The Nose Knew The Deceased Only In Passing: ‘Only Murders In The Building,’ ‘Small Engine Repair,’ More

Only Murders in the Building is a half-hour-ish (!) mystery-comedy series on Hulu. It stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, and Amy Ryan. Five first-season episodes have dropped so far, and it was renewed for a second season this week.

And: Small Engine Repair is a film adaption written by, directed by, and starring John Pollono and based on his black comedy drama (black dramedy?) stage play of the same name. It is the first movie showing exclusively in theaters that the Nose has covered since January, 2020.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

• Norm Macdonald Dies: Influential Comedian & Former ‘SNL’ Weekend Update Anchor Was 61
• Rolling Stone: The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time For the first time in 17 years, we’ve completely remade our list of the best songs ever. More than 250 artists, writers, and industry figures helped us choose a brand-new list full of historic favorites, world-changing anthems, and new classics
• Empire: The 50 Best Animated Movies
• John Mulaney was performing a role all along Parasocial relationships aren’t to blame for the John Mulaney/Olivia Munn pregnancy discourse.
• Twitter Has a Parasocial Relationship with the Word Parasocial
• Epic v. Apple judge rules Fortnite’s Peely can appear naked in court Peely’s ‘just a banana man,’ after all
• Porno Hustlers Of The Atari Age The newly unearthed history behind one of the most offensive video games ever made
• Owen Wilson Is Doing Great, Thanks The veteran actor has a cold, but that’s nothing a few avocado pancakes, some hydration therapy, a bike ride, hot tea, half a slice of Key-lime pie, and the magic of life can’t fix. Three days with the star of Loki, The French Dispatch, and all those movies you know by heart.
• Drake And Kanye Owe Us More Than This The collision of Certified Lover Boy and Donda should have been a thrilling moment. Instead, it’s petty, frustrating, and lacking in high stakes.
• Welcome to Dunkin’ World With streetwear-style drops and a shrewd embrace of social media, New England’s favorite purveyor of extremely normal coffee has turned itself into a lifestyle brand.
• Why “Jeopardy!” Might Not Survive The Mike Richards Debacle “Many people saw it basically as kind of like Dick Cheney conducting a search for the vice president…and then deciding that he would be the best vice president.”
• Christopher Nolan Exits Warner Bros. After Nearly Two Decades, New Film Set Up at Universal Nolan’s follow-up to “Tenet” will reportedly begin production in the first quarter of 2022.
• ‘Necessary Roughness’ Made Texas Football Into a Joke. But It Also Moved the Chains. Kick off the football season with this underappreciated, Denton-filmed comedy, which captured some truths about Texas football that later, more-serious movies would expand on.
• Emmys 2021: Who Will Win, Who Should Win Ahead of Sunday night’s ceremony, we place our bets on likely winners and shout out those shows and stars poised to get robbed
• Nicki Minaj isn’t anti-vax, exactly. That’s why her vaccine resistance is so concerning. Minaj, under the guise of urging vaccine caution, is helping mainstream a dangerous form of anti-science.
• Dune Director Denis Villeneuve Is Not A Fan Of Marvel Movies, Sorry
• The once-sedate astronomy world is quarreling over whether ’Oumuamua was an alien craft Alien probe or a “chunk of Pluto”? The scientific debate over ’Oumuamua continues
• Diarrhea incident continues to spell problems for Ultimate Slip ’N Slide The Bobby Moynihan/Ron Funches-hosted reality series finds itself stuck without an ending, and pulled from its plum post-Olympics timeslot

GUESTS:

• Theresa Cramer - A freelance writer and editor and the co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications
• Bill Yousman - Professor of Media Studies at Sacred Heart University

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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