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The writing team has been set for the 96th Oscars, which air March 10 on ABC hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

The group of scribes tasked with writing the show includes Jamie Abrahams, Rory Albanese, Amberia Allen, Tony Barbieri, Jonathan Bines, Joelle Boucai, Bryan Cook, Blaire Erskine, Devin Field, Gary Greenberg, Josh Halloway, Eric Immerman, Jesse Joyce, Kimmel, Carol Leifer, Jon Macks, Mitch Marchand, Greg Martin, Jesse McLaren, McNearney, Keaton Patti, Danny Ricker, Louis Virtel and Troy Walker.

The names were announced Friday by Oscarcast executive producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor and executive producers Molly McNearney and Katy Mullan.

They join a production team first rolled out in October that includes Hamish Hamilton as director, creative director Kenny Gravillis, production designers Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley, red carpet show executive producer David Chamberlin, and red carpet creative consultants Lisa Love and Raul Avila.

Today, the EPs also said several others have been...

Raj Kapoor, the executive producer and showrunner of The Oscars, and executive producers Molly McNearney and Katy Mullan announced members of their production team for this year’s awards show, which will take place on March 10.

Rob Paine will return as co-executive producer, while Taryn Hurd will return as talent producer. Producers Sarah Levine Hall, Erin Irwin and Jennifer Sharron, as well as music director Rickey Minor and lightning designers Bob Dickinson and Noah Mitz are also rejoining the team.

Jamie Abrahams, Rory Albanese, Amberia Allen, Tony Barbieri, Jonathan Bines, Joelle Boucai, Bryan Cook, Blaire Erskine, Devin Field, Gary Greenberg, Josh Halloway, Eric Immerman, Jesse Joyce, Kimmel, Carol Leifer, Jon Macks, Mitch Marchand, Greg Martin, Jesse McLaren, McNearney, Keaton Patti, Danny Ricker, Louis Virtel and Troy Walker are writers for this year’s show.

Previously announced members of the production team include director Hamish Hamilton and production designers Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley.

Meredith Hama-Brown’s feature debut “Seagrass,” starring Ally Maki, will debut in U.S. theaters on Feb. 22, beginning with special screenings with the cast and director.

Q&a’s will be held at New York’s Roxy Cinema and Los Angeles’ Laemmle Royal on Feb. 22 and Las Vegas’ Regal Theatre on Feb. 23. Maki will be in Los Angeles, Hama-Brown and cinematographer Norm Li will be in New York, and actor Chris Pang will be in Las Vegas. The film will also have its U.S. festival premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, screening on Feb. 12 and Feb. 13.

The synopsis for “Seagrass” reads, “Set in the mid 1990’s, a Japanese Canadian woman (Maki) grappling with the recent death of her mother brings her family to a self-development retreat. When her distressed relationship with her husband begins to affect the children’s emotional security, the family is forever changed.”

In addition to Maki and Pang,...

Between Elon Musk’s response to an antisemitic post and his recent lawsuit with the media watchdog Media Matters, X has been making even more headlines than usual. That’s why on Tuesday night Jimmy Kimmel thought he’d check in on the one woman bearing the brunt of this bad press: X CEO Linda Yaccarino.

“Elon is outspoken. But I can fix him. I just have to shrink myself down and hide under a chef hat and just kind of control everything he does,” Blaire Erskine (as Yaccarino) said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

As Kimmel asked this fake Yaccarino more questions, she became more and more frenzied.

“Everything’s going great. I don’t know what you’re talking about, everything’s going great,” Erskine told Kimmel while pouring herself a full glass of wine. When asked why she was drinking so much wine, she curtly responded, “I already drank all the vodka.

Kandiss Taylor — the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and a current GOP district chair in the state — was widely mocked late last month for wondering on her podcast why “everywhere there’s globes.” The comments came while she was interviewing two prominent Flat Earthers. “For me if it’s not a conspiracy, if it is real, why are you pushing so hard everywhere I go?” Taylor asked. “Every store, you buy a globe, there’s globes everywhere. Every movie, every TV show, news media — why? More and more I’m like,...

Texas mother Jamie Gooch has gone viral after warning parents about the danger of letting their children watch “Hocus Pocus 2,” which started streaming Sept. 30 on Disney+. The film finds Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy reprising their roles as the Sanderson sisters, a trio of child-hungry witches. Gooch first warned parents about the film on social and then joined CBS’ local Texas affiliate Kwtx for a now-viral interview.

“A worst case scenario is: you unleash hell on your kids and in your home,” Gooch said. “The whole movie is based on witches harvesting children for blood sacrifices.”

“Do not watch this film,” she continued. “Everybody thinks it’s fake and innocent, but they could be casting any type of spell that they want to, anything could be coming through that TV screen into your home.”

Gooch explained that her family has “not participated in Halloween in about...

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Jak Knight’s death sent shockwaves through Hollywood on Friday as word spread of his untimely passing at age 28.

Originally from Seattle and based in L.A., Knight was a regular on the stand-up stage and collected many admirers, friends and fans during a brief but bright career that included writing and voicing a character on Big Mouth, co-creating and starring in Peacock’s just-released Bust Down opposite close friends like Chris Redd and Sam Jay, and opening for stand-up legends like Dave Chappelle.

Below is a roundup of tributes and responses making the rounds on social media.

Rest In Peace Jak Knight. Hilarious comedian and a great guy. I can’t believe it.

— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) July 16, 2022

I’m in shock. There was no one like Jak Knight. A singular talent, actually funny and a genuinely kind person, a rare combo. I...

Hilarious. Brilliant. Thoughtful. Those are just some of the adjectives being used to describe the relationships between Jak Knight and his many friends and family on social media as they react to his death.

Knight’s stunning death at age 28 was announced earlier today, shocking the Hollywood community who saw him as a star just coming into his own as a writer, producer and stand-up talent.

A few of the early reactions:

I don’t know what to say about Jak Knight that he wouldn’t make fun of me for. But you were so incredibly loved and respected. There will never be anyone quite like you...

Comedian, actor and writer Blaire Erskine, known for sharing viral videos on social media, has signed with ICM Partners for representation in all areas.

She has also signed with Sweet 180 Management. Atlanta-based Erskine is best known for her Twitter satirical posts covering current events and political figures and often in response to headlines.

Erskine’s videos have been featured in The Daily Beast, The Washington Post and the New York Daily News. The New York Times recently profiled Erskine as part of its “Two Minute Geniuses of TikTok” story alongside Sarah Cooper, Jeff Wright and Kylie Brakeman.

Erskine is also a contributor ...

Comedian, actor and writer Blaire Erskine, known for sharing viral videos on social media, has signed with ICM Partners for representation in all areas.

She has also signed with Sweet 180 Management. Atlanta-based Erskine is best known for her Twitter satirical posts covering current events and political figures and often in response to headlines.

Erskine’s videos have been featured in The Daily Beast, The Washington Post and the New York Daily News. The New York Times recently profiled Erskine as part of its “Two Minute Geniuses of TikTok” story alongside Sarah Cooper, Jeff Wright and Kylie Brakeman.

Erskine is also a contributor ...

Sarah Silverman, Sarah Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Patton Oswalt joined other comedians on Friday to support a fundraiser seeking to improve voter registration and turnout in the Georgia runoff elections.

During “Riffing For The Georgia Runoffs,” hosted by the civic engagement organization The Comedy Resistance and benefiting voter registration and get-out-the-vote work, Andrew Yang and former Rep. Katie Hill performed a comedic bit involving Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, Dulcé Sloan discussed voting at a Georgia mall and Oswalt extolled the virtues of phone-banking. Rep. Ilhan Omar, Trae Crowder, Fortune Feimster, Blaire Erskine and Richard ...

Sarah Silverman, Sarah Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Patton Oswalt joined other comedians on Friday to support a fundraiser seeking to improve voter registration and turnout in the Georgia runoff elections.

During “Riffing For The Georgia Runoffs,” hosted by the civic engagement organization The Comedy Resistance and benefiting voter registration and get-out-the-vote work, Andrew Yang and former Rep. Katie Hill performed a comedic bit involving Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, Dulcé Sloan discussed voting at a Georgia mall and Oswalt extolled the virtues of phone-banking. Rep. Ilhan Omar, Trae Crowder, Fortune Feimster, Blaire Erskine and Richard ...