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Cecily Knobler

Humor

Larry David reveals the best way to deal with a breakup

It's the most Larry David thing ever.

Images via Max/Curb Your Enthusiasm and Canva

Larry David looks at a couple breaking up

If there's one thing we know about comedian Larry David, it's that he tells it like it is. Well, at least like it "is" according to Larry. Having co-created Seinfeld (with Jerry Seinfeld), it was often rumored that Larry was represented through both lovably grumpy characters, Jerry and George. Things just seemed to happen to these guys, and while George would usually get easily agitated, Jerry was the embodiment of a shrug emoji.

Later, when Larry created Curb Your Enthusiasm for HBO, he leaned into the character even more, finding himself in hilarious situations with very little empathetic attachment. And because he was so true to that character, both in its writing and performance, a lot of people simply love him for it.

In a delightful Instagram Reel on The Seinfeld Addict page, Larry goes on Jimmy Kimmel Live and among many anecdotes, reveals what he believes to be his best quality: how he deals with breakups.

Larry tells him matter-of-factly, "I think my best quality is - I'm a great person to break up with." Jimmy laughs, while Larry reiterates, "Fantastic. So fantastic."

He goes on, "There's no histrionics. There's no scene. Ya know, everybody's afraid to say it. 'Larry, I'm so sorry, I just don't think we should see each other anymore.'" Larry then shows Jimmy how he reacts, cheerily exclaiming, "Oh! Really? Okay, that's good!" To which Jimmy asks, "That's your best quality?"

This conjured up Seinfeld memories in the comment section. "One of the best scenes in Seinfeld ever. 'Oh. That's okay. I'll meet someone else.'" Of course, they're referring to the "Even Steven breakup," where a woman dumps Jerry at the coffee shop and he's unbothered, to say the least. So much so that as he pays the bill, he earnestly says, "Anyway, it's been really nice dating you for a while. Good luck!"

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

This is in stark contrast to another famous Seinfeld episode, wherein Elaine must face the "Bad Breaker-Upper." She explains to Jerry, "He says the mean things you don't mean, but he means 'em." (Boy did he ever!)

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Handling breakups is quite the topic on Reddit, with countless threads dedicated to it. In the subreddit r/datingoverthirty, one person posed, "What would you want to hear during a breakup?" There were nearly 200 answers.

This Redditor shares, "Acknowledgment of the fact that it sucks and that it must be difficult for me, and that I'm allowed to feel whatever I feel. No excuses, no 'I'm letting you down gently so you're not allowed to blame me,' no 'you're so great I'm sure you will find someone that will make you happy.' Just the facts, an apology, and accepting that he may dislike you for a bit for hurting him."

And this one just wanted their meat back. "One thing I like is if a woman is going to break up with me, she brings me my stuff that I left at her place. One time, a woman broke up with me, but before that, I bought these t-bone steaks and left them in her freezer. She brought the steaks back (and also my books), and so it sucked that I didn't have a girlfriend anymore, but it was okay because I had a couple of steaks."

Break Up GIF by Studios 2016Giphy

Sometimes we can't all be as cool-headed as Jerry and Larry seem to be. In the article, "How to Respond Maturely, and the Benefits of Responding Positively, When Someone Breaks Up With You" by Alianess Benny Njuguna, twelve suggestions for handling a breakup are given. These include self-soothing, not trying to change their mind, listening, and perhaps one we often forget: forgiveness. "Eventually, find forgiveness for them in your heart. It's difficult, and it may even seem impossible right now, but holding a grudge against them will only hurt you in the end and keep you from having positive dating experiences."

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Music

Teacher jokingly tells 10-year-old going on a trip to England to 'find Duran Duran'—and so she kind of does.

And just like that, Simon LeBon appeared in the doorway.

Wikicommons and lakehighlandsadvocate IG

Duran Duran lead singer Simon LeBon poses with a young fan

Imagine this: you're a fourth grade language arts teacher in Dallas, and like many Gen X-ers, your obsession with Duran Duran never waned. So much so that you still have dolls of each member of the band in the classroom and, according to Austin Wood's article for the Lake Highlands Advocate, even an old telephone in case (lead singer) "Simon LeBon calls."

This describes Miriam Osborne, a fourth grade teacher at White Rock Elementary in the Lake Highlands district of Dallas, Texas. Wood shares in "White Rock E.S. student, inspired by teacher, meets Simon LeBon" that one of Osborne's students, 10-year-old Ava Meyers, was getting an early pickup for Christmas break, as her family was heading to the U.K. for a holiday wedding. As they were saying their goodbyes in the hallway, Osborne kiddingly said to Meyers, "Find Duran Duran."

gif of Duran Duran performingDuran Duran 80S GIFGiphy


Cut to: Ava and her family, including her mom Zahara, fly across the pond to find themselves in the Putney neighborhood of London. After a day of sightseeing, Zahara shares, "I was just Googling things to do in Putney, and the first thing that popped up was 'Simon Le Bon lives in Putney from Duran Duran.'”

Zahara did a little sleuthing and found Simon's house, thinking perhaps a Christmas stroll by the home would be exciting. But, according to the article, Ava felt they could do better. She and "an 83-year-old relative named Nick, who apparently has courage in droves, went to the door and tried a knock. Zahara was initially hesitant but assumed Le Bon would be away on vacation, so she figured it was harmless. Le Bon’s son-in-law answered, his wife came to the door next, and following a few moments of getting pitched the idea by Nick, agreed to get her husband 'because it was Christmas.'"

And just like that, Simon LeBon appeared in the doorway. He warmly greeted Ava and her family and even took pictures. "It was just crazy," Ava exclaimed.

But possibly more excited was Miriam Osborne, back in the States. She proudly shared the photo (which had been texted to her) with many of her friends and even encouraged Ava to recount the story to her classmates when they returned from the break. Wood shares, "Osborne’s connection to the band goes back to her childhood in El Paso in the ’80s. As the daughter of a Syrian immigrant, she says she had trouble fitting in and finding an identity. Some days, she and her brothers would travel across town to get records from a British record store."

Miriam explains she used her babysitting money to buy her first Duran Duran record. "And so I had been a fan, literally, for 43 years—my entire lifetime."

gif of Simon LeBonDuran Duran GIFGiphy

Osborne's love of Duran Duran, and many '80s bands in general, nostalgically connects her to a throughline for her life that she tries to impart onto the students as well. "Music is a connector, and it connected me to a world that I didn’t always fit in as a child. It helped me find people who I still love to this day, and it’s a big part of this classroom with me and the students I teach, because everybody has a story, and there’s something really incredible about hearing something and it taking you to a happy moment."

As for Ava? She's now taking guitar lessons. And perhaps one day, she can become so famous and inspirational, a teacher sends a student off to find her on a Christmas vacation in the future.

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Humor

People hilariously respond to the 'What's your 5-year plan' question, inspired by Elmo

Some therapists now claim we don't even need a 5-year plan.

Photo by Reno Laithienne on Unsplash

Elmo got real on his Chicken Shop Date.

For some, little is more daunting than the question: "What's your 5-year plan?" No matter the generation, it can be anxiety-inducing at best. Sesame Street's Elmo was asked this very question by English comedian Amelia Dimoldenberg on her popular web series Chicken Shop Date.

On the show, Amelia has various "dates" where she peppers celebrities with awkward and often endearing interview questions. Obviously, Elmo was the perfect guest, though it's specifically noted on YouTube that Elmo is having a "play date" since he's only three and a half years old, of course. But when she bluntly asks him, "What's your five-year plan?" Elmo is confused. "What's that mean, five-year plan? Elmo is me." She restates, "Yeah, you need to have a plan. You need to have a five-year plan."

gif of Amelia DimoldenbergDisappointed Amelia Dimoldenberg GIF by Chicken Shop DateGiphy

On the show, Amelia has various "dates" where she peppers celebrities with awkward and often endearing interview questions. Obviously, Elmo was the perfect guest, though it's specifically noted on YouTube that Elmo is having a "play date" since he's only three and a half years old, of course. But when she bluntly asks him, "What's your five-year plan?" Elmo is confused. "What's that mean, five-year plan? Elmo is me." She restates, "Yeah, you need to have a plan. You need to have a five-year plan."

And then Elmo becomes all of us. "Elmo doesn't really know what he's gonna do in the next five hours!"

@emil1yc

😭 #chickenshopdate

When this clip was posted on TikTok, the followers definitely saw themselves in Elmo. "Me, in a job interview," says the top commenter, with over 25,000 likes. Another writes, "I just panicked, like am I supposed to have a 5-year plan? Marriage? Do some people have a five-year plan?!?"

This person asks, "Also, isn't Elmo like 5 or 6 or something? She's basically asking him what he's gonna be doing after another lifetime." (Repliers rightfully point out that Elmo is three and a half years old in perpetuity.)

Since that clip went viral three months ago, people have been having a field day on TikTok answering the question for themselves. Many simply lip-sync with Elmo, expressing how much they relate. But TikTok user @GenX_Michelle took it a little further. In their video, we see a woman at the grocery store with a giant raven perched on her arm. The chyron reads: "When someone asks me where I see myself in 5 years."

The comments are not only supportive of the OP, but they're impressed by the grocery-shopping woman, as well. "This woman is a goddess, because you don't choose a raven, a raven chooses you."

@genx_michelle

Raven Lady of Vegas has a nice ring to it... 😉 #raven #5yearplan #ravenladyofvegas #genx_michelle #besties_chosenfamily


Many therapists and career counselors nowadays actually believe you don't need a 5-year plan, and that the very idea of them is obsolete. In Lily Zhung's article "Why You Really Don't Have to Have a 5-Year Plan" for The Muse, she cites John D. Krumboltz’s Happenstance Learning Theory, where she reports, "He posits that unplanned events are to be expected because they’re inevitable and, in fact, necessary to every career."

person in an office saying, "New plan."Plan Change Of Plans GIFGiphy

She then asks, "How many successful people actually followed a plan to get to where they were? Maybe a handful. Most were (and continue to be) superbly hardworking and just really good at recognizing and acting on opportunities that come their way."

Success, she says, comes from grabbing opportunities when they arise and being as prepared as possible for the moment. "Ultimately, the goal of career planning is not to have a step-by-step plan, but to maximize the opportunities for you to learn and to be in the right mindset to take advantage of opportunities as they come."

Zhung quotes Shonda Rhimes from a commencement speech she gave at Dartmouth in 2014: "Maybe you know exactly what it is you dream of being, or maybe you're paralyzed because you have no idea what your passion is. The truth is, it doesn't matter. You don't have to know. You just have to keep moving forward. You just have to keep doing something, seizing the next opportunity, staying open to trying something new. It doesn't have to fit your vision of the perfect job or the perfect life. Perfect is boring and dreams are not real. Just do."

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Music

Fans are begging Lady Gaga to make SNL song about a weightlifting mouse her next single

"Pip" is the surprise instant classic of the year.

Image credits: SNL + Wikicommons

Lady Gaga's surprisingly touching "Pip" song is a massive hit with fans

Leave it to Lady Gaga to record a song about an animated mouse for a comedy sketch on Saturday Night Live,, and have it, arguably, be one of the best songs ever—at least according to her fans.

Gaga was both host and musical guest on the show this past week to great reviews. Vulture writer Ben Rosenstock wrote, Gaga's "easy charm and commitment make for one of the most animated episodes of season 50." Adding, "What comes across here, even more than Gaga's talent, is her sincerity—an idea tonal match for a series of pretty strange (complimentary) sketches."

In one such sketch (actually a short by Dan Bulla), Gaga stars as a high school student who urges a tiny mouse named Pip to enter a weightlifting contest. It begins with a teacher (played by James Austin Johnson) asking students to get their parents to vote yes on the referendum to get the roof fixed. He then reminds them about the school's weightlifting competition and urges everyone, no matter their gender or size, to participate.

saturday night live snl GIF by Lady GagaGiphy


But when a bully (played by Marcello Hernandez) says, "Yeah, except Pip," the camera pans over to an adorably sad mouse at a nearby desk. Everyone laughs—except Gaga, who sighs heavily.

But it gets even more delightfully absurd. It then segues into a music video wherein she sings Pip a song about how, if he sets his mind to it, he can achieve anything he wants in life. At one point, Pip walks on a moving globe, while Gaga sings, "The other kids may laugh at you, and treat you like a fool. But I believe you can win the weightlifting contest at our school."

As Pip looks up at her with soulful eyes, Gaga belts, "Pip, don't cry. All you have to do is try." This leads to a Rocky-inspired training montage, underscored by Gaga's very specific lyrics: "You've gotta start out small, Pip. With just a little bit of weight. Push yourself to the limit. That's how you get from good to great. Hit a heavy bag, that's just an old hotdog. Don't use steroids, because that would be wrong."

A chyron appears: "One week later," and Pip gives it his all. Check out the video for the rest, but disclaimer: The video contains some comical violence at the end and may not be suitable for children.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Immediately, people went online clamoring for more. On the r/LadyGaga subreddit page, an eager fan posted the thread, "Petition to make Pip the next non-single album."

Most of the comments under the official Saturday Night Live channel on YouTube agreed, with one exclaiming, "Now let's make that song number 1 on the Billboard 100." Another shared they were truly moved: "This is so funny and sweet at the same time; it brought a tear to my eye."

Another common theme among commenters? They can't get enough. "Pip needs a movie." Someone else joked, "So what's your favorite Lady Gaga song?" "It's... well, complicated."

One of the most upvoted comments sums up the communal reaction: "MOTHER GAGA serving us VOCALS."

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