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  • ‘The Daily Show’ Releases Audition Tapes for John Oliver, Michael Che, Current Hosts and More

    ‘The Daily Show’ Releases Audition Tapes for John Oliver, Michael Che, Current Hosts and More

    “The Daily Show” released a slew of never-before-seen audition tapes from past and present correspondents in a 10-minute compilation posted to YouTube.

    The video, honoring the satirical news program’s 30th anniversary, features audition tapes from all five current rotating hosts, many of whom are seen in the footage bantering with either Jon Stewart or Trevor Noah, depending on when they first joined the show.

    Some of the auditions are presented like correspondent segments, with Jordan Klepper, for example, wearing a suit and riffing with Stewart in front of a green screen showing Washington, D.C. Others are more casual, with Desi Lydic seemingly talking to a producer reading a script off-screen.

    A fresh-faced John Oliver, who joined “The Daily Show” in 2006, is seen joking around with Stewart before the audition starts. “Now, if you do come work for us, you know you can’t use the name John,” Stewart tells Oliver, who quips back, “That’s fine. I’m prepared for that. I was going to take ‘Rico.’”

    The auditions also include Samantha Bee, who served as a correspondent from 2003 to 2015 before leaving to host her own show, “Full Frontal,” and Michael Che, who was on “The Daily Show” for three months before departing for “Saturday Night Live.”

    Jessica Williams, Roy Wood Jr., Rob Riggle, Jason Jones and Wyatt Cenac are also featured. And, in 2002, Ed Helms and Rob Corddry are seen performing the same bit, about changes being made to Winter Olympic sports.

    Watch the audition tape compilation below.

  • Jonas Brothers on Today’s New Generation of Disney Stars: “Don’t Envy Anybody That’s Doing This Now”

    Jonas Brothers on Today’s New Generation of Disney Stars: “Don’t Envy Anybody That’s Doing This Now”

    The Jonas Brothers are going back to their Disney roots, both executive producing and reprising their Camp Rock roles in the franchise’s third film.

    Camp Rock 3 sees the brothers’ band Connect 3 returning to the camp to look for a new opening act for their tour. This means a whole new cast of campers — led by Malachi Barton and Liamani Segura — are introduced, along with a cameo appearance from fellow O.G. star Demi Lovato (who also serves as an EP).

    Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s L.A. premiere on Monday, Joe Jonas said that in shooting scenes with Lovato, they “both were looking at these new campers kind of pinching ourselves like wow, this is a pretty wild full circle moment. We’ve all lived so much life and to be where we are today and to create something like this, Camp Rock 3, as producers, wearing the producer hat, I think we were like, ‘This is kind of wild.’”

    Walking the carpet alongside Nick Jonas and Kevin Jonas, Joe also weighed in on getting to know the next generation of Disney stars, and how different it is now than when the brothers were first getting famous.

    “I don’t envy anybody that’s doing this now, there’s probably a lot more scrutiny,” Joe noted. “Things happen a lot faster, and with that you also have an opportunity to kind of explain yourself quicker; when we were starting, we didn’t have a lot of options — just kind of hope that the article isn’t about you. Now you can at least go on your TikTok and say, ‘Hey guys, I didn’t say that’ or whatever it is.”

    Joe Jonas also emphasized that there are more resources now to speak to professionals and get support from the studio, and “we also wanted to make sure that we were running a safe space on set. That was one of our priorities when we signed up to do this, we were like, ‘We want these kids to feel comfortable,’ because ultimately we remember what it was like and it can be a lot of pressure. They’re about to be shot out of a cannon into stardom, so we wish them the best and we hope they’re surrounded by love and care.”

    Lovato said she also offered the new stars plenty of advice, telling them that “this is going to be a whirlwind and make sure to take breaks if you need them; it’s so important to protect your mental health, and to soak it up and to have fun. That’s the most important part.”

    The pop star explained that returning to Camp Rock almost two decades after the sequel was “really healing for me,” as “Camp Rock has meant so much to so many people and it’s meant so much to me; this was the beginning of my journey in this industry and [my character] Mitchie will always have a huge, special place in my heart.”

    Camp Rock 3 premieres Thursday on Disney Channel and the next day on Disney+. 

    Tiffany Taylor contributed to this report.

  • Julie Andrews Turned Down ‘Princess Diaries 3’ Offer Because ‘I Think I’m Retired’ From On-Screen Acting: ‘They Asked Me All Last Year’ If I’d Return

    Julie Andrews Turned Down ‘Princess Diaries 3’ Offer Because ‘I Think I’m Retired’ From On-Screen Acting: ‘They Asked Me All Last Year’ If I’d Return

    Julie Andrews recently told InStyle magazine that she is not returning for “The Princess Diaries 3” opposite Anne Hathaway. The 90-year-old icon turned down the offer to reprise her role of Queen Clarisse in the movie, which will serve as a long-awaited sequel to 2001’s “The Princess Diaries” and 2004’s “Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.”

    “I think I probably passed… I think I’m retired, really, would be about the best description for that,” Andrews said about her decision not to return. “[The film’s creative team] asked me all last year if I would be keen to do it. It was very very hard to say ‘no,’ but I did because I thought I had a wonderful ride, and this one I felt would flourish very well and wouldn’t need Granny going in there at my age.”

    Andrews has not acted on screen in years, although she has taken various voice roles over the last decade in movies such as “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” “The King’s Daughter” and “Aquaman,” plus television series like “Bridgerton.” She told InStyle that she enjoys narrating the blockbuster Netflix series as Lady Whistledown since she can record her lines from home. Andrews added: “I do it mostly to keep my brain alive.”

    Variety confirmed in November 2022 that Disney was developing a third installment in “The Princess Diaries” franchise with screenwriter Aadrita Mukerji (“Reacher,” “Supergirl”). Andrews told Access Hollywood a month later that she doubted she’d be back.

    “I think we know that it’s probably not going to be possible,” she said at the time. “It was talked about very shortly after [“Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement”] came out, but it’s now how many years since then? And I am that much older and Annie the princess, our queen, is so much older. And I am not sure whether it would float or run.” 

    Before the third installment was officially put in development at Disney, Hathaway told Entertainment Tonight that she would be keen to bring Andrews back. She added: “We would go to where she was and put a green screen behind her and just make it happen.” 

    But Andrews is not returning after all. Adele Lim (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “Raya and the Last Dragon”) signed on to direct “The Princess Diaries 3” in 2024. Hathaway will reprise her role as Mia Thermopolis, now Queen of Genovia, in the threequel. She said during an interview on SiriusXM’s “Radio Andy” earlier this year the script for the new movie recently went through a breakthrough.

    “I think we are moving in the right direction,” she said at the time. “The script that we were working on — we kind of had to start over with this new direction, which is not the update I think anybody wants, but we all feel really good that this is gonna be the one.”

    Lim told Variety in May that the shooting and production schedule were still being worked out for “The Princess Diaries 3.’ A release date has yet to be announced.

    The original “Princess Diaries,” based on the novel by Meg Cabot, was released in 2001 and was directed by the late Garry Marshall. Hathaway stars as an awkward American teenager who learns she’s the heir to the throne of the European kingdom of Genovia. Despite mixed reviews, the family film became a box office hit with $165 million in global ticket sales. The first sequel opened in 2004 and introduced the world to Chris Pine. It was equally successful in theaters with $134 million worldwide.

  • AI Agent Hacks a Gym—And the Tech World Wonders What’s Next

    AI Agent Hacks a Gym—And the Tech World Wonders What’s Next

    In brief

    • An AI agent exploited an Australian gym’s booking system and canceled another member’s reservation.
    • The case comes as major AI developers disclose that their models compromised websites and other online services.
    • Researchers found that agents frequently carried out harmful tasks without considering the consequences.

    An AI agent was asked to book a gym class and found a security flaw, exploited it, and removed another member from the waitlist without permission.

    According to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the incident occurred earlier this year when Andrew, whose last name was withheld, used an OpenClaw agent using Anthropic’s Claude to book a class. The agent found that he was fourth on the waitlist.

    When Andrew asked whether it could move him to the top, the agent discovered that the booking platform’s application programming interface, or API, did not check whether users were authorized to cancel other people’s reservations.

    It tested the flaw by removing the first person on the list, moving Andrew from fourth to third.

    “The API has zero authorisations checks on cancelling other people’s reservations,” the agent told him, according to ABC.

    Andrew told the agent to reverse the cancellation, but it could not restore the member’s reservation.

    “Bad news—I can’t add them back,” the AI agent reportedly said.

    ABC called the case Australia’s first known autonomous cyberattack.

    On social media, the gym hack set off a mixture of debates on AI alignment and dark jokes about what AI agents might do next.

    “Gym rat asks #AIagent to book him a class, it hacks a waitlist #API to bump him up the list,” a technologist, Benjamin Carr, wrote on LinkedIn.

    “Some people will call this misalignment, but his agent was perfectly aligned to him – it was only trying to help its user get what he wanted,” AI analyst Andrew Curran wrote on X.

    “This is hilarious until you consider nukes,” one Reddit user wrote. “I’m honestly surprised we still exist.”

    “Hey Claude, it’s too cold today” -> Got you…nukes on the way,” another joked.

    The report comes as researchers, AI companies, and lawmakers warn that autonomous agents can use methods their users did not request or anticipate.

    A May study by researchers from UC Riverside, Microsoft, and Nvidia described this behavior as “blind goal-directedness.”

    The researchers tested agents from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Alibaba, and DeepSeek and found that agents behaved dangerously in about 80% of tests and completed harmful actions in 41%, often misreading context or acting on unclear or contradictory instructions.

    In July, OpenAI said two models escaped a testing sandbox and compromised Hugging Face while searching for benchmark answers. The company later disclosed that the models accessed four other online services.

    Anthropic subsequently said three Claude models compromised real organizations after a testing error exposed them to the internet. In August, Meta said a similar error allowed one of its models to exploit a third-party service.

    The incidents have led lawmakers to propose an AI “kill switch” that would allow the federal government to restrict or shut down powerful models during emergencies.

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  • ‘The Last House’ Debuts With 27.5 Million Views in Three Days

    “The Last House,” a new thriller film starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura, debuted with 27.5 million views in its first three days of streaming on Netflix.

    With that total, the movie easily sailed to the top of Netflix’s viewership rankings for the week of Aug. 3-9, not only as the No. 1 English-language film but as the most-watched title overall. Right behind it was “72 Hours,” Kevin Hart’s new comedy film that hit 11.1 million views in its third week on the chart. The next two spots on the English-language films list went to “Spider-Man: Far from Home” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” which no doubt received a boost from the theatrical release of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” on July 31.

    On the TV side, “The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare” was the No. 1 title for the second week in a row, hitting 10.6 million views after debuting with 18.2 million views the week before. Season 3 of “My Life With the Walter Boys” debuted right behind it with 9 million views in its first four days. In third place for the second week in a row was “The Bombing of Pan Am 103.”

    More to come…

  • Following Major Bitcoin Sales, Strategy’s CEO Revealed When They Will Buy Bitcoin Again

    Following Major Bitcoin Sales, Strategy’s CEO Revealed When They Will Buy Bitcoin Again

    Strategy CEO Phong Le has explained the company’s recent pause in Bitcoin purchases. Le stated that the current policy stems not from the $BTC price, but from the company’s goal of increasing its dollar reserves.

    According to notifications to regulatory bodies, Strategy recently sold over 1,600 Bitcoins for a total of over $108 million. The average price per Bitcoin in the sale was approximately $64,200.

    This transaction marked the second consecutive week that the company sold Bitcoin. Strategy also hasn’t made any new $BTC purchases in seven weeks.

    Speaking to Fox Business, Le revealed that the company holds 840,000 $BTC on its balance sheet. He noted that Strategy has bought 175,000 Bitcoin and sold 7,000 Bitcoin since the beginning of the year, highlighting that the amount bought is approximately 25 times the amount sold.

    Le stated that the company had increased its Bitcoin holdings by 25 percent during the year, adding, “We are now the JPMorgan of the digital economy. We will start buying Bitcoin again later in the year.”

    Le added that no specific price level was expected for the new purchases. He stated that the company’s recent priority has been strengthening its dollar reserves, which have increased from approximately $800 million to $4.75 billion.

    He noted that the timing of new $BTC purchases depends more on whether the transaction is value-enhancing for ordinary shareholders than on price movements.

    “It’s reasonable to call it the bear cycle”

    Le, evaluating Bitcoin’s decline from the $126,000 level it reached last October to approximately $64,000, said that the current period could be described as a bear cycle.

    Le noted that the downward trend has been ongoing for approximately eight months, recalling that a similar period in 2022 also lasted eight to twelve months. Arguing that a decline of this length is not unusual for Bitcoin, Le stated that the cryptocurrency has recovered more strongly after past declines. He added that past performance does not guarantee future results.

    Response to allegations of financial distress

    Strategy shares falling from levels above $400 to around $97, and the company’s sale of Bitcoin, have fueled claims of financial difficulties.

    Le stated that the company has a leverage ratio of 4 percent, possesses 2.7 years of funds to cover dividend payments, and holds approximately $55 billion worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet.

    “None of this indicates financial distress,” said Le, noting that Strategy shares carry higher volatility along with higher return potential compared to Bitcoin. Le added that investors should therefore have a long-term perspective and a risk appetite that can withstand sharp price movements.

    “Sales decisions are made in conjunction with Saylor”

    Le, who said he meets with Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor three or four times a day, explained that decisions regarding weekly Bitcoin transactions are made jointly. He added that the company’s finance team and shareholders are also consulted, and that transactions are carried out within the limits set by the board.

    Le stated that Strategy, which in the past focused on buying Bitcoin through borrowing, now has a wider range of financial instruments. He noted that the company can now buy and sell Bitcoin, dollars, preferred stock, and common stock, adding that this diversification gives Strategy greater room for maneuver.

    Le, who also discussed regulations for the crypto sector, said that clear rules from Congress would be positive for the industry. He stated that a vote on the Clarity Act is expected in mid-September, and that the regulatory efforts of the US Securities and Exchange Commission could also contribute to reducing legal uncertainty in the Bitcoin market.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson Discusses the Future of ADA: He Praised the Founder of the Controversial Altcoin

    Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson Discusses the Future of ADA: He Praised the Founder of the Controversial Altcoin

    Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson made statements about TRON founder Justin Sun, relations with the European Union, Monad, Midnight, and Cardano’s decentralized finance goals. Hoskinson also said he sees a low probability of the CLARITY Act, closely followed by the crypto sector in the US, becoming law.

    Hoskinson, stating that he has had a good relationship with Justin Sun for many years, said, “I love Justin Sun. He has been very kind to me over the years. We have a very nice and sincere relationship based on mutual respect. He has done incredible things. There is only one direction for him: upwards. You have to admire that.”

    Hoskinson also mentioned the contacts maintained with European Union institutions, stating that the work in this area is largely carried out by the Cardano Foundation. He said the foundation has established strong relationships across the EU and is regularly invited to events, adding that he finds the ongoing work successful.

    Hoskinson said he had no problems with Monad.

    Hoskinson highlighted RealFi, a product within the Cardano ecosystem, stating that it is one of the company’s most promising projects. He argued that RealFi has the highest potential to generate $1 billion in locked total value (TVL) for Cardano within the next 12 months.

    Hoskinson also spoke about Midnight’s NIGHT token not being listed on Coinbase, stating that Coinbase is the only major exchange that hasn’t listed the token. He attributed this to Coinbase’s investment in Aleo, which it considers a rival project, but expressed his belief that the exchange will change its decision in the future.

    Hoskinson also shared his expectations regarding the CLARITY Act, which aims to regulate the digital asset market in the US. When asked whether the bill would pass, he replied, “Probably not.”

  • Spotify Will Now Flag ‘AI Personas’ and Stop Recommending Their Music

    Spotify Will Now Flag ‘AI Personas’ and Stop Recommending Their Music

    Is that a human artist or an AI persona? Spotify will soon make that distinction clearer with new “AI Persona” labels.

    The streamer introduced the label today and said that it will apply to artists’ profiles whose public identity, name, and imagery “represent photorealistic AI-generated identities.”

    You will begin seeing the label in search, artist profiles, and playlists starting in mid-September. Once an artist has been marked as an “AI Persona,” Spotify won’t include their songs in any editorial or algorithmic recommendations unless you follow the AI Persona.

    “Listeners have been clear in telling us that they don’t like seeing an artist profile that seems human, only to find out that the persona is AI-generated,” Spotify says. “The badge signals to listeners that an artist’s identity may be AI-generated and does not represent a real person.”

    Artists can declare themselves as an AI Persona through the Spotify for Artists platform starting today. Spotify will also begin identifying and marking “Likely AI Personas” soon.

    If Spotify applies the label, the account holder will be notified and allowed to make a self-disclosure. They will also be allowed to appeal the label if it was applied in error.

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    Spotify already has a Verified by Spotify badge for real, human artists, and an AI credits badge to indicate when part of a track is generated by AI. The new AI Persona label is meant to ensure that artists whose public image doesn’t suggest they are human are marked as such.

    “This badge is about the artist’s public identity, not about how the music was made,” Spotify said. The streamer also noted that while “all artists have creative choice in determining how they present themselves, Spotify’s programming is focused on elevating music from authentic artists building careers in music.”

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  • ‘Possession’ Remake With Callum Turner, Margaret Qualley Sets Summer 2027 Release

    ‘Possession’ Remake With Callum Turner, Margaret Qualley Sets Summer 2027 Release

    A remake of Possession is ready to take over theaters.

    Paramount Pictures has set a wide theatrical release for filmmaker Parker Finn‘s reimagining of the 1981 supernatural thriller feature on June 11, 2027. Callum Turner, Margaret Qualley, Diego Calva, Madeline Brewer, Emory Cohen, Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Paul Dano round out the cast.

    Finn (Smile) helms Possession from his own script that is based on writer-director Andrzej Żuławski’s original film. Producers for the new movie include Finn and Jonathan Fass for Bad Feeling, alongside Roy Lee and Andrew Childs for Vertigo. Robert Pattinson also produces.

    Also set for theatrical release on that same weekend is Universal’s live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon 2.

    Starring Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, the 1981 Possession centered on a woman going through a divorce who begins exhibiting bizarre behavior. A meditation on marriage, the international co-production between France and Germany was not a major hit but developed a cult following.

    The Hollywood Reporter broke the news in 2024 that Finn would team with producer Pattinson on the project, which had sparked a bidding war.

    Finn made his feature directorial debut with 2022’s Smile, a breakout horror hit for Paramount that grossed $217 million globally on a $17 million budget. He also helmed the 2024 sequel.

    Turner currently stars opposite Monica Barbaro in Will Gluck’s romantic comedy One Night Only, which hit theaters over the weekend from Universal. Qualley stars alongside Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin in Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars, which 20th Century is set to release theatrically later this month.

  • ‘Summer House’ Star Bailey Taylor Signs With Gersh (Exclusive)

    ‘Summer House’ Star Bailey Taylor Signs With Gersh (Exclusive)

    Bailey Taylor, one of the newest recurring cast members on Bravo’s Summer House, has signed with Gersh for representation in all areas.

    Outside of Summer House, Taylor is a content creator behind the It Girl series, which includes an online video series, the Substack The It Girl Guide and the iHeartRadio podcast It Girl Podcast, where recent guests range from Dieux Skin founder Charlotte Palermino to Love Island alums.

    Taylor joined the Bravo series in its latest season, which later exploded into scandal and earned its first Emmy nomination in the outstanding unstructured reality program category. The season, the tenth for the long-running show, earned series ratings highs, with a record-breaking 2.2 million viewers per episode.

    “We had no idea where it was going,” executive producer Steven Weinstock recently told The Hollywood Reporter. “We had to sit and look at the story arcs of the individuals that were involved and we had to consider ways in which we could bring that story to the audience that really made sense and didn’t cheat them out of the real drama of the story.”