There were two questions the 77th Emmy Awards, held Sunday night at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, had to answer, other than who would win what. (It’s an honor just to be nominated.)
One was how the show, a glittery evening devoted to the most popular of popular arts, would play against a world gone mad. The other, not distinct from the first, was how first-time host Nate Bargatze would do.
The ceremony is hosted by a round robin of the major networks, and this year the honor fell to CBS, whose corporate overlord, Paramount, has come to represent capitulation to the Trump administration, settling a baseless lawsuit in what is widely viewed as a payoff to grease the wheels of its merger with Skydance and promising to eliminate its DEI protocols. Executive interference in the news department amid an apparent rightward turn has led to the resignations of “60 Minutes” producer Bill Owens and CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon. And there’s the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show,” the timing of which some have found suspicious.
But if your goal was to avoid insulted celebrities, social media outrage or petulant notes from the White House, you could have done no better than to hire Bargatze, a clean, calm, classical, noncontroversial, nonpolitical, very funny, very successful comedian. Bargatze, who has been in comedy since 2002, saw his career explode over the last few years; his appeal is not so much mainstream, which is to say soft-edged, as it is broad — something for everybody.
The show opened quite brilliantly — perhaps confusingly, if you had missed Bargatze’s “Washington’s Dream” sketches on “Saturday Night Live” on which the routine was closely modeled, including the presence of Mikey Day, Bowen Yang and James Austin Johnson — with the host as Philo T. Farnsworth, “the inventor of television,” foreseeing the medium’s less than sensible future. First presenter Stephen Colbert followed immediately to a standing ovation and chants of his name. “While I have your attention, is anyone hiring? I have 200 very qualified candidates with me tonight who will be available in June.”
Emmys host Nate Bargatze, right, and Bowen Yang appear in an opening sketch at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Then the host introduced his much publicized, one would say quintessentially Bargatzean, gimmick. To keep acceptance speeches short, he would donate $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America; $1,000 per second would be deducted for anyone going over the allotted 45 seconds. Money would be added to the pot for anyone running short. (J.B. Smoove, a former Boys Club member, was a sort of co-sponsor, in the audience with a young boy and girl.) This efficiency made professional sense, though it had the potential to put a lid on what is usually the most interesting, unruly, moving, unpredictable part of the show. (If anyone had thought for a second, it also spelled trouble: Try talking for what you imagine is 45 seconds. You will be wrong.)
As it happened, the state of the world was addressed, sidelong and directly. Presenter Julianne Nicholson said of living in a post-apocalyptic bunker in “Paradise,” “compared to headlines that’s positively feel-good TV.” Jeff Hiller, winning supporting actor in a comedy series for “Somebody Somewhere,” thanked the Duplass brothers “for writing a show of connection and love in this time when compassion is seen as a weakness.” “Last Week Tonight” senior writer Daniel O’Brien dedicated their second award to “all writers of political comedy while that is still a type of show that is allowed to exist.” And in a generational echo of their “Hacks” characters, fourth-time winner Jean Smart (who has won seven Emmys overall) ended her acceptance speech saying, “Let’s be good to each other, just be good to each other,” while co-star and first-time winner Hannah Einbinder, finished with, “I just want to say: Go Birds, f— ICE, and free Palestine.” Going way over the 45-second limit, she promised to pay the difference on the tote board.
Hannah Einbinder accepts the award for supporting actress in a comedy series for “Hacks” during the show at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
After Einbeinder, the most direct acknowledgment of current bad events came from Academy Chair and CEO Cris Abrego, speaking of the Governors Award given the week before to the Corp. for Public Broadcasting. In a highly quotable speech, he noted how “Congress had voted to defund it and silence yet another cultural institution.” He continued, “In a time when division dominates the headlines, storytelling still has the power to unite us … In times of cultural regression [it reminds] us what’s at stake and what can still be achieved,” and he rattled off a number of much loved shows that challenged the status quo. “In a moment like this, neutrality is not enough. … Culture does not come from the top down, it rises from the bottom up. … Let’s make sure that culture is not a platform for the privileged but a public good for all.” The stars in the audience nodded approvingly.
There were also some pure delights among the bedrock of desultory scripted banter and unimpressive tributes to old shows (“Law & Order: SUV,” “The Golden Girls”). Reunited “Everybody Loves Raymond” co-stars Ray Romano and Brad Garrett, presenting the award for comedy series, recaptured the essence of their television brotherhood. Jennifer Coolidge, presenting the award for lead supporting actress in a comedy, sounded like she’d walked in from a Christopher Guest film. “Between us, I was actually hoping to be nominated for you tonight for my work on this season of ‘The Pitt.’ I played a horny grandmother having a colonoscopy during a power outage and I had to play a lot of levels. I even had to do my own prep.” She went on, after a while, to tell the nominees that winning “is not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s really not… I thought I had gotten really close with my fellow nominees especially after I won but I’m pretty sure they removed me from the group chat.”
The inevitable losses incurred by Bargatze’s charity gimmick provided a sort of running joke at the host’s expense, which he managed quite well, while some winners made a game of trying to put money back on the board. But the longer it went on, the more pressure it put on the winners to be short. Eventually, the show found its natural level, as winners said what they needed to, or much of it, and the count dropped tens of thousands of dollars past zero. For everyone but the bean counters, the least important thing about an awards show is it running on time; in any case, it was only a few minutes over.
And, as one might have expected, Bargatze — who made it through the three hours in a way that served the event and his own down-home ethos — paid the originally promised $100,000 and added a $250,000 tip.
And the team’s new linebacker and team captain punched out the Houston Texans.
With the Texans threatening to score in the final minutes of the opener, Landman showed an artisan’s touch by separating the ball from a Texan running back’s grip and forcing a fumble that was recovered by lineman Braden Fiske.
The play all but sealed the Rams’ 14-9 season-opening victory before 71,346 at SoFi Stadium.
“It means so much,” said Landman, who played three seasons for the Atlanta Falcons before signing a one-year contract with the Rams. “You work, you work, you work, for that moment to happen there, and for that moment to come to fruition and expose itself is really great.”
Landman was one of several key players for a defense that limited the Texans to three field goals.
Cornerback Cobie Durant intercepted a pass, edge rusher Byron Young, lineman Tyler Davis and safety Jaylen McCollough recorded sacks and Fiske made a spectacular play to recover Dare Ogunbowale’s fumble after Landman punched it out.
Those efforts made it easier for an offense that will need some fine-tuning to live up to its hype.
“Landman making that punch out was so cool,” quarterback Matthew Stafford said.
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1.Rams tight end Davis Allen (87) celebrates with teammates after making a touchdown catch.2.Rams safety Jaylen McCollough celebrates during the first half.3.Rams running back Kyren Williams tries to evade Houston Texans defenders.4.Quarterback Matthew Stafford celebrates the Rams’ win.5.Houston cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. pushes Rams wide receiver Jordan Whittington out of bounds in the second quarter.(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Stafford, in his 17th NFL season, did not commit a turnover while etching his name deeper into the NFL record book. He completed 21 of 29 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown, and became only the 10th player to pass for more than 60,000 yards.
After sitting out all of training camp and several weeks of preseason practices because of a back issue, his ability to start and finish the game was a victory unto itself.
Receiver Puka Nacua also showed characteristic grit and toughness. Despite suffering an injury that required stitches in his head, Nacua caught 10 passes for 130 yards. Receiver Davante Adams caught four passes for 51 yards in his Rams debut.
Running back Kyren Williams rushed for a touchdown and tight end Davis Allen caught a touchdown pass as the Rams improved to 7-2 in openers under ninth-year coach Sean McVay.
“Our guys found a way,” McVay said of his team’s overall effort, “and that’s what it’s about.”
Sunday’s game marked the start of the Rams’ 10th season in Los Angeles since returning from St. Louis.
And the defense’s performance, save for an untimely penalty or two, rated a near 10.
Rams coach Sean McVay shares a hand slap with wide receiver Puka Nacua during the Rams’ season-opening win.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The Rams’ offense managed only Williams’ touchdown in the first half. Meanwhile, Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked three field goals to give the Texans a 9-7 lead.
But the Rams appeared to come out with a different attitude in the second half.
Stafford’s passes to Adams and Xavier Smith set up Allen’s touchdown catch that gave the Rams the lead, and they appeared on their way to increasing their advantage when they drove to the Texans’ 12-yard line with just over four minutes left.
But tight end Colby Parkinson fumbled after a short reception, putting the onus on the Rams defense.
When quarterback C.J. Stroud’s third-down pass fell incomplete, the Rams looked like they were on the verge of victory. But a roughing-the-passer penalty against lineman Kobie Turner kept the drive alive.
Stroud completed a pass to Ogunbowale, and on the next play they connected for another. But this time Landman punched the ball out of Ogunbowale’s grip.
McVay was not surprised.
Landman, who forced three fumbles in each of the previous two seasons, has had more punchouts in practice than any other player,” McVay said.
“He has just a great feel for it,” McVay said, “so he’s intentional, and I think it’s rubbed off on the rest of the group. And he got it at a critical time. You talk about competitive greatness — that was on display.”
Stafford’s 24-yard pass to Nacua in the final minute sealed the victory.
“That’s complementary football, right?” Stafford said. “That’s, ‘Hey, we make a mistake, defense comes out and makes a play for us. Hey, you know what, we aren’t going to put you back out on the field defense, we’re going to close this thing out taking a knee.’
“Those are things you can build on.”
The Rams play the Tennessee Titans and the defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles on the road the next two weeks.
“The sky’s the limit for this defense,” Landman said. “You see the guys we have up front, the pressure we’re able to create on the quarterback.
“And you pair that with the coverage behind it — it’s a lot to look forward to this year.”
The lion’s amber gaze fixes forward on Nate Landman’s left bicep, its mane fanning across the curve of his arm. Above Landman’s wrist, a zebra bends to graze, while a giraffe behind steps through a stand of wind-bent acacia trees.
Together, they form a tattooed sleeve of Zimbabwe — an inked landscape of home carried by the Rams’ newest defensive signal-caller.
“There’s not many Zimbabwe migrants in the United States,” Landman said, “so to represent my country and have this platform to do it is huge.”
Rams linebacker Nate Landman shows tattoos on his left arm of a lion, giraffe and zebra from his native Zimbabwe.
(Ira Gorawara / Los Angeles Times)
At age 4, Landman’s family of six traded the southern tip of Africa for Northern California, chasing wider playing fields and educational opportunities for their children. Twenty-two years later, the red soil and wild coastlines of his first home still ride with him — in the way he stalks, strikes and erupts.
So when tight end Davis Allen cut through a seam and caught a pass during Saturday’s training camp session, Landman tracked him with the patience of a predator. He measured each step, sprang forward and then uncoiled, thumping the ball out of Allen’s grip to send it skidding to the turf.
After witnessing several of those jarring shots, safety Quentin Lake coined the nickname “Peanut Punch Landman,” a nod to Landman’s ability to force fumbles.
“He has just a knack for the ball,” Lake said.
The Atlanta Falcons were the first to detect that hunch, scooping Landman out of Colorado as an undrafted rookie. In each of the last two seasons, he forced three fumbles.
That instinct — and the trust he’s earned — fast-tracked Landman’s role with the Rams. Signed as a free agent in March, Landman wasted little time winning over Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, who stuck a green dot on Landman’s helmet, designating him as a commander of the defense.
“The way that he understands the game, he’s able to talk to everybody on the defense,” Rams inside linebackers coach Greg Williams said. “It was almost a no-brainer when coach Shula came to me and said, ‘I think Nate should have the green dot.’”
And for the Rams, that leadership and knack for creating turnovers came at a bargain. In a defense that doesn’t spend big at linebacker, Landman — who signed a one-year, $1.1-million contract — arrived as a low-cost addition with high potential return.
“He’s a great communicator. He’s got great command. He’s got the ability to elevate people,” coach Sean McVay said, adding, “I just like the way that this guy’s got a great vibe.”
Before Landman became an on-field general for the Rams, he was in teacher mode, offering teammates a primer that had nothing to do with playbooks.
During a team meeting, Landman unfurled a map of Africa, tracing its outline with his finger before shading the small patch of land he calls home — wedged right above South Africa — to give his locker room a visual pin on where his story began.
“A lot of guys don’t know that Africa, the continent, is full of just individual countries,” Landman said. “They think it’s states and stuff. So it’s cool to be able to share that with them — not everybody believes when I say I’m from Africa.”
Amid that crash course, one question kept resurfacing.
Are there lions and deer roaming around?
“A lot of people are fascinated,” Landman said. “It’s such a rare thing, that’s why I’m so proud of it.”
Though it’s been a few years since Landman last stood on Zimbabwean soil, his family ties still tether him there. And as football sent him crisscrossing the United States, his homeland’s hues and emblems have come along for the ride.
The tattoo sleeve climbs into his chest, framing a map of Africa with Zimbabwe shaded deep. He still eats sadza nenyama , the maize-and-meat staple that fed his childhood. And in his parents’ home, light falls on a gallery of African vignettes and keepsakes.
His helmet bears the same allegiance, Zimbabwe’s flag tagged proudly on the back.
“I love wearing that Zimbabwe flag on the back of my helmet,” Landman said, “and I’ll do that as long as I’m in the NFL.”
Emmerdale’s John Sugden came close to confessing to killing Nate Robinson on Thursday night, and as he struggled it seemed one character was onto his dark crimes
Emmerdale’s John Sugden came close to confessing to killing Nate Robinson on Thursday night(Image: ITV)
One scene on Emmerdale on Thursday could have shown the moment a character was onto John Sugden amid Nate Robinson’s funeral.
The villain was tasked with reading the eulogy of his murder victim in front of Nate’s family who remain unaware of his dark betrayal. But John very nearly cracked, telling them all: “I’m so sorry,” as he struggled through the words written by Nate’s wife Tracy Robinson.
He commented on the fact the death was tearing them all apart and how it had clearly impacted them, as he began to tremble with the guilt becoming too much. So much so, one character in particular looked pretty suspicious.
Another character also seemed concerned when John said he “couldn’t do this” referring to reading the eulogy. Moira Dingle, Nate’s stepmother, seemed visibly shocked and almost suspicious – as did John’s partner Aaron Dingle.
But it was someone else, sat at the back of the room, who repeatedly pulled faced and looked confused if not suspicious of John’s behaviour. DS Walsh attended the funeral, leaving Tracy unnerved given she had become a suspect in her husband’s demise.
One scene on Emmerdale on Thursday could have shown the moment a character was onto John Sugden(Image: ITV)
But she was not the only one rattled by the detective showing up, now doubt wanting to see if any of the funeral guests slipped up and revealed themselves as the killer. John was seen horrified to see her there, and couldn’t stop looking at her as he gave the speech.
As John got up to talk to the mourners, he started reading Tracy’s words to her late husband. He suddenly stopped unable to carry on, before speaking to everyone about their grief.
With his guilt shining through, it seemed he could confess and crack at any moment. As this was happening, DS Walsh was watching on intrigued.
As John quivered and faced breaking down in tears, she began to change her expression. She was seen squinting and turning her head, almost as if to question what was happening.
Moira Dingle, Nate’s stepmother, seemed visibly shocked and almost suspicious(Image: ITV)
She was clearly confused over his behaviour and his sudden emotion for a man he barely knew. So was this the moment Walsh realised John, who she’d interrogated weeks earlier, could be a key suspect?
After all, detectives are supposed to spot these things especially when it comes to body language. So might this be the moment John exposed himself as a killer to the lead detective on the case?
Walsh had spoken with John after Nate’s body had been found, as it became apparent John had been one of the last people, if not the last, to see him alive. John was the one telling everyone Nate had fled for Shetland, so if Walsh cracks onto his guilt and puts the pieces together, it could spell the end for John.
Emmerdale spoilers have teased some major twists and turns from killer John Sugden potentially being rumbled by a surprising character, to Nate Robinson’s family being given shocking news
00:01, 15 Jul 2025Updated 00:02, 15 Jul 2025
More than one character could be onto Emmerdale killer John Sugden next week(Image: ITV)
More than one character could be onto Emmerdale killer John Sugden next week, as spoilers tease an unlikely person could rumble the truth.
It comes as Nate Robinson’s ‘real killer’ is unmasked, when the police deliver some shocking news. His family learn who ‘really’ killed him, but it isn’t John who gets named by detectives or who even confesses to the crime.
There’s big twists ahead and it could lead to the downfall of John who sets a plan in motion. While it kicks off perfectly a couple of errors could unravel the whole thing, and see him exposed for two murders.
More is to be revealed, by spoilers detail some big twists in the fallout to John orchestrating framing newcomer Owen for Nate’s death. John accidentally killed Nate in September and dumped his body in the lake, with it only discovered weeks ago.
Amid his family coming to terms with his death and people being blamed, Owen, who was recently seen drugging Robert Sugden before trying to flee with him, makes a return to the village. Robert’s brother John turned him away then and saved Robert, and in upcoming scenes he’s shown kicking him out of the doctors surgery.
Emmerdale spoilers have teased some major twists and turns (Image: ITV)
But it seems upcoming scenes will show him setting up Owen, claiming he has confessed to Nate’s murder. This is delved into next week when detectives reveal they have a confession and even a motive, or a story of what happened between Owen and Nate.
In a dark twist though Owen is dead, with him believed to have taken his own life. Liam Cavanagh heads to the patient’s address and is concerned by a lack of response, with the police soon arriving and finding him dead.
When a detective finds a ‘suicide note’ on his laptop with a written confession to killing Nate, John’s plan seems to be working. So Has he struck again and killed Owen, before pinning Nate’s murder on him? More importantly, will the story be bought?
When Nate’s dad Cain Dingle and wife Tracy Robinson are told the news they are struggling to process the information. John then acts shocked about the ongoing events, and when Robert finds out he’s left shaken especially given what happened with Owen just weeks ago.
But all this does is raise his suspicions over John given the coincidence that Owen is apparently involved. He decides to investigate, especially when he learns John has been at Owen’s house right before he died.
Spoilers tease an unlikely person could rumble the truth(Image: ITV)
Robert sets up a meeting with Owen’s brother Steve, and is left reeling to uncover Owen ‘can’t have killed Nate’ as he had a tight alibi for the day he was killed. Robert heads to the police station, claiming to have new information about Nate’s murder – but what will he reveal and will John be exposed?
It might not be Robert who exposes his killer brother though, as Paddy Kirk could be about to rumble the truth in a surprising twist. We know that John has been struggling with what he did to Nate and has turned to a helpline numerous times.
He’s gotten close to spilling the beans and it’s been teased that he may break, and may give away what he’s done. This continues next week when he once again makes contact, but it seems he’s been messaging them and not actually speaking on the phone.
Next week, his volunteer suggests a call rather than a message, which would give away his voice. So when it’s revealed next week that Paddy is volunteering on a crisis helpline, surely this could be a major hint that he is the volunteer John is messaging, and if yes then surely it’s only a matter of time before Paddy hears John’s voice and realises what’s going on.
As for Robert next week, he’s still causing drama as he continues to plot behind Moira Dingle’s back after convincing her to sell him the farm – while in cahoots with Kim Tate. With Robert then planning to sign over to Kim, he’s stopped in his tracks by her desperation and senses she is hiding something.
Robert Sugden is onto John(Image: ITV)
Kim tells Joe Tate no one can find out their plans, so Robert does some digging to see what she’s after the land but soon Kim flees to Dubai. With it left in Joe’s hands, who goes to see Moira and reiterates Kim’s offer to buy the farm.
Moira has a difficult decision to make but what will she do and what is Kim up to? Elsewhere next week, Marlon Dingle is gutted when daughter April Windsor refuses to return to college and there’s drama for Mack Boyd and Charity Dingle.
When Mack finds out his wife has offered to be her granddaughter Sarah’s surrogate without even telling him he’s aghast, and it leads to an explosive argument. It’s Eric Pollard who’s told Mack all, leaving his grandson Jacob Gallagher furious.
Soon Eric tells him and Sarah he’s worried about her shortened life expectancy, and that’s why he’s sabotaging things. Mack and Charity can’t come to an agreement meanwhile, and soon he gives her an ultimatum: it’s the surrogacy or their marriage. So will the pair split for good?
There’s a reason Nate Jackson’s debut Netflix special arrives during barbecue season. Perched on a stool under the spotlight at his shows, the comedian spends most of the evening delivering hospital-worthy third-degree burns to crowd members who want the smoke. If you lock eyes with him in the first five rows, chances are you even paid extra to be his next victim by sitting in “the roast zone.”
During a recent pair of packed, back-to-back gigs at the Wiltern last month, the Tacoma-bred comic made full use of his flame-throwing abilities to torch his highest-paying L.A. fans over their questionable fashion choices, weird haircuts and bad teeth. As the evening progresses he dives deeper, extracting more information and grilling them about their personal lives and romantic relationships with a camera zoomed in on them, broadcasting their faces on a jumbo screen if they were at a Dodger game. When everything works right, Jackson finds a way to weave the stories of his random burn victims together in a way that makes the whole show feel pre-planned. Meanwhile, even as Jackson is busy making fans the butt of his comedic freestyle, the person laughing the hardest is usually the roastee. It’s the mark of good crowd work that’s not simply well done but more importantly done well.
This ride of the unpredictable twists and turns is given the same spotlight and attention in his special as his pre-written jokes in a way that keeps the pace engaging while making his audience the stars of the show. It makes his debut “Nate Jackson: Super Funny” a testament to the style and the brand of comedy he’s grown from a weekly comedy night to a brick-and-mortar comedy club and now a Netflix special that bears the same name.
Speaking of names … no, he didn’t interview himself for this story. But a journalist and the comedian swapping professions for a day or two could be funny. Whaddaya think, Nate?
Recently Nate Jackson spoke to Nate Jackson about his career coming up in the Tacoma comedy scene, refining his ability to improv on shows like MTV’s “Wild ‘N Out” and using his crowd work skills to go viral on TikTok.
This conversation was edited for length and clarity.
Well, well … Nate Jackson.
Nate Jackson.
I heard about you, man.
When I Google me … we come up. What is the likelihood of that?
It’s been my whole career — searching “our name.”
Then there’s a random guy [another Nate Jackson] playing a guitar and then all of the sudden, a third-string Denver Bronco [also named Nate Jackson] wants to write a book about playing football while high, and then he takes over the front three pages of our name.
No worries, us doing this interview together will definitely help us both surge in Google rankings.
So you’re Nate Jackson. I’m Nate Jackson Jr., and my dad is [also named] Nate Jackson. So this is a lot of Nate Jackson.
Some Nate-ception going on!
[Laughs] Bars!
Congrats on your latest special, “Nate Jackson: Super Funny.”
What’d you think?
I thought that it was a great balance of what everyone’s seeing on you on their phones [via TikTok] recently, and it also shows people what you spent your entire career doing in comedy before social media. You’re able to convey the level of crowd work you do in a live setting really well. I know a lot of people say, “Oh, crowd work is so easy to do,” but is it actually really hard?
Oh no, it’s easy to do. It’s hard to do right.
“Organic [humor] wins almost every single time when you’re writing material. One of the main challenges is making it so that it’s consumable by the masses,” Jackson said. “You want to write about things that people can relate to.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
How did it start for you with the crowd work becoming a central part of your act?
It never was a thing I wanted to go to as a central part of my act. I fought against that concept. If you work on a joke for three months, you want that to work more than the thing you just walked out [on stage] and said, “Look at that light flickering.” But you can’t control what is going to hit harder. Organic [humor] wins almost every single time when you’re writing material. One of the main challenges is making it so that it’s consumable by the masses. You want to write about things that people can relate to. You want to be relatable, right? Well, what’s more relatable than, “It’s hot in here, and we can all feel it.”
How did you get started in the Tacoma comedy scene?
I started because I had a room in Tacoma, Washington. I had a lot of rooms in Washington, and I consolidated them into a Thursday night, and it was the “Super Funny Comedy Show,” which is now the “Super Funny Comedy Club.” But it was every Thursday, and I was young enough in my career that I was like, I need to produce a show that would pack this place out, and I don’t have the skill set to be the [driving force] yet. But I can host; I can add a live band. I need my headliners coming from somewhere else. So that’s why we had [big names like] Lil Rel, Tiffany Haddish, Leslie Jones, Deon Cole. So Tacoma was spoiled by the lineups that came and did [my] Thursday night.
In doing that, every week I could write, but I could not keep up with the pacing of having a monologue every Thursday. [I was] a new comic without my voice. So I abandoned that. Sometimes I would make a joke and then say, “Now I’m just gonna mess with who’s in front of me.” And that [crowd work] muscle started to pulsate. Then I added a little improv to it. Then it I said, “All right, this next [set] I’m gonna go up with [no material]. I’m gonna go up naked and I’m coming off with a ‘W.’” It got to where people are like, “Yo, I kind of like it when you just freestyle.”
So doing improv on stage led to you freestyle roasting people?
It didn’t necessarily need to be a roast. I could be [a joke on] something I saw on the news that day. They just want to see me create — to just pick up the newspaper and then go off that. I’m like, “Guys, that’s a slap in the face to when I’m putting three, four hours in at Starbucks, working on the writing and making sure the punch lines are all there.” But it’s the same thing I’m doing with the crowd work content. I don’t just mess with people for the sake of messing with them. I am getting information to then plug into a setup. Now we’re in a comedy structure where it’s act out and mix up a set up, a punch line, etc. I want to make it worth slowing down the pacing that I would have if I was the only one talking and dictating the energy.
When I go to somebody, it is now at their pacing. They can take four minutes on the answer, and people are now fidgeting in the crowd. I’m like, “Come on now, hey, come on.” You got to keep it moving; that’s the rule to what’s happening onstage. It can go slow, but we need to feel like we’re going from point A in a story or an interaction to point B. Sometimes maybe I’m going from point A to point C, and I hit you with some misdirection in there, then, wham to point C and all connects. People are like, “Wait, so the last 10 minutes was a setup?!” That’s what I pride myself on. So you, how do just say, “Oh, that’s crowd work” — is it?
“I think that what I’m doing it is the evolution of stand-up,” Jackson said. “You [can’t] go on stage and just do your set the same way — the way you practice it in your mirror — in front of a blinding light, where you can’t even see [the crowd].”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
It’s definitely more than what people ascribe to it as a part of a show. It turns the fans into the show in a way that they can walk away feeling good about — even if they’ve been roasted.
And that’s on me, because I could just be malicious and leave it bad. But I always, I try to uplift. I’m a “Que,” a member of Omega Psi Phi [fraternity]. It’s one of our principles, “to uplift.” I don’t want you to leave the show being like, “Man, I’ll never watch a show again.” No, it should be like, “Okay, [he roasted me], but we had fun.” I’m not trying to beat up on people.
I wanted to talk about the role TikTok played in your recent glow-up in comedy over the last few years. How did it help you develop as a comedian?
I just started showing [my skills]. Once you start showing it, you’re not a secret anymore. Comics would come to Tacoma — which is off the beaten path — and then be like, “There’s a guy up there that even as a host you need to have, you need to be ready to follow, because he’s just — he’s literally just up there winging it, and he’s on fire.” Everyone in comedy knows the guy or the girl, and that was kind of what the stigma became. I was one of comedy’s best-kept secrets. People would come up [to my comedy shows], they would see my razzle-dazzle, they would take little bits of my recipe and add it to their stuff. And so I would watch people years later and be like, “Really … really?!” Don’t come up here and take my sauce and then, because you got more shine than me, use it. It takes a lot to just be the person that can handle that and not develop a chip on the shoulder. But if I’m the creator, if I’m their origin and I’m the source of [my style of comedy], then I have no issue continuing to create.
People were just like, “You need to get online!” I was like, “I am! I have every app and I’m tired now. How many things I gotta manage?” And it just got to the point where I was like, “Alright, let me get on. Let me do TikTok. That’s the app where people are following.” I saw friends that were having wild success on there, and I was like, alright, I’ll try it. And sure enough, within six or seven clips — the seventh [clip] hit. It wasn’t mega viral or anything, but it did more than my average video was doing over on on Instagram. I said, there’s something to this. And I stayed on it. And then things kept it [growing]. And so I was watching, and the needle was moving. And so here we are.
How often would you post clips on TikTok when you started using it?
I was posting at least once a day. That is not easy, because you got to get your sound right, your video needs to be quality, and then you got to pull it, edit it, and caption the words that are on the screen. There’s AI now, but all of us who were doing this [before AI] would laugh about it and be like,“When do you caption?” We’ll watch a movie and literally just be captioning. For a five-minute video, a four-minute video, I’m talking about exhaustion … Now, you plug that thing in [with AI] and the whole thing is done. Thank God, or thank computer. I don’t know who [I] was supposed to thank in that scenario, but it streamlined the process so much more content can come out now. What took me all night long to get one clip out — now we do three a day. Or two a day now, at the very least.
We talk about how AI can be a threat to original entertainment, including comedy. But are there ways AI and social media have changed the art form for the better?
Yes, and we can do so much more. We can now edit a whole podcast in two minutes. You would think it’s getting rid of jobs, and in theory it should be, but it should make one person be able to do so much more. Instead of someone losing the job, we have the capacity to put out way more content. So let’s keep all of our employees, but let’s now do 180% times more work. Also as far as AI goes, I’m okay if we stop right now for two years. Let’s just stop right now … before we legitimately are in a plot of “Terminator.”
With the type of show you’re doing now, where do you see the future of comedy going?
“Live your life to the fullest. Love hard, play hard,” Jackson said. “We only got one shot at this. I left it all out on the stage. That’s exactly how we should live every day.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
I think that what I’m doing it is the evolution of stand-up. You [can’t] go on stage and just do your set the same way — the way you practice it in your mirror — in front of a blinding light, where you can’t even see [the crowd]. What’s the difference between being in front of seven people or 70,000 people? It feels exactly the same. I think there’s a detachment between the person and the people. We’ve seen the guys that are such glitzy superstars — that just being there to watch it, that’s the presence you want to be in. But with human interaction, every show is different. You have to be malleable and loose. You can’t do your set, 1-2-3-4-5 — you gotta be able to go 5-3-2-1-4, with different segues on the fly.
What’s a better mechanic, the one that does the same 14 diagnostic steps no matter what car comes in, or the one that opens the hood and listens and goes, “[Your car needs a] timing belt, gimme a timing belt”? Let’s say you have five jokes — your hot five. Three [jokes] are about your cat, one’s about your mom and one is about a motorcycle. And you walk out on stage and there’s a motorcycle club in the front four rows. Do you get off of your normal order and establish rapport with the audience by moving your motorcycle joke to the front, or do you set yourself up for failure by talking about your new cat for three jokes to a motorcycle gang? They’ll listen to you if they like you. So get what will establish that first — be malleable.
A lot of new fans of yours may not know, but you’ve had experience with improv years ago in the “Wild ‘N Out” days [on MTV during Season 8, circa 2016]. What’s it like taking those skills you learned on TV and moving it to your own specials, podcasts and social media in this new era?
It’s all “yes, and …” We take the current situation and go, “What else can we add?” We’re just building … the real talent, the expertise comes in when they build, and it’s also a pivot, like the segue you just did right now to get into this topic. So kudos to “Wild ‘N Out” to being able to procure and find all of us and put us together. But all of us obviously had something, otherwise how do you catch the eye of a network showrunner? Shout out to Nile Evans and everybody that’s a part of procuring the talent that ends up being the stars of tomorrow. We can be like, “Oh, it’s a little urban hip-hop show.” Or we can be real about the fact that Katt Williams and Kevin Hart and all these people have come down the halls of that show. I would argue “Wild ‘N Out’s” alumni that have hit are as decorated or more than “In Living Color.”
This special feels like just a big culmination of your career right now. What’s something you would want people to take away from it after watching?
Live your life to the fullest. Love hard, play hard. We only got one shot at this. I left it all out on the stage. That’s exactly how we should live every day. Bert Kreischer said [my new special] made him miss doing stand-up … that is so powerful. The best comics make you go, “Why didn’t I think of that?” or, “God, I gotta write!” He didn’t watch it and go, “You know who you remind me of?” I think that’s not flattering. He watched and said, “I gotta get down on my stuff.” I don’t know if it’s like, “Oh, this kid’s coming,” or if it’s just a, “I respect what you do, I appreciate it, and it made me want to get back on my stuff.” I feel like it’s more the latter, but there’s going to be some of that “OK, this kid’s coming.” There’s going to be nothing you can do because I’m coming, whether you like this special or not.
It’s a tense week in Emmerdale next week as the police are closing in on Nate’s death after the discovery of his body – but will the truth ever be revealed?
00:01, 03 Jun 2025Updated 00:06, 03 Jun 2025
John is questioned over Nate’s death next week – but he has a plan….(Image: ITV )
Fans may not yet have recovered from last week’s shock events in Emmerdale, but there’s much more to come next week – as spoilers for the ITV soap tease more drama ahead.
After Robert Sugden’s shock return, the village was rocked once again with Cain, Caleb, Chas and Ruby terrified about the revelation that a body has been found at the bottom of the lake. After learning the body had been there for months – they were left panicking that the body was Anthony’s.
When the interview is over, John hopes he’s said enough to protect Cain – who voices his suspicions that Tracy is responsible for the death of Nate.
Obviously venting after Cain’s accusation, Tracy tries to defend herself. John tries to comfort Cain reassuring him the police will find something else to focus on soon, as he formulates a plan. What does John have up his sleeve?
Things later escalate when the police arrive at Tug Ghyll with a search warrant – where they find Nate’s phone in Frankie’s playhouse leaving Tracy distraught as she’s taken in for questioning.
Mandy and Paddy are left in a panic when they realise Eve has been left in danger
With all eyes on her, an innocent Tracy desperately needs an alibi as she tells police she was at her sister Vanessa’s the day Nate was supposed to leave for Shetland. But will her sister corroborate?
Away from the Nate drama, Mandy and Paddy are left panicking when they find out Bear has left Eve in danger when he promises the littlun some sweets.
However, things take a dangerous turn when Eve gets her hands on Bear’s sleeping tablets, leaving Mandy and Paddy horrified. Will Eve be okay?
Things get heated between Tracy and Ruby
Elsewhere, there’s fury for more villagers, as Jacob is left furious when finds out Sarah hasn’t told Charity about her cancer. And there’s even more drama with Tracy as she ends up in a heated exchange with Ruby – in which she ends up slapping her across the face. But what is it about?
It seems Gabby is the only villager having a good week next week, as Vinny heads over to Kammy for help to win her back over after forgetting the anniversary of their first kiss. She’s left delighted with the romantic scenes, and Vinny’s all smiles when he realises his plan is coming together.
However, Kammy’s good deeds don’t last long when he’s heard organising to sell Clemmie’s stolen phone…
