Suburban stars in seclusion: Check out what Jim Gaffigan and others are up to
If you've ever rolled your eyes at US Weekly's "Stars! They're Just Like Us" photo feature, you might glaze over stories about celebs sheltering in place during the coronavirus pandemic.
But they're stars for a reason, and many are generating entertaining online content from the confines of their often less-than-confining homes. So today we introduce a new weekly column about celebrities with ties to the suburbs and the ways they're both coping and being creative.
Unfiltered family
Tired of dining with your family in isolation? Join comedian Jim Gaffigan at the dinner table with his wife and five kids, who dish out sarcasm as they pass the pizza.
Gaffigan, who grew up in Elgin and Barrington, is sharing "Dinner with the Gaffigans," an unfiltered online video series filmed daily at his New York apartment.
"Essentially at this point, my wife and I are running a diner," Gaffigan says. "We make mediocre food for ungrateful recipients."
That joke is from Gaffigan's recent "CBS Sunday Morning" segment called "Life in a quarantine is like a sitcom." At three-and-a-half minutes, it's more digestible than the nearly hourlong "Dinner" episodes.
A new daddy 'do?
You may be desperate for a makeover about now. But would you trust a 2-year-old stylist?
Former Arlington Heights resident and comedian Sebastian Maniscalco plays hair salon on YouTube with his daughter, Serafina, who tends to his locks with a "Beauty and the Beast" hairbrush and a spray bottle. Lucky for dad, she loses interest quickly and shifts her creative efforts to baby brother Caruso.
Closed-off world
How do fairy tale princesses cope with social distancing? They sing of course!
That's what three stars of the "Broadway Princess Party" did with their YouTube video of "Keep Your Distance," a spoof of the song "Go the Distance" from Disney's "Hercules."
Elgin native Courtney Reed, who starred as Princess Jasmine in the original Broadway company of "Aladdin," joins Laura Osnes and Susan Egan as they belt out timely lyrics from their scattered homes.
Purell gets a shoutout.
Dystopian detour
Barrington author Veronica Roth delved into dystopias throughout her "Divergent" book series. But now that the coronavirus has curtailed her book tour for new novel "Chosen Ones," Roth turns to a series of online interviews starting Tuesday, April 7. Visit veronicarothbooks.com/tour.