Harvard kids singing Radiohead’s “Creep.”
This could have gone very wrong.
Then the lead singer opens his mouth.
The Harvard Veritones have won at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella — the real-world competition that inspired Pitch Perfect.
Turn the sound on for this one.
Jean Smart spent four decades in television before she got her first lead actress Emmy nomination. She was 69. She has not lost since.
No performer had ever swept a full series run. Julia Louis-Dreyfus won six straight for Veep, the greatest comedy streak on record, and lost the final season to Fleabag. Bryan Cranston dropped two middle seasons of Breaking Bad to Damian Lewis. In 78 years of Emmys, every streak broke somewhere. Smart went five for five and closed the book last night.
The role makes it better. Deborah Vance is a comedian the industry decided was finished, grinding out Vegas residencies while younger acts took her slots. Smart didn't have to research that. After Designing Women in 1986, she spent 30 years in guest spots and supporting parts, because those are the parts that get written for women past 50.
Then the late run started. Fargo at 64. Watchmen at 68. Mare of Easttown and Hacks premiered within weeks of each other when she was 69, and three writers in their thirties bet an entire show on the premise that a woman in her seventies could carry a comedy.
She now has eight Emmys, tied with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman for the most any performer has ever won. Five of the eight came after she turned 69.
The show was about a comedian refusing to be finished. The actress playing her spent five years proving the premise.