show

ANGRY locals must wait to have a say on Alan Carr’s new castle renovation reality show after a meeting was delayed by “unprecedented” interest.

Producers behind the project planned to hold the gathering at a 120-capacity bowling club — but 600 people wanted to attend so it was held over.

Expectation TV are now looking for a larger venue to allow locals a chance to voice their concerns on the revamp and restrictions to their access to 19th century A-listed Ayton Castle in the Scottish Borders.

Comic Carr, 49, paid around £3.25million for the baronial mansion, which will feature on the Disney+ show.

He did so after winning the first Celebrity Traitors at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands.

Speaking about the upcoming series, he said: “Some men, when they have a mid-life crisis, buy a Lamborghini or grow a ponytail.

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“But me, I want my very own castle.

“I’ve always dreamt big and have always been enchanted with the history and romance of a stately home.

“As I turn 50, I feel that it’s time.

“All I want is a turret to call my own — get me over that drawbridge.”

Ayton Community Council revealed the meeting’s postponement in an online post.

It said interest from the wider public and press had led to the cancellation.

A production team source said the meeting’s new venue would soon be made known.

Claudia Winkleman will be joined by a star-studded line-up on her BBC chat show

Claudia Winkleman is set to make an appearance on our TV screens in just a few hours alongside a star-studded line-up of famous faces from the world of TV, music and more.

It was announced last year that the TV presenter would front her own chat show, titled The Claudia Winkleman Show, which will be filmed in front of a live studio audience.

“I can’t quite believe it and I’m incredibly grateful to the BBC for this amazing opportunity,” The 54-year-old said in a statement . “I’m obviously going to be awful, that goes without saying, but I’m over the moon they’re letting me try.”

This marks Claudia’s first new solo gig since she and co-host Tess Daly stepped down from hosting Strictly Come Dancing, with The Traitors star describing her new venture as “really scary”.

Ahead of the show’s debut, here’s everything you need to know about the famous faces set to appear on the first episode of the BBC show.

Who is on The Claudia Winkleman Show tonight?

Among the many guests set to join Claudia on her new chat show is Hollywood actor Jeff Goldblum, who will talk about his new album, Night Blooms, from his band The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.

Elsewhere Vanessa Williams will also make an appearance to discuss her turn in The Devil Wears Prada on the West End. As well as Jennifer Saunders, who is promoting her new family film, The Magic Faraway Tree.

Rounding off the celebrity line-up is Tom Allen, who will be chatting about his debut novel, Common Decency.

Sharing the news with fans, ITV took to their official Instagram and shared a first look snap of Claudia with her star-studded guest line-up.

Alongside the photo they confirmed: “The Claudia Winkleman Show lands this Friday. Joining Claudia this week: Jeff Goldblum, Jennifer Saunders, Vanessa Williams and Tom Allen. Big personalities, big laughs and plenty to talk about. Tune in at 10:40pm on BBC One. Co-Produced by So TV, part of ITV Studios and Little Owl.”

It didn’t take long for the comment section to be flooded with messages from fans as one said: “So excited. Love how @claudiawinkle represents the power of women, authentic, witty, unapologetically herself and lifting the whole room with her presence. Claudia quietly reminds the rest of us to take up our space.”

Another wrote: “So looking forward to this, it is going to be amazing.” A third commented: “This is going to start the weekend with style….and a fringe!! Can’t wait!!”

One commented: “This is so exciting. Can’t wait. Good luck Claudia.” One said: “Can’t wait for this @claudiawinkle.” Another excited fan wrote: “WHAT A LINE UP.”

The Claudia Winkleman Show begins tonight (March 13) at 10:40pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new ** Everything Gossip ** website.

NEW YORK — What makes life worth living? For hard-core “Harry Potter” fans with money to burn, it might be getting Broadway tickets to interact fleetingly with Daniel Radcliffe in “Every Brilliant Thing,” an ingenious and touching solo performance piece written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe on the subject of suicide — or more precisely, on the ordinary joys that militate against such a drastic step.

Radcliffe was breathlessly scampering up and down the aisles of the Hudson Theatre before the show began, enlisting audience members to be participants in the play. Having seen “Every Brilliant Thing” twice before, once at the Edye (the black box at Santa Monica’s BroadStage) starring Donahoe in 2017 and once at the Geffen Playhouse’s intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater starring Daniel K. Isaac in 2023, I knew exactly what he was up to.

The play revolves around a list that the narrator began at the tender age of 7 after his mother first attempted suicide. While she was still in the hospital, he started compiling, as much for her benefit as for his own, sources of everyday happiness.

Ice cream, water fights, kind people who aren’t weird and don’t smell unusual. These items are given a number, and audience members assigned a particular “brilliant thing” are expected to shout out their entry when their number is called.

The list gradually grows in complexity as the narrator gets older. Miss Piggy, spaghetti bolognese and wearing a cape give way to more sophisticated pleasures, such as the way Ray Charles sings the word “You” in the song “Drown in My Own Tears” or the satisfaction in writing about yourself in the second person.

Music plays a prominent role in “Every Brilliant Thing,” which was adapted from a monologue/short story Macmillan wrote called “Sleeve Notes.” The narrator’s terribly British father takes refuge from the emotional storms of his household by listening to jazz records in his office. John Coltrane, Cab Calloway, Bill Evans, Nina Simone are favorite artists, and the narrator can tell his father’s mood simply by the record he’s decided to play.

The production, directed by Jeremy Herrin and Macmillan, involves every level of the Hudson Theatre. I assumed I would be safe, occupying an aisle seat in the murderously expensive prime orchestra during a press performance attended by critics. But I wasn’t flashing a pad as my colleague across the aisle from me was doing to ward off any intrusions. And just before the show was about to start, Radcliffe was suddenly kneeling beside my seat asking if the person I was sitting with was my partner.

I told him that we weren’t a couple, just friends, and that I would be the worst person he could possibly ask to perform anything. But Radcliffe wasn’t so easily put off. “Let’s just say that you’re an older couple who have been together for some time,” he whispered. “And all you have to do is hand me this box of juice and candy bar when I refer to the older couple.”

OK, what harm could there be? Little did I know that “older couple” was to become “old couple,” a term that seemed to be repeated incessantly, at least to my Gen X ears not yet accustomed to scurrilous millennial attacks! I composed myself by pretending that we were in the world of anti-realism. But in truth, I would like to be the kind of person who would offer an anxious kid in a hospital waiting room a juice box and a candy bar, so maybe the casting wasn’t so far-fetched after all.

Daniel Radcliffe in the Broadway production of “Every Brilliant Thing.”

(Matthew Murphy)

A theatergoer was called upon to play the vet who euthanized the narrator’s childhood pet, a dog named Indiana Bones that was symbolized by a coat someone volunteered from the audience. It was the boy’s first experience of death, a difficult concept for a young mind but an important precursor for a boy not given the luxury of existential innocence.

Other audience members, particularly those seated on the stage, played much more elaborate roles. One man, first invited to serve as a stand-in for the narrator’s father, was asked instead to play the boy. He was given one word to say in reply — “Why?” — as his father tries to explain the reason his mother is in the hospital. This same enlisted actor was later called upon to play the dad giving a toast at his son’s wedding, one of the rare occasions when he was able to summon language for the kind of deep feeling he would normally only be able to express through his records.

One kind and patient spectator conscripted to play the school counselor had to remove her shoe to improvise a sock puppet, one of the tools of her empathetic practice. Another audience member sensitively played Sam, the narrator’s love of his life, a relationship that reveals the long-term toll of being raised by a parent suffering from suicidal depression.

Radcliffe’s audience wrangling was as intuitively sharp as his deeply felt performance. He has the comfort of a good retail politician, who’s not afraid of making direct contact with crowds. Two-time Tony winner Donna Murphy, in the house at the reviewed performance, gamely went along when Radcliffe briefly enlisted her luminous services.

Obviously, Radcliffe is the main reason “Every Brilliant Thing” is on Broadway. The show, which began at Britain’s Ludlow Fringe Festival in 2013, is a gossamer piece, a 70-minute curio best experienced in close quarters without the high expectations and ludicrous prices of New York’s turbo-charged commercial theater. The Hudson Theatre lends a mega-church vibe to the proceedings, but the spirits of theatergoers are nonetheless moved.

A scruffy-faced Radcliffe, twinkling accessible geniality in jeans and a sweatshirt, zips up and down the cavernous theater as though waging a one-man campaign against the isolation epidemic. There’s no denying that Harry Potter has matured into an assured stage actor. His Tony-winning performance in “Merrily We Roll Along” should have put to rest any doubts, but the glare of his fame can still obscure his serious chops.

Sincere yet never smarmy, ironic without ever being cynical, well-groomed though far from swank, he’s a more glamorous version of the character than the one originated by Donahoe, the British comedian with an everyman demeanor whose portrayal seemed so genuine at the Edye that I mistakenly thought that the play was his personal story.

Donahoe’s performance was filmed for HBO, but “Every Brilliant Thing” is meant to be experienced in a theater. The whole point of the show is to transform the audience into an impromptu ensemble, a group of strangers emotionally united through the story of one young man’s intimate knowledge of suicide, a subject that Albert Camus called the “one truly serious philosophical problem.”

I’m of two minds about “Every Brilliant Thing.” I was moved once again by the piece, but I’m grateful I didn’t have to wreak havoc on my credit card to pay for my seats. I love the interactive, gentle humanity of the play, but I was also acutely aware of how the work has been commodified. I applaud Radcliffe’s willingness to carve an independent path as an actor, but I might have been more impressed by his adventurousness had he decided to perform in a pocket venue that didn’t have the tiers of pricing I associate with airlines.

Yet launching a conversation around mental health with an audience magnet as powerful as Radcliffe is on balance an excellent thing. And Radcliffe’s compassionate portrayal of a survivor recognizing that he’s not out of the woods just because he made it into adulthood is one of those things that makes a theater lover just a little more appreciative of the humanity at the center of this art form.

“Well, I guess it’s a brother thing.”

The Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson is reflecting on his rollercoaster relationship with his younger sibling, guitarist Rich.

Their explosive chemistry once earned the outfit a fitting accolade — “The Most Rock ’n’ Roll Rock ’n’ Roll Band in the World”.

Chris is first to admit they’ve had their ups and downs since forming in 1984 under their original name, Mr Crowe’s Garden, as schoolkids in Atlanta, Georgia.

“Rich and I, for better or worse, were stubborn and arrogant but always strong believers in the art,” he admits.

“This has always been our path and, no matter what, we have to do it like this.

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“In rock ’n’ roll, there are plenty of show dogs, pure bred and beautiful. We’re f***ing feral.”

Following in the footsteps of other warring brothers — Ray and Dave Davies or Noel and Liam Gallagher — the Robinsons weren’t on speaking terms for five years after their so-called “contractual obligations” tour ended in 2014.

“Sometimes, you have to take your lumps,” continues Chris, employing that very American phrase for suffering setbacks. “But, right now, we’re in the zone. The chemistry is 100 per cent there.

“The way we feel goes right back to when we started — it’s f*** it, just play it — even if we are more well-mannered.”

The Black Crowes’ big reunion began in late 2019 with warm-up shows for a planned 30th anniversary tour of their debut album, the seminal Shake Your Money Maker, the following year.

But the pandemic slammed on the brakes before the dates finally happened across the US in 2021, uncorking the band’s celebrated freewheeling energy.

Back to the live arena came Jealous Again, Hard To Handle, She Talks To Angels and Twice As Hard, songs that somehow bottled up the band’s influences — Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and Little Feat among them — but still refreshingly their own.

In 2024, with their creative juices flowing, The Black Crowes released their first album of original material in 15 years, Happiness Bastards.

Now the Robinsons are back again — with a bang.

The follow-up, A Pound Of Feathers, comes tearing out of the blocks with the rocket-fuelled, riff-driven Profane Prophecy, setting the tone for another of The Black Crowes’ “love letters to rock and roll”.

The album arrives with some sound advice — “This isn’t a record you play on Sunday morning, this is a f***ing Saturday night burner!”

In a world where smoothly produced pop dominates the airwaves, The Black Crowes are unashamedly sticking two fingers up at it.

“None of what’s going on in that world is relevant to me,” decides Chris, “and rock ’n’ roll is still huge for millions and millions of people.”

He is talking to me via video call from Aspen, Colorado, the premier ski resort in the States, playground of the rich and famous.

“My wife is an avid skier. She’s the Franz Klammer of the family,” he reports with a reference to the Austrian downhill legend.

“I get to do the cooking, the reading and the hanging out.” (And talking to people like me about The Black Crowes). Brother Rich is at home in Nashville and begins his call by apologising for being under the weather.

“I’m going to be coughing randomly,” he says. “I’m in the middle of flu that’s going around.”

After clearing his throat, Rich, the less flamboyant one who lets his guitar wizardry do most of his talking, gamely picks up on Chris’s theme.

“When we got back together, we both agreed we needed to do it properly,” he affirms.

“We knew that bringing back a toxic dynamic wouldn’t be healthy for anyone.

“We couldn’t have the overarching idea that when Chris and Rich get together, it’s a bad thing.

“We’ve always written all the songs, we own the name so coming back with a more mature approach has been very helpful.”

Rich acknowledges that the music landscape for the older, wiser Black Crowes is vastly different from when they started out. “There’s a bunch of people in the industry who like to think rock ’n’ roll is dead,” he says.

“But then there’s a bunch of people trying to keep it alive. Guns N’ Roses, the Rolling Stones, Metallica and Def Leppard are still selling out stadiums.

“Tens of millions of people still want to see bands like them. Rock ’n’ roll is one thing that no one could tame.

“And it’s still like that for us. We can go into a studio with almost nothing and, in a week, make a record.

“There’s a human, organic quality to rock ’n’ roll. We don’t have auto-tune and we don’t have to set our s**t to a grid.”

Looking back at their unfettered past, Chris exclaims: “I have to say I’m so f***ing proud of The Black Crowes, man!

“Rich and I started this band when we were teenagers in Mom and Dad’s house, as a vehicle to write songs.

“And we found our way to being musicians and performers.”

Yet the creation of A Pound Of Feathers has still blown Chris away, most notably because of the stellar contributions from Rich.

The album was made in double-quick time, carried along by the brothers’ spontaneous fusion of riffs and lyrics.

Chris says: “I’ve been on stage and sat in studios my whole life with my brother playing amazing guitar.

“But, with this album, I sat there with my mouth hanging open.

“Granted I’m very close to the flame but everything he did, I was like, ‘Wow, this guy’s taking it to a new place.’”

During the sessions, The Black Crowes were visited by Chris’s friend, Todd Snider, the singer/songwriter who died last November from pneumonia aged just 59.

Chris cherished the chance to hang out with Todd — and to get some memorable feedback from him.

“He was a storyteller, a real poet, and he and I had a great friendship. He also really liked The Black Crowes.

“He asked if he could come and check out the recording. I went, ‘Dude, yeah fine, but you’re going to be the only one here’. So he sat there taking in me and Rich putting music together.

“At the end of the day, he said, ‘Are you f***ing warlocks? Is this some kind of ESP or is it a parlour trick? You don’t say anything yet, 30 minutes later, there’s this massive song blasting out of the speakers’.”

For Rich, the studio is his happy place. “I’ve always loved being in a studio,” he says.

“It’s where you bring to ­fruition all the things you have in your head.

“With this record, we came in without any concrete ideas. By allowing ourselves just to play in the sandbox, it became fun and exciting.”

Rich gives a shoutout to producer Jay Joyce, who also helmed Happiness Bastards.

He says: “Nine and a half times out of ten, he agrees with us when we’re excited about something.

“He’s there with us, not bogging us down by trying to insert himself when its unnecessary.”

So what of the songs? There’s the aforementioned opener Profane Prophecy which captures the unvarnished sound of The Black Crowes’ live mayhem, yet recorded in the calmer confines of a studio.

You hear Chris nodding to past rock ’n’ roll excesses by hollering, tongue firmly in cheek, “My pedigree in debauchery is my claim to fame.”

He smiles, “Of course I have to embrace that life. That’s why I sing, ‘I eat casino breakfast off the kitchen floor’.”

But he maintains that while giving “a vision of a debauched rock ’n’ roller”, he’s also “confusing fact with fiction”.

The four-minute shindig concludes with the ensemble chant of the phrase that yielded the album title, “a pound of feathers or a pound of lead”.

Chris got the line from In Here The World Begins, a song by long-defunct British electro-pop band Broadcast.

“I loved the phrase and what it could mean because a pound is a pound,” he says. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s lead or feathers. There’s some weird wisdom to it.”

We turn our attention to Cruel Streak, pounding rock underpinned by funky rhythm.

“I’m adjacent to funk at all times,” says Chris. “Growing up in Atlanta, there was this multi­racial band called Mother’s Finest who played heavy funk with ‘Baby Jean’ Kennedy as lead singer.

“There’s a lot of Mother’s Finest in The Black Crowes.”

On the R&B-flavoured It’s Like That, which comes with heavy basslines and a hint of reggae, the brothers employed an amphibian guest, which, as Chris explains, fits with their anything goes attitude.

“I was staying in Nashville, and the doors were open. I heard this frog, so I recorded him. That’s my Nashville rasta frog on the solo.”

Rich says: “There are tree frogs all over the South. They were blaring one night and Chris said, ‘Man, I want to use that sound’.

“So he took his phone and pressed record. We found the right space for it on the song.” On the loose, laidback country-tinged Pharmacy Chronicles, recalling the vibe of the Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main St., Chris sings “let the demons find you” because, he insists, we mustn’t think everything is “sugar-coated, glossy and gorgeous”.

“Especially something as messy as a 40-year career in rock ’n’ roll,” he adds. “I can’t believe some of the s**t I was doing. Get some surgical gloves and get to it!”

But Chris is not one to dwell on the past, with all its euphoric highs and crashing lows. “I am devoid of nostalgia,” he says.

“I like to think I interact with the world as a poet. I’m always writing — it could be because I overheard a conversation at an airport check-in.

“I’m no Bruce Springsteen,” he confesses. “But I connect with the world through whatever inspires me.”

And, as he puts it, “a lot of the darkness that is the United States right now” informs A Pound Of Feathers.

It explains why final track Doomsday Doggerel with its line “a front row seat to the end of times” is in stark contrast to the closing song on Happiness Bastards.

“On that last record, Kindred Friend was a beautiful pastoral thing with harmonica, about me and Rich, the band and our audience,” says Chris.

“Doomsday Doggerel is much darker. We haven’t remembered lessons from our past and the f***ing racism means we’re operating at a very low frequency.

“I just hope that someone can play this record on a Saturday night, keep out the low frequency and get a better hum going.”

As Pharmacy Chronicles ebbs to a close, you hear a defiant chorus of “the good times never end”.

As far as Chris and Rich and the rest of The Black Crowes family are concerned, rock ’n’ roll is the perfect antidote to personal and universal turmoil.

“We’re loud, we can be sloppy but we are like an old cartoon of two people fighting on a train,” says Chris.

“The train goes round a bend, leaning all the way over a cliff, but then it comes back up. That’s us.”

THE BLACK CROWES

A Pound Of Feathers

★★★★☆

PHOENIX — When he was selected with the 13th pick of the 2024 MLB draft, outfielder James Tibbs III envisioned himself roaming the outfield of Oracle Park in a San Francisco Giants uniform for many years.

He could never have foreseen that a year and a half later, he’d be playing for a longtime Giants rival, already at the third stop of his young career.

The Giants packaged Tibbs along with Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks and Jose Bello in a trade to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for three-time All-Star Rafael Devers last June.

A month and a half later, Tibbs’ life was uprooted yet again, as the Red Sox moved him and Zach Ehrhard to the Dodgers in a trade for Dustin May.

MLB Pipeline prospect analyst Jim Callis has covered the draft for over 30 years, and can’t recall a situation quite like it.

“Tibbs is the only player I can think of who was taken in the top half of the first round and then traded twice during his first full pro season,” Callis said. “He really took off after joining the Dodgers, and I bet we see more consistency out of him when he’s not bouncing between [organizations] in 2026.”

Tibbs seems to have found a comfortable landing spot with the Dodgers. He posted seven home runs, 32 RBI and a .269/.407/.900 slash line over his 36 games in the Dodgers organization, rounding out his season at double-A Tulsa. And during his first camp with the Dodgers, Tibbs has turned heads. Through 15 Cactus League games, he’s hit two home runs, batting .281, with a .351 on-base percentage and .914 OPS.

He likely won’t open the season on the Dodgers’ big-league roster, but manager Dave Roberts sees his potential.

“I like James Tibbs,” Roberts said. “I like him a lot. He loves baseball, he is obsessed with getting better at the game and he just fits who I am as a baseball coach, and the players that we want, so he’s going to play in the big leagues. He’s a championship-type player.”

Tibbs was thrown for a loop by both trades, and taught him a lesson about facing adversity.

“Honestly, I might be one of the first first-round draft picks to be traded twice in their first year,” Tibbs said. “For me it was hard. I’m not going to sugarcoat it; it was hard. And really, mentally draining. [I] felt like I got punched in the face a bunch of times, and really had to learn how to get back up, and keep competing, and figure out how to be true to myself, and true to what I do well.”

Tibbs said that joining the Dodgers helped him to rediscover himself and return to his form from his time at Florida State.

“[When I joined the Dodgers, they] were like, ‘Hey, you know, we just want you to be yourself,” Tibbs said. “We want you to do what you need to do to be successful. Like, we believe in you, we believe in what you did in college. We want you to get that back and be able to be successful with how you swing the bat and how you play defense, and like, we don’t want to take that away from you.’ So obviously, there was tweaks being made, and there was things we needed to change a little bit to get to that spot, but I think for the most part, they just allowed me to be me and work within those boundaries to help figure out how to continue to make that better and better and better.

“And with that being said, I just felt a lot of relief from that.”

Tibbs clubbed 28 home runs in his junior year at Florida State, powering the Seminoles to their first College World Series trip since 2019. He received ACC Player of the Year and consensus First-Team All-American honors.

“Tibbs was one of the best offensive prospects in a loaded 2024 college class,” Callis said. “He makes good swing decisions and hits balls hard, giving him the ingredients to hit for average and power. Most of his value will come from his bat, but it’s a potentially potent bat.”

For now, Tibbs is content to be fulfilling his potential with one organization.

“Props to the Dodgers, they did everything they could to help me transition to that smoothly and make that a better process,” Tibbs said. “And it’s been a lot easier for me to go out and play every night, with the way that they’ve encouraged me and believed in me. It’s just been a blessing to be here.”

Strictly Come Dancing bosses are after Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman replacements as both presenters left at the end of the last series, won by former England footballer Karen Carney

The One Show presenter Angela Scanlon is said to be in line to become the new Strictly Come Dancing presenter.

Angela, who has been a reporter on the BBC flagship show since 2016 and more recently has hosted in the absence of Alex Jones, has been lauded as “a top professional”. A source says Strictly bosses are particularly keen on Angela, 42, as they feel she is “BBC through and through”.

Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman left the popular programme at the end of the last series, having forged a successful regular partnership since 2014. Several names have been linked to their vacant posts, including Alan Carr after his triumph on The Traitors last year, but it is now believed Angela will waltz onto the programme. She herself was a contestant in 2023, dancing with Carlos Gu who remains on the show.

A source told the Daily Mail: “It’s looking likely that Angela could get one of the jobs. The Beeb love a regional accent, she’s one of the BBC’s own and she’s no trouble whatsoever. She is BBC through and through and is regarded as a top professional. The BBC knows she is loved as a presenter of The One Show and that is what those making the hire are really looking at.”

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It is believed that so-called “chemistry tests” are the next stage, and they are due to take place after Easter. However, sources understand Angela, of County Meath, Ireland, has the right personality to fit in.

“There have been many names bandied around, some of which are not realistic… For Angela, Strictly would be a no-brainer. She might not be a superstar but she would grow with the role,” the insider continued.

Strictly bosses have had meetings in recent weeks as they plan for the next series of the programme, which typically starts in the autumn. It is said managers want at least one of the new faces to have a distinctive regional accent, a box mother-of-two Angela ticks.

Speaking in December when asked about the vacancies, Angela, a former magazine journalist, said: “You know what, I am such a fan of the show and have been forever, I would certainly answer the call.”

Alex Jones herself had been rumoured with one of the jobs, but it is thought she and Angela are reticent about teaming together despite their rapport on The One Show. Zoe Ball, the former host of Strictly’s spin-off show It Takes Two, is also believed to be in the running for one of the roles.

But bosses are also said to be mulling over the prospect of having a male anchor, the first since the late Bruce Forsyth who presented Strictly Come Dancing for nearly 10 years. The veteran entertainer departed after the 2013 series.

The big question surrounding last year’s Academy Awards was whether the show would address the L.A. wildfires, which had rattled the city mere months prior.

This year, the elephant in the room is the ongoing Iran war, which like last year’s wildfires, puts a celebration like the Oscars in sharp relief. But for Conan O’Brien, balancing gravity and levity is part of his job description as host.

“My job is to always try and hit this very, very thin line between entertaining people and also acknowledging some of the realities,” O’Brien said during a Wednesday news conference with the Oscars creative team.

“It’s a dance that goes on up until the show begins,” the former talk show host said, adding that he and his team of writers are still revising material ahead of the show to ensure their content is as relevant as possible.

“Between us,” he said, referencing Oscars telecast executive producers Katy Mullan and Raj Kapoor, “we will find the right tone.”

O’Brien also during the news conference recalled Johnny Carson’s turn hosting the Oscars during the Iran hostage crisis, when 52 Americans, including diplomats and other personnel, were held hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran from 1979 to 1981. The comedian remembered the television host parodying ABC’s “Nightline” with his joke, “It’s day 444 of the Oscars.”

“It was such a funny, topical joke that touched on something everyone was thinking about, and at the same time, got a big laugh and was unifying,” O’Brien said. “That was meaningful to me.”

Kapoor said during the news conference that the production team is putting systems in place to alleviate attendees’ safety concerns amid the tense global situation and reported threats to California.

“Every year, we monitor what’s going on in the world,” the showrunner said, adding that the ceremony has the support of the FBI and LAPD. “This show has to run like clockwork.”

He added, “Everybody that is coming to this show, that is witnessing this show, that is even a fan of the show when they’re standing outside the barricades — we want everybody to feel safe and protected and welcome.”

As for the telecast’s creative direction, the team cited “human touch” as a unifying theme — a not-so-subtle slight to AI.

“We’re celebrating human touch, human connection and what I like to call actual intelligence, as opposed to artificial,” said music director Michael Bearden. “We want to get back to the communal … and so the music will reflect that.”

That spirit of celebration will be especially tangible in the “KPop Demon Hunters” performance, Kapoor said. That performance will be complemented by a “Sinners” moment featuring Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq as well as guests Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith.

“We have this lovely story celebrating Korean culture with authentic Korean drummers and singers and even choreography,” the producer said. “So again, we’ve expanded our reach, and we’re telling these global stories, celebrating international films that have had a global impact and doing things in a really different way.”

Mullan and Kapoor closed the news conference by teasing a pair of reunions featuring cast members from “Bridesmaids” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Bridesmaids” alum Rose Byrne is nominated for a lead actress Oscar for her role in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” which marked O’Brien’s dramatic acting debut. (If Byrne wins, he said, “half that Oscar’s mine.”)

“We’re gonna have superstars, superheroes, and there is also going to be an extraterrestrial on the stage, so you can figure that one out,” Mullan said.

The 2026 Oscars will air live Sunday on ABC, with streaming available on Hulu, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and FuboTV.

BROOKS Nader has stripped off into a daring bubble outfit with her reality show star sisters after landing a part in the Baywatch reboot.

The family show, Love Thy Nader, follows the four Louisiana sisters as they trade their small-town roots for high fashion, high drama, and the hustle of New York City.

Brooks, Mary Holland, Grace Ann and Sarah Jane have now been snapped wearing incredibly sexy bubble ensembles.

Holding hands, they walked the streets of New York flashing their sensational abs.

The barely-there bubbles left little to the imagination as the telly stars smiled for the camera.

Blonde bombshell Brooks put on a leggy display as she twirled around nearly flashing her bum.

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The sisters wore slightly different versions of the tiny bubble outfits but wore matching nude stilettos.

Mary, Brooks and Grace were seen with bouncy curled locks while Sarah had her hair styled in a chic slick-back ponytail.

Brooks sizzled in the nearly-nude ensemble, which has certainly sent pulses racing.

This comes as the star has been announced as the latest actress to join the cast of Fox’s Baywatch reboot.

The Sport Illustrated model has already been compared to the original show’s standout Pamela Anderson.

Hulu star Brooks is joining the cast alongside Suits LA star Stephen Amell.

Stunning Brooks will play Selene, captain of the Zuma Beach lifeguards, who regularly butts heads with Stephen’s character, Hobie Buchannon, the son of Mitch, played by David Hasselhoff in the original series.

Selene and Mitch are set to clash over their drastically different approaches to the job.

Fans have gone crazy over Brooks casting as she becomes one of the latest stars destined to put on the famous red swimsuit.

They have likened the Love Thy Nader star to blonde beauty Pamela Anderson, given their similar career paths.

“So, they want Brooks to be the next Pamela Anderson but there’s only one Pam,” one Instagram user said about the casting.