Michele Bachmann: NBC wouldn't pull that gag on Michelle Obama

Michele Bachmann didn't know what hit her on Jimmy Fallon's show, but she loves the guy and accepts his apology for the brouhaha over the tune played to introduce her.

That said, the GOP presidential hopeful would still like an apology from NBC over the bouncy but crass intro song that the drummer of the show's band, the Roots, played when the show taped Monday night — 'cause they wouldn't pull that stuff on Michelle Obama.

"I wasn't aware of it at all," the Republican congresswoman from Minnesota said Wednesday on "America's Newsroom," referring to the snippet of Fishbone's "Lyin' Ass Bitch" that ushered Bachmann onto the stage for an interview that aired in the wee hours Tuesday. "I didn't find out until later yesterday and at that point I was traveling and making my way to the presidential debate."

Fallon apologized via Twitter, saying "I'm honored that @michelebachmann was on our show yesterday and I'm so sorry about the intro mess. I really hope she comes back," and adding, "Actually it was a really fun interview. She helped me with my Minnesota accent. (I still sound Irish.)"

Bachmann told Fox News Channel's Bill Hemmer that she was hoping to speak to Fallon on Wednesday. "I don't have anything against Jimmy Fallon, I love him, he’s a kick, it was a great opportunity to be on the show, I’d love to go back again."

She said she had "no doubt," however, that if the song and the first lady had come on stage at the same time, NBC would have apologized and fired or at least suspended the drummer.

"This is clearly a form of bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment elite, but it’s also I think it’s sexism as well. This wouldn’t be tolerated if this was Michelle Obama; it shouldn't be tolerated if it’s a conservative woman either."

Michelle Obama, meanwhile, faced boos from a NASCAR audience on Sunday — but at least that wasn't sexist.

If you want to hear Bachmann discussing things like fissile material, jihadists and the Atlantic Monthly, watch the whole video — or you can cut to the chase around the 5:30 mark for her comments about the Fallon show.

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— Christie D'Zurilla
Twitter.com/dzurillaville

Photo: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), appearing this week on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," points to a photo of the host dressed as Bachmann. Credit: Lloyd Bishop / NBC

Joseph Gordon-Levitt channels Axl Rose for Jimmy Fallon [Video]

If Joseph Gordon-Levitt ever wanted to pull a Gwyneth Paltrow and explore his musical side through his film work, consider the groundwork laid.

When Levitt stopped by Jimmy Fallon's late-night couch Tuesday to talk up his new cancer comedy, "50/50," Jimbo let a secret slip: In the drunken karaoke environment, Levitt nails the vocal stylings of rocker Axl Rose.

The proof in the video below, where Levitt interprets Miss Kelly Clarkson's classic "Since U Been Gone," Axl-style -- and does a really decent job of hitting those complaint notes.

The movie "50/50" sees Levitt as a young man diagnosed with cancer, given down-the-middle odds of survival. The film, inspired by a true story, costars Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anjelica Houston. 

Fallon, it would happen, is no stranger to making his thespian guests sing for their sit-down -- including Paltrow, for their famous fictional band Shazzazz.

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-- Matt Donnelly
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Photo: Joseph Gordon-Levitt speaks at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 12, 2011. Credit: Jonathan Leibson / Getty Images

Jason Segel drops 30 pounds after compromising fast-food photo surfaces

Jason Segel stopped by David Letterman's couch on Thursday night, revealing that an embarrassing photo served as his inspiration to lose weight.

The "Bad Teacher" funnyman told Letterman he had been in New Orleans working -- and enjoying what he called the "best food and booze anywhere."

"I really took advantage of it," Segel said. "Unfortunately my assistant had, like, a key to my room in case I overslept. She came in one day to wake me up and took a bunch of pictures to show me what I had become."

One of the photos, which Segel shared, caught of the actor covered in Taco Bell wrappers, and passed out on his back.

"Honest to God, Jason, this looks like a crime scene," Letterman said.

Segel dropped 30 pounds after the shameful photo shoot. Watch the full clip above.

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Is Chelsea Handler having an identity crisis?

Is Chelsea Handler having an identity crisis? Seems the comic blond, at the height of her popularity and industry demand, has given a candid interview that mocks the brand she's worked years to build.

"I want to do something that's going to utilize my brain a little more than this show," Handler told the Hollywood Reporter of her late night E! comedy series "Chelsea Lately."

"If 'Lately' is the show that I'm going to do, it's going to change. But it may turn out that I'm done with it altogether. I can't keep doing the same thing; my brain is bleeding. I want to do something that's more mindful and isn't celebrity-centered," she continued.

"Lately" is a comic roundtable lampooning celebrities and their follies, followed by a one-on-one chat with a bold-face name guest. Though it has gained steadily in popularity over the past years, and spawned a behind-the-scenes reality show "After Lately," Handler can't get no satisfaction.

"I'm not looking to totally bail on E!," she says of her home network. "They've done a lot for me, and I like it here ... if you take away the Kardashians."

While the Kardashian sisters (who have appeared as guests on her program) don't satiate Handler, she has  several projects in the pipe to distract from the brain bleeding: an NBC sitcom based on her book, "Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea," on which she'll have a recurring role. Not to mention her supporting bit in Reese Witherspoon's upcoming film "This Means War."

So is Handler having an identity crisis, raging against a brand she's carved out and can't move past? Or simply burning the middle-brow bridge behind her as she ascends to new levels of content-making in Hollywood?

Tell us in comments.

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Photo: Chelsea Handler attends the Gracie Awards Gala in Beverly Hills on May 24. Credit: Valerie Macon / Getty Images

Lindsay Lohan on Leno: 'Not a kid anymore' -- she's the cleaning crew

Lindsay Lohan, who will start in on 480 hours of community service by week's end, has stopped by "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" to tape an interview. According to a show source, LiLo earned a standing ovation Monday for her efforts.

Actress Kristin Chenoweth was bumped from Leno's scheduled lineup for Tuesday, when the last-minute Lohan chat will air.

In discussing her court appearance, her time in jail before posting bail and her reaction to the probation-violation sentence, Lohan noted that a lot of decisions were made for her early on. After achieving success so quickly, she said, it was hard to take time to appreciate all that had come her way.

"But I'm not a kid anymore," she told Leno. "I'm 24, I've made a lot of mistakes and I recognize that. I'm in the clear now, and as long as I stay focused, I can achieve what I want to achieve."

Judge Stephanie Sautner on Friday sentenced Lohan to 120 days in jail, 360 hours of service at the downtown Women's Center on skid row and 120 hours at the Mission Road coroner's office. The judge also reduced the theft charge from a felony to a misdemeanor. Though the actress is appealing the jail sentence, she still has to start her community service hours within a week and, if the sentence stands, finish them within a year.

Jon Stewart impersonates Glenn Beck; end of the world is near [Video]

Jon Stewart does an excellent Glenn Beck. The Comedy Central host opened his Thursday show with a melodramatic monologue and later donned the thick-framed glasses and surfaced the chalkboard to impersonate the conservative Fox host who recently announced that he will be leaving his show later this year.

Given Stewart's popular parody of the Beck last year, the follow-up spoof was almost inevitable.

Stewart laid out in "crisp fool-proof detail how Glenn Beck's departure from Fox is incontrovertible truth that the world is ending."

Because earthquakes, sinkholes, tsunamis, falling governments, Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira leaving their respective programs might not have been enough of an indication. No, no. Beck is the nail in the coffin, ladies and gentleman. Watch the clip above.

"People will tell you Glenn was fired because of plummeting ratings," Stewart stated hysterically, in character as Beck. "Thirty percent of his viewers have abandoned him, his audience's median age is now dead of natural causes. Do we really want to live in an America where what we watch is determined by a shadowy mix-and-match collective of so-called 'Nielsen families'? You know who else had a family that anyone could join? Charles Manson.

"I don't know about you, ladies and gentlemen, but I don't think I want to live in an America where Charles Manson tells our children what they can watch on television."

And the Beck barrage continued. Before showing clips of various end-of-the-world theories, Stewart gave his snarky explanation for the host's departure.

"So what's really going on here?" Stewart pondered. "What I'm about to say to you is going to sound stupid, illogical, moronic, asinine, disembrained. What I'm about to say to you is the kind of thing that will make you wonder how I even dress myself in the morning: Glenn Beck is leaving Fox because Glenn Beck tells the truth."

Touché.

What do you think of Stewart's Beck impersonation -- spot on, or over the top?

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Charlie Sheen can kiss that arbitration restraining order goodbye

One place Charlie Sheen isn't winning? Los Angeles County Superior Court, where a judge has rejected Team Sheen's request for a temporary restraining order to stop arbitration related to the actor's "Two and a Half Men" contract dispute with Warner Bros. and Chuck Lorre.

"The judge found no 'emergency' existed and ordered Mr. Sheen's attorneys to follow normal procedure in their attempts to halt the arbitration of this dispute," Lorre's attorney told Company Town, which reported the decision Wednesday.

Sheen was fired from TV's top sitcom on March 7, with his lawyer receiving a particularly fabulous letter of termination from an attorney representing his former employers. "Men" production had already been benched for the season, four episodes short of plan. The actor filed a $100-million lawsuit against Warner Bros. and Lorre on March 10, alleging breach of contract, labor violations and more. The restraining order request was an attempt to keep the dispute in the courts.

Sheen, meanwhile, made a surprise appearance -- though really, are any of these appearances surprising anymore? -- on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Monday night, barging in on Kimmel and Mark Cuban to kiss the host, sign a copy of musical guest Brett Dennen's "Lover Boy" album without asking first and hurl T-shirts at those in the audience. The Dallas Mavericks owner and the actor are reportedly discussing a project for Cuban's HDNet TV channel. 

Is it just us, or did Charlie look really old and sort of homeless as he hunched and shuffled around the set with his plastic bags full of merchandise? Watch the video below and decide for yourself.

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Photos: Charlie Sheen arrives unscheduled on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," top, and proceeds to kiss the host, right, on Monday. Credits: Richard Cartwright / ABC/Associated Press

Robert Pattinson gets A-list beef jerky from Jay Leno

 

How can Robert Pattinson know he's made it? According to Jay Leno, it's the beef jerky.

That's what Leno insisted on "The Tonight Show," where Pattinson graced the couch Friday to promote his new romance epic "Water for Elephants."

Recalling his recent road trip from Los Angeles to New Orleans, where he filmed "Breaking Dawn," Pattinson mentioned stopping Texas and patronizing a roadside joint that claimed to sell the world's best beef jerky.

Leno surprised him by having a bundle of the snack flown in for their chat. "That's when you know you're a star, when you have jerky flown in," Jay said.

Pattinson also found some insight into his own popularity when Jay's other guest, comedian Whitney Cummings, confessed her RPattz obsession.

"You're responsible for me and my last boyfriend breaking up," Cummings said.

"I kind of need to date someone who can fly, I need to be someone's spider monkey. I need someone with diamonds in their face," she said of Pattinson's on-screen vampire persona, Edward Cullen.

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Jon Cryer goes on Charlie Sheen troll patrol on 'Conan'

 

Everyone has a breaking point, and for the always-classy Jon Cryer, that point came Thursday night on Conan O'Brien's show, in a statement that included brutal truth and even some mild profanity. 

In an interview Tuesday, Cryer had been the subject of a verbal attack by Charlie Sheen, his former "Two and a Half Men" costar.

"He's a turncoat, a traitor, a troll. Clearly, he's a troll," Sheen said on the radio, slamming a costar who despite some ripples caused by a fake Twitter account in his name had yet to breathe a bad word about the Vatican assassin warlock's escapades, recent or otherwise.

On "Conan," Cryer let it all out. 

Sheen had apologized Wednesday, saying he was "in a mood" when he hurled those insults -- but now that Cryer has said his piece, we wonder if the apology wasn't a bit premature.

Hold it together, Jon. It gets better.

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Photo: Jon Cryer at People magazine's Emmy Awards party in  2009. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times.

Michael Lohan takes credit, David Letterman 'apologizes' to Lindsay Lohan [Poll]

 

We're not going to lie -- when the Ministry asked earlier who readers thought  Lindsay Lohan's Letterman-booking "friend" might be, we did have our eyes on a favorite. And were we the betting type, Michael Lohan's yeah-I'm-the-friend admission Wednesday would've paid off.

It wouldn't have been a big jackpot, because given Michael Lohan's track record, the odds were around 3-2 or better that he had a hand in the confusion about whether Lindsay would deliver Thursday's Top 10 list on "Late Show With David Letterman."

Lindsay tweeted Tuesday night that she'd never agreed to a satellite appearance on the show; Michael told TMZ on Wednesday that he was the one who'd set up the deal, allegedly with his daughter's OK, but that her reps put the kibosh on it.

"Anything positive that I bring into her life ... [her people] try to nix it," Michael Lohan said.

One thing that dad did bring into Lilo's life, directly or indirectly, was an apology -- technically speaking -- from Letterman, who seized the opportunity to repeat his Top 10 list joke about her stealing a Grammy from last weekend's award show, and to keep his face absolutely deadpan as he said he hoped he hadn't embarrassed the Lohan family. 

"I have no one to blame but myself," Letterman said, "and boy is my face red."

Watch the video and let us know what you think of Letterman's apology.

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-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Michael Lohan outside the Beverly Hills Courthouse after his daughter was taken into custody on Sept. 24, 2010. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times.