Good morning,

It was yet another incredible week: Matt Belloni imagined a WBD-Netflix marriage; Kim Masters uncovered a Paramount surprise; Eriq Gardner scrutinized David Zaslav’s World War P; Dylan Byers considered the deeper meaning of the Nuzzi–Michael Wolff dialectic; Julia Alexander investigated an Apple streaming volte-face; John Ourand scooped an NBC–Big Ten beef; Lauren Sherman measured the Missoni deal heat; Sarah Shapiro spotlighted a Brentwood-to-Bergdorf brand; Rachel Strugatz assessed an Estée Lauder investment; Bill Cohan searched for the “cockroaches” in the private credit market coal mine; Ian Krietzberg profiled A.I.’s Hollywood doppelgänger hunter; Marion Maneker ran the numbers on the art market’s big week; and Julie Brener Davich inspected the Wifredo Lam economy.

Meanwhile, Leigh Ann Caldwell broke down the G.O.P.’s Epstein dilemma; Peter Hamby checked the crosstabs on Schumer’s future; John Heilemann chatted up Rep. Pat Ryan about the left’s vibe shift; and Julia Ioffe pieced together Trump’s Venezuela doctrine.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR PARTNER

Lauren Sherman gets to the bottom of the potential Missoni sale and offers a talmudic reading of Phoebe Philo’s next pivot.
and…
Rachel Strugatz examines The Estée Lauder Companies’ latest startup investment.
meanwhile…
Sarah Shapiro pierces the wealthy L.A. mom fashion bubble.

Marion Maneker dissects Sotheby’s and Christie’s respective $700 million nights.
and…
Julie Davich surveys the growing market for one of Picasso’s protégés.

Matt Belloni chews over Netflix’s interest in Warners’ theatrical business.
and…
Eriq Gardner uncovers a secret battle in the streaming wars.
meanwhile…
Kim Masters finds a hitch in Paramount’s UFC deal.

Ian Krietzberg beta tests Hollywood’s new favorite A.I. tool.

Dylan Byers finds the Olivia Nuzzi–Michael Wolff thread.
and…
Julia Alexander details the Apple-MLS divorce.

John Ourand digs up a Big Ten scandalette.

Bill Cohan ponders the agony and ecstasy of the private credit market.

Leigh Ann Caldwell considers a Republican choice from hell, and chats with House Energy and Commerce Chairman Rep. Brett Guthrie, which you can also listen to here—a conversation presented in partnership with the American Petroleum Institute.
and…
Peter Hamby diagnoses the Democrats’ Schumer-itis and talks shop with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
and…
Julia Ioffe and John Bolton chart Trump’s vexing adventures in Latin America.
and…
John Heilemann discusses the off-cycle elections with Rep. Pat Ryan.

Ted Danson shares the secrets of his success.
and…
Franco, the bikini, and the experiment that ended fascism.
meanwhile…
Tom Freston remembers when he met Shane Smith.

Dylan sits down with Alison Roman right before the holidays on The Grill Room…
and…
Ourand and NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman discuss the league’s boom times on The Varsity.
and…
Lauren and mega stylist Kate Young debate the Valentino bump on Fashion People.
and…
Heilemann and WaPo’s Carol Leonnig contemplate the disarray at the D.O.J. on Impolitic.
and…
Matt and former Assistant A.G. Jonathan Kanter explore the potential backlash to the WBD deal on The Town.
and…
Matt and Peter game out the Oscars race on The Powers That Be.

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We have a familiar refrain at Puck that everyone’s an editor, but it’s actually quite true. After all, we inhabit an age in which consumers curate their media diets as carefully as they read the metrics from their Oura rings. It’s also doubly true inside a company that was built upon the professional marriage of creative business leaders and economically driven journalists.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR PARTNER

To wit: Some five years ago, I was sitting at the rustic wooden table in Puck’s original office, at 64 Bank Street, when a couple colleagues pitched me a decidedly memorable idea. Back then, as you can imagine, our company occupied more modest quarters. The humble, garden-level apartment that served as our first HQ consisted of little more than an RH Cloud couch, a kitchenette, a coffee table, a mantel, and a printer. The trust fund kids who lived on the upper floors would putter in and out during the day, constantly slamming the building’s front door, which often shook our walls. Many of us took our calls outside, circling the block with our earbuds.

The wooden table was the central, and organizing, piece of adult furniture in the unit. Seats were bestowed on a first-come, first-served basis, and we were all packed in like sardines, whether we liked it or not. So when Liz Gough, Puck’s chief revenue officer, and Alex Bigler, our vice president of creative strategy, pitched me on a gift guide one afternoon in the fall of 2021, I literally had nowhere to hide.

But Liz and Alex had a masterstroke vision for an editorial product that highlighted a central trait of our business: Our journalists weren’t simply generationally talented reporters, they were also tastemakers and influencers who lived as beautifully as they wrote. It took me all of a minute before greenlighting the idea, and Puck’s first “annual” Guide to Mirth & Merriment was born.

Five years later, Mirth & Merriment has become a veritable thing—a compendium of recommendations from our authors, executives, editors, marketers, and salespeople across the company. Each edition also includes a few unexpected and chic guests, too. This year’s guide includes suggestions from experts as varied as the stylist Karla Welch; journalist superstars Andrew Ross Sorkin and Kara Swisher; Blackstone president and C.O.O. Jon Gray; Warby Parker co-founder and co-C.E.O. Neil Blumenthal; art world eminence Larry Gagosian; makeup artist Gucci Westman; ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro; and food-world celebrity Alison Roman. Never ever have I so coveted a $705 toothpaste dispenser.

It’s hard to believe that anything at Puck is 5 years old, but Mirth & Merriment has become a hallmark of our company and a pleasure to shop. I encourage you to get ahead of the holiday season and choose from the delights below for yourself or a loved one. In the meantime, have a great Thanksgiving.

Have a great weekend,

Jon

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