John Krasinski’s “Some Good News” is back from summer vacation – bringing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, George Clooney and millions of dollars.
The actor and “A Quiet Place” director, 41, rebooted his popular YouTube series – which ran for three months at the start of the March pandemic – with a “Holiday Special” on Sunday night.
Johnson wore a “Dwanta Claus” costume to help Krasinski announce that sponsor FedEx had donated a whopping $ 5 million to the Toys for Tots toy ride.
The duo also welcomed Jay Abel, a widowed father who had done so before Johnson asked for a retweet of his “nerdy” eBay listings so he could throw his kids a Christmas this year.
“Your story is my favorite of the holidays. It’s like super dad stuff, ”Krasinski told the single father of two from Copperopolis, California, whose wife died three years ago.
‘I’m just trying to be what I expect from a father. I’m not doing anything fancy, ”Abel said to Krasinski and Johnson. “I am a collector, they are my favorite things – but my kids are more important than me.”
But The Rock had a surprise for the father struggling to find work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Get all your stuff off eBay because Dwanta Claus is going to take care of all that stuff, man,” said Johnson, who also pledged to buy all the items on Jay’s kids list, including the new Xbox Series X for his 11-year-old son and LOL Surprise. ! OMG dolls for his 8 year old daughter.
The former pro-wrestling superstar also invited the family to the DC Universe in Southern California when it’s safe to go and promised Jay that he would give him a leather-bound, signed script for the movie “Black Adam”. in which he plays the leading role.
The episode also featured George Clooney, 59, in the recurring ‘weather forecaster’ bit, a role played earlier this year by other Hollywood stars such as Brad Pitt.
Sunday’s special marked some kind of feel-good comeback for the brand after Krasinski took it on in May. At the time, fans turned down Krasinski and his show – which garnered millions of YouTube views – for selling to ViacomCBS for an undisclosed amount after a heated bidding war. Krasinski was labeled a ‘sale’.
Krasinski defended himself in former ‘The Office’ co-star Rainn Wilson’s Instagram Live show, ‘Hey There, Human’.
“I planned to run eight during quarantine,” he told 54-year-old Wilson in the interview. ‘I have other things to do soon, like’ Jack Ryan ‘. More than that, writing, directing and producing – all that stuff – with some of my friends, was so much. “
His involvement “would not be sustainable with my previous commitments,” said Krasinski. “I would love to keep doing the show from my office forever, but it wasn’t sustainable.”
He assured fans that his healthy spin would be printed on the reboot as he will be involved in the creative process in some capacity.
“We have a lot of fun things planned and I can’t wait to dig into it,” he told Wilson. “I’ll be a part of it when I can, and I’m going to host a few episodes and set up another community of people. We’re really, really excited about it.”
Although production of regular episodes ceased in May, the ‘Some Good News’ brand – with more than 2.25 million subscribers on YouTube – has since expanded to Twitter and Instagram with a steady stream of social media posts.