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2 weeks ago | 
dailytrojan.com | Fabian Gutierrez |David Rendon |Henry Mode
Wayne Brady, a singer, actor and longtime improv comic — as well as an adjunct lecturer at the School of Dramatic Arts — has been on television making people laugh for over 35 years. When asked by three Daily Trojan reporters to tell his favorite joke, he mustered the following. “Oh, wait, wait, wait. Then, then the guy, he said, he said, ‘Your mama!’” Brady said. Everyone laughs. It’s something that everyone can understand regardless of language.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
dailytrojan.com | Sammy Bovitz |Fabian Gutierrez
Animated movies are for kids — at least, that’s what the 94th Academy Awards wanted you to believe. Jokes throughout the evening — including by those presenting the Best Animated Feature award — caused a righteous uproar across the animation industry. But if you look at the box office, those who mock animated movies as “just for kids” have a point. A quick glance at the highest-grossing animated films ever made reveals dozens of films aimed primarily at children.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
dailytrojan.com | Aubrie Cole |Sammy Bovitz |Fabian Gutierrez
This year marks the 10th installment of The Game Awards, the biggest annual ceremony recognizing the best video games of the year. It’s been a year full of addictive card games, role-playing blockbusters and big-budget adaptations. The Daily Trojan’s resident gaming experts explained their picks for the year’s biggest honors. The Game Awards will take place Dec.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
dailytrojan.com | Jose Bizuet |Fabian Gutierrez
Inspiration finds people in many different ways. For Ezra Hwang, it came through a studio album and an accompanying screenplay that blended music, film and storytelling. This collection of art became the blueprint for Hwang’s creative journey. Hwang, known professionally as ZRA, is a freshman majoring in creative writing while building his career as an emerging artist on campus. In the seventh grade, ZRA was influenced by artists such as Chance the Rapper, OutKast and Lupe Fiasco.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
dailytrojan.com | Anna Xie |Fabian Gutierrez
Musicians are warriors of an impossible art. If the countless movies, documentaries and swirling stories about how merciless their industry is are any indication, choosing to pursue music is not for the faint of heart. Carrie Zhu, a junior studying public relations as well as business administration, is one of the select few that bravely goes after her love of music.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
dailytrojan.com | Henry Kofman |Fabian Gutierrez
After a busy semester of shows, the School of Dramatic Arts is looking forward to a mix of plays and musicals as part of its Spring 2025 mainstage productions. With everything from a Shakespeare classic to a musical about hating the bard, there is something for everybody coming up. This will be the second full semester putting to use the brand new Sanctuary Theater in the Dramatic Arts Building — to be renamed the Dick Wolf Drama Center in the spring.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
dailytrojan.com | Anna Jordan |Fabian Gutierrez
On Nov. 19, Haruki Murakami welcomed the 15th addition to his bibliography in the form of “The City and Its Uncertain Walls.” As one of the most popular contemporary authors of the 21st century, Murakami’s latest novel built hype from his international fanbase from the moment of its announcement. However, that built-up anticipation made the end result all the more disappointing, as the work took the “uncertain” aspect of its title a little too seriously.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
dailytrojan.com | Sammy Bovitz |Fabian Gutierrez
If you are a consumer in the United States, you are probably intensely aware by now that “Wicked” is coming out soon. For months, Universal Pictures has been hard at work to remind you that its big-budget gamble is the movie you should spend your money on this Thanksgiving. Promotions for this movie have been, to put it mildly, all over the place. Branded collaborations have overloaded the market, from phone cases to makeup to cocktails to Crocs. There’s a behind-the-scenes special coming.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
dailytrojan.com | Sammie Yen |Fabian Gutierrez
Irish critic Vivian Mercier famously described “Waiting for Godot” as a play in which “nothing happens, twice.” Nothing happens in Act I, and nothing happens in Act II. This deceptive simplification of Beckett’s work may turn off audiences looking for a high-paced, action-packed performance. Instead, “Godot” offers a paradoxical experience, one that feels both inert and stormy — an existential whirlwind of dialogue, humor and despair.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
dailytrojan.com | Kimberly Aguirre |Fabian Gutierrez
Sometimes I feel like a broken record. I’m constantly writing about bigotry in comedy, and I’m nowhere close to the only one. Yet those same comics called out continue to be rewarded. To complain about them is to sort of play into their hand: Those concealing bigotry as comedy love to complain about “woke” media trying to “cancel” them. With Grammy nominations for Best Comedy Album going to Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle though, cancellation is clearly not a worry.
