players and called the moment a “sort of a quick lapse” by the men’s players.

“I think the guys were in a tough spot,” Knight said. “So it’s a shame that this storyline and narrative is kind of blown up and overshadowing that connection and genuine interest in one another and cheering one another on.

“I think this is just a really good learning point to really focus on, you know, how we talk about women, not only in sport, but in industry.”

Discussion about the call wasn’t the only criticism of the White House from the world of Team USA hockey.

On Thursday, men’s player Brady Tkachuk said he was unhappy that the White House shared a video on TikTok that made it appear he disparaged Canadians while using profanity. The video, which also features hockey footage and part of an interview with Hughes, carries a note saying it “contains AI-generated media.”

“It’s clearly fake because it’s not my voice and not my lips moving. … I know that those words would never come out of my mouth,” Tkachuk told reporters.

He added: “I would never say that. That’s not who I am.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.

Tkachuk also denied being the voice heard shouting “close the northern border” during the team’s call with Trump.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Suddenly it feels like the 2000s again, with a revived “Scrubs” premiering Wednesday on ABC and Tracy Morgan reincarnating the spirit of “30 Rock” in NBC’s “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” — network television shows, too, as in the days when streaming was just something tears and traffic did.

Beginning as a tale of new doctors at work and in love, “Scrubs” may also be seen as a looking-glass “Grey’s Anatomy,” although as “Scrubs” premiered first, it’s fairer to say that “Grey’s” is a straight-faced “Scrubs,” probably not a thought that ever crossed Shonda Rhimes’ mind. The show, then and now, combines a sentimental, satirical, soapy, sometimes surreal comedy with a straightforward medical show. Stars Zach Braff, Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke are back full-time, not quite in their old places, but arranged in close quarters, with Judy Reyes and John C. McGinley listed as recurring and other old faces slated to peek in.

The show left the air in 2010, after its ninth season, a virtual spin-off that has been declared noncanonical. The Season 8 finale saw protagonist, narrator and inveterate daydreamer J.D. (Braff), a person who really needs people — “I can’t do this all on my own” runs the show’s title song — looking into a happy future, married with a child to surgeon Elliot (Chalke). But that was just a dream, just a dream. The new season finds them at odds, and while a child is mentioned, it remains unseen, at least for the four episodes (of nine) out for review.

As we begin again, J.D. is working as a concierge doctor, tending to the minor ailments of the rich — cut toe, long-lasting chemically induced erection — when he’s drawn back to Sacred Heart Hospital to check on a patient. By the end of the first episode, his former mentor, the acerbic yet strangely sympathetic Dr. Cox (McGinley), will give him a job, of which is officially a spoiler to describe — even though it’s the premise of the show — noting his gift for teaching and reuniting J.D. with bromantic best friend Turk (Faison), the chief of surgery. (“Two chiefs!” is their chanted motto, followed by a special handshake. They are men who will be boys.) Turk is still married to head nurse Carla (Judy Reyes); they have four daughters, whom we do see, briefly. (J.D.’s appointment rankles Dr. Park, played by Joel Kim Booster, the series’ designated mean person.)

Moving into the space Turk, J.D. and Elliot occupied 25 years earlier are a new crop of interns, bringing youth appeal and naivete (the better to instruct them). Blake (David Gridley) is a cocky know-it-all, who will become a less cocky know-it-not-all; Asher (Jacob Dudman) is British, insecure and attracted to Amara (Layla Mohammadi), who is homeschooled (“I almost won prom queen twice but my brothers voted for my mom”) and a fan of Sam (Ava Bunn), a social media star who hangs her hands like Alexis Rose. Dashana (Amanda Morrow), the serious one, who sees Turk as an ally: “You’re, like, the only Black surgeon in this place; the rest of them just got, like, Coldplay on loop in the ER and say things like, ‘You’re so articulate.’” (“This brother likes Coldplay, too,” says Turk, pressing play on “Clocks.” Another lesson learned.)

As before, the show is fast-paced, packed with asides and ironic cutaways, with jokes riding on the back of jokes and some unexpected slapstick (the best kind), though it will shift into a lower gear when something capital-I important needs to be said. The world has changed in 16 years (“I am now supposed to watch every word that comes out of my mouth because apparently they are all fragile little Christmas ornaments,” grumbles Dr. Cox) and so the risqué material is left to the older characters, though the sex jokes now mostly amount to lack-of-sex jokes. (“She used to get worked up by ‘Bridgerton,’” Turk says of Carla, “but the new season doesn’t come out for another year.” “Spring 2027,” nods J.D.) Monitoring behavior is Vanessa Bayer as Sibby, a tightly wound administrator with an effortful smile, whom Turk calls “the feelings police.” (A longtime favorite of this department, Bayer is a brilliant addition. Told that Tarzan is a fictional character, Sibby replies, “I wouldn’t be so sure. They did make a movie about his life.”)

They say you can’t go home again, but with a good map and a good crew you can get pretty close. Not every bucket drawn up from the well of old IP will prove potable, but it often has: “Arrested Development,” “Veronica Mars,” “Party Down,” “Roseanne/The Conners,” “Frasier,” even “Dallas.” “Twin Peaks: The Return” is, of course, a work of art. Under the watchful eye of creator Bill Lawrence — later to co-create “Ted Lasso,” which is coming back for a fourth season even though it really ended after the third — with Aseem Batra, who wrote for the original series, as showrunner, it is very much the sitcom of old, older. (But everyone still looks good.)

There will undoubtedly be some who find nits to pick, but it’s hard to imagine any less-than-obsessed fans unhappy with this lagniappe, apart from its comparative brevity. And references to the original run notwithstanding — appletinis, “Star Wars,” a certain closet — it’s intelligible and funny on its own terms , and as full of love as ever. “When this work makes you fall apart,” says J.D., narrating, “someone is there to patch you up.”

New viewers will not be shut out.

Kylie Jenner did not look very impressed with one of Alan Cumming’s jokes at the BAFTA Film Awards, at which her boyfriend Timothee Chalamet lost out on the Best Actor award

Kylie Jenner was left squirming at a joke Alan Cumming made about her at the BAFTAs. The reality TV star did not look impressed with the awards’ host’s X-rated gag.

During the ceremony, Alan walked through the audience, offering them snacks. When he stopped by the seats that Kylie and her boyfriend Timothee Chalamet were sitting in, he asked the star: “Kylie, have you ever had your gums around a giant Jammie Dodger?”

Kylie shook her head and took the snack, looking visibly uncomfortable as she did so. She did not appear to be impressed by the double entendre, which earned only a few laughs from audience members.

READ MORE: Prince William delivers emotional BAFTA speech after ‘not calm’ commentREAD MORE: BAFTA viewers livid as heartbreaking memoriam segment ‘forgets’ huge stars

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Viewers at home also seemed to be unamused by Alan’s jokes. One wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Alan Cummings’ jokes falling flat.” Another added: “Not funny. Not a good presenter. It’s just painful to watch and hear.”

“There is absolutely nothing funny about Alan Cumming? This whole opening monologue is toe-curlingly awkward,” a third fan said. A fourth added: “Alan Cumming is making me cringe already.” While a fifth said: “Will someone purleeze get Alan Cumming off the stage.”

The 60-year-old actor, writer and presenter – known for hosting the US version of The Traitors and starring in American drama The Good Wife – hosted the event at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London for the first time on Sunday.

Others said it was likely not Alan’s fault but that of the scriptwriters. “I’ve got a funny feeling Alan Cumming might have been lumbered with the same scriptwriter David Tennant had when he hosted- oh dear,” said one.

Though no more jokes were made about Kylie, the night did not improve for her boyfriend, as Timothee lost out on the Best Actor award. He had been nominated for his role as the titular character in Marty Supreme, but the award ended up going to Robert Aramayo, who won for his role as John Davidson in I Swear.

Robert also won the Rising Star award for the same role. That award is the only one voted for by the public, and by winning both that and Best Actor, Robert was the only actor of the night to win more than one award.

The other acting awards went to Jessie Buckley, who won Best Actress, Wunmi Mosaku, who won Best Supporting Actress, and Sean Penn, who won Best Supporting Actor but was not present to take home his award.

Though Kylie attended the awards, she was not seen on the red carpet and instead snuck in separately. The Kardashians star, 28, has been in a relationship with the actor, 30, since 2023. The couple have made a series of appearances during this year’s award season, including the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics’ Choice Awards.

It is believed Kylie often skips red carpets to avoid stealing her partner’s spotlight and also to keep their relationship private, opting instead to support him from the audience or enter through alternative, quieter, or back entrances. Last year, a source told Grazia Daily that another reason why the pair avoid walking the red carpet together could be that they want to keep their work and their personal relationship separate.

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