49+ min ago (158+ words) Writing a play," Tom Stoppard told an interviewer in 1977, "is like smashing that ashtray, filming it in slow motion, and then running the film in reverse, so that the fragments of rubble appear to ... His plays hold us in the moment outside of time. "Writing a play," Tom Stoppard told an interviewer in 1977, "is like smashing that ashtray, filming it in slow motion, and then running the film in reverse, so that the fragments of rubble appear to fly together. You start'or at least I start'with the rubble." Death hovers beyond the curtain. We know what becomes of everyone: of Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Thomasina, Housman, Stoppard himself. But his plays hold us in the moment before, outside of time, when the impossible is always happening. Before Thomasina goes upstairs with the lit candle that will spell her death, she pauses to…...

1+ day, 2+ hour ago (69+ words) In a career of magnificent plays, The Coast of Utopia stands out for its humor, its characters, and its warnings about ideological fervor. In a career of magnificent plays, The Coast of Utopia stands out for its humor, its characters, and its warnings about ideological fervor. Read: A nine-hour resurrection I wonder whether it was Alexander Herzen I fell in love with. Maybe it was actually Tom Stoppard....

3+ week, 2+ day ago (860+ words) Keeping up with national politics this year hasn't been easy. Even amid a government shutdown, so much is happening in Washington, at such a rapid clip and such a high pitch, that a browser of The New ... Keeping up with national politics this year hasn't been easy. Even amid a government shutdown, so much is happening in Washington, at such a rapid clip and such a high pitch, that a browser of The New York Times' homepage could be forgiven for giving up and clicking straight through to Spelling Bee. But what if keeping up is your job? What if you are, say, a comedy writer tasked with translating the week's headlines into fodder for a 90-minute live variety show? Saturday Night Live seems to have found its solution: Dump it all into the cold open. All of these moments…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago (517+ words) What it's like to watch Louis C.K. do stand-up in Saudi Arabia Sometimes you have to ask yourself: How did I get here'sitting in Saudi Arabia, listening to Louis C.K. do jokes about Barely Legal magazine? Listen: Saudi Arabia gets the last laugh Sorry, I'm getting an update regarding freedom-of-speech machines: They will not be sent over there. Jefferies disappeared from the lineup, too. "The comedians on that stage are performing in a gilded cage," the exiled Saudi satirist Ghanem al-Masarir wrote before the festival, adding, "In MBS's Saudi Arabia, the punchline is always prison." The first surprise was that I knew the opening performer'the Irish comedian Andrew Maxwell. "I come from a tiny island full of alcohol," he told the crowd. "Bahrain." They loved that one: Bahrain is Saudi's Canc'n. Maxwell was followed by Ibraheem Alkhairallah, a Saudi comedian who is…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago (28+ words) Roofman stays grounded by highlighting life's mundane thrills. Roofman stays grounded by highlighting life's mundane thrills. Read: The 14 movies to watch out for this fall...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago (1064+ words) With his podcast, the comedian showed us what human connection could really look like. "On some levels, I understand that this is like a breakup." So said Marc Maron on his podcast last week, monologuing in his garage for a final time. WTF with Marc Maron wrapped its 16-year run on Monday; the comedian interviewed Barack Obama, a conversation recorded in Obama's office. The chat was something of a victory lap for Maron, who made headlines for interviewing the then-president 10 years prior. (Back then, the pair met on the host's home turf.) But, always conscious of WTF's defining emotional intimacy, he also made sure to give his listeners one more unfiltered stream of consciousness. "I live for connection," he said during the penultimate episode. "I live for it because I need it to know that I exist." Maron chased this…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago (726+ words) Fortunately, Amy Poehler understood the assignment. While Poehler can snark with the best of them, she always radiates a palpable compassion. Much of her comedic persona comes from exploring and ... Though 2025 has already seen retrospective documentaries, a prime-time special, and a Lorne Michaels biography marking the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, the show itself actually premiered on October 11, 1975and last night's episode, in a neat coincidence, happened exactly 50 years later. Such a special occasion called for just the right hostan alumnus found on any list of greatest cast members, but one who's also easily recognizable to the younger audiences that the show is always chasing. It would also help if they're still really, really funny. Fortunately, Amy Poehler understood the assignment. While Poehler can snark with the best of them, she always radiates a palpable compassion. Much of her comedic persona…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago (1926+ words) The Riyadh Comedy Festival is just one part of a much bigger plan. In this episode, we talk to Salama and our colleague Helen Lewis, fresh back from seeing Louis C.K. and Jimmy Carr perform in Riyadh, about what happened at the festival and how to understand Saudi Arabia's push for modernization. Marc Maron (from Instagram): Well, there's a Riyadh comedy festival; I don't know if you heard about that. Maron: This is true. There's a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, comedy festival. Maron: I mean, how do you even promote that? From the folks that brought you 9/11, two weeks of laughter in the desert! Don't miss it! Rosin: And then another comedian says" Shane Gillis (from Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast): Everyone's like, Yeah, you should do it. Everyone's doing it. It's like, For Saudis? Rosin: That was Shane Gillis, who declined…...

1+ mon, 4+ week ago (558+ words) The show opened its 51st season by making a case for its pop-culture savviness....

1+ mon, 4+ week ago (812+ words) The show opened its 51st season by making a case for its pop-culture savviness. Listen to more stories on the Noa app. The moment Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth began berating the military officials assembled at Marine Corps Base Quantico last week, he set Saturday Night Live up for an alley-oop. With his clenched fists, hot temper, and stars-and-stripes pocket square, the former Fox News host'as SNL was eager to point out at the top of its 51st-season premiere'did enough self-parody that Colin Jost didn't have to add much to nail his take on Hegseth. Jost simply ratcheted up the volume and the attacks on soldiers' physiques. With its cold open, the sketch series pulled off one of its most consistent tricks: identify an absurdity emanating from the political establishment, make the party responsible say the quiet part out loud, and…...