Lifestyle
'By Natives, for Natives': This new L.A. hub is drawing in the young, artsy and Indigenous
!['By Natives, for Natives': This new L.A. hub is drawing in the young, artsy and Indigenous 'By Natives, for Natives': This new L.A. hub is drawing in the young, artsy and Indigenous](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c8e732e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4776x2507+0+338/resize/1200x630!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F83%2Fc4%2F6a78f7c44991907e299836ab613c%2F1468651-wk-chapter-house-mdb-09.jpg)
On a sweltering July afternoon in Echo Park, Miranda Due approached a table topped with a trio of flavored syrups and a spread of toppings: diced pickles, Kool-aid powder and gummy bears. Behind it, Dria Yellowhair pulled a pre-filled cup of crushed ice from a cooler, and asked Due what flavor she wanted. Upon requesting blueberry, Yellowhair doused the ice with fluorescent blue syrup and loaded the treat with a generous serving of each fixing.
Piccadilly — an icy, sweet treat that includes pickles, gummy bears and topping of Kool-Aid powder — served at a recent Chapter House event in Echo Park.
(Katie Janss)
This was Due’s first piccadilly, a delicacy whose origins are debated, but can be traced to either the Navajo, the Tohono O’odham Reservation, or the Hopi village Moenkopi. Wherever they came from, they exploded in popularity on the Navajo reservation around 2018. Yellowhair, who is Diné — the word Navajo people use to identify themselves — grew up in Downey, but has family on the reservation and visits frequently. She was introducing the sweet treat to visitors at a new Indigenous community center and exhibition space called the Chapter House.
After taking a bite, Due contemplated the flavor.
“It’s sweet, and a little bit sour, and salty from the pickles,” she said. “It’s a nice combination of all the flavors. It’s fantastic.”
Due, 31, is Cherokee and a member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. The nonprofit worker, who lived in Los Angeles for five years before moving to Tulsa, couldn’t miss an opportunity to check out the Chapter House on her latest visit to California.
The teal building is located on a noisy stretch of Glendale Boulevard just off the 2 Freeway. In its front room you can find the center’s summer art exhibition, “Diary of a Native Femme(nist)” by artist Kimberly Robertson. But it’s the building’s tranquil, shaded outdoor space out back where most community gatherings take place. The day I visited, about a dozen Indigenous Angelenos compared the colors of their tongues, newly dyed blue and red from their piccadilly syrup, as music from native bands like Redbone and The Halluci Nation drowned out the cityscape. A gaggle of small children waved bubble wands and ran circles around a kid-sized, Barbie-pink Cybertruck.
![A May 6 exhibition opening at the Chapter House.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/44cdb41/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4222x2820+0+0/resize/1200x802!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5f%2Fd6%2F3833d88e4b56885114e7fcd862d6%2Fwk-chapter-house-handout-001.jpg)
A May 6 exhibition opening at the Chapter House. The building’s tranquil, shaded back outdoor space is where most community gatherings take place.
(Anthony Chase In Winter)
![A group photo from the Chapter House's recent summer art exhibition, "Diary of a Native Femme(nist)."](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6e1103e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3563x2380+0+0/resize/1200x802!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F28%2F6f%2F0a2d118c4c6387d4d1c20c27f503%2Fwk-chapter-house-handout-003.jpg)
A group photo from the opening of the Chapter House’s most recent art exhibition, “Diary of a Native Femme(nist),” including artist Kimberly Robertson, center, and Chapter House founder Emma Robbins (Diné), right.
(Anthony Chase In Winter)
“I went to school out here for a while, and I was always hoping for more community,” Due said. “I think it really came to life once I left town.”
Nearly 400,000 people in Los Angeles County identify as partly American Indian or Alaskan Native, according to the 2020 census. That makes it one of the largest urban Indigenous populations in the nation.
“We’re all unique, and we’re all from different tribes, different nations, but we all were craving the space to come together, recharge and heal.”
— Emma Robbins, Chapter House founder
Despite this, Chapter House founder Emma Robbins (Diné) says there are very few places for the Indigenous to gather socially in the city. The Gabrielino/Tongva people, the original people of Los Angeles, are not yet a federally recognized tribe, and therefore do not have a reservation nearby that could function as a centralized hub.
Before the Chapter House opened, Indigenous Angelenos would see each other at a handful of annual events at the Autry Museum of the American West, like the powwow hosted by the nonprofit United American Indian Involvement. UAII also provides social services for the urban native population, and community members would sometimes bump into acquaintances while waiting for a doctor’s appointment at the clinic. But the events at the Autry were too infrequent to nurture a sense of belonging. And other Indigenous L.A. residents interviewed for this story said that they found it too awkward to connect in the UAII’s waiting room..
For the record:
11:49 a.m. Sept. 9, 2024The sentiment that it was awkward to connect in the USII’s waiting room was incorrectly attributed to Emma Robbins. Other Indigenous L.A. residents, including Joey Clift, shared this view.
Though UAII also offers community programming for families, youth and elders, there aren’t as many events geared towards young, creative natives. To fill this gap, Robbins sought to create a casual, artistic community space with year-round programming.
The Chapter House was founded virtually in 2020 by Robbins, who grew up on the Navajo Reservation, which sprawls across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. There, the center of social life takes place at so-called chapter houses, community centers unique to the Navajo nation. They are where people distribute food and water, facilitate town halls, see art, experience cultural celebrations, throw parties and hold funerals. 110 chapter houses are distributed across the reservation, and Robbins jokes that the Los Angeles Chapter House, which opened its physical space in the fall of 2023, is the 111th.
“Navajo rez is what I know,” Robbins said. “But I think working with California natives — specifically Tongva and Chumash folks from the area — is really important because, although we are Navajo or Diné-led, it’s important to be inclusive of all Natives.”
![Emma Robbins points to a town on the Navajo Nation map.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9388b7f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4523x3015+0+0/resize/1200x800!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0e%2F1b%2F4c19614a4f0a90b7d4b8dd1c27ce%2F1468651-wk-chapter-house-mdb-12.jpg)
Emma Robbins points to a town on the Navajo Nation map during community “Refresh Day” to help touch up the space.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
“We’re all unique, and we’re all from different tribes, different nations, but we all were craving the space to come together, recharge and heal,” Robbins said. “We also bring things to our community that we might not historically have had access to, like art shows, or yoga classes or even just good Wi-Fi,” Robbins said.
Robbins founded the Chapter House on four pillars: wellness, community, art and nature. In addition to the frequent piccadilly socials, they’ve held events like a Métis (Michif) finger weaving lesson, plant medicine workshops, screenings of the new seasons of Netflix’s Indigenous-forward animated children’s show “Spirit Rangers” and drag story hour with Landa Lakes (Chickasaw) and Lady Shug (Diné.)
Joey Clift, a Cowlitz comedian and television writer, first discovered the Chapter House in July 2023 through a bolo tie-making workshop, which helped him transform a hand-beaded Garfield medallion, made by Cree beadworker Sweet Grass by Heather, into something he could wear.
I feel like I don’t have to try to be something that I’m not. We all uplift each other, and inspire each other, and help each other.
— Burgandi Trejo Phoenix, Yaqui actress and Chapter House visitor
He said the Chapter House reminded him of a bygone era of 1930s Hollywood that he had read about, in which the Indian American Art Shop, located across the street from the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, was the unofficial hang out spot for Native American actors like Jim Thorpe, member of the Sac and Fox Nation, and a gold medalist Olympian turned Western star. Until Clift found the Chapter House, he could only dream of these spaces from the past. Clift would go on to join the community center’s board, with hopes to reignite the young Indigenous creative scene.
“I think that there are a lot of really great spaces for elders in Los Angeles to participate in and practice culture,” Clift, 40, said. “But I don’t feel like there are a lot of spaces for Native millennials and zoomers. That’s something that really excited me about the Chapter House. It’s for all ages, but it really does feel like it’s on the pulse of the really great artistic gains that Native folks are doing now.”
![Alyssa Musket, right, looks through directions to build a cabinet as she receives help from Pinon "Pinny" Robbins.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/579cd94/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4886x3257+0+0/resize/1200x800!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fba%2Fa6%2F3d5a45fb401faaf295ae8a378dce%2F1468651-wk-chapter-house-mdb-05.jpg)
Alyssa Musket, right, looks through directions to build a cabinet as she receives help from Piñon “Pinny” Robbins, left, during community “Refresh Day.”
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)
![A visitor viewing an art exhibition by Kimberly Robertson at the Chapter House.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/059f793/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4240x2832+0+0/resize/1200x802!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F94%2F4c%2Feb5d96f647c39e282e47a1d07637%2Fwk-chapter-house-handout-002.jpg)
A visitor views “Diary of a Native Femme(nist),” an art exhibition by Kimberly Robertson that opened at the Chapter House on May 4th.
(Anthony Chase In Winter)
The space also is helping young Indigenous people connect to their culture for the first time. Burgandi Trejo Phoenix, an Yaqui actress who voices a character named Squash in “Spirit Rangers,” first connected with the Chapter House when it screened the Season 4 finale of the kids show in April. She immediately felt embraced by the community, even though she wasn’t brought up with her Yaqui traditions.
“I feel like I don’t have to try to be something that I’m not,” Phoenix said. “We all uplift each other, and inspire each other, and help each other.”
Through promoting events at UAII, on Instagram and through word of mouth, Chapter House is building a loyal following. Their events, which are always free and open to the public, regularly attract around 20 to 25 people — but 200 packed the house for the La La Land Back Tour drag show they co-hosted last November. While most people who come identify as Indigenous, Robbins emphasizes that the Chapter House is welcoming of allies, too.
“This is definitely a Native space by Natives for Natives,” Robbins said, “We want people to come, learn, and experience what it’s like when we come together and build this beautiful Indigenous future.”
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Lifestyle
Actor and beloved baritone James Earl Jones dies at 93
![Actor and beloved baritone James Earl Jones dies at 93 Actor and beloved baritone James Earl Jones dies at 93](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/02/10/gettyimages-463747494small_wide-0448f11434e6f366049f909098c4a5bf77e068d6.jpg?s=1400&c=100&f=jpeg)
James Earl Jones, pictured here in 2014, followed in the footsteps of actors like Sidney Poitier, Paul Robeson and Canada Lee, all of whom refused to be limited by stereotypical roles.
Jesse Dittmar for The Washington Post/Getty Images
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Jesse Dittmar for The Washington Post/Getty Images
![James Earl Jones, pictured here in 2014, followed in the footsteps of actors like Sidney Poitier, Paul Robeson and Canada Lee, all of whom refused to be limited by stereotypical roles.](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/02/10/gettyimages-463747494small_slide-068f5e2ed27fb7f0d39190432f5cf02d2da2c1cf.jpg?s=2600&c=100&f=jpeg)
James Earl Jones, pictured here in 2014, followed in the footsteps of actors like Sidney Poitier, Paul Robeson and Canada Lee, all of whom refused to be limited by stereotypical roles.
Jesse Dittmar for The Washington Post/Getty Images
One of America’s most beloved actors, James Earl Jones, died Monday at age 93. He was at home in Dutchess County, N.Y. surrounded by his family, his longtime agent Barry McPherson confirmed to NPR.
In addition to an illustrious stage career — which included roles in classics like Macbeth, Othello and The Iceman Cometh — Jones also had an extensive film career, appearing in Dr. Strangelove, Field of Dreams, and The Hunt for Red October. He voiced Mufasa in The Lion King, and as Darth Vader, he delivered the line that still sends shivers up the spines of Star Wars fans: “I am your father.”
James Earl Jones was born on Jan. 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Miss. He was raised by his grandparents. When he was 5 years old, the family moved to a rural farm in Dublin, Mich. Jones said the move so traumatized him that he developed a severe stutter that continued until he was in high school.
“I was able to function as a farm kid, doing all those chores where you call animals,” he told WHYY’s Fresh Air in 1993, “and I certainly let the family know what my needs were. But when strangers came to the house, the mute happened. I didn’t want to confront them and I wasn’t ready. I hid in a state of muteness.”
Then a high school teacher found a way to help: “He one day discovered that I wrote poetry and he said to me, ‘This poem is so good I can’t believe you wrote it. The way you can prove it to me is to get up in front of the class and recite it by heart.’ And I accepted the challenge and did it, and we both realized we had a means — we had a way of regaining the power of speech through poetry.”
And what a power it was. Jones’ baritone came complete with its own echo chamber. His voice became one of the most instantly recognizable in entertainment history.
Everything about him was big: his commanding stage presence, the intensity of his glance and his brilliance at his chosen craft. Woodie King Jr. is founder of New York’s New Federal Theater, which has been producing shows by and about African-Americans throughout its history. He first became aware of Jones in the early 1960s.
![James Earl Jones: From Stutterer To Janitor To Broadway Star](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/11/07/ap101020125643_sq-c6c8f7e38581cf5b00c5684a0223aef45bfe7715.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
“I was a young aspiring actor who had come into New York and he had all the elements of acting — physicality, vocal range, psychically in tune with what was going on,” King says. “And I wanted to be that kind of artist who had that kind of freedom with his instrument.”
King saw Jones’ critically acclaimed performance in a 1961 production of Jean Genet’s The Blacks. He also worked with Jones in a 1968 Broadway production of Howard Sackler’s The Great White Hope, based on the life of champion black boxer Jack Johnson.
“It was an unbelievable kind of performance,” King recalled. “It was an amazing metamorphosis, watching him transform himself into this vicious boxer.”
![Muhammad Ali, (left) spars with Jones, then the star of The Great White Hope, in 1969.](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/02/10/ap_6911100177_custom-4d557a5236e91acc6453801abe86e697f9c7cfc8.jpg?s=1100&c=50&f=jpeg)
Muhammad Ali, (left) spars with Jones, then the star of The Great White Hope, in 1969.
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![Muhammad Ali, (left) spars with Jones, then the star of The Great White Hope, in 1969.](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/02/10/ap_6911100177_custom-4d557a5236e91acc6453801abe86e697f9c7cfc8.jpg?s=2600&c=100&f=jpeg)
Muhammad Ali, (left) spars with Jones, then the star of The Great White Hope, in 1969.
GB/AP
Jones won a Tony for that role, as well as an Oscar nomination for the 1970 film adaptation, and he won a second Tony in 1987 for his role in August Wilson’s Fences.
His first film role was as bombardier Lothar Zogg in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 classic Dr. Strangelove. In 1972’s The Man, Jones played the first black president; in the 1974 black classic Claudine, he played a garbage man who charms a date out of a welfare mom; and in 1989’s Field of Dreams, he explained why people would care about a baseball diamond in an Iowa cornfield. Jones has said that one of his favorite roles was that of the South African reverend in Cry, the Beloved Country.
Jones’ voice has pervaded pop culture: He’s the voice of CNN and Verizon, and even showed up on a few episodes of The Simpsons, which managed to kid the actor about his kaleidoscopic work in one fell swoop.
In his conversation with Fresh Air, Jones remembered the beginning of his voice-over career with amusement. “I think the first commercials I did … they asked me to ‘just give us the sound of God.’ … They were not embarrassed about saying that.”
![Jones takes a bow after his final performance in Broadway's You Can't Take It With You in 2015.](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/02/10/gettyimages-464159274_custom-662f351ec69c2f536266e34ce24cfcc3dbe3e757.jpg?s=1100&c=50&f=jpeg)
Jones takes a bow after his final performance in Broadway’s You Can’t Take It With You in 2015.
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Grant Lamos IV/Getty Images
New Federal Theater’s Woodie King said Jones was a warm, somewhat shy man who was a powerful artist. He followed in the footsteps of actors like Sidney Poitier, Paul Robeson and Canada Lee, all of whom refused to be limited by the old stereotypical roles of butlers or buffoons. Jones saw theater as a place for all people.
“What you have is a master craftsman at work,” King said. “He makes young people aware of the vast possibilities of this business when you are a craftsman. … The Broadway stage sees him as really colorless — not black or white, but a brilliant artist.”
Lifestyle
'After Midnight' host Taylor Tomlinson is ready to joke about her bipolar II. Mostly
!['After Midnight' host Taylor Tomlinson is ready to joke about her bipolar II. Mostly 'After Midnight' host Taylor Tomlinson is ready to joke about her bipolar II. Mostly](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2160x1215+0+222/resize/1400/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Faa%2F80%2F775dfce642938929850c6eecf60d%2Fttc231118-0000.jpg)
Taylor Tomlinson says her on stage presence isn’t a persona or a character: “It’s just the best version of me.”
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Netflix
Comic Taylor Tomlinson was just 16 when she caught the stand-up bug. That’s when she started performing at open mics in church basements in Orange County, Calif., where she grew up.
“It’s not a cool story,” Tomlinson says. “But … church audiences are very supportive — as long as you don’t say anything dark, edgy or blue.”
Over the years, Tomlinson’s material has shifted, with topics ranging from the perils of dating on apps to finding out she has bipolar II disorder. Though she was initially unsure about talking about her own mental health on stage, she says it’s helped her connect with the audience.
![How 'SNL' alum Molly Shannon found profound healing after childhood tragedy](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/04/08/gettyimages-1342586188_sq-74fad88212290ffa2eefb30a167324b693d5c9f4.jpg?s=100&c=15&f=jpeg)
“I got such amazing feedback from people who had been struggling with their mental health, … how it made them feel seen and less alone and made them feel better about their own journey,” Tomlinson says.
Tomlinson describes her on-stage presence as “the sharpest, quickest, wittiest, most confident version” of herself: “When I started doing stand-up in high school, it felt like more of a persona, … like the version of myself that I knew I could be and wanted to become, but wasn’t yet,” she says. “And I think over the years, who I am off stage and who I am on stage have come together where I do feel that I am the same person everywhere.”
Earlier in the year, Tomlinson became the youngest ever late-night host. Her CBS show, After Midnight, has been described as a game show that centers on internet culture. Tomlinson also has three stand-up specials on Netflix: Quarter-Life Crisis, Look at You and Have It All. She’ll soon be traveling the country with her Save Me tour.
Interview highlights
On losing her mother to cancer when she was a child and how that affected her path to comedy
I’m not saying that everybody in comedy or any creative person has to come from this dark place and the only way you’re funny is if you have a darkness about you. I don’t think that’s true. But for me, that changed who I was and who I was going to become. And it changed my sense of humor. And it made me try really hard to prove myself in a way that I don’t think I would have if she were still alive. Because after you lose a parent, you’re still trying to impress them, and you’re still trying to be somebody that they would have liked and respected and loved and been proud of. And you’re hoping other people who knew them tell you that. …
I do rely on other people’s accounts of her, because there’s only so much you remember when you lose somebody at 8 years old. … Like my aunt has said to me, “Oh, your expressions on stage will remind me of her.” … And that means so much to me. And growing up, I wanted to be a writer before I wanted to be a comedian. And they would say, “Your mom was such a great writer.” And there’s so many ways I’m not like her. Like she was an extrovert. She was very bubbly. She was very charismatic. She was gorgeous. … I don’t think I shine brightly as she does and I, in a weird way, feel like my becoming a comedian and a professionally creative person and a writer is like my way of honoring the potential that was wasted by the universe taking her.
On why she left the church after her mom died
![Comic Pete Holmes Draws On His Early Career And 'Churchy' Roots In 'Crashing'](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/03/21/mccall-b-polay-courtesy-of-hbo_sq-1e1cd1c8f417641b435da8b184988483469050e2.jpg?s=100&c=15&f=jpeg)
I had been told if you believe and pray and stay faithful, God will answer your prayers. And we had so many people praying for [my mom] and she believed she was going to get better. And so to watch your mom die of cancer, even while everybody gathers around her and lays hands on her and supports her and prays for her and then for them to turn around and go, “Well, God did heal her. He just healed her in a different way. She’s healed in heaven.” And I was like, whoa, OK. Like, the rewrite on that is crazy. It made me question everything. And slowly over the next 10 years, I felt like I was struggling to stay in it the whole time I was growing up, and I just felt like I was a bad Christian because I didn’t, in my heart, agree with everything.
On being diagnosed with bipolar II disorder
I tried so many antidepressants and they weren’t working for me, and I was having terrible side effects. … It was certainly a years-long process trying to find what worked for me.
![Sarah Silverman Opens Up About Depression, Comedy And Troublemaking](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2015/10/22/courtesy-broad-green-films-11_sq-9a97617ce4c2e2936deb256fada1965116f1d7de.jpg?s=100&c=15&f=jpeg)
Then when I finally did find what worked for me, I sort of worked backwards from that and was like, oh, this makes sense. … I had so much shame around that diagnosis when I first got it, and I was embarrassed that I felt ashamed because I’ve never judge anybody else who had it. But when it’s you, it’s somehow different, which is why I started writing jokes about it.
On deciding to joke about having bipolar
I remember my therapist said to me, “Maybe we don’t talk about this on stage.” And I was like, “I’ve already done it.” … Once you write one joke and it hits and you really like the joke, you’re like, well, it’s got to go in the act. … But when I filmed [Have It All], I felt great about those jokes and then in the months waiting for it to come out, I started panicking and was like, Oh no, I can’t un-share any of this.
![How 'Poor Things' actor Emma Stone turns her anxiety into a 'superpower'](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/01/30/poor-things-030_pt_atsushi_nishijima_20211110_00201-1-_rgb_sq-4057056db751155741bf541312be1a06d3376120.jpg?s=100&c=15&f=jpeg)
Over the years, I’ve gotten better about editing myself and deciding what is going to go in the act and what I’m just going to keep private. But it’s a lot of trial and error. … The guiding light for me has been even if something kills on stage, do I feel good telling it every night, or do I dread that bit coming up? I have done jokes about very personal things that I took out of the act because I was dreading getting to that part of the hour every night, and I was like, ooh, that’s probably a sign that I’m not ready to talk about this yet. … I also run jokes by family members and friends before I do them, because a joke is not worth destroying a relationship, in my opinion.
Heidi Saman and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
Lifestyle
Ryan Seacrest Gearing Up For 'Wheel Of Fortune' Debut With Vanna White
![Ryan Seacrest Gearing Up For 'Wheel Of Fortune' Debut With Vanna White Ryan Seacrest Gearing Up For 'Wheel Of Fortune' Debut With Vanna White](https://imagez.tmz.com/image/a7/16by9/2024/09/09/a70f115b3b634d9ea2bcd95c01f38bad_xl.jpg)
TMZ.com
Ryan Seacrest is living his best life … soaking up the good vibes with his “Wheel of Fortune” co-host Vanna White as they gear up for the new season!
We caught the duo rolling into ABC Studios in NYC … where Ryan declared he’s got zero jitters and is pumped for everyone to enjoy the classic CBS show they know and love.
For her part, Vanna raved about their on-screen chemistry … a huge relief considering she’d previously worried about clicking on-stage with Seacrest after so many years with Pat Sajak.
Ryan later explained to TMZ outside the iHeartRadio studios that Pat himself was fully on board with Seacrest taking his spot on the show — debunking reports he wasn’t the icon’s first choice.
TMZ.com
Ryan shrugged off the speculation, giving a nod to the legend’s unmatched brilliance on the show and making it clear they were on great terms, with Pat sending him a “good luck” text the day before.
Seacrest’s debut as host with Vanna hits the screen on Monday. Get ready to spin into a new season!
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