Jon Stewart Looks Back at 1,000 Years of HistoryLast Thursday, America said goodbye to Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show. In his final episode he welcomed back a number of correspondents […]
Alex P. Keaton May Have Made a Sex TapeWeird wiretapper Anthony Pellicano says he knows what Michael J. Fox did back in 1990. Plus, Ashlee Simpson pregnancy rumors persist, Adrian Grenier gets a girlfriend, and more in our daily squeeze of the juice from New York gossip columns.
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The Night We Saw Jeffrey Epstein in Real LifeWith free-flowing top-shelf liquor, truffle-oily foods, megaluxe venues, and scores of A-to-D-listers poised to shun our goofy questions, most Peggy Siegal parties fill us with a heady mix of wonder and self-loathing. Last night’s private screening of the HBO film Bernard and Doris at the Time Warner Center was no exception. At an event that seemed especially saturated with befuddling celebrity sightings: Why is Mo Rocca following Bebe Neuwirth like a puppy dog? Why is Cindy Adams photo-opping with Rush Limbaugh? Catherine Crier is still around? We were rendered speechless by one boldfacer we saw shuffling into the screening room with a beautiful woman: Jeffrey Epstein!
That’s right, Jeffrey Epstein.
Jeffrey. Ep. Stein. Unshaven, smiling that feline-monkey grin, wearing a slightly tattered sweater and jeans, he reeked of money and massage oil. Well, we didn’t get close enough to say for sure, but we could imagine. We knew he and Peggy are friends, and “I’ve only ever seen him in jeans,” she told New York in December. But really? The week after another lawsuit was filed against him by a teenage girl, he showed up to a movie premiere? With a young woman? (She looked to be in her twenties, at least, by the way.) Words failed us. Hell, even our fingers failed us as we fumbled to text a colleague about this turn of events.
The film began, and it seemed to dovetail thematically with Epstein’s saga: all about eccentric billionaires Doris Duke and her bizarre relationship with the hired help. When the lights went back up, Epstein and his comely companion were gone. No photographs of them on any of the wire services. Was it all a dream? —Justin Ravitz
Related: The Fantasist [NYM]
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Mo Rocca Dreams of a Psychosexual Thriller Starring Bill ClintonLast night at Joe’s Pub, four teams made up of Broadway composers, directors, writers, actors, and assorted other creatives unveiled the works they had produced for the inaugural 24 Hour Musicals, which, like the annual 24 Hour Plays event, requires contestants to prepare a musical from scratch in just 24 hours. We swung by and took the opportunity to ask the punchy participants a question that’s been rolling around our heads since Iowa: If the presidential candidates were in a musical, what would it be? “I would do a musical about people that live under the subways, like the subway moles, and I would cast John McCain as, like, the leader of the underground subterranean people,” actress Ashlie Atkinson said breathlessly. “And then I would cast Hillary Clinton as a developer who is trying to destroy their oasis.” Mo Rocca had other ideas. “I think it would be a psychosexual thriller about Bill Clinton trying to hook up with Michelle Obama,” he said. “I’m currently obsessed with Michelle Obama. And, um, I think she’s beautiful. I think she’s dynamic. I think there will be legions of drag queens soon dressing up as Michelle Obama. She’s just a great sort of larger-than-life figure.” But what about Hillary? Is Hillary really musical material? “Umm,” he paused to think. “She’s tough with musicals. Hillary’s just not really very musical.” —Amy Odell
Click here to see video Mo, Kerry Butler, and others chatting with New York and performing in the 24 Hour Musicals.
21 questions
Comic Mo Rocca Makes Oatmeal But Not DinnerName: Mo Rocca
Age: 38
Job: Imp; currently appearing in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Neighborhood: Chelsea
Who’s your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
Isidore Itzkowitz, a.k.a. Eddie Cantor.
What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in New York?
Currently I’m in love with the buttermilk fried chicken at Dirty Bird on 14th Street.
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job?
Bite my nails and try to think of funny things.
