Patrick Kennedy

The idea of simply pointing a camera at a crackling yule log and calling it a show goes back to at least 1966, when WPIX president Fred M. Thrower decided to preempt roller derby one night and instead air a continuous shot of the fireplace at Gracie Mansion for the benefit of New Yorkers without hearths in their apartments. But even a half-century old American tradition needs an occasional update, and the makers of Lagavulin Single Malt Scotch have added two important elements to the mix: whisky and Parks And Recreation star Nick Offerman.

“Nick Offerman’s Yule Log,” then, is not some kind of holiday-themed specialty porn, though pyromaniacs might theoretically derive some prurient thrills from it. Instead, it is the latest episode in an ongoing web series called My Tales of Whisky. The plot of this particular, 45-minute episode is exceedingly simple. For three-quarters of an hour, a ...

Even after they became movie stars, the Marx Brothers would tour the vaudeville circuit, testing out new material and refining it before a live audience before immortalizing it on film. Of course, that could never happen today, because on the first stop of the tour some jerk with a smartphone would film the part of the act that didn’t work and post it on YouTube with a sensationalist title like “GROUCHO GOES NUTSO IN TOLEDO” or something.

Dave Chappelle knows this all too well, after footage of him talking trash to some idiots in the audience who thought it was hilarious to yell “I’m Rick James, bitch!” like he had never heard that before in 2013 went viral, sparking think pieces first about how Chappelle had an onstage “meltdown,” and second about how Chappelle’s “meltdown” wasn’t a “meltdown” after all. Anyway, that wasn’t the first ...

It had been expected for some time in the run-up to media layoff season that Condé Nast would close its less-loved-but-certainly-not-lesser men’s magazine Details and lifestyle publication Self. Well, here’s the official memo, announcing that Details will cease to exist—get ready for GQ Style Dot Com—while Self‘s sales team will be merged with Glamour‘s, possibly in a run-up to going digital-only:

Today, our premium digital network reaches an all-time high of 98.6 million consumers—nearly double the size of our audience just two years ago. We also rank #1 in comScore’s Lifestyle Category among affluent millennials, a position we have held for 24 consecutive months. As we evolve our business and respond to the changing behavior of our audiences, we also need to change how we work with our advertising partners.

With this in mind, today I’m pleased to announce that we are bringing together the sales and marketing teams at Glamour and Self. Under the direction of Glamour publisher and chief revenue officer Connie Anne Phillips, the unified teams will leverage the audience scale of two great brands and create a leading women’s advertising platform for our clients. The editorial teams at both brands will continue to operate independently and maintain their unique voices and perspectives.

Additionally, we have decided to build on the success and massive overall audience of GQ as our men’s brand, and will be expanding the business through their GQ Style franchise. GQ Style, which has consistently been popular among upscale millennials and luxury advertisers alike, will significantly expand its digital presence and also increase to a quarterly print schedule.

As a result of these changes, Details will cease publication with the December 2015/January 2016 issue. Details.com will continue to operate as we transition to GQStyle.com in the coming months. Details editor-in-chief Dan Peres and publisher and chief revenue officer Drew Schutte in addition to Self publisher and chief revenue officer Mary Murko will be leaving Condé Nast. I would like to thank Dan, Drew and Mary for their many contributions over the years.

Our audience results speak for themselves and prove to me that we are well positioned for future growth and vitality. I’m looking forward to working with all of you toward making that a reality. Thank you for all of your continued hard work that makes Condé Nast a world-class media company, without peer.

No word on if this month’s “all-time high of 98.6 million consumers” and being “#1 in comScore’s Lifestyle Category among affluent millennials, a position we have held for 24 consecutive months” once again merits free coffee from the Condé Coffee Bar—or when the real Condé Nast purge will take place, courtesy of FTI Consulting.

Promising succor to a people hungry for comfort and guidance, actor, rapper, and Def Jam Vendetta wrestler Redman has made it clear that How High 2 is now in the works. And while a sequel to his and Method Man’s 2001 paean to higher education, the acting talents of monologist Spalding Grey, and magical, ghost-summoning marijuana has long been rumored, it seems that the Malpractice rapper is now committed to the project.

Talking to XXL, Redman said that fans of the first film can expect the saga of pot-assisted test takers Silas and Jamal to continue in roughly 2017. “How High 2 is not going to drop until at least 2017,” he told interviewers, who presumably bayed and gnashed their teeth at the prospective wait. “The writers are still writing the script. Just looking at it time-wise and being realistic about it.” (The realism-demanding “it” in question, we remind ...

“A research division of the World Health Organization announced on Monday that bacon, sausage and other processed meats cause cancer, and that red meat probably does, too.” Also, it’s nast.

colorful interplanetary travels 

Ever since Jon Stewart departed as host of The Daily Show, speculation has abounded as to what his next career move would be. Would he run for office, ala Al Franken, whose Senate terms have already provided him with enough fodder to fill a book? After all, despite any claims or intentions to the contrary, Stewart became one of the most trusted (fake) newsmen for people of a certain age (the digital one). Or would Stewart reinvent himself as a scrappy grappler and make his feud with WWE heavyweight champion a regular part of Monday Night Raw?

If you answered yes to either question, you severely overestimate how many fucks Stewart has left to give about elections, as well as his tolerance for jerks. No, Stewart is foregoing most human interaction (at least, reporting on it) to run an animal sanctuary in New Jersey with his wife Tracey. The Agence ...

Over the weekend, a Reddit user who goes by the name of DoobieSchnauzer decided to spend two solid days doing nothing but “eating LSD and watching The Simpsons.” Yesterday, with the acid probably not entirely cleared from his system, he posted his findings to r/television and r/drugs. Here are a few of the key takeaways:

We are all Bart—We all feel unappreciated, because people decide to focus on our flaws instead of our talents. We all resent authority. We’ve been influenced by bad people, and been a bad influence. We all seek thrills that hurt us and those around us.

Springfield is a human brain. Each inhabitant is a perfect representation of another piece of us.

The Simpsons evolved American society. They got us talking about corruption on both sides of American politics, gay rights, good and bad parenting, good pet ownership, the ethics of vegetarianism ...