5. Ellen’s ‘Anaconda’
Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” music video has taken the Internet by storm, with 153 million views on YouTube and counting. The jungle adventure-themed clip has attracted praise and criticism in seemingly equal measure—and it’s been the butt of its share of jokes.
It certainly didn’t escape Ellen DeGeneres’s comedic tractor beam, as she and her team made their own version featuring the talk show star quite prominently, thanks to some Photoshop magic.
4. Britney Spears Joins Tinder
Anyone who’s a frequent consumer of entertainment news is probably aware that Britney Spears, ‘90s teen pop star turned major sex symbol turned cautionary tale turned seemingly normal celebrity survivor, is newly single. Jimmy Fallon was definitely aware, because he went ahead and signed the “Toxic” singer up for mobile dating app Tinder.
After what was surely a New York-area swipe-pocalypse, as red-blooded males and similarly inclined females frantically tried to find the star’s profile, Jimmy brought Spears out for a decidedly awkward tag team “Pros and Cons” segment.
3. Wax Linsanity
Jeremy Lin exploded onto the stage as the breakout star of one in a long line of mediocre New York Knicks seasons in 2011-12. While he made his mark with fans across the league, he was an especially potent role model for Asian Americans, of whom there have been very few in the NBA.
Plenty of Bay-area B-ball fans were excited when it was announced he would be a model for a wax sculpture in San Francisco’s Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. They got quite a shock when they showed up to see the finished product, however.
2. Mike Tyson vs. Canadian TV
Though he’s currently enjoying a career resurgence as a raconteur, retired pugilist Mike Tyson has learned that this brave new world of social media and round-the-clock news isn’t very interested in letting sleeping dogs lie. After he met with embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford on Wednesday, he was asked by a local TV host whether his appearance with the Mayor—and his 1992 conviction as a rapist—would hurt Ford’s (since abandoned) bid for reelection. Perhaps understandably, Tyson is not too happy with the newsman: “You know it’s so interesting because you come across as a nice guy, but you’re really a piece of s**t.” Uh oh.
1. Star S’Mores
Sesame Street, which kicks off its 45th season next week, has always been among the ranks of children’s programming that adults can also enjoy. This clip is a delightful romp through a galaxy far, far away—the Cookies and Milky Way, to be exact—as a cast of Muppets featuring everyone from “Luke Piewalker” to “Only One Canoli” try to help Cookie Monster’s “Flan Solo” with his crippling cookie addiction. A series of sharp references make it as much fun for adults as for the target kid audience, who it is assumed should be learning the importance of self-control in their lives.