Free Concerts, Comedy and Theater: How Stars Are Keeping Fans Entertained (for Free!) During Social Distancing
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Hollywood may be paused as movies, TV series and awards shows are postponed in the wake of the coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean our favorite entertainers have taken a break from doing what they do best. Here, how celebs are keeping spirits up with free concerts, comedy and more:
Live Concerts via Instagram
Chris Martin, Keith Urban, Rob Thomas, Pink, Hunter Hayes and married pair David Foster and Katharine McPhee were just a few of the musicians who shared private concerts on their social media pages on Monday.
The trend appeared to kick off with Thomas, who posted a cover of Crowded House’s hit, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” to his Instagram account, dubbing it “Social Distance Sessions.”
On Tuesday, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen got in on the fun with a live stream that featured some of his hits and even the Vanderpump Rules theme song. Making a special guest appearance, daughter Luna, 4.
Big Night will be live streaming a weekly party with celebrity DJs. DJ Vice kicks the bash off April 3 on their livestream channel, twitch.tv/bignighttv, from 7-7:45 p.m. EST on Friday. He’s collaborated with artists Rihanna, Diddy, Linkin Park and Estelle.
Standup Routines on Twitter
Over the weekend, former King of Queens star Patton Oswalt posted a video of himself performing stand-up from his yard for a few bewildered neighbors who ventured into their driveways.
Watching the videos from Italy 🇮🇹 inspired me. Entertainers must offer hope & humor to their neighbors in this time of quarantine. pic.twitter.com/ohrsBtuqzu
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) March 16, 2020
“All right, folks, thanks for staying in tonight. Hope you guys are isolating and securing in place,” he said into his microphone. “Wow, this COVID-19, I tell ya. I didn’t see COVD 1 through 18, so I don’t know really know what this is all about. But hey, great time to catch up on your streaming stuff.”
Live Readings of Children’s Books
On Friday, Josh Gad — best known for voicing the beloved snowman Olaf in the Frozen films — livestreamed on Twitter to comfort his followers and their children by reading one of his favorite children’s books.
“Since we’re all stuck at home right now I figured we would have a little fun together, so I’m going to see how this goes, but I decided I’m gonna read to your and your children or just you, depending on what you prefer,” Gad said. “I’m not gonna pass judgment right now since the world is a little bit of a hot mess.”
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) March 14, 2020
Since then, he’s returned a few times to do more readings — with voices!
Jennifer Garner followed suit, recruiting famous friends like Amy Adams and Reese Witherspoon to read children’s books on Instagram, while asking fans and followers to donate to her charity of choice, Save the Children, in return.
A post shared by Jennifer Garner (@jennifer.garner) on Mar 16, 2020 at 9:53am PDT
Cooking Classes
Have a lot of groceries and aren’t sure what to do with them? Queer Eye‘s Antoni Porowski started a new IGTV series titled “Quar Eye: Cooking Lessons from Quarantine.” In his first episode, posted on Monday, he made a “Keep Calm-lette” topped with a homemade black bean salsa — with just six ingredients.
Antoni Porowski/Instagram
Tom Colicchio did something similar, using his Twitter page to give helpful cooking tips and answer any burning questions.
Colicchio tweeted early Monday morning, “Ok, if you are not used to cooking for yourself and have questions ask away. For instance, I would cook vegetables now and freeze them for future use.” He continued on to create the hashtag #CookingInACrisis so everyone can pass around helpful tips.
Meditation Sessions
Everyone’s favorite, singer Lizzo, ended last week with a group meditation on Instagram.
“A meditation and mantra to promote healing during this global crisis. Use at your own pace. Love you!” the singer wrote on Instagram Friday, along with a nearly 30-minute video of herself speaking with followers and playing the flute.
“There’s the disease, and then there’s the fear of the disease. Fear can spread so much hatred and negative energy,” Lizzo said in the footage.
“I wanted to empower everyone and let you all know, you have power. We all have power. You have power to eliminate fear. We have the power to reduce the fear that is being heightened,” she shared.
Broadway Bonuses
Lin-Manuel Miranda — stay-at-home-dad-ing while Broadway is closed and movie productions are on hold — has been dropping new music and some Hamilton favorites at night on Twitter.
He’s also asked fans to support theater employees via actorsfund.org and broadwaycares.org in the wake of Broadway’s closure.
Stay home, wash hands, here’s a live tune, and support https://t.co/J9mwgwYGPz and https://t.co/f1syy1D5xW if you can. Let’s try this. https://t.co/5ANnGTKVNU
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) March 16, 2020
Theater star Laura Benanti put her own spin on social media entertainment, asking students whose school productions have been postponed or cancelled to send videos of their performances her way so she can share them on social media, using the hashtag #SunshineSongs.
Broadway Star Laura Benanti Wants to 'Build a Community' Through #SunshineSongs Amid COVID-19
Benanti's social media movement has gotten reactions from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Platt and more
