When you read about Jason Mantzoukas’ ideal Sunday in Los Angeles, it’s important that you imagine him holding a cup of coffee in basically every location and situation. He knows all the places around the city where he can get caffeinated before he goes on to do anything else.

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

Fittingly, the actor, comedian and podcaster has brought an excitable, unpredictable and hilarious energy to his roles on shows including “The League,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Big Mouth.” Last year, he brought his gleeful sense of mischief to the U.K. competition series “Taskmaster.” And Disney+ recently finished airing the second season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” where Mantzoukas portrays Mr. D (a.k.a. Dionysus), and he’ll soon wrap up a stint on Broadway, where he stars in Simon Rich’s play “All Out: Comedy About Ambition.”

For the continuously busy Mantzoukas, sometimes the perfect Sunday means never leaving the house. “All I want to do is make a whole pot of coffee, get the paper and a big stack of unread comic books, and sit on the porch.” When he does explore the city, he favors the spots where he similarly can just hang out for a while. But before that, how about a refill?

10:30 a.m.: First cup(s) of the day

I’m a night owl, so on a Sunday especially, I’m going to let myself sleep in. Then I’m making coffee. My first three cups of coffee are all from home. I’m making a French press. L.A. beans though, either Counter Culture or Go Get Em Tiger would be my beans of choice. That and the newspaper are the beginning.

Almost immediately upon getting up, I’m going to start playing the radio. My mornings are either LAist or Howard Stern if it’s a weekday. But on Sundays, I’m trying really hard to not do any talk, just music. It’s KJazz, or something like that. I’m also obsessed with a radio station called WYAR that I can’t recommend enough. It’s music from the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s. It’s the teeniest, tiniest radio station out of Yarmouth, Maine.

Noon: Hike bros

I’ve hiked with the same guys for years now. It’s all guys that I’ve done comedy with for 20-plus years. We usually do one of the Griffith Park hikes because it’s convenient for everybody. The conversation topics are: What is wrong with us physically? What doctor recommendations do we need desperately? Then it is gossip — gossip from within our world, gossip from outside of our world. Then it is just earnest conversation, like checking in emotionally. And then quite a bit of dumb bits, like really dumb bits.

We do these hikes a couple of times a week, and it’s so fun and funny that we have started doing an improv show at the Elysian Theater that’s called Hike Bros. It is just us trying to approximate on stage what it is we do on hikes. It’s ridiculous.

1 p.m.: Comic book restock

After the hike, I’m in a good position to go to Secret Headquarters in Atwater Village, which is my home comic book shop. They keep a list of what comics I want them to set aside each week.

There’s a series of graphic novels called “Hobtown Mystery Stories” that are like, what if David Lynch wrote Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew-style teen detective books? I got super into them because I was in Secret Headquarters and one of the people there was like, “Oh, I bet you’d like that book.” On the internet, I miss having those trusted people.

2 p.m.: Recording digging

I want to kill time in a way that is about discovery, exploration, but also, like, “Oh, I want stuff.” That’s record shopping. L.A. has always been Amoeba for me, just in terms of I love wasting hours in a store that has a deep bench for every section of music that I’m interested in. And then if you want to do the extra work, DVDs as well. There’s a lot of great smaller record stores around town that I love, but there’s something about killing two hours at Amoeba.

6 p.m.: Dinner hang

What I want from an L.A. dinner is I just want to hang there. Little Dom’s is a great hang. You can spend hours there. You’re always going to run into people. My hope is that we can all just hang out and that we’re not going to be rushed out because they have another seating.

8 p.m.: Nighttime activities

I’m going to want to do one of three things at night:

I want to go to the movies, and I’m talking Vidiots and the Vista and the New Beverly. We can all go to all the regular theaters and see all the blockbusters, but L.A. has fantastic theaters that are doing incredible programming,

If I’m not going to the movies, I want to see live music as much as I can, but on a much smaller scale than I used to. I’m excited when an artist that I love like Mary Lattimore or Jeff Parker has a residency at Zebulon because I’m like, “Oh, great. That is not a big crowd. That is very easy, very manageable.”

Then I either want to be doing a comedy show or seeing a comedy show. There’s such a vibrant scene now. The Elysian in Frogtown is a great spot. We do Dinosaur Improv at Largo. I think Largo is pound for pound, maybe the best venue in town. Dynasty Typewriter, another great one. UCB, the OG. Over the course of a month, these are all places that I’m doing shows at, but these are also places that are showcasing some of the best comedy in L.A.

11 p.m.: The missing piece

At this point I’m done being social. I don’t want to talk to anybody anymore. My goal when I get home is a jigsaw puzzle — with either a podcast or jazz on in the background — until probably like 2 in the morning.

I do these puzzles from a company called Elms Puzzles and they’re hand cut, so they’re incredibly difficult to do. It’ll take me a month to do one. They are prohibitively expensive, so much so that I don’t buy them. They have a rental program. They send you a puzzle, you do it, you send it back to them, and they send you another puzzle. Which is perfect, I don’t need to do a puzzle more than once.

It is a great way to put myself into a frame of mind to go to bed, especially if I’ve done a show or watched a movie. If I’ve been stimulated, doing a puzzle for a couple of hours is a great way to decompress.

MILAN — Fireworks. Mariah Carey. A dancing stovetop espresso maker.

The Winter Olympics kicked off in Italy on Friday with all that and more.

Milan’s San Siro Stadium played the role of primary host. But, in the spirit of these unusually widespread Games, simultaneous celebrations were also held in the clusters of Livigno, Predazzo and Cortina d’Ampezzo, which — for the first time ever — lit a second Olympic cauldron.

These NPR reporters were in the stands in Milan, cracking open their hand warmers and a bag of chips to settle in for the big show. Three and a half hours, 92 countries and some 1,400 costumes later, here’s what stood out to us:

1. There is stuff you don’t see on TV (surprise!)

Watching from the stands means getting a glimpse of some behind-the-scenes magic, like cameras zipping across cables overhead and the talent — whether dressed as Italian opera masters, architectural marvels, chefs or Pinocchio — waiting in the wings between acts. Some of the hundreds of volunteers rolled prop carts around and helped carry the hem of Mariah Carey’s dress. And many of them were side-stepping and bobbing along to a set by DJ Mace, who was also busting moves nonstop, even when the cameras weren’t on him.

2. But we still had to look at the TVs

There were plenty of reasons for those in the stadium to pay attention to the TV screens (there were six). For one, much of the action — including entire portions of the Parade of Nations — happened elsewhere. That was the only way to see countries’ delegations backflipping and mean-mugging from places like Cortina and Livigno, sort of alternating with the parade in Milan. The TVs also showed the pre-taped segments and occasionally the names of people (like flag- and torch-bearers) onstage.

Athletes in Milan finished their Parade of Nations route at rows of seats just offstage.

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3. It was cold 

The roof of San Siro was partially open, and three-plus hours of sitting still on plastic seats made the air feel much colder than the (per the forecast) low 40s. There’s a reason all the team uniforms include jackets, hats and gloves — and much of it is that they spend a lot of time sitting still too. They march over to rows of seats and watch the rest of the ceremony sitting there, not unlike the procession of a high school graduation. Everyone in the press area was bundled up too, although not in color-coded parkas.

4. There were Italian icons …

Large, foam-headed opera greats – Rossini, Verde and Puccini – mingled with dancing stovetop coffeemakers. The performances kicked off with a winged Cupid and Psyche coming to life among Roman busts and neoclassical sculptures. Models strutted down a runway in the colors of the Italian flag – a tribute to the late designer Giorgio Armani. The Mona Lisa, Italian chefs, and guys dressed up as a collage of famous buildings – the Colosseum! And Brunelleschi’s dome! – appeared in technicolor.

5. … and not just Italian icons

Mariah Carey performed early in the night, delighting the crowd by singing in Italian.

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Andrea Bocelli gave the crowd chills, as his strong tenor voice brought the Olympic torch into the arena. Italian pop star Laura Pausini belted out the national anthem. And Mariah Carey – who is Irish, Black, Venezuelan, American (not Italian) – made an unforgettable impression in her four minutes. She arrived center stage decked out in sequins and fur, started singing in Italian and got huge cheers when she hit a high note.

6. Politics were not center stage

For all the concerns about anti-ICE protests and anti-American sentiment disrupting the opening ceremony, real-world conflicts remained largely on the periphery. Applause for Team USA turned to boos when Vice President JD Vance appeared onscreen. There was noticeably enthusiastic applause for Ukraine’s athletes and boos for Israel, as was the case in 2024. Olympic officials’ speeches seemed to circle the issue without specifically naming it. They preached unity in divisive times and praised athletes as examples that a better world is possible, which the crowd seemed to endorse.

The formulation of the Olympic rings — and fireworks bursting out of them — drew large cheers from the crowd.

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7. The athletes were hyped (and Brazil flipped)

A Brazilian athlete threw a backflip in the snow. Austria’s flagbearer was carried in on a teammate’s shoulders. Czechia rocked their patterned outfits. The Greek contingent came out with a coordinated dance. The last Winter Olympics, held in Beijing during COVID, were subdued. These athletes were clearly excited to be performing in front of a live audience, with family and friends cheering them on.

And shoutout to the snow queens in shiny silver puffer-coat-gowns, who donned large sunglasses inside to lead each country’s team into the stadium in Milan, holding a placard to introduce them.

8. The crowd had clear favorites

It’s hard to measure applause, but there were certain moments that seemed to land extra hard with the in-person crowd, like fireworks bursting from the Olympic rings, the arrival of the Italian athletes and Boccelli’s drawn-out belt, rousing some of the loudest cheers of the night. Yes, they were splashy — but they were easy to see from even the nosebleeds.

Want more Olympics updates? Get our behind-the-scenes newsletter for what it’s like to be at these Games.

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Published
February 7, 2026
1:00 AM PST