Jeff Ross: Take A Banana For the Ride
Emilio Madrid
Entertainment
Taylor Swift Says She Collapsed Into Travis Kelce’s Arms When She Learned She Got Her Masters Back, ‘Bawling My Eyes Out’
Taylor Swift still gets emotional when she thinks about the moment she reclaimed her master recordings after years of working to do so, as evidenced by her appearance on Travis Kelce‘s New Heights podcast.
In the episode posted Wednesday (Aug. 13), the pop star teared up while recalling how she collapsed into her boyfriend’s arms after receiving the news, which the world would only learn in May when Swift announced that she’d purchased the rights to her first six albums from Shamrock Holdings in a letter on her website. It was a big moment for both the star and her fanbase, as the 14-time Grammy winner had been vocal about her devastation with the initial sale of her masters to Scooter Braun in 2019 — which she said “ripped my heart out of my chest” on New Heights — shortly after which it changed hands again to Shamrock.
“Since I was a teenager, I’ve been saving up money to buy my music back,” she recalled on the podcast as the tight end rubbed her hand affectionately. “I thought about not owning my music every day … it was like an intrusive thought.”
According to Swift, it wasn’t members of her team who negotiated the deal with Shamrock — it was her mom, Andrea, and her brother, Austin. Andrea was also the one who broke the news that they’d closed the deal with the investment company in an emotional phone call with her daughter.
“She was like, ‘You got your music,’ and I literally hit the floor,” Swift said. “Bawling my eyes out, just weeping.”
At first unable to believe that the news was real, the 14-time Grammy winner says she eventually went into another room, where Kelce was obliviously playing video games. “I’m like, ‘Just go tell Travis in a normal way,'” she said, cracking up at the memory of how her voice broke as soon as she started speaking to the Kansas City Chiefs star, despite trying to keep her composure.
Swift added that her boyfriend immediately ditched his console and wrapped her in his arms, at which point she started “absolutely heaving.”
Kelce admitted that he was also “weeping” in the moment, noting that his superstar girlfriend was “just dead weight” in his arms.
Elsewhere on the podcast, Swift shared more details about her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, which she announced Tuesday (Aug. 12) via a teaser clip from her guest New Heights episode. Arriving Oct. 3, the LP will mark her first full-length since reclaiming her masters three months ago.
Though fans are hopeful that they’ll still get a re-release for Swift’s debut album — and possibly even Vault tracks for the never-finished Reputation (Taylor’s Version) — the purchase of her masters also marked something of an end to her yearslong re-recording project. Over the past six years, the musician has released revamped versions of Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989, which Swift said on New Heights was a process she “defiantly” decided to embark on.
While re-recording her albums, Swift said on New Heights that she was able to fall back in love with one of them. “Red was very special,” she said, noting that Vault track “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” is “maybe my favorite song I’ve ever written.”
“I’ve always loved Fearless and 1989 in a very pure way,” she added. “Red I’ve always gone back and forth … but the re-record really made me love that album.”
Watch Swift’s episode of New Heights below.
Continue Reading
Entertainment
Backstreet Boys’ Online Store Has T-Shirts, Hoodies & More Larger-Than-Life New Merch for Fans
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
With the addition of more dates during their Las Vegas residency at Sphere, Backstreet’s back (alright!) in the spotlight and hotter than ever. If you’re looking to show your love for Nick, Howie, AJ, Brian and Kevin at their residency shows, or if you can’t make it to Las Vegas, but still want a T-shirt from the concert event, then we have you covered.
We rounded up the best Backstreet Boys merch and apparel from Amazon. The boy band has an official store from the retail giant that includes tees, hoodies, sweatshirts, smartphone cases, tote bags and much more. In fact, there are official Backstreet Boys throw pillows and cookie-cutter sets available too.
Scroll down and check out our recommendations for the best Backstreet Boys merch and apparel you can purchase online.
Backstreet Boys Las Vegas Residency July T-Shirt
Backstreet Boys Western T-Shirt
Backstreet Boys Silhouette Orange T-Shirt
Backstreet Boys Wanted T-Shirt
Backstreet Boy 'Millennium' Pose T-Shirt
Backstreet Boys Group Photo Repeat Logo T-Shirt
Backstreet Boys Red And Blue T-Shirt
Backstreet Boys Throwback T-Shirt
Backstreet Boys Graffiti Photo T-Shirt
Backstreet Boys Glowing Spiral Pullover Hoodie
Backstreet Boys 'Larger Than Life' Graffiti Tote Bag
Backstreet Boys Glowing Spiral Apple iPhone Case
Backstreet Boys 4-Piece Cookie Cutter Set
Backstreet Boys 'Millennium' Stainless Steel Insulated Tumbler
Backstreet Boys Repeated Faces White Throw Pillow
And if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can order now and any one of these Backstreet Boys merch items will be delivered to your home in less than two days once it’s released, thanks to Prime Delivery.
Not a member? Sign up for a 30-day free trial to take advantage of all that Amazon Prime has to offer, including access to Amazon Music for online music streaming, Prime Video and Prime Gaming; fast free shipping in less than two days with Prime Delivery; in-store discounts at Whole Foods Market; access to exclusive shopping events — such as Prime Day and Black Friday — and much more. Learn more about Amazon Prime and its benefits here.
Meanwhile, since Backstreet Boys extended their Las Vegas residency, there’s more of an opportunity to attend the shows at Sphere — especially since the new dates go from the end of December to the beginning of January 2026. If you’re looking for affordable tickets, check out the best ways to buy tickets to see Backstreet Boys live in Las Vegas here.
In the meantime, shop more merch and apparel from Backstreet Boys on Amazon, below:
For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.
Entertainment
The Comedian Who Found Success Insulting Celebrities Made a Surprisingly Emotional One-Man Show — But More Roasts Are Coming, Too
If you’re not familiar with Jeff Ross, he is best known as the “Roastmaster General” — a three-decade master of the savage comic sport introduced by the Friars Club in the 1950s, in which a procession of comedians and wannabe smart-asses barrage a roastee with decidedly no-holds-barred insults crafted to evoke laughter and gasps. Ross is also executive producer of Netflix’s celebrity roasts as well as a writer and a performer on them, including the headlines-making mocking of former NFL quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady.
Ross was the subject of many of the headlines that the Brady roast generated because he directed a “massage” joke at Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was arrested in 2019 for soliciting prostitution in a Florida massage parlor. (The charges were dropped.) The joke prompted Brady — who took most of the barbs directed at him with grace — to walk across the stage and whisper to Ross, whose microphone was live, “Don’t say that s—t again.”
Brady and Ross embraced after the comedian’s set, but Kevin Hart, who hosted the roast, had an insult waiting. “Make sure to check out Jeff’s one-man show. It’s playing at the Hollywood Cemetery,” Hart said. “His career is literally dying. If we stop doing these roasts, you will not see Jeff Ross ever again.”
Hart was dead wrong. Ross does have a one-man show, Take A Banana For The Ride, which opens on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre on Aug. 18 and runs through Sept. 28, and its humor is nothing like the brand of comedy for which he is best known.
Take A Banana is a sweet, heartfelt — and very funny — autobiographical homage to his parents, his grandfather (the show’s title comes from him), the German Shepherd rescues that brightened his world at a low point in his life, and three good friends who died too soon: the comedians Gilbert Gottfried, Bob Saget and Norm Macdonald. It also delves into Ross’ battle with colon cancer, and the circumstances and inflences that led him to become a comedian. There’s music, too, which Ross wrote with another comedian, Avery Pearson. One song is called, “Don’t F—k With The Jews.”
In his dressing room at the Nederlander following a rehearsal, Ross spoke to Billboard about the origins of his one-man show, his career in comedy, the foreclosure and sale of the New York Friars Club’s landmarked townhouse headquarters and that Brady roast. “You know I’m in it, man. I’m f—king in it,” he says. “This is one of the craziest, most surreal moments of my life.” And he’s loving it.
Take A Banana For The Ride is the last thing I expected from you.
You need to make that your headline. It sounds like a compliment.
How does a guy known as the Roastmaster General create such a touching, heartfelt show?
I started writing it long before I was the roast guy. The heart of it happened before I discovered the roasts — or the roasts discovered me. I started writing stuff down and saving stuff in high school. There are actually things from high school that I found in notebooks that are in the show.
And in the mid-’90s, I started doing this show because I wasn’t really hitting it as a standup yet. It even had the same title. I did it 20-30 times. I certainly hadn’t found the roasts yet. If anything, the roasts are what took me away from the show.
This was obviously before the cancer diagnosis and your dogs. You’ve added a lot.
I forgot about it for 20-something years. I didn’t forget about it, it just wasn’t interesting to me to look back. It wasn’t the cancer diagnosis that inspired the look back. It was losing Gilbert [Gottfried] and [Bob] Saget and Norm [Macdonald]. That made me look back and go, what was I saying about grief and mourning and bouncing back and resilience when I was a kid, compared to how I feel now? That inspired me to revive the old show.
The show is also about the life experiences that led you to become a comedian.
It was the trickle of living in New Jersey where ball-busting is the love language — where all the radio stations and sports teams say they’re from New York, so you get a bit of a chip on your shoulder. It was working in my dad’s catering hall as a boy and as a teenager. My entire childhood was being the boss’s son and having all the Scottish and Irish waitresses and waiters, the Russian guy making fruit salads, the Hungarian guy who made the Jell-O molds and the Haitian guys in the kitchen busting my chops for being the boss’s son. Getting bullied as a little kid and my mom dragging me off to karate school. It’s all of these things. They toughened me up. The origin story, at least how I tell it in the show, is all this stuff. If I had to point to one pivotal thing, then it’s that first roast.
That’s right, you got your black belt in karate when you were quite young.
Second youngest black belt in the United States. Good luck researching that one.
Does it help with being a comedian?
It helped get me the confidence to talk smack for a living, for sure.
How did you bring this show to Broadway?
That was something I was saying as a joke. Oh, I’d love to do it on Broadway. Or other people would say it, and I would do superstitious stuff like my mom did. She used to go ptuh-ptuh-ptuh. Then, in the last couple of years, Jim Carrey taught me about manifesting. He said, “If you don’t believe it, who’s going to believe it? You have to speak it into truth.” That also motivated me to make the show better. To make something really great is an unbelievable amount of work — whether it was getting my black belt at ten-and-a-half or producing The Roast. Then, by chance, an old Friars Club pal, Marc Cornstein, grabbed ahold of the idea of taking it to Broadway. He started raising money and hooked me up with the Nederlanders.
There’s a musical element to Take A Banana For The Ride. You have a keyboardist and a violin player onstage with you.
Asher Denberg is our musical director and the keyboardist onstage. Felix Herbst is the violinist. Having some music in the show is my way of paying tribute to some of the older comics who always did that type of thing. There’s a song about my dog from the voice of my German Shepherd, “You’re One of the Good Ones.” And there’s the singalong about my family and my origin story called “Don’t F—k With The Jews.”
I love comedians, but I also really love musicians. I love Broadway music. We’re listening to show tunes all day in my dressing room and at rehearsal. So being able to work in a world-class theater with world-class musicians — comedians always say they want to host the Oscars. For me it was always the Grammys. I love music, and I love the musicians and a bunch of them are coming to opening night.
You wrote the songs?
I co-wrote them with my friend Avery Pearson.
What are some of the show tunes you listen to backstage, and do you like any contemporary artists?
I love new music. Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo are favorites — and I first saw Benson Boone at Clive Davis’ Grammys party, and instantly fell in love with his music and showmanship. But in the dressing room before my show, I’ve been listening to Man of La Mancha a lot. I’ve been very influenced by “The Impossible Dream” and “Man of La Mancha.“ Maybe because my parents had the 8-track.
How did you get into the roast business?
It was a happy accident. I have to credit my pal Greg Fitzsimmons for inviting me to his dad’s honorary golf tournament. It was a Friars Club tournament at a golf club in New Jersey, and [Friars Dean] Freddie Roman was teasing me and picking on me because no one knew who I was. I walked up and started making fun of him. He was so loud and boisterous. I said they call him Freddie Roman because you can hear him in Italy. It was such a small joke, but no one had ever taken a swing at the head of the Friars before, especially some goofball kid that nobody knew.
Months later, they couldn’t get any stars to do the roast. It was corny and antiquated. I got the call from [executive director] Jean-Pierre [Trebot] at the Friars Club. He said, “You were funny at the golf club. Do you want to do the roast?” I had to go to the Museum of Broadcasting to see what the roasts were about. This was 30 years ago, so I couldn’t look it up on Google or YouTube.
I was more into the rock ’n’ roll comedy of Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy and the Blues Brothers, but I said, “This is kind of funny.” I’m kind of like this anyway. I didn’t really care much about Steven Seagal, who was being roasted, but I was taken by the idea of being up there with Buddy Hackett and Henny Youngman and Milton Berle who were all there at my first roast.
You made it into a career.
Well, it became my lane. There were years where it was lucrative but not necessarily cool. And then I got advice from Dave Chappelle that it was my job to make my lane a six-lane highway. I embraced that and realized I can’t keep waiting for celebrities to agree to get roasted in a tuxedo. I have to figure out other ways to do it. That birthed the idea of me speed-roasting volunteers from the audience at my standup shows, the roast battles and the historical roasts. I even roasted at a jail. It’s on Paramount+. Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals Live from Brazos County Jail.
Is it true that celebrities would hire you to write jokes so that they would look good when it was their turn to roast or to be roasted?
I wouldn’t say I was hired by them. I was always a producer and a writer on those shows, and part of my responsibility would be the booking, writing, the promotion and appearing on the show. Back then, The Roast had a small budget, and we did everything. I wore a lot of hats — I guess I still do, but I have a lot more help now.
Roast jokes are often politically incorrect, anti-woke — whatever terminology you prefer. What do you make of the whole woke vs. anti-woke humor debate?
I feel like it’s something that everyone talks about except the comedians. To me it’s binary in a different way than woke or not woke. It’s funny or not funny. It never affected me. People are telling me that the Tom Brady roast – because there hadn’t been one in five years — helped recalibrate mainstream comedy a little bit back to let’s call it normal or edgy or irreverent. I’m proud of that notion, but in Jeff Ross Land it’s always roast time. It’s just that the rest of the world is catching up.
I saw it firsthand Saturday night after the show here at the Nederlander. I went out to sign Playbills and say hi to people, and there were three sets of teenage boys with their dads. I found it striking that 13, 14, 15-year-old boys were knowing me from the Tom Brady roast. From there they look at the Justin Bieber roast and the jail roast. Then they go “Oh, that’s roasting. I’m going to do that with my friends.”
It’s a sign of affection. It’s their version of karaoke. That makes me immensely happy.
That was always the motto at the Friars Roasts. We do it with love.
I always felt like the roasts were the extensions and celebrations of friendships. I feel like my show is similar. It’s a tribute to some of the people who made me who I am. Because it’s about them I can do it every night. If it was only about me, I would have a hard time getting past the first week. I would get bored. But I really feel proud when I’m standing there and the video message that Bob [Saget] sent me plays or Gilbert sings a song from Fiddler on the Roof. They’re getting one more turn at the mic.
Do you have any rules for roasting?
My general rule for roasting is to only roast volunteers. Once they opt in, anything goes.
What went through your head when Tom Brady said what he said to you at his roast?
Virtually nothing was going through my head when Brady interrupted me, except “keep going.” We were having fun, and I always love a little verbal sparring during the roasts. Tom was sticking up for a father figure, and I respect that. Mr. Kraft was very gracious, and a great sport afterwards.
Was Brady aware of how vicious his roast was going to get?
I don’t think any of us knew how rough that roast was going to be. I mean, from the get-go: Kevin Hart, me, Nikki [Glaser], Tony [Hinchcliffe] Andrew [Schulz], Gronk. We all went as hard as we could. And once you see Tom being a good sport and taking the jokes so well, you put your foot on the gas.
But the real bravery was Tom saying yes in the first place. You’ve got to give him credit for agreeing to do a roast after no one, for five years, would say yes. This guy had the thick skin and was so confident in who he was that he said, “Yeah.”
I said to him, “Why are you doing this?” He was like, “I love the roasts, and I want to bring it all back.” To his credit and I guess to the credit of the roast, everything he would want from his life career-wise seems to have worked out great. He immediately became part owner of a team. He immediately launched this incredible broadcasting career, and he’s doing Super Bowl commercials with his old teammates. I feel like the roast kind of melted away some of the ice that he may have had with his coach and his owner and maybe even his players. I think it did a lot for him.
Are there more Netflix roasts on the boards?
We have something cooking, but I can’t talk about it yet.
What do you make of the Friars Club’s New York headquarters being sold in foreclosure?
The Friars Club thing hurts because it feels like that’s my alma mater. It especially hurts now because I always had this fantasy of doing a Broadway show, then going to lunch at the Friars Club and having everybody come over and tell me how much they loved it. This would have been a great time to be a Friar for me.
Now I’m at the Yard House. It’s not quite the same. The jambalaya is good, but it’s not quite the Friars Club, where you would see people in the steam room, in the gym and there was a poker tournament, a pool tournament, a charity fundraiser. And then there were big events like the roasts. That is sadly in the past, and it breaks my heart.
In terms of manifesting what’s next for Jeff Ross?
A cup of tea. A puff of weed. Get into my costume. I get to ride this incredible wave of emotions and laughs every night for the next two months. I’ve never done anything for two months in comedy. I’m not looking past this. When I was a young — before I became a comedian — my Aunt Bess would take me to Broadway shows. She took me to see Jackie Mason do his one-person show. I thought it was so cool. He didn’t have dancers, he didn’t have music, it was just him ripping the roof off the theater for an hour-and-a-half. I was like wow, that is the pinnacle of show business. If I can do that then I’m good. I can see myself retiring. That’s how much I like doing this gig.
Entertainment
Lil Yachty Says He ‘Manifested’ Working With Drake During an Acid Trip: ‘I Was Just Talking to the Abyss’
Lil Yachty manifested his working relationship with Drake.
Yachty and his Concrete Boys collective stopped by PlaqueBoyMax‘s stream recently and was asked by the popular streamer how his and Drake’s working relationship came about.
“I manifested it, bro,” he answered after he included the Toronto rapper on a list of some of the most talented people he’s worked with, alongside Tyler, The Creator and Juice WRLD. “I was doing acid one night and I was like, ‘Man, I would really love to work with Drake. That’s one of my favorite rappers.’ I was just talking to the abyss. I was speaking to, like, a higher power, and I manifested it. I did. This was years ago. This was before we ever did anything.”
He added that they followed each other on social media before becoming close friends and collaborators. “He followed me, we was cool. We was on Finsta together and it was cool. But, like, I wanted to have a relationship,” he admitted. “That’s one of my best friends. Manifestation is real. I manifested getting on, becoming famous, becoming a rapper. All this sh– is manifestation. You gotta speak this sh– into existence. I’ll never forget, I used to be in high school and Tyler and Rocky used to FaceTime me.”
Drake and the Atlanta rapper first linked up in 2020 for the latter’s song “Oprah’s Bank Account,” with Yachty contributing to both Her Loss and For All the Dogs as a featured artist, writer and producer.
You can watch the full stream below.
Tech20 minutes ago
Im a full-time food blogger. Why my phone is the ‘brain’ of our household
Tech21 minutes ago
Best Christmas gifts for the 2025 holiday season
Politics36 minutes ago
Meta’s Shocking AI Scandal: Chatbots Cleared for Steamy Talks with Kids as Young as 8
Entertainment5 months ago
New Kid and Family Movies in 2025: Calendar of Release Dates (Updating)
Tech5 months ago
The best sexting apps in 2025
Tech6 months ago
Every potential TikTok buyer we know about
-
Entertainment5 months agoNew Kid and Family Movies in 2025: Calendar of Release Dates (Updating)
-
Tech5 months ago
The best sexting apps in 2025
-
Tech6 months agoEvery potential TikTok buyer we know about
-
Tech6 months ago
iOS 18.4 developer beta released — heres what you can expect
-
Politics6 months agoDOGE-ing toward the best Department of Defense ever
-
Tech6 months agoAre You an RSSMasher?
-
Politics6 months agoToxic RINO Susan Collins Is a “NO” on Kash Patel, Trashes Him Ahead of Confirmation Vote
-
Politics6 months agoAfter Targeting Chuck Schumer, Acting DC US Attorney Ed Martin Expands ‘Operation Whirlwind’ to Investigate Democrat Rep. Robert Garcia for Calling for “Actual Weapons” Against Elon Musk