The Daily Beast Obsessed

When President Donald Trump is railing against a Christmas rerun of Saturday Night Live—as he did last month to unintentionally comic effect—it’s sometimes easy to forget that he actually hosted the show less than four years ago. That episode, which aired almost one year to the day before he won the 2016 election, came months after Trump rode down that golden escalator and announced his presidential campaign by calling Mexican immigrants “rapists.

On Easter Sunday morning, Kanye West captivated Coachella with his attempt to rise from the depths of cultural cancellation. West brought his “Sunday Service,” previously reserved for elite worshippers, friends and family, to the masses. The rapper’s recent turn toward outspoken faith hints at his desire for redemption, or at the very least a search for community and meaning in the wake of a public fall from grace.

For all of the damning revelations about President Donald Trump and those who surround him in the long-awaited release of the Mueller report on Thursday, at least one major Democratic presidential candidate doesn’t think it will change the calculus for 2020. Mayor Pete Buttigieg sat down with Seth Meyers on NBC’s Late Night and appeared to downplay its impact when the host asked him for his initial reactions.

In 2016, Beyoncé cemented her legendary status with Lemonade, a stunning visual album that set a whole new standard. On Lemonade, Beyoncé flexed her complete command as both an artist and a mega-celebrity, proving that she could take in infidelity rumors and scandal and churn out groundbreaking art, topping the charts while simultaneously changing the conversation. Even before Lemonade, Beyoncé was effectively in a league of her own.

Stephen Colbert was still in London on Monday interviewing former First Lady Michelle Obama for her Becoming book tour, so Tuesday night was his first opportunity to weigh in on the fire that nearly destroyed the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. But of course, all he really wanted to talk about was President Trump’s tweet. “So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” Trump wrote as firefighters were trying to contain the blaze on Monday.

When comedian Ramy Youssef arrived to record this week’s episode The Last Laugh podcast, he was on the precipice of the biggest week of his career. On Sunday, the 27-year-old Egyptian-American comic taped his first hour-long stand-up special for HBO in Chicago. This Friday, all 10 episodes of his deeply personal new dramedy series Ramy will start streaming on Hulu. You may not know his name yet, but he’s about to be huge.

Lake Bell did it. She got “Pam—motherfucking—Grier.” About a year ago, the actress was shopping around her upcoming TV show Bless This Mess, a fish-out-of-water comedy about New York newlyweds who leave behind kombucha and ashwagandha hot teas for actual wellness as Nebraskan farmers. As co-creator, Bell knew she needed the legendary actress Pam Grier on board. Over her 50 years in the industry, Grier, 69, often retreats from Hollywood to a farm in rural Colorado.