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Kylie Jenner Shows Off Her Bikini Body In Revealing Instagram Pic

Kylie Jenner looks red hot while stepping out for lunch with a friend at Sagebrush Cantina on Saturday (March 28) in Calabasas Calif.

The 17 year old reality star later changed into a grey dress and posted on her Instagram account the next day that she couldn t choose a dress yesterday.

Kylie also posted a bunch of super sexy bikini photos that may have been some of her most revealing pictures yet. She was joined in one of the poolside pics by her sister Kourtney Kardashian s partner Scott Disick.

FYI Kylie is wearing an Issa de mar bikini and an HM dress.

30 pictures inside of Kylie Jenner looking red hot

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Who is Trevor Noah Daily Show fans will soon find out

(CNN)You may not know it but comedian Trevor Noah actually made a bit of history even before being named to succeed Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show.

The 31 year old South African comic has made only a few appearances on that show since popping up as a correspondent in December but he's better known within the world of standup comedy.

In 2013 Noah became the first African comedian to perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

He's been on the cover of Rolling Stone in South Africa where he's extremely popular. He's joked about being the son of a black African woman and a white Swiss man who met when interracial relationships were illegal in South Africa.

My mom would be arrested. She would be fined and still she was like 'ooh I don't care I want a white man ooh ' he once told an audience at London's Soho Theater during his standup show The Racist. And my dad was also like well you know how the Swiss love chocolate.

Why mixed race comic was 'born a crime'

Race identity and ethnicity have figured in prominently in his act.

Because of his parents' then illegal relationship he joked In the streets my father couldn't walk with us. He would walk on the other side of the road and wave at me like a creepy pedophile. And my mom could walk with me but every time the police went by she would drop me. I felt like a bag of weed.

Noah has said in his act that he lost touch with his father for several years because of apartheid.

In 2012 he told NPR that he was fascinated by how Americans discuss race.

I got to Baltimore and I was expecting ... because urban means built up and new you know he said. So I got there and I was 'Whoa it's not as urban as people told me.' ... But it's very black. I'll tell you that much.

Noah told CNN's African Voices in 2013 that after finding success in his homeland where he starred on a soap opera hosted his own radio show and was the subject of the 2012 documentary You Laugh But It's True he moved to the United States for a year to try to raise his profile.

He returned to his country with new material shaped by his time spent in the States he said.

Comedy is really getting quite popular in South Africa Noah said. It's moving from the bastard child of entertainment into the mainstream which is very good. I think the reason it's doing so well is because South Africans need to laugh and South Africans want to laugh.

Noah has moved to the U.S. permanently and told Newsweek I've always wanted to be a comedian in the world. I don't want to be labeled a South African comedian.

On The Daily Show he debuted as a correspondent with a bit titled Spot the Africa which juxtaposed modern day South Africa and the United States.

What remains to be seen is whether what the Guardian has described as his combination of terribly polite butter wouldn't melt stage presence and biting often brutal gags will translate into success on The Daily Show.

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Kids Choice Awards 2015 Angelina Jolie Jennifer Lopez Tons of Slime

Nick Jonas wowed the crowd at the 2015 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards held Saturday at the Forum in Inglewood Calif. which seats 17 500 screaming kids.

The host pulled double duty kicking off the live show with a medley performance of his hits Chains and Jealous. Welcomed by a video montage of A listers chanting his name Taylor Swift Heidi Klum and of course SpongeBob SquarePants Patrick Star Jonas took the stage in front of the star studded audience including Chris Pratt Jamie Foxx and Angelina Jolie who was joined by two of her kids Shiloh and Zahara.

A lot of girls in the house are still struggling after One Direction became two directions Jonas greeted the crowd alluding to this week s news of the boy band losing member Zayn Malik. Poking fun at himself he quipped What s next the Jonas Brother

Emma Stone won the first award of the night for favorite movie actress. Next up Kaley Cuoco Sweeting and Kevin James presented Liam Hemsworth who walked up to stage through a fountain of slime with the orange blimp for favorite male action star. Hemsworth s co star Jennifer Lawrence not in attendance also won for favorite female action star and The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 won for favorite movie.

Some of the night s other big winners were Jolie who won for Maleficient Ben Stiller who won for the latest Night at the Museum installment girl band Fifth Harmony The Voice for favorite talent competition show Disney Channel s Austin Ally and Modern Family whose entire cast was slimed when they accepted their honor for favorite family show.

When I was little I was told I was different Jolie said during her acceptance speech picking up the award for best villain. She addressed the room of kids with an inspiring message. Different is good. So don t fit in. Don t sit still. Don t ever try to do less than you are. When somebody tells you you re different smile and hold your head up high and be proud. And as your villain I would also say cause a little trouble. It s good for you.

Josh Gad who headed to the Kids Choice Awards after Variety Studio Actors on Actors presented the blimp for favorite reality Sh ow with Adam Sandler. The comedians (not to be confused with Gad s upcoming FX series) announced the winner Dance Moms but not before Sandler doused Gad in green goo via a gigantic slime gun.

Throughout the night Jonas made his way through the crowd to take photos with celebrities such as Terrell Owens and Al Roker who predicted a forecast of slime.

Jennifer Lopez was one of the show s surprise superstars. The American Idol icon presented the award for favorite male singer which went to the man of the night Jonas.

You deserve this and so much more Lopez said bringing down gallons of slime to drench the host. Do you want some more Because I can make it happen she teased.

Chris Rock Zendaya Tia Mowry Hardrict Debby Ryan YouTube phenomenons Bethany Mota and Shawn Mendes and Nick Cannon who donned an orange suit were presenters at the KCAs.

Iggy Azalea and Jennifer Hudson teamed up to perform their single Trouble with the rapper dressed up as an inmate and the songstress as a cop.

Closing the night Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer rocked out to their hit What I Like About You and yes the stage exploded with slime.

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Justin Timberlake Thanks Pregnant Wife Jessica Biel At The iHeartRadio Awards

Justin Timberlake was sure to save the best for last during his lengthy iHeartRadio Awards acceptance speech for the Innovator Award on Sunday.

After spending some time encouraging his young fans to embrace being different as well as thanking his mother and management team the 34 year old ended his speech with a touching (and funny) shout out to his pregnant wife Jessica Biel.

Lastly you can't have innovation without creation so finally I want to thank my best friend my favorite collaborator my wife Jessica at home who's watching Timberlake said. Honey I can't wait to see our greatest creation yet. Don't worry Daddy's heading home right now to innovate by learning how to change a poopy diaper and get my swaddle on.

Biel and Timberlake are expecting their first child together any day now.

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Bill Raftery 73 gets first chance at Final Four on TV

Bill Raftery will be calling his first Final Four on TV after doing it on radio for 23 years.(Photo Sean Dougherty USA TODAY Sports)

HOUSTON The practice session was almost over. Mike Krzyzewski wandered over to press row said hello and then asked Bill Raftery Did my wife straighten you out

He was referring to a few moments earlier as Duke went through light drills at NRG Stadium the day before a South region semifinal when Mickie Krzyzewski had chatted with the CBS/Turner broadcast crew. Feigning injury Raftery announced

She called me 'Rafferty.'

Krzyzewski smiled and said Don't you hate when people mispronounce your name

They both laughed and this it should be noted is a default mode during interactions with Raftery but later noting a long relationship that goes back to when Krzyzewski was coaching at Army and Raftery was coaching at Seton Hall the broadcaster got the last word.

Back then he was 'Kruh shev sky ' said Raftery delivering the needle with glee. Now he gets to Duke and it's 'Shuh shef sky' so that's the background on that.

FOR THE WIN

Legendary NCAA broadcaster Bill Raftery is also an 'after hours' legend

There's little chance that Raftery will be in the background this weekend in Indianapolis when he calls his first Final Four on TV after calling it on radio for 23 years. Not with the potential for one of those familiar catchphrases to pop at any time filling a big moment with infectious energy

Onions

His ascent to the top analyst's job at 73 has been greeted with nearly universal approval.

He is beloved says Jim Nantz the longtime play by play announcer. When you listen to him on the air you can hear his smile.

Says Sean McManus chairman of CBS Sports I think people feel he's not only talented but he deserved it.

The question then is simple Why hasn't this happened sooner

Raftery was given the assignment only after Greg Anthony was arrested in January in Washington D.C. and charged with soliciting a prostitute. If not for unfortunate circumstances as Raftery puts it he'd still be sitting a few seats down on press row calling the games on radio. And to hear him tell it he'd be OK with that.

I never coveted it or had any idea it would happen he says.

Quite possibly it means more to those who know Raftery and in college hoops circles that's just about everyone.

For 33 years since leaving coaching to try broadcasting Raftery has delighted college basketball audiences with upbeat commentary peppered with memorable catchphrases.

Send it in

To the tin

With the kiss

A little lingerie on the deck

Nantz says he's delighted to be reunited with Raftery. They worked together in the 1980s both on games and in the studio. And nothing Nantz says has changed.

He's the same guy he was he says. All the rest of the world has gotten a little bit older but Raftery is this timeless guy who continues to see things very quickly very crisp in his commentary this whimsical approach to dropping in a quip here and there I just laugh.

BIRTH OF CATCHPHRASES

Raftery says the catchphrases weren't manufactured but just popped out probably products of his New Jersey upbringing friends busting each other's chops having fun but nothing he'd ever said before.

The bank shot to me was what is a bank shot he says. So that became 'the kiss.' My mom was a great lady as all moms are. She never watched my games but if I'd ever said 'jock' on the air she'd have been shocked. So it became 'lingerie on the deck ' instead of saying 'He faked him out of his jock.'

Onions Yeah it means what everyone thinks it means at least in part. Raftery first used it years ago when the Nets' Kevin Edwards hit a 3 pointer to beat Orlando.

The hard part is Raftery says it doesn't sell if it is that. It's really about you you know you can't use 'courage' because guys in the military have courage and it's a basketball game. But there's a toughness that some of these kids have. And that word just sort of came out. It really was just like intestinal fortitude or toughness. It just fit.

There are of course more catchphrases. Raftery hears them wherever he goes fans yelling them from the stands in arenas or in concourses at airports. To him part of their appeal is their brevity. In big moments it's a way to cede time to the play by play guy.

You'll say 'Mike (Krzyzewski) might run this for (Jahlil) Okafor ' Raftery says. So Jim describes it and now Okafor makes this unbelievable shot. You only have that much of a window a quick in and out.

In other words or word ONIONS

Gonzaga coach Mark Few middles talks with CBS broadcasters Grant Hill from left Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson last week in Houston before the regional semifinals. (Photo Bob Donnan USA TODAY Sports)

LEAVING COACHING

You might say Raftery had some when he left behind the head coaching position at Seton Hall only a few days before the 1981 season.

A three sport athlete Raftery set the state's all time scoring record in 1959 at St. Cecilia's High School in Kearny N.J. it wasn't broken for 35 years. He played basketball at LaSalle and earned a tryout with the New York Knicks. George Blaney the longtime college assistant and head coach who grew up with Raftery says only a back injury prevented Raftery from a long professional career.

Billy has become such a wordsmith I guess in his communication and what he does Blaney says. But he makes people forget what a great player he was. And the fact he was a really good coach. I just think he's a basketball treasure.

Raftery was 154 141 in 11 years at Seton Hall. But he'd been interested in broadcasting for years and had said as much to Dave Gavitt the Big East commissioner who also called games on TV. When Gavitt called with an offer but told him he had only two days to decide and guaranteed him only nine games Raftery chose TV.

It was the hardest thing I ever did leaving those kids I'd recruited Raftery says. But it just worked out.

USA TODAY

An unseen hand helps Kentucky coach well and play better

He ended up calling 32 games that first season and kept adding more. CBS. ESPN. The New Jersey Nets. More recently Fox Sports. For the first dozen years he worked for a bank keeping a day job he says and kept his approach simple.

I'm really enjoying this he says. I'm just gonna put my head down and do the best job I can.

And as the years went on and Raftery became a fixture on the college basketball landscape he says he never spent much time thinking about calling games on the sport's biggest stage.

I had fun all year doing whatever I was doing he says. It wasn't a goal to be in there (calling) the last game. And radio (for the Final Four) just happened. And now TV sort of just happened.

PHOTOS NCAA TOURNAMENT CHEERLEADERS

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Among the reasons he says that he didn't think the Final Four assignment would happen was Billy Packer's longtime hold on the job Packer retired in 2008 after 27 years and he hastens to add that Packer is a friend. But that brings up a story about Raftery and his wife Joan bumping into Packer at the Indianapolis airport before a Final Four sometime in the past.

Raftery offered Packer a ride knowing that he wouldn't pay for a cab. During a lull in the conversation Joan Raftery asked Packer Which team do you coach

Before he could answer I said 'All of them ' Raftery says.

He laughs. But it points out a contrast in his style with other color analysts. McManus says the catchphrases sometimes obscure a darn good basketball analyst. And Raftery's meticulous preparation is evident in a bulging black notebook and especially several pages ripped from a legal pad and covered in a tight scrawl including diagrams of plays and other curious notations. How much of it makes it on air Who knows But as Nantz says you can hear the smile.

I try to enjoy the game and enjoy the moment Raftery says whether that's by an expression or a thought. And I think there's a lightness in the game too. There are opportunities to present something in a light way. I don't want to have the tendency to really overelaborate or drive it home. If you can do it nicely hopefully people like it and it works.

TEAM OF THE FUTURE

Raftery's promotion has given CBS and Turner a way to take the spotlight off of Anthony's suspension. With Grant Hill replacing Steve Kerr now coaching the NBA's Golden State Warriors only Nantz returns from a year ago on the Final Four team. Although the trio has worked together only since the Big Ten tournament there have been pretty of light moments.

I can't remember laughing this much on the air Nantz says. I've enjoyed every single second of it. I call it the 'Magic of Raft.' He makes everyone better.

McManus who says he like the different perspectives especially between Raftery and Hill the former Duke star who retired from the NBA in 2013 says the arrangement is not temporary.

It's not looked at as a one year stopgap McManus says. I hope this is the team for many years into the future.

Asked again what the promotion means to him Raftery launches into one more story telling about when he attended the 1976 Final Four in Philadelphia with his high school coach. They sneaked in he said and sat in the last row of the old Spectrum.

They had birds flying around in the building he says so I said 'Coach move your arms.' He said 'Why ' I said 'Just to let the pigeons know we're alive so they don't (defecate) on us.'

His point I was always a part of it.

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Duke and Wildcats Match Up Tuesday in Davidson

DURHAM N.C. Following a 10 9 defeat of Syracuse Saturday in Durham fifth ranked Duke (10 1 4 1 ACC) steps out of conference play to travel to in state opponent Davidson Tuesday at 6 p.m. Live video and live stats links for the non conference matchup will be available on GoDuke.com.

By the Numbers250 Career points accumulated by senior attacker Kerrin Maurer who is now tied for third in program history with Caroline Cryer in the category6 Maurer s current rank among all active Division I players in career points1/11 The team s conference and national rank in goals against average (7.09)9 The Blue Devils national rank in scoring margin (6.55)44 Number of goals by which Duke is outscoring its opponents in the first half this season4 1 Duke s record against ranked foes this spring6 0 The Blue Devils record at home so far this season

Davidson Series HistoryThe Blue Devils and the Wildcats will meet for the 13th time in program history Tuesday ... Duke is undefeated in the all time series with a 12 0 ledger ... The Blue Devils are 6 0 in contests played in Davidson N.C. ... Last year s meeting saw nine different Blue Devils tally goals to fuel a 21 2 victory at Koskinen Stadium ... Defensively Duke limited Davidson to just two goals on six shots ... Defender Taylor Virden won five draw controls to help the Blue Devils take the category 18 6.

Scouting the WildcatsDavidson (3 5 0 1 A 10) will look to snap a three game losing streak against Duke Tuesday ... The Wildcats are coming off of a 10 11 loss to George Washington in the team s Atlantic 10 opener last weekend ... Emily Cooke paces the attack with 20 points on four goals and 16 assists while Lucy Sexton (19g) and Annie Brockett (16g 3a) both have 19 points each ... Cooke moved into second place on Davidson s all time career points list earlier this month and holds the school s career assists record ... Emma Sissman leads the team at the draw with 25 in eight games while goalkeeper Katy Boyle owns a 10.23 goals against average and a .444 save percentage.

Blue Devils vs. the Atlantic 10The Duke program is 31 2 all time against Atlantic 10 opponents ... The Blue Devils defeated A 10 member Richmond in February 17 4.

A Look at DukeThe Blue Devils moved up one spot to No. 5 in the IWLCA Coaches Poll after edging No. 7 Syracuse Saturday 10 9 ... The squad is outscoring opponents by an average of 6.55 goals a game to rank second in the ACC and ninth nationally ... Duke is also 10th in the country in total points (220) and 11th in goals against average (7.09) ... Senior Kerrin Maurer ranks second in the ACC in assists per game (1.82) and ranks fifth in points per game (4.00) ... Junior Kelsey Duryea is among the top five goalkeepers nationally in save percentage (.520) and leads the conference in that category as well as in goals against average (6.86).

Last Time OutSixth ranked Duke came out on top in a back and forth battle between a pair of top 10 teams Saturday defeating No. 7 Syracuse 10 9 in Koskinen Stadium ... The Blue Devils rebounded from a loss last weekend at Virginia to collect their fourth victory in ACC play ... Senior Brigid Smith recorded her fourth hat trick of the season and freshman midfielder Maddie Crutchfield logged a season high three points and added three caused turnovers ... Senior attacker Kerrin Maurer matched a career high with eight draw controls ... Junior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea totaled nine saves in the victory.

One Goal GamesThe Blue Devils prevailed over Syracuse 10 9 in their first one goal game of the season Saturday ... The program is 32 32 all time in contests decided by one goal ... Since 2010 Duke has played in 17 one games posting an 11 6 record in that span.

Hats OffSeniors Kerrin Maurer and Brigid Smith pace the Duke attack with four hat tricks on the season while three other Blue Devils seniors Katie Trees and Taylor Trimble and freshman Kyra Harney have recorded three ... Smith collected her fourth hat trick Saturday in the win over the Orange ... Maurer leads all current Blue Devils with 22 hat tricks for her career ... Trimble tallied four goals to fuel a 10 8 Duke victory at Louisville March 14 ... Maurer scored a season high six markers in the opener at Elon Feb. 7.

Maurer Quarterbacks Duke AttackSenior Kerrin Maurer continues to lead the Blue Devil offense in her final season ... The Setauket N.Y. native paces Duke in goals assists points and draw controls ... She owns 108 assists for her career to rank second all time at Duke and 10th in ACC history ... Maurer is seventh among all active Division I players in career assists and first among current ACC student athletes in the category ... She reached the 250 point mark for her career in Saturday s win over Syracuse tying her for third all time at Duke.

Div. I Active Career Leaders Points

Div. I Active Career Leaders Assists

Senior Experience Paying DividendsDuke is fielding one of its most experienced teams in recent history led by an eight member senior class ... The starting lineup features six seniors including Chelsea Landon Kerrin Maurer and Brigid Smith on attack Katie Trees and Taylor Trimble in the midfield and Gabby Moise on defense ... Captain Erin Tenneson has seen valuable minutes on the second midfield line and Angel Thompson provides leadership as the team s backup goalie ... The eight seniors average 52.1 games played and 33.5 games started for their careers.

Noting the Strong StartThe Blue Devils 10 1 record to open the spring matches the program s best start to a season set in 2006 ... That team went on to finish the spring as the ACC regular season champions and reached the NCAA semifinals ... Head coach Kerstin Kimel s squad is tied for third among all Division I teams with a .909 win percentage.

Devilish on DefenseOpponents are averaging just 7.09 goals per game against a tough Duke defense ... Duke currently leads the ACC and is ranked 11th nationally in that category ... The defensive unit has held nine of its 11 opponents to single digit scoring ... The Blue Devils have averaged 7.5 caused turnovers a game ... Anchored by junior Kelsey Duryea in the net Duke has kept opponents off the board for 20 or more minutes four times on the spring and for 15 or more minutes 11 times.

Scoring StreaksSenior attacker Kerrin Maurer has tallied at least one point in a career best 37 consecutive games heading into the weekend ... The Setauket N.Y. native has scored multiple goals in nine of the 10 contests this spring and posted multiple assists seven times ... Senior Taylor Trimble and freshman Kyra Harney have registered at least one point in all 11 games this spring.

Blue Devils Climbing Career ChartsSenior Kerrin Maurer has surpassed the 250 points 100 draw controls and 100 assists marks for her career this season ... She is one of just nine players all time at Duke with 200 or more points for her career (250) and moved into a tie for third with Caroline Cryer on the all time list last weekend ... The 250 career points also rank her sixth among all active Division I players ... Senior Taylor Trimble recorded the 100th goal of her career in the season opening win over Elon ... Junior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea owns 366 saves for her career to rank sixth at Duke and topped the 100 ground balls mark March 14 against Louisville.

Duke in the PollsThe Blue Devils have been ranked inside the top 10 of the IWLCA Coaches Poll every week dating back to May 2008 when the squad was tabbed No. 12 ... The squad earned a season high ranking of No. 4 in the IWLCA poll March 9 ... The No. 4 ranking was the highest for the program since March of 2012.

Scheduling the BestDuke s 2015 slate features nine teams currently ranked in the IWLCA and Inside Lacrosse national polls ... The Blue Devils schedule includes matchups with four of the top five teams in the coaches poll ... Duke will face 10 of the teams selected to the 2014 NCAA Tournament field including national semifinalists Northwestern Syracuse and Virginia.

250 Victories for Kimel and Duke ProgramThe March 14 victory at Louisville marked the 250th for the Duke program ... Head coach Kerstin Kimel has guided the Blue Devils to an all time record of 251 119 since establishing the program in 1996 ... Kimel registered the 250th victory of her coaching career Feb. 22 against William Mary ... She is one of just six active Division I head coaches with 250 or more career wins.

GoDuke

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Australia triumphs in cricket World Cup

(CNN)Australia won the battle of the hosts to lift cricket's World Cup for the fifth time with a seven wicket win over New Zealand in Melbourne Sunday.

Chasing a modest 184 for victory in front of a world record crowd at the MCG Steve Smith hit the winning runs with over 16 overs to spare.

Smith had shared a partnership of 112 with his captain Michael Clarke who was dismissed for 74 with victory assured.

Clarke making his final one day international appearance was given a standing ovation the crowd of 93 013 as he walked off after being bowled by Matt Henry.

An emotional Clarke looked to the sky in silent tribute to his close friend Phillip Hughes who died after being hit by a cricket ball in a match last November.

Read Clarke eulogy at funeral of cricketer Hughes

The tragedy cast an pall over the season and overshadowed the build up to cricket's 50 over showpiece which was staged in New Zealand and Australia.

We played this World Cup with 16 players and tonight is dedicated to our little brother Phillip Hughes said Clarke at the trophy presentation.

New Zealand which had topped its group after a narrow victory over old rivals Australia was unable to repeat the feat on Australian soil and its fate was almost sealed from the very first over.

Its captain and talisman Brendon McCullum was clean bowled for a duck by the outstanding Mitchell Starc and the Kiwis never full recovered from the early body blow.

Read Australia to meet New Zealand in final

The Australia pace attack of Starc Mitchell Johnson and James Faulkner shared eight wickets between them with only Grant Elliott (83) and Ross Taylor (40) offering much resistance.

They shared a fourth wicket stand of 111 but the loss of three wickets for one run wrecked the recovery and New Zealand lost its last seven wickets for 33 runs to be bowled out for 183 runs in 45 overs.

We played this World Cup with 16 players and tonight is dedicated to our little brother Phillip Hughes

Michael Clarke

Kiwi paceman Trent Boult took the early wicket of Aaron Finch but David Warner (45) Smith (56 not out) and Clarke clinched the latest triumph for Australia in the World Cup which is staged every four years.

Its victory over defending champions India set up the final showdown while New Zealand beat South Africa in its semifinal.

Boult ended as joint top wicket taker with Starc on 22 while Martin Guptill became the leading runs scorer when he reached 10 surpassing Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka but it was little consolation for the beaten finalists.

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What Else Do Ronda Rousey And The Rock Have Cooking For Us

Ronda Rousey and Dwayne The Rock Johnson team up to crush Stephanie McMahon and Triple H at WrestleMania.

Unless you've been living under a rock (not to be confused with Dwayne The Rock Johnson as you'll understand momentarily) for the past 24 hours you've likely seen Ronda Rousey's appearance at Sunday's Wrestlemania approximately 3 000 times. Teaming up with The Rock (not to be confused with the rock you've potentially been living under) the super duo fought Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a fight for the ages or at least the Internet. It's campy and glorious and you can watch for yourself above if you still haven't pressed the play button yet.

And if you're trying to smell what The Rock and Rousey have cooking for the future you're in luck. Thanks to a cryptic post by the UFC champ it seems the two are not yet finished dominating the WWE. In fact they are just getting started. SOUND THE EXCITEMENT ALARM

Please allow the mass speculation as to what this could possibly mean in 3 ... 2 ... 1.

UPDATE The Rock is in

See something entertaining on social media that you think deserves to be shared Let me know on Twitter darcymaine_espn.

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Gonzaga vs. Duke 2015 results 3 things we learned from Blue Devils shutdown ...

Duke was looking for its 12th Final Four berth. Gonzaga was looking for its first.

On Sunday in Houston history repeated itself at NRG Stadium in the South Regional final. No. 1 Duke locked down the Bulldogs on defense and made free throws and clutch shots down the stretch to earn a 66 52 win over No. 2 Gonzaga along with the last Final Four berth awarded in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.

Talented freshmen carried the day for Duke Matt Jones (16 points 4 for 7 from three) fired away from deep Justise Winslow (16 points) mixed threes and free throws and Tyus Jones contributed 15 points and six assists. That production made up from another relatively quiet game from Jahlil Okafor who finished with just nine points and seven rebounds.

But it was defense that made the difference down the stretch for the Blue Devils who held Gonzaga without a field goal for the final 6 40 of play building a double digit lead in the process. Bulldogs big men Przemek Karnowski and Domantas Sabonis combined for just 13 points and while Kentucky transfer Kyle Wiltjer's 16 points led Gonzaga only one other Zag Byron Wesley scored in double figures.

The victory gives Duke and Mike Krzyzewski 12 Final Four appearances tying Coach K with John Wooden for the most Final Four appearances by a coach in college basketball history.

Here are three things we learned from Duke's latest Elite Eight win under Krzyzewski.

1. Duke can be great without much from Okafor

In 40 minutes against Gonzaga Duke committed just three turnovers one in the first half (with 1 44 left on the clock) and two in the second one of them deliberate. Gonzaga had 11.

That care taken with the ball helped make up for a relatively mortal day by Okafor who struggled to find a rhythm against Gonzaga's bigs and underwhelming shooting inside the arc where the Blue Devils made only slightly more than a third of their shots. Duke took 56 shots to Gonzaga's 50 and 19 free throws to the Zags' nine keeping the ball for long enough to take shots and get fouled was the main difference there.

2. Duke is immune to shooting struggles in Houston

The NCAA Tournament has made three trips to the Houston Texans' stadium for regional and Final Four play since 2010. The cavernous venue and the use of huge black curtains to cover seats not sold for those games have wreaked havoc on shooting percentages most notably in the 2011 NCAA Tournament final a game in which UConn shot 34.5 percent from the field nearly doubling Butler's wretched 18.8 percent shooting on the night.

But Duke Duke has been just fine in Houston.

In four NCAA Tournament games in what was Reliant Stadium in 2010 and is NRG Stadium now Duke has made 28 of 66 threes and shot better than 40 percent from distance in three of four tries including an 8 for 19 performance on Sunday. 10 other teams have had a combined 14 chances to shoot in Houston and just one of those three point performances Baylor's 8 for 17 night against Saint Mary's in 2010 topped the 40 percent mark.

That magic the Blue Devils have at this venue has helped make them a perfect 4 0 in games in Houston since 2010 propelling them to two Final Fours.

3. Gonzaga just didn't have enough

Gonzaga had a chance to tie the game with just under five minutes to play on a Wiltjer layup but he missed. From that point on Duke would outscore the Zags 13 1.

And it wasn't shooting that got the Blue Devils those points Duke made just two field goals in the final 6 40 while Gonzaga made none. But Duke and especially Winslow was able to drive on Gonzaga to create scoring opportunities at the line while Gonzaga simply couldn't do the same with a team lacking in players capable of breaking down a defense off the dribble.

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Wait Until You Read What Martha Stewart Said to Justin Bieber at His Comedy ...

Let's face it Martha Stewart did seem like an odd choice to roast Justin Bieber.

But the 73 year old businesswoman who Kevin Hart described as having more street cred than Ludacris and Snoop Dogg combined ended up being a laugh riot during Comedy Central's Bieber roast that aired Monday. The lifestyle guru took hilarious swipes at fellow roasters like Shaquille O'Neal Ludacris Chris D'Elia and Natasha Legerre. But she saved her best material for the guest of honor who didn't seem to know how to react to the sassy mogul.

In case you missed her first ever roast appearance here's what Stewart had to say at the event that taped earlier this month near Hollywood

First of all thank you Kevin Hart. It's really great to be here. Sitting and listening to you yell your jokes over the last hour is the hardest time I've ever done.

As we all know Kevin is one of the biggest stars in the business right now. When he finally got his first big paycheck he spent $150 000 on a watch. I forget the term for that it's not 'African American rich.' It will come to me. Justin you know the word.

I know you are all wondering why I'm here tonight. It's because Martha Stewart changes people's lives for the better. Like Shaq for instance when Shaq bought his house I was the first person he called. The house had 13 bedrooms and I helped convert eight of them into refrigerators. I believe the bedroom is the most important room in the house but I don't have to tell you that Ludacris. You have three kids with three different women. May I suggest pulling out some time and finishing on some fine highly absorbent Martha Stewart bed linens

It's nice to see Snoop again one of the highest rated episodes on my show Martha Stewart Living was when Snoop and I made brownies together. I've used his recipe ever since. As a matter of fact I ate three of them right before they called and asked me to do this roast. Snoop I see that you have been following my beauty regimen. You would never know that Snoop Dogg is 43 now which is three times as long as actual dogs live and twice as long as most of his friends.

I do a lot of gardening but Natasha Legerre you are without a doubt the dirtiest used up ho I have ever seen. Natasha when a woman is as sexually active as you are they have to take special care of their body. I've come up with a douche that no one has ever heard of. You know like Chris D'Elia.

Hannibal Buress all night I've been trying to remember who you remind me of. Then it hit me you look just like that gingerbread man I left in the oven too long.

Let's get to the reason I'm here tonight which is to give Justin Bieber some tips to use when he inevitably ends up in prison. I've been in lockup and you wouldn't last a week so pay attention. The first thing you'll need is a shank. I made mine out of a pin tail comb and a pack of gum. It's so simple. I found Bubbalicious works best and it's so much fun to say. When I did my stretch all the hood rats on my cell block wanted to break off a piece of Martha Stewart's ass so I decided some bitch needed to get got. I walked into the chow hall picked out the biggest bull dyke and I stuck her. From then on prison was easier than making blueberry scones. Shaq I hope your mom doesn't still hold a grudge.

Justin before I go here is my final piece of advice. You need to settle down bring some balance into your life find yourself the right gal but she'll have to be someone on your level someone powerful and famous and rich someone you can smoke a joint with or indulge in the occasional three way. I'm talking about a playa in the board room and a freak in the bedroom.

So Justin my final piece of advice is call me.

Justin Bieber Roasted by Kevin Hart Martha Stewart Snoop Dogg and More

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Killing Jesus Breaks NatGeo Ratings Record With 3.7 Million Viewers

National Geographic Channel s adaptation of Bill O Reilly s book Killing Jesus nabbed 3.7 million viewers across Sunday night the biggest audience in history. The channel noted that the 8 PM premiere s 1.0 rating in adults 25 54 is the highest rating for that demo since the net s November 2013 premiere of O Reilly s Killing Kennedy which clocked a 1.1 and 300% higher than NatGeo s Sunday 8 11 PM average this calendar year.

The film also premiered last night on Nat Geo Mundo in the U.S. and will air globally in 171 countries. And Fox News Channel will repeat Killing Jesus this Friday at 8 PM and on Easter Sunday at 8 PM.

Fox News Channel star O Reilly wrote Killing Jesus with Martin Dugard. Their two earlier books Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln also were adapted for NatGeo and had been the two most watched programs in the network s history until last night s Killing Jesus unveiling. Killing Kennedy nabbed 3.4 million viewers in its November 2013 launch and Killing Lincoln had clocked 3.35 mil in February 2013. Before the Killing franchise came NatGeo s way NatGeo s largest crowd came way back in August 2005 with Inside 9/11 which had logged an initial 3 mil.

Last night s numbers were good news for NatGeo s new series The Big Picture With Kal Penn debuting tonight and Neil deGrasse s new late night talk show StarTalk debuting April 20 both shows were promoted heavily during the Killing Jesus premiere.

Cast of Killing Jesus included Kelsey Grammer as King Herod the Great Stephen Moyer as Pontius Pilate Haaz Sleiman in the title role as Jesus Rufus Sewell as Caiaphas Emmanuelle Chriqui as Herodia Eoin Macken as Antipas and John Rhys Davies as Annas.

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Watch Ronda Rousey take out HHH and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 31

UFC star Ronda Rousey made a surprise appearance Sunday night at WrestleMania 31 where she mixed it up with HHH and Stephanie McMahon.

The couple got into a verbal confrontation with The Rock who also also made a surprise appearance at the WWE's Super Bowl. McMahon told the People's Champion to leave the ring and he did.

However the Rock then walked over to Rousey who was watching the event from the first row.

Rock and Ronda then made their way into the ring and disposed of HHH and Stephanie McMahon which you can watch in the highlights above.

The Rock and Rousey both hinted via social media on Monday that they are not done with the WWE or the feud with HHH and McMahon.

Very cool and honored to have created such an electric and historic WrestleMania moment with my brilliant partner UFC World Champ rondarousey Incredible to see her connect with and inspire our awesome WWEUniverse record breaking crowd. IBuiltTheMoment SheDeliveredTheMagic RockAndRousey9000 WereJustGettingStarted

A photo posted by therock ( therock) on Mar 30 2015 at 1 05pm PDT

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Artist owned streaming service TIDAL promises to re establish the value of music

This afternoon Jay Z formally launched his new streaming music service TIDAL with an all star event in New York City. As it turns out Jay Z is merely a co owner Arcade Fire s Win Butler and R gine Chassagne Kanye West Jack White Daft Punk Beyonc Chris Martin of Coldplay Rihanna Madonna also have ownership interests in TIDAL.

All these artists were at hand for today s event and showed their commitment by signing a declaration on stage.

TIDAL is described as a platform owned by artists with the goal to re establish the value of music. Speaking on behalf of the group Alicia Keys explained We want to create a better service and experience for fans and artists. Our mission goes beyond commerce and technology.

Update Jay Z spoke to Billboard about his vision for TIDAL. Read below.

A video proceeding the event featured footage from a recent summit in which the owners of TIDAL gathered to discuss their vision. Daft Punk described the group as the Avengers of Music.

As previously reported TIDAL offers two paid subscription options $19.99 a month for high fidelity audio and $9.99 for standard quality audio. TIDAL can be streamed on the web and downloaded for iOS and Android devices.

It s reported that TIDAL s owners will exclusively release their music through the platform but that has yet to be confirmed.

Replay the event below.

Update Jay Z spoke to Billboard about his vision for TIDAL. We didn t like the direction music was going and thought maybe we could get in and strike an honest blow and if you know the very least we did was make people wake up and try to improve the free vs. paid system and promote fair trade then it would be a win for us anyway he explained.

People are not respecting the music and are devaluing it and devaluing what it really means Jay Z added. People really feel like music is free but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap and it s good water. But they re OK paying for it. It s just the mind set right now.

He said the overriding goal is to ensure artists are properly compensated for your work and not just the owners each of whom control a 3 percent stake in the company will reap the benefits. For someone like me I can go on tour. But what about the people working on the record the content creators and not just the artists If they re not being compensated properly then I think we ll lose some writers and producers and people like that who depend on fair trade. Some would probably have to take another job and I think we ll lose some great writers in the process. Is it fair No. If you put in work everyone else you go to work you get paid. That s fair trade. It s what our country is built on.

Jay Z also said he hopes TIDAL will inspire artists to take more risks creatively. He explained Artists come here and start making songs 18 minutes long or whatever. I know this is going to sound crazy but maybe they start attempting to make a Like a Rolling Stone you know a song that doesn t have a recognizable hook but is still considered one of the greatest songs of all time the freedom that this platform will allow art to flourish here

And while he would not confirm it outright he did tease TIDAL acquiring exclusive content from artists. Anything they want to offer you know just be as creative as possible that s the only charge really. Make it look really good and make everyone that consumes it think Man I got something really great. Treat the people with respect make it memorable.

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The Walking Dead season finale Luck runs out

Never bring a gun to a stick fight.

That was the first and best lesson of the bloated fifth season finale of AMC s The Walking Dead.

Judging from the episode AMC ran 60 minutes of commercials and 30 minutes of show. Please no more extended episodes. They re more chore than treat.

So many questions. The people of Alexandria finally wised up and all it had to take was somebody dying in front of them. Alas not the right somebody.

Morgan (Lennie James) is finally back And when confronted by two thugs with W on their foreheads they see themselves as wolves he takes them out all Jedi like with a stick.

Is it too much to hope that the terrific Lennie James will stick around for season six

ALSO READ

Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) just might be the most hated character in this show s history even surpassing Lori Andrea and Dale combined. And that s saying a lot.

He can t even commit suicide properly. But how did he kill a walker and put another victim out of its misery without every getting a drop of blood on his pure white jersey

Maybe as he said God is protecting his laundry.

How do you solve a problem like Rick Grimes

The lawman (Andrew Lincoln) isn t sorry for his mad outburst last episode just that he didn t say it sooner.

Carol (Melissa McBride) is still playing everyone s favorite undercover agent. She advises Rick Just tell them a story they want to hear. It s what I ve been doing These people are children and children like stories.

But when abusive doc Pete (Corey Brill) doesn t cotton to Carol s casserole she pulls out a knife.

I could kill you right now. I could. I will. And then who will believe I did it because I didn t like you No one.

And one more thing about that casserole.

I want my dish back clean when you re done she orders.

It can t be said enough Melissa McBride is this show s greatest asset. She plays a heroine unlike any we ve ever seen on any show. I wish the Emmy folks would wake up and smell the greatness.

Not so great The writing for this episode. Yeah we still have to talk about it.

Deanna s (Tovah Feldshuh) husband Reg (Steve Coulter) promises Maggie (Lauren Cohan) that he ll speak on Rick s behalf at the big town meeting to decide his fate.

Meanwhile we at home know Reg s fate. He s compassionate fatherly decent he s Herschel 2.0. He s dead.

Maggie has apparently revealed to no one that she overheard Father Jerkface telling Deanna that the group was evil and should be cast out. That information is kind of important. She could have defended the group or warned the others. The writing here is just mysterious.

Elsewhere Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) trigger one of the wolf traps and end up trapped in a car with about 80 kajillion walkers banging on the hood.

That car sure is sturdy. Must be a foreign import.

Daryl and Aaron are about to make a break for it well after Daryl finishes that smoke when Morgan and his amazing Stick of Wonder (trademark pending) disperse enough walkers for them to get to safety.

I m sorry what Did I mention the 80 kajillion walkers

Also unbelievable Nicholas lures Glenn (Steven Yeun) out into the forest and tries to kill him multiple times.

Glenn is shot and beaten and walkers are about to make a nugget out of him

Quite the predicament We never see how Glenn survives. We just know he does relatively unscathed. And when he has a choice to kill Nicholas he spares his life.

Now that is something that s going to bite you Glenn.

Father Flaming Idiot is responsible for setting off the night s carnage. He can t even shut the gate properly. Walkers get in. Rick takes them out then drops one in the middle of the town meeting.

The people of Alexandria can t escape the truth The dead and the living will come for them because they re in here.

But we ll kill them Rick says. We ll survive. I ll show you how. You re going to change.

Pete interrupts this Come to Rick moment by showing up with Michonne s sword.

And Reg has to try to stop the situation from escalating because that is what good and decent men do and he gets his throat cut for it.

As she holds her dying husband in her arms Deanna turns to Rick and says Do it.

He doesn t need to be told twice. He shoots Pete.

And that s when Morgan walks in.

What will he make of Rick's actions Morgan might be too nice to live in this world or at least this compound.

What did you think of the finale

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Worst and Best Storytelling Matches of WrestleMania 31

So we all are experiencing the aftermath of WrestleMania 31 and there is plenty to talk about. There were peaks and valleys throughout the night and not everyone was pleased with the outcome of many of the matches.

However the biggest shock of the night was when Seth Rollins made history and became the very first Money in the Bank winner in 10 years to cash in the contract at The Grandest Stage of Them All.

Outside of that occurrence which of course sparked plenty of shock and awe WrestleMania 31 was the haven of many battles that were culminations of deeply invested storylines. The most passionate matches are those that involve a good build and tell a story throughout the bout having the fans react to a majority of the ebbs and flows.

At WrestleMania 31 there was one match in particular that told the best story of the event. However there was also a match that missed the mark in the story telling department.

Worst Story Sting vs. Triple H

This match was all kinds of confusing. This feud featured one of the best builds leading into WrestleMania 31 yet the story behind the match was lousy.

When it was just Sting and Triple H it was fine. The pace was good and the cadence had a very old school feel to it. Sting made a concerted effort in ensuring this would be a memorable match and definitely showed a different kind of passion compared to his final feud in TNA against EC3.

However this match officially killed WCW and did not make any sense in the process. Sean Waltman was a part of both factions so why make it seem like he was exclusive with DX Why did DX even come out What was the purpose of having so much fluff to ruin an already good match Didn't Creative hear the This is awesome and You still got it chants

Most of all why did the nWo even come out Sting was never a part of the nWo Black and White and was only a member of the nWo Wolfpac for a hiccup. In fact he was nWo Black and White's biggest foe

Credit wwe.com

Moreover Hulk Hogan is known for being a WWE guy so why would he defend WCW

All of it made absolutely no sense. It was a terrible series of events that tarnished such an excellent buildup prior to the pay per view.

Best Story Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns

This match was undoubtedly one of the best of the night. There were so many stiff spots and it looked like moments of the match were completely unplanned and veered away from the script. The very fact that the match brought that kind of reality factor to it made for an excellent exhibition.

This was really the proverbial coming of age moment for Reigns. In regard to the other major feuds Reigns had previously been a part of specifically the ones involving Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan many belted the myopic observation that he was carried. While he did show some signs of immaturity and greenness in the ring at SummerSlam he improved leaps and bounds in his showing against Bryan at Fastlane.

Credit wwe.com

There should be no dispute that anyone carried the match between Reigns and Lesnar. The storytelling was impeccable as the young lion was taken to the woodshed by the beast. However Reigns put up a valiant fight and was able to withstand the brutality. Even with his smirks and request for more Reigns did a great job narrating the match from the position of an underdog.

Although Seth Rollins successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract both Rollins and Reigns came out victorious in making a statement that they have been groomed to be the leaders of the next successful class in the WWE.

Chris Featherstone is host the Pancakes and Powerslams Show which airs Tuesday nights at 11 p.m. ET on Blog Talk Radio. He is also a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report WeAreWrestling.net and PWMania.com. Follow cravewrestling on Twitter and the Crave Wrestling Facebook page.

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Comedy Central Justin Bieber Roast Isnt Very Well Done

Given that roasts represent something of a cultural dinosaur Comedy Central is perhaps to be forgiven for engaging in blatant demographic pandering as it did by devoting its latest litany of one liners to Justin Bieber. For Bieber of course the showcase represented an opportunity to show off a lighter side given his public relations woes while assembling a roster of comics and celebrities seemingly intended to make those viewing at home feel lightheaded even without assistance from mood altering drugs.

Shaquille O Neal Martha Stewart Ludacris and Snoop Dogg It was almost enough to make one yearn for the comedy stylings of Jeff Ross.

Kevin Hart served as roastmaster kicking off the festivities after a taped piece devoted to high and lowlights from Bieber s career including his various legal troubles. And while jokes about Paul Walker were omitted from the broadcast due to issues of taste the promotional aspect of that decision seems obvious in light of all the other insensitive material that got in including Chris D Elia s references to ISIS beheading videos and other riffs about Saturday Night Live s Pete Davidson losing his father on Sept. 11.

See More Comedy Central to Cut Paul Walker Jokes From Justin Bieber Roast Broadcast

The main problem with the modern roasts like the old ones is the repetition that ensues especially from the non comics who tend to hit the same gags over and over.

So while it might be funny once or even three times by about halfway through the two hour telecast the parade of jokes devoted to various panelists had become numbing. OK we get it Kevin Hart is short Martha Stewart is old (and has been in prison ) Shaq is very very big and Bieber has been on Ellen many times which is apparently funny because you know she s a lesbian.

Granted even with the best of targets the roasts remain a limited construct. About all one learned from the evening devoted to William Shatner for example was that the former Star Trek star is overweight and fellow cast member George Takei is gay.

Yet while personalities like Shatner and Charlie Sheen offered a long career to lampoon even with all his bad boy behavior feasting on Bieber is a rather thin gruel. Moreover Bieber looked only fitfully comfortable throughout the festivities trying not to grimace as Hannibal Buress talked about how much he dislikes Bieber s music before getting to the kicker by saying I hate your music more than Bill Cosby hates my comedy.

The final roaster was Hart s Get Hard co star Will Ferrell in his Ron Burgundy role. That gave way to Bieber who managed to read the jokes written for him passably if a bit stiffly before delivering a more heartfelt message and even an apology for his missteps.

Of course the roasts have become big business for Comedy Central lending themselves to clips that can be used to tease the event and go viral. Small wonder the network has sought to milk the evening including the obligatory preshow.

You are the King Joffrey of pop Ross told Bieber alluding to Game of Thrones.

If so after an evening that felt like a very long winter spring can t come soon enough.

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Driver Killed as Stolen Car Enters NSA Campus

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ATT Makes the Argument That Comcast Needs to Make

Ralph de la Vega President CEO of ATT Mobile Business Solutions. Source Flickr user Dak Dillon

When it comes to press coverage there's probably no starker contrast in today's merger environment than Comcast (NASDAQ CMCSA ) and Time Warner Cable's (NYSE TWC ) plans as opposed to ATT's (NYSE T ) efforts to buy DirecTV (NASDAQ DTV ) . The former have a dedicated coalition with a pop up website and multiple tech sites exhorting the Federal Communications Commission to reject the proposed merger while the latter has largely flown below the radar.

Some of the opposition to Comcast's merger plan has an obvious source success breeds contempt. The Stop Mega Comcast coalition argues that a combined Comcast and Time Warner would boast over 50% of the broadband Internet market while WebpageFX notes that post merger the combined entity would be the largest ISP in 26 states with co ownership of the largest in two others.

Additionally Comcast would control roughly 30% of the U.S. pay TV market post merger leading DISH Network and various TV networks to complain about potential monopsony power. Interestingly enough as a combined entity ATT/DirecTV would have a similar number of pay TV subs but would trail Comcast/Time Warner's scale in Internet as DirecTV lacks an in house broadband solution.

But there's also another reason why analysts have taken to giving ATT a pass the company has been better at controlling and managing consumer expectations during the process. For example ATT executive Ralph de la Vega recently gave consumers another reason to root for its DirecTV deal in an interview with Fierce Cable ATT's goal is make it much easier for consumers to get TV content on their smartphones and tablets without having to worry about whether or not they will be able to do so because of content rights.

I hope Comcast is taking notes. Right now the success of its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable could hinge on convincing subscribers it is in their best interest and Comcast has done a poor job to date of convincing customers.

Horrible communicationFor Comcast and Time Warner Cable it can be argued their poor corporate communication is mostly to blame for the scrutiny they are receiving. While pay TV providers get blamed for every price increase in most cases they are simply passing along their content costs to subscribers.

Led by the massive increase in sports related programming rising content costs have forced pay TV providers to charge more. At one point Liberty Media president Greg Maffei called ESPN's exploding price increases a tax on every household. That was in 2011.

Fast forward to today and both companies are still doing a poor job explaining the industry to subscribers in a time when consumer buy in is desperately needed. There's potential upside for subscribers of a combined Comcast/Time Warner Cable but the company needs to make the argument.

See the combined entity should be able to use its size and scale to hold down the growth of content costs. Right now the companies are negotiating against themselves to secure deals with Disney's ESPN (and all other cable networks) but once they combine to control 30% of the total pay TV market they could gain more leverage. In addition the combined entities could lower operating costs by synergies and redundancy reductions to hold down broadband Internet costs.

But instead of making this salient argument stories of poor and disrespectful customer service have filled the void amid floundering attempts to fix this long standing issue. Although its members aren't elected the FCC is sensitive to citizen feedback. Comcast and Time Warner need to start making their case to the American public addressing the rising costs of content and pointing out possible Internet related merger synergies would be a good start.

Your cable company doesn't want you to know thisCable is dying. And there are 3 stocks that are poised to explode when this faltering $2.2 trillion industry finally bites the dust. Just like newspaper publishers telephone utilities stockbrokers record companies bookstores travel agencies and big box retailers did when the Internet swept away their business models. And when cable falters you don't want to miss out on these three companies are positioned to benefit. Click here for their names. Hint They're not Netflix Google and Apple.

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How Trevor Noah will transform the Daily Show explained in 7 of his funniest ...

In December when The Daily Show introduced its newest correspondent Trevor Noah audiences did not realize they were meeting Jon Stewart's eventual replacement as host. Many Americans likely did not know him at all.

Comedy Central which is appointing Noah to take over as The Daily Show's new host is banking that Americans will not only forgive Noah for being quite different from Stewart but will come to love the comedy style that has already earned him a large following abroad.

What follows is a brief introduction to Noah as well as to some of the work that has made him so popular and that will make his tenure at The Daily Show a fresh and perhaps invaluable contribution to how we talk and joke about race and nationality.

The one clip that shows what makes Trevor Noah great

Watching this bit from Noah's 2013 show in London where he talks about his upbringing and about coming to America for the first time is by far the best way to understand his comedy and what makes it both great and potentially perfect for The Daily Show.

Noah in just a few minutes jokes about being a South African about growing up during apartheid and about having a white father and a black mother all of which then becomes the lens through which he and his audience see the US for the first time. (He also does the greatest Adolf Hitler impression I have ever heard.)

As a foreigner someone with no stake in American racial identities Noah's different perspective lets him talk about American racial issues as the hapless but curious outsider. He uses this to wonderful effect in the above clip (about three minutes in) when he anticipates how when he comes to the US he'll be treated as simply black rather than as mixed or colored as he was in South Africa. I'm gonna get a piece of that black he says.

Noah riffs at length about issues of race and identity topics that are not exactly new to American comedy using his personal background as the premise. It's less threatening because he doesn't have as much of a personal stake. And he's looking at American issues from a totally different angle. That allows his viewers to see them from a totally different angle and that's powerful.

You'll also notice something the more Noah wades into his personal history or into highly sensitive issues (what could be more sensitive than the legacy of apartheid ) the lighter his comedic style becomes. He gets sillier and more self effacing and the audience responds by letting its guard down. That's been essential for allowing Noah to take on such thorny topics and it'll be even more important for him as he takes over The Daily Show's now institutionalized platform for satirical political commentary.

Teasing Americans as a foreigner could help them see what they otherwise might not

Americans love to hear themselves mocked by foreigners. It's a low stakes way of talking about American problems and weird habits and there's also a real degree of narcissism to it people just like hearing about themselves.

Noah has been doing this for years the above clip shows him recounting an over friendly (everyone thinks Americans are weirdly friendly) surfer woman in California who asks him if he's ever had AIDS. He's making fun of this woman who may or may not actually exist but he's also lampooning American perceptions and misconceptions about the world.

Along the same lines here is one of my favorite Noah bits from way back in 2009 about the tropes aid organizations use when soliciting donations for work in Africa and what it feels like as an African to watch those ads

He often reverses the formula joking about his own misconceptions about the US and about Americans. Expect to hear this from Noah's Daily Show particularly when it covers foreign news which Stewart has struggled with calling out how Americans see the world and how the world sees Americans.

Another clip from London shows Noah using the pose of a befuddled foreigner to contrast his South African experience with that of his host country in this case the UK

It's just about traffic lights so not exactly as high stakes as discussing race in America. But first mocking his own country's approach to traffic lights does let him lightly tease his British audience for their British habits of rule worship and obsessive queuing which is often the same two step routine he uses on more sensitive issues.

Post racial comedy about race

There are many things that make American comedy about race tiresome or outright bad (go back and watch any American comedian's clips from the early '90s and you'll cringe at how insensitive it can get).

But perhaps the worst is the habit of classifying the jokes as either white comedy about race or black comedy about race. It's an awkward division that is unenlightening and often lame. (30 Rock skewered it brilliantly with a fake standup bit on the difference between how white and black people dial a phone.)

Noah isn't restricted by that division. It's not quite his racial identity that allows him to rise above it although it helps having a white South African tease black Americans would be pretty awkward. Rather it's his status as an outsider.

Playing the wide eyed foreigner allows him to take on highly sensitive subjects in a way that is much lower stakes than it would be for an American comedian. In this bit about President Obama for example he mocks the American practice of classifying anyone of partial black background as categorically black

In America this practice is known as the one drop rule in which blackness is defined as anyone with one drop of black blood and it has an ugly history that is not very funny. Noah as a foreigner can pretend to simply wander into the conversation and call out what makes it weird.

Noah also engages in both the white and black American conversations about Obama's race allowing him to be in on both sets of jokes and also allowing him to show what makes those two conversations both similar and different. What the Zimbabwean writer Fungai Machirori called Noah's fluidity of identity is liberating in an American racial context that's all about rigid racial lines.

And there's a serious message in this bit the degree to which racial identities are constructed. Noah is the same person in South Africa and the US but considered to be a different race in each. He also gestures at something I've encountered in South Africa and other parts of the continent a reverence for black Americans as cool and successful. It may not be obvious but Noah is engaging with the very idea of what it means to be black in America. That's a topic with a lot of salience in the United States right now.

How apartheid South Africa explains Trevor Noah's comedy

Noah's personal history along with the years of international travel that have given him a wider context have made him remarkably thoughtful and candid when it comes to joking about race.

He was 10 years old when apartheid ended in 1994. Noah has a black South African mother and a white Swiss father his mere existence was illegal under apartheid. The stakes are real for him so he handles racial issues with nuance and insight. But it was the end of apartheid perhaps more than the fact of apartheid itself that explains his comedy.

South Africans of Noah's generation grew up at a time when racial identities were rapidly changing. A decades old system of brutally enforced white supremacy was ending and South Africans had to ask what sort of society they would have after it.

The idea of what your race and heritage meant was changing so was the idea of what it meant to be South African at all. That process was personal as well as political. South Africans of Noah's age were forced to grow up examining their own racial and national identities asking not just what their country and race were but how they fit into those communities.

That self examination comes through in Noah's comedy but so does the optimism of leaving the era of apartheid for something that no one thought would be paradise but everyone hoped would be better.

All of this comes through in his 2013 appearance on the Late Show in which Noah introduces himself to American viewers

He does not actually mention apartheid and only mentions his South African nationality in passing. But the whole premise of the bit of Noah searching for his own identity asking himself who he is and dealing with a world that wants to classify him as African or German or even Latino. It's all very personal and takes on some pretty weighty issues but manages to remain both lighthearted and ultimately optimistic.

The dangers of playing the outsider

South Africans of Noah's generation can be blunt when they talk about race both because they've had to and because the taboos against it were for better or worse softer. That bluntness can read as insensitivity and as Noah transitions from standup comedy to The Daily Show's somewhat weightier satirical news coverage it could cause him and the show real problems.

To get a sense for that scroll back up to the first clip on this page. One thing that's really striking is the British audience's reaction when he employs black American accents they're not sure if it's okay to laugh. Noah uses lots of different accents often ones associated with racial groups with a degree of specificity that can be unnerving.

This speaks to what's awkward about Noah's role performing as a South African and sometimes explicitly identifying as a black South African for an American audience that is heavily white. It's easy for him to veer from race and identity on his terms to race and identity on his audiences' terms.

The idea of mostly white Westerners asking a partially black South African to perform blackness and Africanness plays on some very ugly and not so distant history. It's also easy for white Western attempts to show respect for Noah and his heritage to veer into condescending fetishization.

Americans have done something with the English language you've put 22's on the language it's like 'Pimp my language he said leading in to a joke about his struggle to understand a black woman he met in Atlanta. His impression of her ( look over thurr ) would be considered out and out racist if Noah were a white American. Does the fact that he's a partially black South African make it okay

Noah's approach could backfire in other ways. Machirori the Zimbabwean writer worried with good reason that Noah's frequent use of Africa as a comedic foil for America would end up further muddying and simplifying American views of Africa rather than expanding or complicating them.

How Trevor Noah will make The Daily Show different while keeping it the same

You can glimpse how Noah will remake The Daily Show in his first appearance from December. Noah joked that when coming to America he found police racism basic infrastructure and the threat of Ebola were all worse. He played off of American stereotypes of Africa as a way to highlight American shortcomings Americans for some reason love hearing their insecurities about the US indulged.

That's not new for Noah and it's how he's likely to approach running The Daily Show. Unlike Stewart who takes the pose of an exasperated and disappointed American shaking his head at his country's foibles Noah plays the befuddled foreigner confused and amused by the US not living up to its reputation.

He and Stewart ultimately arrive at the same destination calling out American shortcomings to comedic effect but take very different routes to get there. Where Stewart scolded Noah questions. That will allow The Daily Show to remain The Daily Show while freshening up a formula that had grown a bit tired.

More importantly Noah's approach is ideal for issues of racial and national identity which are attracting ever more attention. It's less confrontational and thus less threatening. Playing the confused foreigner makes it easier for him to take on topics that might otherwise be too sensitive. And his home country of South Africa provides a ready made comparison.

As Daily Show host Noah can bring this approach to any number of sensitive issues in the US and not just those related to race. A recurring theme of Stewart's tenure was the divided national conversations in liberal versus conservative America but Stewart focused almost entirely on championing the liberal side.

Don't expect Noah to drop that liberal voice beloved by the audience but his ability to rise above divisions by commenting on them could bring a fresh perspective and overcome the show's annoying habit of partisanship.

All of this lets Noah flip American views of race and nationality upside down particularly when it comes to ideas of whiteness versus blackness. He can apply that to how Americans see the world as well to how they see themselves asking his audience however gently to question the mental demarcations they've made. That could have the potential to be a real and quite valuable service.

Articles Source here

Michigan States Final Four basketball run provides exposure and boost to ...

SYRACUSE N.Y. Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio was at Breslin Center to welcome home Tom Izzo and the basketball team Sunday night after the Spartans had advanced to the Final Four.

Curtis Blackwell Michigan State's director of college advancement and performance said that not only was Dantonio pleased for his friend but the football coach recognized the boost Izzo's basketball team has given football recruiting.

When I was looking at social media I saw many individuals talking about our basketball program and our great school '' Blackwell said. Whenever you get a chance to show the world that Michigan State is having success in this competitive landscape it helps you get even more brand recognition.

So you've got a football team with a top five finish and now a basketball team in the Final Four and there aren't any other programs that can say that.''

Michigan State is the only program that can boast winning four straight bowl games in the same years as advancing to four consecutive Sweet 16s.

Blackwell said many of the football recruits have taken note of the basketball team's success because they feel connected having attended Spartan basketball games while on unofficial visits over the past couple of years.

Everyone knows the story of our basketball team and several individuals have come on campus and experienced the games so there is a connectivity '' Blackwell said. They have seen some of the painful losses as well as the wins so they see how the team remained unified and made this great run to the Final Four.

This is why it's important to get people on campus so they can know the story of how the Spartans compete and become connected and identify with it.''

Blackwell continued I think it's a remarkable thing that the Big Ten will be represented with two teams in the Final Four and the state of Michigan will be represented. This game will have the whole state watching the Spartans play and be the biggest thing happening in the state this weekend.''

Blackwell said it's his hope Michigan State can honor or tie in the basketball team with the Spartans' April 25 Green White football game at Spartan Stadium though no plans have been addressed.

Tom Izzo had Mark Dantonio speak to the Michigan State crowd at the Breslin Center tonight. pic.twitter.com/peOboRD4UX

Brad Galli ( BradGalli) March 30 2015

The two who have made Michigan State an elite program in both sports RT seideljeff Dantonio greets Izzo pic.twitter.com/zxrWK5G2Nw

Adam Rittenberg ( ESPNRittenberg) March 30 2015

What college has a better football coach and basketball than Michigan state none

Trae Waynes ( TWaynes_15) March 29 2015

Chills chills chills.. It's a great day to be a Spartan GoGreen FinalFour wow

Connor Cook ( Connor_Cook03) March 29 2015

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ATT Makes the Argument That Comcast Needs to Make

Ralph de la Vega President CEO of ATT Mobile Business Solutions. Source Flickr user Dak Dillon

When it comes to press coverage there's probably no starker contrast in today's merger environment than Comcast (NASDAQ CMCSA ) and Time Warner Cable's (NYSE TWC ) plans as opposed to ATT's (NYSE T ) efforts to buy DirecTV (NASDAQ DTV ) . The former have a dedicated coalition with a pop up website and multiple tech sites exhorting the Federal Communications Commission to reject the proposed merger while the latter has largely flown below the radar.

Some of the opposition to Comcast's merger plan has an obvious source success breeds contempt. The Stop Mega Comcast coalition argues that a combined Comcast and Time Warner would boast over 50% of the broadband Internet market while WebpageFX notes that post merger the combined entity would be the largest ISP in 26 states with co ownership of the largest in two others.

Additionally Comcast would control roughly 30% of the U.S. pay TV market post merger leading DISH Network and various TV networks to complain about potential monopsony power. Interestingly enough as a combined entity ATT/DirecTV would have a similar number of pay TV subs but would trail Comcast/Time Warner's scale in Internet as DirecTV lacks an in house broadband solution.

But there's also another reason why analysts have taken to giving ATT a pass the company has been better at controlling and managing consumer expectations during the process. For example ATT executive Ralph de la Vega recently gave consumers another reason to root for its DirecTV deal in an interview with Fierce Cable ATT's goal is make it much easier for consumers to get TV content on their smartphones and tablets without having to worry about whether or not they will be able to do so because of content rights.

I hope Comcast is taking notes. Right now the success of its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable could hinge on convincing subscribers it is in their best interest and Comcast has done a poor job to date of convincing customers.

Horrible communicationFor Comcast and Time Warner Cable it can be argued their poor corporate communication is mostly to blame for the scrutiny they are receiving. While pay TV providers get blamed for every price increase in most cases they are simply passing along their content costs to subscribers.

Led by the massive increase in sports related programming rising content costs have forced pay TV providers to charge more. At one point Liberty Media president Greg Maffei called ESPN's exploding price increases a tax on every household. That was in 2011.

Fast forward to today and both companies are still doing a poor job explaining the industry to subscribers in a time when consumer buy in is desperately needed. There's potential upside for subscribers of a combined Comcast/Time Warner Cable but the company needs to make the argument.

See the combined entity should be able to use its size and scale to hold down the growth of content costs. Right now the companies are negotiating against themselves to secure deals with Disney's ESPN (and all other cable networks) but once they combine to control 30% of the total pay TV market they could gain more leverage. In addition the combined entities could lower operating costs by synergies and redundancy reductions to hold down broadband Internet costs.

But instead of making this salient argument stories of poor and disrespectful customer service have filled the void amid floundering attempts to fix this long standing issue. Although its members aren't elected the FCC is sensitive to citizen feedback. Comcast and Time Warner need to start making their case to the American public addressing the rising costs of content and pointing out possible Internet related merger synergies would be a good start.

Your cable company doesn't want you to know thisCable is dying. And there are 3 stocks that are poised to explode when this faltering $2.2 trillion industry finally bites the dust. Just like newspaper publishers telephone utilities stockbrokers record companies bookstores travel agencies and big box retailers did when the Internet swept away their business models. And when cable falters you don't want to miss out on these three companies are positioned to benefit. Click here for their names. Hint They're not Netflix Google and Apple.

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How Trevor Noah will transform the Daily Show explained in 7 of his funniest ...

In December when The Daily Show introduced its newest correspondent Trevor Noah audiences did not realize they were meeting Jon Stewart's eventual replacement as host. Many Americans likely did not know him at all.

Comedy Central which is appointing Noah to take over as The Daily Show's new host is banking that Americans will not only forgive Noah for being quite different from Stewart but will come to love the comedy style that has already earned him a large following abroad.

What follows is a brief introduction to Noah as well as to some of the work that has made him so popular and that will make his tenure at The Daily Show a fresh and perhaps invaluable contribution to how we talk and joke about race and nationality.

The one clip that shows what makes Trevor Noah great

Watching this bit from Noah's 2013 show in London where he talks about his upbringing and about coming to America for the first time is by far the best way to understand his comedy and what makes it both great and potentially perfect for The Daily Show.

Noah in just a few minutes jokes about being a South African about growing up during apartheid and about having a white father and a black mother all of which then becomes the lens through which he and his audience see the US for the first time. (He also does the greatest Adolf Hitler impression I have ever heard.)

As a foreigner someone with no stake in American racial identities Noah's different perspective lets him talk about American racial issues as the hapless but curious outsider. He uses this to wonderful effect in the above clip (about three minutes in) when he anticipates how when he comes to the US he'll be treated as simply black rather than as mixed or colored as he was in South Africa. I'm gonna get a piece of that black he says.

Noah riffs at length about issues of race and identity topics that are not exactly new to American comedy using his personal background as the premise. It's less threatening because he doesn't have as much of a personal stake. And he's looking at American issues from a totally different angle. That allows his viewers to see them from a totally different angle and that's powerful.

You'll also notice something the more Noah wades into his personal history or into highly sensitive issues (what could be more sensitive than the legacy of apartheid ) the lighter his comedic style becomes. He gets sillier and more self effacing and the audience responds by letting its guard down. That's been essential for allowing Noah to take on such thorny topics and it'll be even more important for him as he takes over The Daily Show's now institutionalized platform for satirical political commentary.

Teasing Americans as a foreigner could help them see what they otherwise might not

Americans love to hear themselves mocked by foreigners. It's a low stakes way of talking about American problems and weird habits and there's also a real degree of narcissism to it people just like hearing about themselves.

Noah has been doing this for years the above clip shows him recounting an over friendly (everyone thinks Americans are weirdly friendly) surfer woman in California who asks him if he's ever had AIDS. He's making fun of this woman who may or may not actually exist but he's also lampooning American perceptions and misconceptions about the world.

Along the same lines here is one of my favorite Noah bits from way back in 2009 about the tropes aid organizations use when soliciting donations for work in Africa and what it feels like as an African to watch those ads

He often reverses the formula joking about his own misconceptions about the US and about Americans. Expect to hear this from Noah's Daily Show particularly when it covers foreign news which Stewart has struggled with calling out how Americans see the world and how the world sees Americans.

Another clip from London shows Noah using the pose of a befuddled foreigner to contrast his South African experience with that of his host country in this case the UK

It's just about traffic lights so not exactly as high stakes as discussing race in America. But first mocking his own country's approach to traffic lights does let him lightly tease his British audience for their British habits of rule worship and obsessive queuing which is often the same two step routine he uses on more sensitive issues.

Post racial comedy about race

There are many things that make American comedy about race tiresome or outright bad (go back and watch any American comedian's clips from the early '90s and you'll cringe at how insensitive it can get).

But perhaps the worst is the habit of classifying the jokes as either white comedy about race or black comedy about race. It's an awkward division that is unenlightening and often lame. (30 Rock skewered it brilliantly with a fake standup bit on the difference between how white and black people dial a phone.)

Noah isn't restricted by that division. It's not quite his racial identity that allows him to rise above it although it helps having a white South African tease black Americans would be pretty awkward. Rather it's his status as an outsider.

Playing the wide eyed foreigner allows him to take on highly sensitive subjects in a way that is much lower stakes than it would be for an American comedian. In this bit about President Obama for example he mocks the American practice of classifying anyone of partial black background as categorically black

In America this practice is known as the one drop rule in which blackness is defined as anyone with one drop of black blood and it has an ugly history that is not very funny. Noah as a foreigner can pretend to simply wander into the conversation and call out what makes it weird.

Noah also engages in both the white and black American conversations about Obama's race allowing him to be in on both sets of jokes and also allowing him to show what makes those two conversations both similar and different. What the Zimbabwean writer Fungai Machirori called Noah's fluidity of identity is liberating in an American racial context that's all about rigid racial lines.

And there's a serious message in this bit the degree to which racial identities are constructed. Noah is the same person in South Africa and the US but considered to be a different race in each. He also gestures at something I've encountered in South Africa and other parts of the continent a reverence for black Americans as cool and successful. It may not be obvious but Noah is engaging with the very idea of what it means to be black in America. That's a topic with a lot of salience in the United States right now.

How apartheid South Africa explains Trevor Noah's comedy

Noah's personal history along with the years of international travel that have given him a wider context have made him remarkably thoughtful and candid when it comes to joking about race.

He was 10 years old when apartheid ended in 1994. Noah has a black South African mother and a white Swiss father his mere existence was illegal under apartheid. The stakes are real for him so he handles racial issues with nuance and insight. But it was the end of apartheid perhaps more than the fact of apartheid itself that explains his comedy.

South Africans of Noah's generation grew up at a time when racial identities were rapidly changing. A decades old system of brutally enforced white supremacy was ending and South Africans had to ask what sort of society they would have after it.

The idea of what your race and heritage meant was changing so was the idea of what it meant to be South African at all. That process was personal as well as political. South Africans of Noah's age were forced to grow up examining their own racial and national identities asking not just what their country and race were but how they fit into those communities.

That self examination comes through in Noah's comedy but so does the optimism of leaving the era of apartheid for something that no one thought would be paradise but everyone hoped would be better.

All of this comes through in his 2013 appearance on the Late Show in which Noah introduces himself to American viewers

He does not actually mention apartheid and only mentions his South African nationality in passing. But the whole premise of the bit of Noah searching for his own identity asking himself who he is and dealing with a world that wants to classify him as African or German or even Latino. It's all very personal and takes on some pretty weighty issues but manages to remain both lighthearted and ultimately optimistic.

The dangers of playing the outsider

South Africans of Noah's generation can be blunt when they talk about race both because they've had to and because the taboos against it were for better or worse softer. That bluntness can read as insensitivity and as Noah transitions from standup comedy to The Daily Show's somewhat weightier satirical news coverage it could cause him and the show real problems.

To get a sense for that scroll back up to the first clip on this page. One thing that's really striking is the British audience's reaction when he employs black American accents they're not sure if it's okay to laugh. Noah uses lots of different accents often ones associated with racial groups with a degree of specificity that can be unnerving.

This speaks to what's awkward about Noah's role performing as a South African and sometimes explicitly identifying as a black South African for an American audience that is heavily white. It's easy for him to veer from race and identity on his terms to race and identity on his audiences' terms.

The idea of mostly white Westerners asking a partially black South African to perform blackness and Africanness plays on some very ugly and not so distant history. It's also easy for white Western attempts to show respect for Noah and his heritage to veer into condescending fetishization.

Americans have done something with the English language you've put 22's on the language it's like 'Pimp my language he said leading in to a joke about his struggle to understand a black woman he met in Atlanta. His impression of her ( look over thurr ) would be considered out and out racist if Noah were a white American. Does the fact that he's a partially black South African make it okay

Noah's approach could backfire in other ways. Machirori the Zimbabwean writer worried with good reason that Noah's frequent use of Africa as a comedic foil for America would end up further muddying and simplifying American views of Africa rather than expanding or complicating them.

How Trevor Noah will make The Daily Show different while keeping it the same

You can glimpse how Noah will remake The Daily Show in his first appearance from December. Noah joked that when coming to America he found police racism basic infrastructure and the threat of Ebola were all worse. He played off of American stereotypes of Africa as a way to highlight American shortcomings Americans for some reason love hearing their insecurities about the US indulged.

That's not new for Noah and it's how he's likely to approach running The Daily Show. Unlike Stewart who takes the pose of an exasperated and disappointed American shaking his head at his country's foibles Noah plays the befuddled foreigner confused and amused by the US not living up to its reputation.

He and Stewart ultimately arrive at the same destination calling out American shortcomings to comedic effect but take very different routes to get there. Where Stewart scolded Noah questions. That will allow The Daily Show to remain The Daily Show while freshening up a formula that had grown a bit tired.

More importantly Noah's approach is ideal for issues of racial and national identity which are attracting ever more attention. It's less confrontational and thus less threatening. Playing the confused foreigner makes it easier for him to take on topics that might otherwise be too sensitive. And his home country of South Africa provides a ready made comparison.

As Daily Show host Noah can bring this approach to any number of sensitive issues in the US and not just those related to race. A recurring theme of Stewart's tenure was the divided national conversations in liberal versus conservative America but Stewart focused almost entirely on championing the liberal side.

Don't expect Noah to drop that liberal voice beloved by the audience but his ability to rise above divisions by commenting on them could bring a fresh perspective and overcome the show's annoying habit of partisanship.

All of this lets Noah flip American views of race and nationality upside down particularly when it comes to ideas of whiteness versus blackness. He can apply that to how Americans see the world as well to how they see themselves asking his audience however gently to question the mental demarcations they've made. That could have the potential to be a real and quite valuable service.

Articles Source here