In Case You Haven’t Heard: Adam Sandler, ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’

A member of Taylor Swift’s dance crew gets his chance in the limelight, actor Adam Sandler pivots to an uncharacteristically serious role in his upcoming movie, and actress Emma Stone calls out people who don’t believe in aliens in this edition of “In Case You Haven’t Heard.”

How popular is Taylor Swift? Even the people on the periphery of her world are getting rich. “Dancing with the Stars” is on season 34 and, according to TheWrap, dancer Jan Ravnik will join the celebrity side of the show. Ravnik recently was a member of the dance squad on Swift’s Eras tour. The full cast of dancers for season 34 will be announced on Wednesday, Sept. 3 on “Good Morning America.” I’m not sure I can wait that long!

Earlier this week on “Nite Lite,” we discussed aliens and ghosts, which is typically a fun topic that gets a variety of listener reactions. Recently, some star power has been added to the belief that aliens do exist.

Actress Emma Stone is a believer, and she says that the fact that we think we are alone in the universe is narcissistic. That’s coming from a famous actress… but I digress. She may have ulterior motives as her new film, “Bugonia,” portrays her as a CEO captured by conspiracy theorists who believe she is an extraterrestrial sent to destroy Earth. “Bugonia” hits theaters this October.

Actor Adam Sandler has decided to take yet another crack at a serious acting role. I know what you’re thinking – oh joy. It’s not a total attempt, as “Jay Kelly” is labeled by Variety as a “dramedy.” Sandler will play a tell-it-like-it-is showbiz manager to the film’s title character played by George Clooney. The film is being directed by Noah Baumbach, who Sandler has worked with before. How excited is Sandler to be part of the project? He said recently at a presser for the Venice Film Festival, “Holy (expletive)! I can’t believe I’m getting this gift.” Break a leg, Adam.

Speaking of Sandler, he recently played a song on the 50th Anniversary “Saturday Night Live” broadcast. One of the lyrics was “50 years of finding out your favorite musician is antisemitic.” There’s been speculation as to who Sandler was referring to. He declined to answer, saying there have been many antisemites over the years. In a recent tweet on X, Kanye “Crazytown” West, proudly claimed that it was him. In a now deleted post, the rapper said “Adam Sandler, thank you for the love.” Is Kanye clueless or crazy? Just like with many people on the X, it’s hard to tell.

When you’re part of a studio talk show audience and the warm-up act tells you to do the wave, when you hear the word banana, you just do it – why wouldn’t you? Just don’t do the wave when the show’s host says the word banana in her monologue. That is what happened on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” a few years ago, and it made her furious when she realized that writer and audience warm-up act Greg Fitzsimmons was behind it.

It wasn’t on purpose, but he had to step onto the stage in the middle of her monologue and tell the audience that they should no longer wave when they hear the word banana. I find this hilarious! The talk show ended after 19 years due to what sources say was a toxic environment on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Fitzsimmons confirmed those rumors on the “We Might Be Drunk Podcast.” He did give her props and said she was an incredible stand-up back in the day.

The Emmy winning writer-comedian said at first the show was very chill, but after some success, she got very difficult and would make younger writers cry. DeGeneres left America after the last election but says she is not done with showbiz. Sounds like showbiz might be done with her.

Editor’s note: For more movie and entertainment talk, join host Pete Schwaba weeknights from 6 to 8 p.m. for “Nite Lite” on the Civic Media radio network.