Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Sudeikis hosts hometown fundraiser
With an Emmy win and a hit Apple TV+ series under his belt, Jason Sudeikis is having one big year.
On that show, “Ted Lasso,” Sudeikis plays an upbeat and good-natured American football coach who takes charge of a professional British soccer team despite knowing little about the game.
The fish-out-ofwater comedy has been a welcome escape for many fans dealing with pandemic blues and other stressful events marking the past 15 months. The second season of the series explored the mental health struggles of Sudeikis’ character. And its anyone’s guess what the third — reportedly set to begin filming in January — will bring.
Amid the success, Sudeikis recently returned to his hometown of Kansas City to host Thundergong!, an annual benefit concert for a charity that helps amputees who lack proper health coverage pay for prosthetic limbs. The event, streaming Saturday night via thundergong.org, will raise money for Steps of Faith Foundation.
The Kansas City-based organization is headed by Billy Brimblecom Jr., a drummer and longtime friend. Sudeikis fundraised to get Brimblecom a prosthetic leg after he was diagnosed by a form of cancer that required him to undergo a leg amputation.
Duchess of Sussex visits Ellen:
It was the Meghan hour Thursday on the talk show of her friend, Ellen DeGeneres, as the Duchess of Sussex helped welcome a special guest, hit the studio lot to prank vendors and said she’ll be cooking Thanksgiving dinner herself.
“I love to cook. We’ll be home and just sort of relax and settle in,” Meghan said of her second Thanksgiving in California with Britain’s Prince Harry and, now, their two kids.
Meghan and DeGeneres, who met at a pet store more than a decade ago, chatted about Halloween (Archie was a dinosaur, and baby Lili, a skunk), and more serious issues like Meghan’s work to push for federal paid family leave. And she said Harry has taken nicely to the California lifestyle in Montecito, where Ellen is one of their neighbors.
“He loves it,” Meghan said. “We’re just happy.”
Backstreet Boys’ video notches 1B YouTube views:
The Backstreet Boys have joined the rarefied ranks for pop music acts who’ve surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube.
The video for the boy band’s 1999 song “I Want It That Way” hit the top mark on the video sharing platform, becoming their first video to reach the milestone. According to YouTube, the music video wasn’t uploaded to the service until 2009. But it has averaged over 400,000 daily views in 2021.
One of only a few from the 1990s to surpass 1 billion views on YouTube, the video joins Guns N’ Roses “November Rain,” Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up,” The Cranberries’ “Zombie” and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”
Nov. 20 birthdays: Comedian Dick Smothers is 83. Journalist Judy Woodruff is 75. Actor Richard Masur is 73. Actor Bo Derek is 65. Pianist Jim Brickman is 60. Actor Ming-Na Wen is 58. Rapper Mike D is 56. Actor Callie Thorne is 52. Actor Joel McHale is 50. Actor Joshua Gomez is 46. Actor Nadine Velazquez is 43. Actor Jeremy Jordan is 37.