‘The Masked Singer’ Reveals Identities of Koala and Love Bird: Here Are the Celebrities Under the Costumes

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Austin Butler, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Carol Burnett, Brie Larson, Ricky Martin, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Callum Turner, Kaia Gerber and Cristo Fernández are among the stars set to appear at Apple TV+‘s upcoming Emmy FYC activation in Los Angeles. Events will take place between Friday, May 3, and Saturday, May 11.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” which welcomed back Jon Stewart as one of its hosts this year, will continue its election year tradition of taking the show on the road to the national political conventions this summer, Variety can confirm. The extent of Stewart’s involvement at the two conventions has not yet been determined, but Comedy Central has made it official that “The Daily Show” will take its “Indecision 2024” coverage to Milwaukee, Wisc., from July 15 to July 18 for a full week of shows during the Republican National Convention. The following month, “The Daily Show” will set up shop in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention from August 19 to August 22.

Selome Hailu “I’m watching tennis as we speak — Djokovic,” Zendaya tells me during one of her first interviews about “Challengers.” It’s July 11, 2023. The 27-year-old actor is watching Wimbledon on TV while preparing for SAG-AFTRA to go on strike, which would leave her unable to attend her film’s Aug. 30 world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “The Simpsons” fans are still reacting to the surprise death of Moe’s Tavern regular Larry Dalrymple — aka Larry the Barfly — on Sunday’s episode, “Cremains of the Day.” And “The Simpsons” co-executive producer Tim Long has the explanation for why the show did it. “I’m sorry if some fans are upset, but we really wanted to use Larry’s death as a way to show that even the most peripheral people in our lives have dignity and worth, and that we really shouldn’t take anyone for granted,” Long wrote in an email shared with Variety. “To paraphrase Shakespeare, nothing became Larry’s life like the way he left it: drunk, lonely, and with a butt full of sapphires.” In the episode, Moe discovers Larry dead in the bar.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “The Last of Us,” “Poker Face,” “Bluey,” “The Bear” and “Jury Duty” are among this year’s additional nominees as the Peabody Awards’ board of jurors revealed 27 nods for its arts, children’s/youth, entertainment, and interactive & immersive categories. They join the 41 nominees across its documentary, news, public service and radio/podcast categories announced by Peabody earlier this week.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The Miss USA pageant is expanding its relationship with The CW, sealing a three-year deal that adds Miss Teen USA to the mix. The network announced Thursday that the 73rd Miss USA Pageant will air live on Sunday, Aug. 4., at 8 p.m.

Mel B got candid about her five-year relationship with a woman!

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 11, Episode 8 of “The Masked Singer,” “Girl Group Night,” which aired April 24 on Fox. Jenifer Lewis spent a year recovering from a devastating 10-foot fall while on safari in Tanzania. It was while she was still in bed, convalescing, that she got a call from “The Masked Singer.” “I still couldn’t walk,” she told Variety. “And my friends encouraged me to get out of bed and go do what I love to do.

Eurovision Song Contest 2024.According to Eurovision World, the favourites to win the competition have been revealed. Coming in first place is Switzerland’s NEMO, who currently has a 25 per cent chance at snagging the crown this year with their song ‘The Code’.Behind Switzerland in second place is Croatia, whose entry Baby Lasagna is predicted to have a 17 per cent chance of winning with his song ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large PBS landed 11 nominations, by far the most of any outlet, as Peabody Awards Board of Jurors announced this year’s 41 nominees across its documentary, news, public service and radio/podcast categories. The pubcaster’s Peabody noms include “20 Days in Mariupol,” which recently won the Oscar for best documentary feature film.

Queen of the beauty trends Hailey Bieber has spoken – alien green glow-in-the-dark nails are in as she shows off her new other-worldly manicure at Coachella.The model’s mani was visible in several snaps of her enjoying the music festival, looking fluorescent green in some lights and bright blue in others thanks to their luminous top coat. Fans on Instagram were also quick to share their love for her 00s-inspired neon nail colour, with one commenter writing: “The nails really throw it back to 2018 and I stan” whilst another said: “U always post ur nails when I have an appointment same week… thank u QUEEN.” If you’ve also been seriously inspired by Hailey’s 00s mani, the good news is you don’t need an appointment with your nail tech to get the look.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Ghosts” hit another landmark on Thursday night, as this week’s episode of the hit CBS comedy revealed the truth behind Flower’s disappearance — while also, on a much more profound level, explored the truth behind Hetty’s death in 1895. In the episode, “Holes are Bad,” when Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) go away for the weekend, the ghosts are left alone — and discover that Flower (Sheila Carrasco) hadn’t been “sucked away” to the afterlife as they thought.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 11, Episode 7 of “The Masked Singer,” “Queen Night,” which aired April 10 on Fox. “The Masked Singer” dropped a bomb on us: Singer/songwriter Charlie Wilson, who has enjoyed a tremendous career as a solo artist in addition to his time as lead vocalist for the Gap Band, was one of two celebrities revealed on Wednesday night’s edition of “The Masked Singer.” Also unmasked: “The Office” star Kate Flannery (who played the frequently inebriated Meredith). Wilson was unveiled during the show’s Group A finals as Ugly Sweater, while Flannery was Starfish. For the Ugly Sweater, Robin Thicke got it right with Charlie Wilson.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The Writers Guild of America is honoring the best of 2023’s television and film via its annual WGA Awards, held this year at the Hollywood Palladium for the West Coast edition and at New York’s Edison Ballroom for the East Coast ceremony. In Los Angeles, Niecy Nash-Betts, who recently won an Emmy for her role on Netflix’s “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” hosted this year’s event. L.A.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Netflix has acquired “Rather,” the documentary about veteran journalist Dan Rather‘s landmark career in news. The film, which premieres April 24 on the streamer, utilizes the story of of Rather’s life on television to also explore the evolution of broadcast journalism, the troubles a free press now faces, along with the slide of American society from hard-fought advances in social justice and democratic freedoms.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “The Talk” is going silent. CBS is ending the long-running daytime chat show, which will get an abbreviated final season (its 15th) this fall, before signing off for good with what it’s calling a “celebratory sendoff” in December.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Apparently TV can’t get enough “Melrose Place.” The campy sudser from the 1990s, which was already rebooted once in the 2010s, is looking to make another comeback — and this time with three of the OG stars. Heather Locklear (who was always billed as a “special guest star” back in the day, although once joining the drama she quickly took lead), Laura Leighton and Daphne Zuniga are all back to reprise their roles in the latest reboot, this time from writer Lauren Gussis. Gussis will also exec produce with Leighton, Zuniga, Tiffany Grant and Jason Weinberg.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Chris Brearton is exiting Amazon MGM Studios after a long career at MGM to pursue other opportunities, the company announced on Wednesday. In a memo to staff, Amazon Studios and Prime Video senior vice president Mike Hopkins revealed that Brearton “has decided to leave Amazon to pursue a new opportunity outside the company.” Brearton had most recently served as vice president of PVS Corporate Strategy at MGM+ and MGM Alternative Television.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large A star-studded group of veteran “Saturday Night Live” guest hosts were on hand this evening to welcome Kristen Wiig into the “Five-Timers Club.” But much to Wiig’s chagrin, most of them haven’t matched her feat of actually hosting “SNL” five times. The former “Saturday Night Live” cast member made her fifth appearance as host — having previously hit the stage in 2013, 2016 and twice in 2020. The stolen “SNL” valor actually began with a legit five-timer: Paul Rudd, on hand to welcome her from the audience.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 11, Episode 5 of “The Masked Singer,” “Group C Finals: Shower Anthems Night,” which aired April 3 on Fox. After two weeks of being on “The Masked Singer” chopping block, Sisqó is finally gone-guh-gone-gone-gone. I think I’ll sing it again: Sisqó’s been dumped like a truck, truck, truck. “The Masked Singer” has removed his butt, butt, butt.