Everything You Missed at the 2024 Vulture Festival

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Mekki Leeper finds himself at the center of The Office multiverse with The Sex Lives of College Girls, Jury Duty, and now Peacock’s St. Denis Medical. “When I was a kid, I loved The Office so much, and all of those shows have a connection,� he explained. “Mindy obviously was a writer and an actor on The Office, and Lee [Eisenberg] and Gene [Stupnitsky], the creators of Jury Duty were writers on The Office, and also Justin Spitzer was a writer on The Office. I’m honored to be in any way connected.�

Who do you listen to when you need to light three cigarettes at once or bite into a handful of pasta like it’s a human heart? Cristin Milioti made a Penguin playlist with the pop divas Sofia Falcone would be inspired by: SZA, Lana Del Rey, and Rosalía. “They’re like sea witches or something. I can’t believe what they conjure,� Milioti says. “And, certainly, that did help lock in the sort of energy we were going for.�

Wings at the ready.

Prime Video’s cast of bad boys and even worse girls inducts moderator (and comedian) Pat Regan into its crew. “This feels like Make-A-Wish Foundation,� he joked during the photo shoot.

“That was one of those cutesy acts of the late ’90s and stuff like that,� says Kevin Smith, keeping it real. “Never developed into much. The Milli Vanilli of acting, we called them back in the day.�

“The wise-guy attitude is the masses or the asses,� says co-creator Nick Bakay. “Look where the money’s going and break left. So look at that category — is there a sentimental dog? Is there a dog in this fight with big odds? Put a shackle on that.�

You can take his word for it: He “made a lot of money� when Michael Chiklis won the Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy for The Shield.

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In no particular order:
- the New York Times Games paywall
- the Shudder subscription fee
- 12ft.io
- the Great Wall

Except that the younger Yellowjackets cast throws “funeral parties,� according to creator Ashley Lyle. Of course, Laura Lee “got a good one,� but what about Leonard the Bear?

The cast of You’re the Worst tears up at a live rendition of its theme song, “7:30 AM,� performed by Leah Wellbaum of the alt-rock band Slothrust. We hate everything except this.

… in the middle of his Color Theories tour.

A short but varied list of things the cast and creator of You’re the Worst mentioned at their reunion: Dane Cook, Moby, Travis Barker, How I Met Your Mother, and Zach Braff. Now what exactly was said about them, you’ll have to find out …

“At the end of the day, this is all entertainment,� says Williams, addressing the fight on everyone’s minds. “What a blessing for Mike, at this point in his life and career, to be able to throw 18 punches and get $1 million per punch for a total of $20 million, you know what I mean? If you gotta ride off into the sunset, it’s a good way.�

“I’m proud of you!� Bill Hader returns the compliment to Kristen Wiig. It may be the tenth anniversary of The Skeleton Twins, but they’re still rooting for each other like siblings.

Okay, more specifically, he unpacks why it’s his Los Espookys character Andrés’s hair color. “The contrast between the punky blue and the vampirelike clothes felt like the flavor of goth I wanted to present,� Torres tells moderator Jason P. Frank.

It’s layered, like an onion. “Ogres have tempers, and so do Scottish people,� Mike Myers tells the crowd at Vulture Festival. It made sense to Steven Spielberg, who wrote Myers a letter thanking him for “caring.�

He doesn’t write catchphrases. “I just like how people talk,� Myers says, accepting his honorary degree as a Master of Culture. “Remember ‘Get in my belly?’ That was improv. It wasn’t Ladies and gentlemen, my next catchphrase.�

Remember “Get in my belly?� Oh, Mike …

Whatever happens between the two Philly-based comedies, we will be there to witness — and soon. “Our episode will air in January, so it’ll be an Abbott Elementary episode,� Quinta Brunson teases. “The first episode of Always Sunny — I don’t know when their episode will air, probably in June — will be their version of what happened in this story line.�

“If you guys want to make a big bold notice that says ‘Todd Solondz needs money to make a movie,’ that would be great,� Olsen offers in her conversation with Vulture’s Rachel Handler. Love Child, the filmmaker’s project starring Olsen and Charles Melton, had its shoot canceled over lack of financing this past summer. Naturally, the Marvel actress is putting up a fight.

“I’m not a producer on it, but I’ve never hustled more for a movie that’s having a hard time being made,� she says.

“What ever happened to Conan?� showrunner David Mirkin jokes with writer Mike Scully, animator David Silverman, and cast members Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith.

Like it or not, Leighton Murray isn’t always gonna be around at Essex. Sex Lives of College Girls co-creator Justin Noble addresses the writers’ approach to adding new cast members following Reneé Rapp’s departure from the show:

“Each show is kind of like a soup with different ingredients in it, and that’s especially true of our show, because I feel like the favorite scenes of the show are where everyone’s sitting around in the common room together, and they’re all talking about some issue and everyone has a unique perspective on it, and their lines couldn’t be delivered by any other character in the scene,� Noble said. “So as you shift things up, that is a task to figure it out.�

Read the full blog post from Vulture Festival 2024.

Rapp stuns on custom pajamas, spotted at the Sex Lives of College Girls post-sleepover brunch. Leighton is forever; Leighton is eternal.

Ilia Isorelýs Paulino (looking angelic in a white sleepover ensemble) is ready for the stage. Auditions unnecessary.

Sorry, Essex, the UMich theater pride runs too deep.