Doechii's Viral Hit, Jack Quaid's 'Novocaine' Push, And John Mulaney's Wild Talk Show

Happy Friday y’all!

In this week’s TFL, we’re covering:

• Doechii’s viral song “Anxiety” with the help of Will Smith

• Jack Quaid and Paramount Pictures’ latest and clever marketing push for ‘Novocaine’

• A closer look at John Mulaney’s chaotically wonderful live talk show ‘Everybody’s Live’ on Netflix

• A vibey new “Good Noise” playlist featuring 30 new songs you need to hear from this week

• A round-up of this week’s new trailer drops

• Plenty of tidbits across the entertainment industry going on and in the works!

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Thank you for being here - now let’s get into it!

—Stephen Frost

🎵 Doechii’s “Anxiety” Is Going Viral With A Little Help From Will Smith

Grammy-winning rapper Doechii’s viral track Anxiety has been over five years in the making, but in the past few weeks, it’s reached seismic new heights on TikTok—thanks in part to Will Smith, Sleepy Hallow, and Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know.

The Backstory: Anxiety first appeared in 2019 as an unplugged Coven Music Session on YouTube, where Doechii sampled Gotye’s massive 2012 hit. A few years later, rapper Sleepy Hallow took inspiration from her version, flipping it into his own track, also called Anxiety, which has since racked up over 143M streams on Spotify.

Fast-Forward to This Week: Fresh off winning a Grammy for Best Rap Album, Doechii is witnessing Anxiety explode as a viral TikTok sound. The trend took off after a fan paired the song with a famous Fresh Prince of Bel-Air dance scene featuring Will Smith and Tatyana Ali. The result? Over 869K videos using the track and so much momentum that Doechii officially released a recorded version just 10 days ago.

Full-Circle Moment: Now, the song’s success has led to collaborations between Doechii, Will Smith, and Tatyana Ali—further proof that in today’s music landscape, fans are the ultimate tastemakers.

🍿 Jack Quaid Effortlessly Commits To The Bit While Promoting “Novocaine”

Jack Quaid went full method at Sunday’s Clippers game—playing a man who can’t feel pain, just like his character in Novocaine, which hits theaters today. His over-the-top commitment to the bit is paying off, with fans eating up his viral stunt online.

Fill Me In: To promote the new action-comedy, Quaid and co-star Amber Midthunder sat courtside, where fans started noticing something strange—Quaid’s condition seemed to worsen as the game went on. A now-viral video captured a fan asking, “Is it just me… or is Jack Quaid getting worse as this game goes on?” By the end of the night, he looked like he needed a hospital.

In Novocaine, Quaid plays a man who can’t feel pain—a condition that becomes his unexpected superpower in a fight to save the girl of his dreams.

Of course, the courtside stunt was just a clever, creative way to get audiences hyped for the film, continuing Paramount Pictures’ streak of inventive marketing plays.

Marketing Playbook: The studio has been leaning into unique promos lately—Sonic the Hedgehog 3 teased its holiday release with nostalgic Christmas movie posters, while Smile 2 created an entire fake music persona for its lead character, Skye Riley.

With Novocaine now in theaters, it’s clear Quaid—and Paramount—know exactly how to get people talking.

📺 John Mulaney’s Back With His Chaotically Wonderful Talk Show “Everybody’s Live”

Last year, Everybody’s In LA with John Mulaney was one of the biggest highlights of the Netflix Is A Joke Fest, earning widespread praise from critics and fans alike. The limited-run talk show featured legendary guests like Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Nate Bargatze, and Pete Davidson, alongside the beloved announcer Richard Kind, delivering a mix of hilarious sketches, conversations, and unscripted chaos.

This past Wednesday, Mulaney returned to Netflix, pushing the boundaries of live television once again with his newly retitled Everybody’s Live—a completely live, uninterrupted talk show with no delay.

The season kicked off with a stacked lineup: Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Keaton, personal finance columnist Jessica Roy, folk icon Joan Baez, and comedy’s favorite drummer Fred Armisen, all weighing in on lending money and taking live calls from listeners.

One of the show’s biggest strengths is watching Mulaney and Kind flex their improv skills. Mulaney, for instance, seamlessly transitions from call to call, asking listeners what kind of car they drive before abruptly hanging up. Meanwhile, Kind rotates through his announcer duties, from reading celebrity birthdays to introducing wild party games—an offbeat, chaotic delight.

The episode also featured the incomparable Tracy Morgan, who showed up as "King Latifah" for a ridiculous back-and-forth with Mulaney, as well as a surreal Death of a Salesman sketch featuring a dozen Willy Lomans—anchored by a surprise appearance from Christopher Lloyd. And, of course, the night wrapped with a performance by ‘90s rap legends Cypress Hill, further cementing Mulaney’s signature musical slot, where fans get a taste of his indie-leaning, genre-spanning taste.

Looking ahead: With 11 more weeks to go, Everybody’s Live is shaping up to be one of Netflix’s most unpredictable and hysterical late-night experiments. New episodes air live every Wednesday at 9 PM CT on Netflix.

That’s it for this week folks. Let me know if you have any feedback or comments on what’d you like to see in this newsletter, feel free to reply to me on this email.

We’ll see you back again next Friday & have a great weekend!

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