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Some Like It Pop Free Episode: Best of May 2025
00:30:00
Twelve times per year, Matt Tamanini and Jennifer McHugh will be recapping their favorite pieces of pop culture of the past month. Skarsgård Nepo Baby Warmup: https://www.instagram.com/p/DJFdauny7lh/ Let us know what your favorites are by emailing patr...
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- [00:00]
Matt Tamanini
Foreign. Hello, everybody, and welcome to the May recap episode of Broadway Radio's pop culture podcast, Some Like It Pop. My name is Matt Tmanini, and I am joined, as always, by the brains of our operation, Broadway Radio's Los Angeles bureau chief, Jennifer McHugh. Jed, we had the Tonys on Sunday night. We're going to talk about them at the end of the episode. But thumbnail impressions. How did you feel about what you saw on CBS on Thursday night?
- [00:35]
Jennifer McHugh
Oh, it was. I thought it was a really fun show. I mean, you go to New York, what, weekly now. But for those of us who don't, this is our super bowl. So we really enjoyed it over here.
- [00:48]
Matt Tamanini
Yeah, we'll talk about it. And I talked about it on Today on Broadway on Tuesday's episode. So we will get into all of that here in a little bit. But if you are unfamiliar with what we do here on something like a pop. But we look back at all of the pop culture that we consumed in the previous month and tell you the three things that we enjoyed the most, whether that is tv, movies, books, music, podcasts, events, whatever it might be. We're going to run down our favorite things. Jen, why don't you go ahead and start first? What did you enjoy the most from the month of May?
- [01:24]
Jennifer McHugh
Well, I started a new TV show on Apple called Murderbot. I'm sure you're familiar.
- [01:30]
Matt Tamanini
Yes.
- [01:31]
Jennifer McHugh
Are you watching it?
- [01:33]
Matt Tamanini
Not yet. I. I actually heard Bill Skarsgard on an episode of NPR today that reminded me, I've got to get to that.
- [01:41]
Jennifer McHugh
Alexander Skarsgard is the same.
- [01:43]
Matt Tamanini
Whatever. They're all the same. All the scars, guards.
- [01:46]
Jennifer McHugh
It's a heavy Skarsgrd year because I just finished andor with the dad and now I have Alex, so.
- [01:53]
Matt Tamanini
Well, and. And there's been talk of a third Mamma Mia movie for the dad with Bill and. Oh, yeah. And have you. Okay, quick side note. Have you seen the Nepo baby warm up videos?
- [02:08]
Jennifer McHugh
I haven't.
- [02:10]
Matt Tamanini
Okay, hold on. We're gonna play this. I'm gonna put the audio into this. So I'm gonna text this to you once I can find. Is absolutely unhinged. It's this married couple. I think they're both performers. She is a. A writer. Okay. So she's done a bunch of them like Coppolas Kardashians. All right, I'm sending this to you now, Jen, and I want you to listen to it in real time and react to it.
- [02:49]
Jennifer McHugh
Alex Sky's got Churchborn son, 6 4.
- [02:51]
Matt Tamanini
Gore and a puddle of fun star obs welcome to the Chesters of anyone.
- [02:56]
Jennifer McHugh
Elix don't you know and Gustav how do Gustav sky next in line last world back in the Oppenheim six for four don't you know when along came Samuel how do you hope oh you.
- [03:09]
Matt Tamanini
Don'T know Sam but it's all right.
- [03:12]
Jennifer McHugh
Doctor spouse don't you know what a.
- [03:14]
Matt Tamanini
Long name bed.
- [03:44]
Jennifer McHugh
Stars don't you know that is not easy to say.
- [04:03]
Matt Tamanini
Oh my God, there's so many of them. There's so many of them. You got to go watch them. They're very funny. But anyway so talking scars guards that made me think of that. So anyway I'll have the link to that if you want to watch the full video in the show notes and like their Skars guards replied Valter Skarsgard who is mentioned in this video replied to it and said fair, fair. Honestly so very good. Anyway, okay Murbot, tell me all about it.
- [04:35]
Jennifer McHugh
Anyway, I as the the talented duo mentioned I fell in love with Alexander Skarsgard in True Blood because who doesn't love six foot five vampires? But this show is a sci fi show on Apple. It's based on a book series called the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Wells. Well, Wells. And Alexander Skarsgard plays a cyborg and he's recently figured out how to become autonomous by overriding his pre programmed coding. But he can't let anyone know that because then they'll kind of, you know, burn him. So they are retiring his model. So they've kind of put him in the background as they are developing better models and this group of scientists arrive on this planet but for insurance purposes they half to have a security cyborg with them. So they wind up buying him just to have someone not knowing that he's autonomous. So it's just this really weird quirky comedy. The character that Alexander plays, he's obsessed with this soap opera which is a show within the show called the Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, which is a space soap opera starring John Cho and Clark Gregg. And that's how he's learning about the human condition and he thinks humans are the stupidest people and it's just so funny. But it's. I don't know where it's going. I'm only. I've only watched three episodes and I don't even think the whole series is out yet. But he's very charming and it's, it's an interesting, you know, it's very sci fi to, to see if you know, cyborgs and AI and things like that could find humanity. But there's also something sinister going on too. So I'm, I'm just really enjoying it. It's on Apple. It's, you know, half hour episodes. They're really easy to watch, they're fun, just something different. So I've just been really enjoying that.
- [06:41]
Matt Tamanini
Good. Yeah, that's certainly on my list and I have really looked forward to watching it. So I need to make sure that I do that. My first one is a movie, Jen, and actually I've got two movies in my list this month. I'm going to start though with what I think so far is the best movie of the year, at least the ones that I have seen. And this is Ryan Coogler's Sinners. It stars Michael B. Jordan and Michael B. Jordan because he plays two twins in the, in the film. It also has Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Catton, Jack o' Connell and a number of other people, including the always wonderful Delroy Lindo. It is set in 1932 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Two World War I veterans, Smoke and Stackmoor, both played by Michael B. Jordan, have left this small rural Mississippi town to go to Chicago. And they have made money basically working with and for Al Capone's Chicago outfit, the Crime Organization. They've gotten enough money, they come back down to their hometown, they purchase a sawmill and they open a juke joint for the black community. And they get their cousin Sammy, who's this incredible young guitarist, to, to come play there and they bring all these people to their opening night at their, at their juke joint. Unfortunately, some of the people that end up showing up there are vampires, I think is a, it's never actually said, but they're, they're vampires essentially. And that creates quite a problem with all types of Ryan Coogler films. The metaphors and the messages only serve to enhance what is already an incredibly tight and interesting and compelling plot. And I don't want to spoil a whole lot because there are some delightful twists and turns, but it is genre bending, funny, on the edge of your seat, thrilling. Everything that you want out of a movie you will get with Sinners. Also some great music in it as well. So Sinners starring Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld by Ryan Coogler, written and directed. If you haven't seen it, go to the movie theater to see it. If not, it will be streaming on HBO. Max Max. @ some point in the relatively near future, probably in another couple months, but highly recommend Sinners Very much want to see that yeah, it's great. I mean, it's just a really, really good movie. All right, what's next for you, Jen?
- [09:35]
Jennifer McHugh
Next is a book I read called the Lion Women of Tehran. It's by Marjan Kamali. Please excuse my pronunciations. This is set between the 1950s and the 1980s in Tehran, when the. I don't know how much you know about the revolution of the Shah and the exile of the Shah and the Ayatollah's takeover. I didn't because I learned more about the history of Iran in this book than I ever did in school. But it is a fascinating story set against that backdrop of two friends, one pretty well off, one pretty not. And they become good friends. One wants to be a revolutionary and one wants a normal life and immigrates to the United States. And it is just a fascinating story of these three to four decades in these girls lives and how they're. How they choose their paths and fight for their country. One in country, one outside of country. And I really enjoyed learning about the history of it because I don't think enough people know the truth about the people of Iran. You know, they just. Iran equals bad, but, you know, they were taken over. And it just was really nice to. To learn about the history and to. To see what. What people went through and what people are still going through and actual massacres and catastrophes that happened. And I love reading historical fiction for that purpose. And this is just a really, really fascinating book. And it is it. I read it so fast because it was just so compelling and it had great reviews and I can't recommend it enough if you want to learn about this sort of history in the Middle East.
- [11:28]
Matt Tamanini
Awesome. Very good. I'll stick with a book for this next one as well. Very different book. I mean, could not be more different than that one. But this is a book called A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall. It is a story of a woman who goes to spend the holiday, the Christmas holiday, New Year's holiday, with her wealthy fiance's family at their kind of private retreat up in the mountains somewhere in upstate New York or whatever. But what she hasn't told her fiance is that for months she has been getting cryptic text messages warning her to stay away from Connor Dalton, her fiance. And she doesn't know what that's all about. She doesn't know if it's a warning to her about what this person might do. She doesn't know if it's a warning to her about what Connor might do or something completely different. And we start to get some information as the story unfolds, and she starts to realize that she has been to this retreat before, that she has been to this isolated compound up in the mountains. And then the story unfolds for there. It's a pretty gripping story. It's interesting because we've seen so many Stephen King horror novels that are built around these frozen, cold New England places where you have to trudge through snow. And it's this. The whiteness of it makes it feel both clean but terrifying. But the book was really good. Lots of twists and turns. Even though, again, we've had this conversation before, it kind of got it fairly early, but there were still enough twists and turns along the way that made it an engaging read. So. A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall. If you're looking for a thriller, maybe to combat how hot it is wherever you live, this would be a good one.
- [13:36]
Jennifer McHugh
By the way, I did read a book you recommended, Kill For Me. Kill for your.
- [13:41]
Matt Tamanini
Oh, yeah, I did recommend it on the show, but that was one that actually finished in May and thought about saying. What did you think of it?
- [13:51]
Jennifer McHugh
I thought it was really good. I am not as good at guessing twists as you are. I. I am every thriller writer's dream because I am the worst detective.
- [14:05]
Matt Tamanini
You didn't, you didn't figure something was going on at some point with that? None.
- [14:09]
Jennifer McHugh
No, I'm not. I'm not good at that. Maybe I'm just good at tuning out and, like, not looking for hints. And I do find when I read regular literary fiction that I look for clues more than I do in thrillers, which is weird because they're not coming. But I did really enjoy it, so thanks for that.
- [14:31]
Matt Tamanini
It's funny because currently I've got about 70 pages left in. Carrie Soto is back. Have you read that one? That's another.
- [14:38]
Jennifer McHugh
That's Taylor Jenkins Reid, right?
- [14:40]
Matt Tamanini
Yes, it is. It's about the tennis player. And it's about, like, the greatest tennis player of all time who retired in, like, the, I guess, late night, late 80s, coming back six years later to try to do a season of Grand Slams to keep her record. And by the time she got to the, like, the middle of the French Open, which is the second one, I was like, oh, I. I know what's going to happen in the next three Grand Slams. And so far I've got the first two right, and we'll see if my prediction on what happens at the very end ends up being correct. So I never guess.
- [15:20]
Jennifer McHugh
But also, wasn't Carrie Soto Briefly mentioned in Malibu Rising.
- [15:26]
Matt Tamanini
I have not read Malibu Rising.
- [15:28]
Jennifer McHugh
I think she pops up.
- [15:29]
Matt Tamanini
Well, they all like Daisy Jones in the 6 is referenced in here in this book, not the novel because the novel was written or like the, the oral history was written after. But like she said, she read an unauthorized biography. They also talk about the magazine that is featured in Evelyn Hugo. So the magazine that the author, the writer writes for is mentioned as well. And so Taylor does a lot of that with cross referencing stuff. And I actually just got her new book Atmosphere in the mail this week because it was finally released. So I'm sure that there's some sort of reference to somebody in that one too. All right, so. Oh, your turn. Yeah. So what. What do you have next for us, Jen?
- [16:16]
Jennifer McHugh
Well, I'm gonna be redundant and I am sorry, but I will never stop singing the praises.
- [16:22]
Matt Tamanini
No pun intended.
- [16:26]
Jennifer McHugh
I. I went to another pub choir. And I know that Matt and I have both talked about this, but I, we just. I can't think of a word to describe this event, except maybe joyful. This, this lady Astrid, she's this bombshell, both figuratively and literally. Talent down from Brisbane, and she's one of the most engaging and energetic people I've ever witnessed. And she's just created this, this niche in, in pop culture. And you just show up to a bar and she teaches you a song and she has come up with this method to do it without having any singing experience or ability to read music. She breaks it down to make it really easy. And when you're finished, is it perfect? No. But it is not about that. It is about getting out of your comfort zone and singing and having fun and supporting each other and smiling and the time around. We Did Believe by Cher, which was just way too fun. And you bring a bunch of your friends and you have a good time and they record it. And then you. You have on record you and your friends dancing and singing and having a good time. And things are not great out in the world right now, but for a few hours, if you need some joy, this is the place to go. And every time I go, I will bring it up because you can't, you can't find just, just this kind of fun and let release that much. And boy, we need it more than ever, in my opinion, especially here in Los Angeles.
- [18:04]
Matt Tamanini
So, yeah, no kidding.
- [18:06]
Jennifer McHugh
Couldn't recommend it more. This is her third American tour, I believe, and it's just gaining popularity. So if it comes near you, please check it out.
- [18:15]
Matt Tamanini
It's.
- [18:15]
Jennifer McHugh
It's so reasonably Priced. It's just fun. And you will be. She is intoxicating, this woman. Just gorgeous and talented and so fun to watch and engage with. So I will bring it up every time I go and I. I won't stop recommending it.
- [18:39]
Matt Tamanini
Yeah. I was very disappointed that this US Tour is not coming anywhere near Orlando, but I. I know it's coming. I think it's coming to New York. So if there's still tickets available in your New York area, you should definitely try. Oh, is it really? Oh, my God. Are you gonna go? Are you gonna go?
- [18:54]
Jennifer McHugh
No. No. But it was just funny. I saw her New York date. I was like, oh, my God, what if I run into Astrid in the Village?
- [19:01]
Matt Tamanini
You could. You very well could. You very well could. You never know. All right, I'm gonna wrap up with another movie, as I mentioned, and I know that there are some people that, like, have tried to cancel this movie for whatever various reasons. To be quite honest with you. I don't know enough about what those reasons are. But it's Lilo and Stitch. So, like, our, like, it was fun. I went with my friend Natalie. We just kind of sat and watched it. It was fun. It was silly. It tugged on the heartstrings. It was all the best of what a Disney live action remake can be. Was it the exact same as the original movie? No. Was it as charming? Probably not. But as an adult watching it, I thought that it was incredibly sweet and pretty lovely, and I thought the performances were tremendous. The young actress playing Lilo, Maiki Aloa, was wonderful. Her sister Nani, played by Sydney Elizabeth Agundong, was all the charming you would want from her. And then you've got folks like Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnuson, Courtney B. Vance, the voice of Hannah Waddingham, Tia Carrera, who played. Who did the voice of Nani in the original movie, Amy Hill, who's like, I don't know who Amy Hill is. When you see Amy Hill, you know exactly who Amy Hill is. She's been in everything. It was lovely, it was sweet. And I know people are mad about. The ending was changed some bit, and people were. Are mad about, I guess, showing tourism on Hawaii, I think, is what people were upset about. I'm not sure. But the movie itself was lovely and charming and either go out and check it out in the movie theaters or watch it when it's on Disney at some point.
- [20:55]
Jennifer McHugh
Great.
- [20:56]
Matt Tamanini
All right, that wraps up our look back at what we did in May. But before we get into what we're looking forward to in June. Although, full disclosure, we're a week and a half into June. We did want to talk real quick about the Tonys, especially from like the non theater insider person who's seen all the show perspective. But I'm interested in what you thought about the show as a whole, what you thought of Cynthia Erivo as the host, what you thought of the performances, which one stood out, all of that kind of stuff.
- [21:24]
Jennifer McHugh
I thought Cynthia was great. She just. Everything she does is so effortless. And I know she's working her butt off and she's, you know, singing her heart out, but it just. It looks effortless. And that applied to her hosting gig as well. It just. It just seemed to be so flawless and breezy. Like this is just something she's doing on a Sunday night. I thought her opening number was great. Her intro to Jonathan Groff was my favorite of the night. I thought that was just so hilarious. Performance wise. I think Just in Time was definitely up there for me. I really enjoyed Buena Vista Social Club. Maybe happy ending was good. It didn't. It didn't like scream to me like, oh, I have to see that show. But I don't know enough about the show to know if that is possible. But it was good. It just is. I don't.
- [22:28]
Matt Tamanini
It's understated. It's an understated.
- [22:30]
Jennifer McHugh
Fair enough.
- [22:31]
Matt Tamanini
You're not gonna get. You're not gonna get a big blockbuster performances from that show.
- [22:36]
Jennifer McHugh
I really enjoyed Dead Outlaw. Good for you, Floyd Collins. I have a thing about caves and I know that's not a happy ending, ironically. So I. I kind of wasn't into that. But I mean, he's wonderful. Don't not nothing away from him, but he's wonderful. He will be a Tony winner someday. I have faith in that.
- [23:00]
Matt Tamanini
Yes. 100.
- [23:01]
Jennifer McHugh
And I loved the photo of all the best actor in a musicals of them getting dinner the night before. It was just so adorable. And I. I love the Tonys because it's so supportive and it's so open and it's so welcoming no matter what. Cole's speech was amazing. My only gripe with the entire show is that I just feel like we need to make room on the primetime broadcast for the lifetime achievement award because Harvey Fierstein gave this beautiful and important speech that just deserved to be heard. And it's not only him, but every award show has a lifetime achievement. And I just think they need to find 10 minutes somewhere to reward whoever it is and say, this is your moment. But I don't have Any recommendations of what to cut? Because I loved all the performances and everything worked. But I really just.
- [23:51]
Matt Tamanini
What's going to happen if they. Yeah, what's going to happen if they did that is. Is shows like just in time and Real Women have Curves, which weren't nominated, would not have gotten a chance to perform. So it's like you. There's so. There's only so much time, so you've got to give and take. And, you know, Cynthia didn't have a ton of bits, so it's not like they did an extra song somewhere. It wasn't like she did a bunch of, like, crowd bits. Like she was. It was pretty sparse. Very good, but sparse. So it was pretty jam packed with performances, which is what they want because they want to sell tickets. But between that and the, you know, the best book of a musical and, you know, those kind of things as well, like, they do feel weird being isolated off the main broadcast.
- [24:30]
Jennifer McHugh
Yeah. And like I said, I don't have the solution. I just. I wish more people got to hear that speech. So.
- [24:36]
Matt Tamanini
Yeah. All right. What did you feel about the Hamill 10 performance? Because we know going back to the beginning, you are a Hamill fan of all Hamill fans.
- [24:47]
Jennifer McHugh
I am. Even today on my work zoom, we had a team meeting and they photoshopped a picture of me and Lin Manuel Miranda for my birthday. I'll send it to you. But I thought it was really cool. And I thought that it was an interesting choice that they decided on wearing black instead of the costumes. But it makes sense, you know, like, that's not the rules anymore. They're revisiting it and I'm always interested in, like the off stage stories, like, how did it go with Jasmine and Anthony seeing each other? You know, like, I love that stuff, but. But it was just really nice to see them all together. And from social media, it seems like they had one hell of a good time this weekend. So. Oh, yeah, I was very happy and I'm very happy that I'm going to be in New York next week with all this new merch that just came out. So rit, my bank account, Hamilton, there's a whole line.
- [25:40]
Matt Tamanini
Of course, of course. Well, I will tell you. So when they announced that Leslie Odom Jr. Was going back into the show, my friend Heather and I, from college, we go to New York and spend a week together every year. She was like, oh, we have to. We have to go. Like, we have to see them. So I looked at the tickets. I was like, these are so expensive. They'll go down after, like the rush of everybody gets them at first and we'll be able to get cheaper tickets. Spoiler alert. That did not happen. They did not go down. They just all sold out. So we did end up getting tickets. They are both obstructed view. They are not together and they were both. They're probably the most expensive theater tickets I've ever bought in my life. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee it. But we will be in the room where it happens to see Leslie Odom Jr. In October doing Aaron Burr. So I'm very happy about that.
- [26:32]
Jennifer McHugh
That's pretty awesome. He's very, very.
- [26:37]
Matt Tamanini
He's good at the acting.
- [26:38]
Jennifer McHugh
He's pretty good. I think he's good. That's just my hot take.
- [26:43]
Matt Tamanini
All right, so you mentioned the fact that you are going to be in New York in June. Your birthday is on the 15th. So like five days after we talk, we're talking right now. So you're going to be there for your birthday. You're going to go to a college reunion, you're going to go to New York. You're going to see a couple shows. Is that something, Is that the thing that you're looking forward to in June that we always wrap the show up with?
- [27:05]
Jennifer McHugh
I think so. I mean, I'll be gone for the rest of June and so I think that would have to be what I'm looking forward to. I mean, I know the Bears coming back. I know John Wick ballerina is opening up big John Wick girl. But other than that, you know, I'm hoping to see some Broadway and you're.
- [27:25]
Matt Tamanini
Still kind of navigating, trying to finagle some tickets from different venues and different options. So you don't know exactly what shows you're seeing yet.
- [27:34]
Jennifer McHugh
That is correct. You will have to wait until our June episode to find out. Well, you won't. I mean, I'll text you, but yeah.
- [27:43]
Matt Tamanini
Thank you. Okay. So you mentioned the Bear. Obviously that is coming back. I am very much hoping that season four rebounds after what I thought was a lackluster season three that will come out on June 25th. I believe I am taking a red eye flight on June 25 to fly out to Las Vegas, Nevada. Have I told you what I'm doing on in Vegas, Jen?
- [28:12]
Jennifer McHugh
Is this the poker thing?
- [28:14]
Matt Tamanini
It is. I am fulfilling a bucket list thing and checking off playing in a World Series of Poker event starting on June 26th. And so I'm maybe if I'm staying up, I might watch as much of the bear as possible overnight as I'm flying from Orlando to Las Vegas. So that is both of those things are at the top of my list. Also the new Ironheart miniseries on Disney, which is an MCU show that stars Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, who was first introduced in Black Panther Wakanda Forever. She was also the lead in Ja Ja's African Hair Braiding on Broadway, which was one of my favorite shows of a couple seasons ago. Also features the aforementioned Anthony Ramos and Alden Ehrenreich and some other people that you are probably familiar with. Lyric Ross as well. So looking forward to that, all of those things. And then we'll roll into July, where I will spend every single weekend of July on a cruise ship, which I am very much looking forward to as well. All right, thank you so much for listening and following along with all of our pop culture shenanigans here on Some Like It Pop. Let us know what you enjoyed most from the month of of May or what your takes were on the Tony Awards on social media at Broadway Radio or via email at Patreon broadwayradio. All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for supporting us and we'll be back to talk to you next month.
- [29:53]
Jennifer McHugh
Sa.