The co-creators of the new Prime Video series “Kevin” tried to make the show “as personal as possible,” says Joe Wengert, explaining that he and Aubrey Plaza looked back to the end of their relationship nearly two decades ago for inspiration. Then, Wengert says, they focused on “the emotional story and investing in the inner lives” of the main characters. (Plaza’s production partner, Dan Murphy, was a third co-creator.)
And, Plaza adds, they strived to give the show a real “groundedness” in its specific New York neighborhood — Astoria, Queens, where she and Wengert lived together — while also “infusing some of my film nerdiness and love of New York films.” There’s even a rooftop scene that’s a homage to Al Pacino’s first leading film role, in “The Panic in Needle Park.”
OK, so all of that’s totally true, but “Kevin” is mostly a silly, raunchy animated series with a star-studded comedy cast about talking animals and their escapades in a life generally free of human owners.
The show opens with a couple, Dan (Mike Mitchell) and Dana (Plaza), breaking up and their cat, Kevin (Jason Schwartzman), deciding he’s done with both humans and will find his own way in the world.
“Joe and I were talking and realized we both weirdly wanted to do a cat comedy, and he had this idea and I loved it,” Plaza says, explaining that when they broke up, Kevin and another cat, Howard, passively went with Wengert. (Howard died relatively young, but, spoiler alert, Plaza says a cat named Howard will make an appearance as a tribute.)
“Joe was then doing a lot of comedy about being a single guy with cats.”
Wengert, who serves as showrunner, says the breakup was “a significant moment in my life” and he wanted to explore that, but a sad man going off to reconnect with his friends was not as funny as this concept. “The idea of this just made us laugh,” he says.
The real Kevin was a homebody, not a cat who looked longingly out the window, Wengert says, adding that he always felt bad for Kevin: “You could have been with Aubrey Plaza but you’re stuck with me in my studio apartment.”
In the series, Kevin soon lands at an animal rescue where he falls in with Cupcake (Whoopi Goldberg), a self-declared feral cat with a kinky and rebellious side; Armando (John Waters), an aristocratic cat with a haughty attitude; Judy (Aparna Nancherla), a cat with gross eye infections who is way more upbeat and hopeful about the world than she should be; and a shrill and bossy dog named Brandi (Amy Sedaris), who runs the human Seth (Gil Ozeri) — ostensibly the operator of the shelter.
After his owners break up, Kevin decides to stay at an animal shelter, where he makes friends with a rag-tag group of cats, dogs and other animals.
(Courtesy of Prime)
“This idea of fending for yourself and trusting your instincts is part of checking off boxes to show you have lived a quote unquote real life,” says Schwartzman, briefly growing philosophical about what intrigued him about playing a neurotic cat.
The cats encounter plenty of other animals on their adventures, from a drunk spider to a deer that gets hit by a car and curses out the driver. “That made me laugh out loud,” says Plaza, who also voices numerous animals, including the spider and a pitbull love interest for Cupcake. “I’ve always wanted a love story with Whoopi Goldberg,” she adds.
(Wengert voices a parrot named Paco, among others, and says there’s talk of adding a tortoise.)
One secondary character is a horse named Patti Lupony, who, naturally, is voiced by Patti LuPone. She’s part of a stacked guest star roster that includes Addison Rae, Cary Elwes, Charles Melton, Nicole Byer, Jim O’Heir, Maria Bamford, Quinta Brunson and Tig Notaro. Many of the actors, including Schwartzman, Waters, LuPone and O’Heir, are Plaza’s friends.
“I like to do things that people don’t expect me to be in, and this is definitely one of them,” says Waters, adding that “Armando is not a real fan of humans, and as a human, I’m not a real fan of cats.”
Still, Waters, who prefers dogs, says he was easily able to get into Armando’s skin. “I’m a Method actor, so I was crawling around the floor,” he jokes, before adding, “If I was a cat, I would probably act like Armando.”
For what it’s worth, Schwartzman also owns dogs, though he’s quick to point out that growing up in Los Angeles, he volunteered at a cat shelter, and these days Plaza actually owns a dog, too. But as anyone who has seen her in “Parks and Recreation” or other roles would surmise, Plaza says, “I have cat-like tendencies and relate more to cats.”
Plaza and Wengert also incorporated the actors’ sensibilities and personalities.
“We would change things on the fly based on the actor’s input,” Wengert says.
Plaza says that Waters is known for being provocative and loves reading tabloids but that he asked to tone down Armando’s snide put-downs of celebrities. “I felt ill at ease about them,” Waters says. “I’ve gotten away with my career for 50 years because I’m not mean. My specialty is praising things other people hate, not the other way around.”
Wengert says the change “forced us to dig deeper and find something more unique in the character, so I’m happy that he asked us to make the change.”
(He adds that he expected Goldberg to object more “because we gave her so many outrageous lines” but she rarely did, except “to pitch something that was even funnier that worked better.”)
Plaza knew Kevin’s neuroses fit Schwartzman but also that he could bring his own touches while improvising. “He’s really funny about his own body,” she says. “We were hanging out once and he just said, ‘Feel this, my leg is really heavy.’ So we put that in for Kevin.”
Schwartzman says, seemingly seriously, “Wow, I don’t have a memory of that exact moment, but it is true that my leg does feel heavy.” And he adds that his friendship with Plaza enabled him to feel comfortable throwing out ideas during recording, adding that the improvising and tweaking went both ways, with the writers constantly adding new ideas. “It was a collaboration and an evolution,” he says.
The writers room is stacked with people who, like Plaza and Wengert, hail from the Upright Citizens Brigade improv world. (Wengert, who also imported writers he’d worked with on Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” was running the UCB school when they met.) “Our sense of humor is very aligned,” Plaza says.
While Plaza loves how “freeing” animation is — “your imagination can run totally wild” — she says that even though it’s out of character for her, she’d play the “bad cop” in the writers room. Wengert says one day she brought Schwartzman in and he and the writers pitched some wild ideas that made them say, “What the f— is going on.”
“We’re just building the world, so you need some rules, otherwise all the inanimate objects can start talking,” Plaza says. “When things started getting too crazy, I’d say, ‘Let’s rein it in.’”
The example Wengert gives is that they can briefly have a talking pizza slice (it is New York, after all) but they don’t want it to become close friends with Kevin in a major plotline.
But if they get to produce a second season — the scripts are already written — Plaza says the leash will get looser “and it will get more insane.”
Coronation Street legend Kevin Kennedy played beloved character Curly Watts for 20 years
Angie Quinn Screen Time Reporter
08:00, 18 Apr 2026
Corrie’s Bill Webster punches Curly Watts over Maureen
Coronation Street icon Kevin Kennedy portrayed Curly on the ITV soap for two decades, but off-screen, he battled addiction.
Curly made his debut in the summer of 1983 and is fondly remembered for his romantic misfortunes and a succession of unsuccessful marriages. He was married to Rovers Return barmaid Raquel (Sarah Lancashire), though regrettably, they ended their rocky marriage after just five years.
Ultimately, however, Curly discovered contentment with his second wife, police officer Emma Taylor (Angela Lonsdale). The couple left the cobbles and set off to begin a fresh chapter in Newcastle-upon-Tyne following a perjury incident in 2003. Tragically, their marriage didn’t survive.
Curly returned briefly in a 2010 DVD special for the Coronation Street film A Knight’s Tale, where he disclosed that he and Emma had separated, leaving Curly single once more, reports the Daily Star.
Kevin’s health battle
Away from the BBC soap, Kevin struggled with alcohol addiction and has remained clean and sober for 27 years.
Speaking to The Mirror in 2013 regarding his addiction, Kevin admitted he would add shots of rum to his coffee. He would then consume a bottle of vodka before arriving at the Corrie set, where he secretly drank more in his dressing room to cope with filming.
Kevin said, “If it wasn’t for Coronation Street, I would be dead. If I were lucky, the drink would have killed me straight away by a fall or by walking in front of a bus.
“If I were unlucky, it would have taken everything from me first, kept me alive for another 10 years, and then killed me.”
Having departed the Cobbles in 2003, Kevin established an addiction recovery charity to support others battling addictive and mental health disorders, following more than two decades on his own personal recovery journey from alcohol addiction.
The organisation provides a helpline, staffed by trained coaches all in active recovery, alongside free virtual recovery coaching, support, signposting, and workshops.
Kevin told the Manchester Evening News: “The Kennedy Street Foundation is my passion; all we want to do is help people who find themselves in the desperate situation I was in 22 years ago.”
He further stated: “Our national recovery helpline is receiving calls every day, and we really need to raise as much money as possible in order to be able to help each and every one start their own Road2Recovery.”
Kevin’s other talents away from acting
Since departing Coronation Street 23 years ago, Kevin wrote and produced a programme entitled Spanish Capers, which broadcast between 2005 and 2007.
The 64-year-old, from Manchester, took on a role in Ben Elton’s musical We Will Rock You, portraying a hippie named Pop. Further television credits include appearances in Blue Murder, Doctors (both in 2006), and Holby City (in 2017).
In 2019, Kevin made his return to the small screen, portraying Clyde in a single episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys. The former Coronation Street star also trod the boards between 2018 and 2019, taking on the role of Dennis Dupree in the hit musical Rock of Ages.
According to The Guardian, Kevin is also an accomplished musician who was once signed to Simon Cowell’s record label. He performed in America alongside globally renowned acts, including Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.
“Along with [the Smiths bassist] Andy Rourke, we were in a band called Paris Valentinos. As soon as I heard Johnny play the guitar, I thought: this is special, what a privilege to be here for this”, he told the publication.
Kevin is equally at home on stage, having played His Royal Highness, King Curlington in Cinderella at a County Durham pantomime in 2024, before going on to appear in the Pretty Vacant UK tour, which charts the story of punk and the new wave generation.
He has also been cast in the forthcoming UK tour of The Picture of Dorian Gray – A New Musical, scheduled to run from October 2026 through to April 2027, in which he will take on the role of Mr. Issacs.
For more information, help, and advice about addiction and recovery, visit Kennedy Street here.
1 of 3 | Kevin Warsh speaks during a press conference in 2014. Warsh, a nominee for chairman of the Federal Reserve, has more than $100 million in assets, recent filings show. File Photo by Will Oliver/EPA
April 14 (UPI) — Kevin Warsh, the presidential pick for the next Federal Reserve chairman, has wealth greater than any other recent chairman, his financial disclosures released Tuesday show.
The filings were part of the usual consideration process for the role. Warsh, if confirmed, would succeed current Chairman Jerome Powell, whose second term ends May 15. A Senate hearing on the matter is expected to take place April 21.
CNBC reported that Warsh’s disclosure forms show that the nominee has about $192 million in assets in combination with his wife, Jane Lauder, who is an heir to the Estee Lauder fortune. Warsh’s solo assets equal about $135 million to $226 million. These numbers show a large range because they can include variable items such as bonds, stocks and other assets.
By comparison, Powell’s financial filings for 2025 showed assets of between $19 million and $75 million, while former Chairman Ben Bernanke, who left office in 2014, submitted filings that year of about $2.3 million in assets, CNBC reported.
If the Senate confirms Warsh, he has said that he will divest a large amount of assets, of which about 1,800 were listed in the forms. Some of these were undisclosed because of cited “preexisting confidentiality agreements,” The New York Times and CNBC reported.
Warsh, who served as a governor at the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2011, also said that he would resign posts such as his role as financial adviser to investor Stanley Druckenmiller, as well as several other positions including a board seat at UPS.
Warsh will face the Senate Banking Committee in the planned hearing before a full Senate vote. However, an ongoing Department of Justice investigation into Powell has further complicated matters. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has said he will not vote on Warsh or any other nominee for the role until the investigation is completed.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., presents the family of Benjamin Ferencz with his Congressional Gold Medal during the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. The gold medal was presented posthumously to Ferencz, who served in the Army during World War II and prosecuted Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg Trials. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
BROKEN Social Scene is more than just a band, it is a community.
The Canadian collective is at the beating heart of Toronto’s freewheeling indie music scene.
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Jill Harris and Kevin Drew perform at the 2022 Ohana Music Festival in 2022Credit: GettyKevin Drew, second left, top row, says the Broken Social Scene ‘invited everybody in without rules’Credit: Supplied
If you attempt to count the combined total of active and inactive members, you arrive at a mind-boggling approximation somewhere between 20 and 30.
“What I love about this band is that it’s an open door,” affirms singer and guitarist Kevin Drew.
Since forming Broken Social Scene in 1999 with Brendan Canning, Drew has been its lynchpin . . . albeit one with an unerringly democratic approach.
“We invited everybody in and we didn’t have rules,” adds the 49-year-old frontman. “And we went out and did our f***ing best.”
Over the years, notable collaborators have included an array of Canada’s finest singers, including solo artist Feist, Amy Millan of Stars and SFTW’s other interviewee this week, Emily Haines of Metric.
Drew cemented his place at the centre of the scene by co-founding progressive label Arts & Crafts in 2003 and has known many of the artists since he was a teenager.
Now, Broken Social Scene are back with their first album in nine years, Remember The Humans, a typically multi-layered affair but one that never loses touch with a winning melody.
Through words and music, it serves as a telling reminder that in this dislocated tech-driven world, we are still mere mortals with very human feelings.
Drew is at home outside Toronto and I’m in London when we hook up for a video call this week.
Before we discuss Broken Social Scene’s welcome return to the fray, he balances his phone on a copy of Irma Rombauer’s hefty culinary classic, The Joy Of Cooking, to bring his face into full view.
He apologises for appearing a bit flushed and says with a big smile: “Sorry, I just took a sauna.”
I quickly discover that Drew is a disarming character with a refreshingly open take on life.
“My dad was from London originally,” he continues. “I said, ‘Hey Pops, I’m gonna speak to The Sun’, and he went, ‘Oh, my gosh, I remember The Sun — it used to have the pin-ups!’ ”
I inform Drew that one of my earliest reviews for SFTW was Broken Social Scene’s self-titled breakthrough third album, released in 2005. “So, we have a long relationship together, which I love,” he responds without a trace of irony.
Introductions out of the way, he’s ready for me to ask why it’s the right time for a new album, as well as a triple headliner tour with Metric and Stars, which is coming to the UK in September.
“We came to a realisation through playing shows after the pandemic that this IS our life,” he says. “This is something we have spent so much of our lives working on.
“We still find much joy in melody and we are part of the muscle memory business now.
“At the age we’re at and with what we’ve achieved already, we made a firm choice to continue.
“Between us all, we have had so much loss of family and friends, but we found that grief made us grateful for what we’ve got.”
Drew is thrilled to be heading out with his comrades from Metric (particularly Jimmy Shaw) and Stars, a trek that summons “the true spirit of what we have been from the beginning”.
Audiences can expect some band-hopping, meaning that Drew can’t really say how many people will be on stage with him.
“I haven’t a clue,” he says. “But I do know there will be a LOT.” The latest chapter in the Broken Social Scene story probably began in 2022 with a 20th anniversary tour of their second album, You Forgot It People, and its songs that still resonate today.
Drew and his fellow travellers realised they might provide some solace in a world where “identity is at war, fear is prominent at every turn” and where “hope is a very tired word”.
He says: “We thought, ‘Let’s do our tiny little protests, let’s continue to demonstrate community’. After all, it’s not hard for us to make music because there’s so many of us.
“Just by being around for 25 years, we have our own sound.”
One song from You Forgot It People — Anthems For A 17-Year-Old Girl, with Metric’s Haines on lead vocals — has acquired a new audience, as Drew explains.
“Thanks to the [2024] film I Saw The TV Glow, the trans community has brought that song into their lives and embraced it.
Broken Social Scene are returning with their first album in nine yearsCredit: SuppliedOver the years, notable collaborators have included an array of Canada’s finest singers, including Emily Haines, aboveCredit: Getty
“It went viral on TikTok, then suddenly all our listens went up. It was the greatest award we’ve ever been given. We were so touched.”
For Drew, it was proof positive that “music helps to build your identity, to find your own people and to express yourself. Right now, that is something to hold on to”.
With its layers of horns, guitars and synthesisers as well as various distinctive voices, new album Remember The Humans is a triumph for freedom of expression.
There’s also a strong feeling of Broken Social Scene coming full circle, enhanced by the return of original producer David Newfeld.
Drew picks up the story: “I moved out of the city, just half an hour away from where Dave had moved 18 years ago.
“He started coming over for dinner and there was a lot of laughter. He’s so old school — still has a flip phone because he doesn’t think smart phones are smart.
“I reached out to him about working together again. I missed his sound and his passion, which were so unpredictable.
“Next thing I knew, I was on a two-and-a-half-year journey of starts and stops — and loss. I lost my mom and he lost his, so we bonded over that.”
It’s clear that the new album’s heartfelt opening song Not Around Anymore is, among other things, a product of their grieving process.
Drew adds: “Dave also latched on to the song And I Think of You. If you put it through headphones, you are hearing his grief over his mom. He records that thing, mixes it and he takes you on a journey.
“His mom was his world — they talked three times a day. Once he’d lost her, I realised it would help him to put love and loss into some of this music.”
We move on to other key contributors, firstly Feist, who resurrects What Happens Now, a song that reportedly didn’t make the cut for Broken Social Scene’s 2017 album Hug Of Thunder.
“Leslie Feist is a different entity because she’s so solo in her success,” says Drew. “There’s us, Metric and Stars, but she became the biggest of all on her own.”
He adds that Feist has “an open invitation” to be part of Broken Social Scene’s endeavours.
“I always tell her, ‘You’re welcome at this home any time you help build it. In fact, you’ve got your own wing!’ ”
Over acoustic strums, atmospheric electronica and occasional swells of horns, Feist’s ghostly delivery turns What Happens Now into a standout moment. “I’m honoured we were able to put it on this record,” says Drew. “It fits the theme.
“I love the cadence of Leslie’s vocals, the way it seems as if she is drowning before she becomes so clear. It’s so Feist.”
Another singer to make a significant contribution is Hannah Georgas, who became involved in Broken Social Scene’s world through being a support act.
Drew says she made Only The Good I Keep her own, and adds: “She neurologically removed my topline [lead vocal melody] — but we need people to have ownership.
“At first, I called Hannah and said, ‘This is great, but I’ve got something I can’t get in’. Two days later, I couldn’t even remember what I was saying and all I could hear was her version.”
Broken Social Scene regular Lisa Lobsinger brought the song Relief into the mix — providing another insight into the band’s democratic process.
Drew reports: “We got this email out of the blue from Lisa saying she kept singing a song in her head while meditating, and she thought it was by Social Scene.”
Lobsinger realised she was making up Relief by herself in that moment, so she submitted it.
“We sent it to the crew, and everyone loved it,” continues Drew. “So, I said, ‘Oh my God, Lisa, let’s do it!’ ”
Before we go our separate ways, Drew leaves me with telling observations about more general topics related to his home country.
Audiences can expect some band-hopping, meaning that Drew can’t really say how many people will be on stage with himCredit: Getty
Much as he appreciates iconic Canadian artists like Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, he singles out some of the lesser-known trailblazers who inspired him — “Thrush Hermit, Sloan, Hayden and Godspeed You! Black Emperor”.
“I say to the younger members of the band, ‘Don’t listen to this man. In fact, don’t listen to men in general — if they have a microphone, they won’t do you any favours, including rock singers!’ ”
It’s a typical comment from someone for whom community spirit means everything.
In Broken Social Scene, decides Drew, “we are empaths, not sociopaths. No one has their identity wrapped up in this band”.
Founder of the Women’s Tennis Association and tennis great Billie Jean King (C) smiles with representatives after speaking during an annual Women’s History Month event in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX in Statuary Hall at the U.S .Capitol in Washington on March 9, 2022. Women’s History Month is celebrated every March. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
March 19 (UPI) — Actor Kevin Spacey settled out of court in England with three men who sued him, accusing him of sexual assault.
The cases were set for trial in the High Court this year.
The men alleged that between 2000 and 2013 Spacey, 66, assaulted them, but Spacey denies any wrongdoing.
In 2023, he was found not guilty of nine criminal sexual assault charges. Two of the accusers in the criminal trial filed the civil cases.
One accuser, known as LNP, alleged that Spacey “deliberately assaulted” him 12 times between 2000 and 2005. Another, known as GHI, said he “suffered psychiatric damage and financial loss” from an assault in 2008.
Actor Ruari Cannon, who has waived his right to anonymity, said that when he was in the Tennessee Williams play Sweet Bird of Youth at the Old Vic Theater in 2013, Spacey groped him at a party. Spacey was the artistic director at the theater at the time.
Cannon also settled with the Old Vic in a civil suit two weeks ago.
Cannon was on a BBC Channel 4 documentary, Spacey Unmasked, in 2024. Spacey called the allegation “ridiculous and it never happened.”
Spacey has been trying to win back his career, Deadline reported. Last year he said he has no home and was living out of hotels and Airbnbs and working as a lounge singer in Cyprus. He claims his struggles are like the actors who were blacklisted during McCarthyism, Deadline said.
Spacey also won a civil case in the United States in which actor Anthony Rapp said Spacey sexually assaulted him when he was 14.
