True Detective fans have twisted themselves into knots trying to solve the show's many mysteries, but a new parody of the show featuring Community stars Joel McHale and Jim Rash asks a simpler question: What on earth are these characters saying, anyway?

In a clip that originally aired on The Soup, McHale and Rash offer hilarious riffs on the mumbly, dialogue-heavy performances by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in the popular HBO drama. "Coal-farger makes moles into Marys and Marys into moles. My momma said, 'Dog-face to the banana patch,'" says a laconic, mustachioed McHale as he crushes a beer can.

It doesn't exactly get clearer from there — but given the granular nature of True Detective, maybe you'll manage to pull a clue out anyway. --Scott Meslow

Ellen DeGeneres is speaking out about her show's toxic workplace scandal after revealing plans to sign off in 2022.

DeGeneres spoke with NBC's Today after announcing Wednesday her daytime talk show will end after its upcoming season, a decision she says was not due to reports of a toxic work environment there. The TV host said, however, that "I really did think about not coming back" after the "devastating" allegations suggesting she is not a "kind person."

Asked if she felt like she was "being canceled," DeGeneres said, "I really didn't understand it. I still don't understand it. It was too orchestrated. It was too coordinated." She added, "It was really interesting because I'm a woman, and it did feel very misogynistic."

DeGeneres in a previous interview with The Hollywood Reporter shot down "stupid" claims about her, such as that people "couldn't look me in the eye," and she said that the fact that "everything I stand for was being attacked ... destroyed me." Numerous reports last year alleged employees of The Ellen DeGeneres Show have experienced "racism, fear, and intimidation," and three top producers were ousted following an investigation.

In her interview with Today, DeGeneres contended that she "never saw anything that would even point to" there being a toxic work environment on her show, arguing she couldn't have known about it "when there's 255 employees here ... unless I literally stayed here until the last person goes home at night." She added, though, "I have to be the one to stand up and say, 'This can't be tolerated.'" Brendan Morrow

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is vowing to continue her fight against former President Donald Trump — and declining to rule out a presidential run of her own.

Cheney spoke with Today after House Republicans on Wednesday voted to remove her as chair of the House Republican Conference following her criticism of Trump's false election claims. She told NBC she'll do "everything I can" to ensure Trump will not be "anywhere close to the Oval Office" again. When Savannah Guthrie repeatedly asked whether that fight could include running for president herself to prevent another Trump term, Cheney dodged the question three times.

"Would you run for president to stop that?" Guthrie asked.

"I'm going to do everything that I can, both to make sure that that never happens, but also to make sure that the Republican Party gets back to substance and policy," she said.

When Guthrie directly asked again if she would rule out a presidential run, Cheney only said that "right now," she's "focused on making sure that our party becomes again a party that stands for truth" and conservative principles, while vowing to do "whatever it takes" to ensure Trump will not "unravel the democracy."

Cheney in the interview also slammed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), saying it's "sad" and "dangerous" that he is "not leading with principle," and she criticized him for his "stunning" visit to Trump at Mar-a-Lago in the wake of the Capitol riot.

"[Trump] provoked an attack on the Capitol, an attack on our democracy," Cheney said. "And so I can't understand why you would want to go rehabilitate him." Brendan Morrow

If Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. indicts former President Donald Trump or his company on any number of financial misconduct charges, it will almost certainly be before he leaves office at the end of 2021. And Vance's life would be much easier if those charges are filed this summer, Politico's Playbook reports.

Trump is preparing to leave his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, and spend the summer at this golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. But "it isn't just the Florida heat he's leaving behind: He could lose a key piece of political protection," Politico says. Florida's statute on extraditions to other states includes an obscure clause that would appear to give Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a Trump ally, the ability to intervene and potentially block any transfer to New York.

"New Jersey's extradition statute is similar to Florida's, giving the governor the power to investigate an out-of-state warrant," Politico reports. "But its governor is Democrat Phil Murphy, who is no fan of Trump's, and would not likely intervene to stop Trump's extradition." Palm Beach County law enforcement is preparing contingency plans in case Trump is indicted while staying at Mar-a-Lago, two top county officials tell Politico. But if an indictment is handed down over the summer, Florida officials are off the hook. Peter Weber

President Biden's team sees his meetings this week with key members of Congress on infrastructure as "crucial to determining the path forward, and whether there is enough of an appetite among Republicans for a deal on his spending priorities," The Washington Post reports. Wednesday's Oval Office summit with the "Big Four" lawmakers — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — was described as cordial but not obviously productive.

Washington's top leaders sparred over a provision of Biden's bill that would incentivize electric vehicle production, taxes, and the very definition of infrastructure, according to several accounts of the meeting. They agreed on the general need to upgrade U.S. physical infrastructure like road, bridges, airports, and broadband. But McConnell and McCarthy also laid out their "red line" for a package: No new taxes.

"We're not interested in reopening the 2017 tax bill," McConnell said after the meeting. "We both made that clear to the president. That's our red line." McCarthy added, "Raising taxes would be the biggest mistake you could make." Biden's red lines, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says, are doing nothing and tax increases on families making less than $400,000 a year.

Pelosi said McConnell considers the 2017 GOP tax cuts for the wealthy "sacrosanct," and "we have a different set of values." The group did discuss other funding mechanisms for an infrastructure package, including stepped up IRS enforcement of tax dodgers, she added. "I would not take anything off the table and I'm not drawing any red lines."

"I want to know what we agree on and let's see if we can get an agreement to kick start this," Biden told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell after the meeting, "then fight over what's left, and see if I can get it done without Republicans if need be."

Biden's Wednesday's meeting with the Big Four followed one-on-one meetings this week with swing-vote moderates Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). On Thursday, Biden hosts a group of Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). That will give Biden a better sense of the odds of a bipartisan deal, Politico reports, but "the most likely scenario remains weeks more of bipartisan theater, followed by a massive reconciliation bill that the White House sells to moderate Democrats as being simply too big to fail." Peter Weber

The Federal Election Commission deadlocked 3-3 against opening an investigation into whether Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort illegally solicited foreign assistance during a Trump Tower meeting with Russian envoys in June 2016, Axios reports. The vote split along party lines, with the three Democratic commissioners voting to approve an investigation of campaign finance violations and the three Republican commissioners voting against it, reportedly on the technical grounds that the five-year statute of limitations expires in a few months. The tie means the FEC will drop the matter.

The Trump campaign's motive for taking the meeting was to get proffered dirt on 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The FEC is working through a backlog of 2016 complaints, though little enforcement action is expected from any of the cases. All but one of the outstanding complaints have to do with former President Donald Trump's campaign. The deadlocked FEC also recently rejected an investigation into Trump's hush-money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels right before the 2016 election.

The FEC declined to comment on the Trump Tower case, but Democracy 21, one of the groups that filed the complaint, told Axios it had been notified of the case's closure. "There was nothing surprising about the notification," said Democracy 21's Fred Wertheimer. "Everyone in the system knows that the FEC will not enforce the law because the Republican commissioners do not want to enforce the law." Peter Weber

"Today, House Republicans voted to kick Liz Cheney out of her leadership role," Jimmy Fallon said on Wednesday's Tonight Show. "Man, Republicans haven't turned on someone this fast since they tried to murder Mike Pence. You could tell Dick Cheney was upset when he offered to take House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on a hunting trip to 'talk it over.'"

"I'm confused, I thought these guys hated 'cancel culture,'" Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live. Cheney "said today she'll do everything she can 'to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office.' You know she's used to this. Her dad was a Dick, too."

"Remember, she said she'll do 'everything' — and she's a Cheney!" Stephen Colbert said at The Late Show. "Her principle political patron is a man who was compared to Darth Vader — and took it as a compliment. She learned Washington infighting from a man who lived a year with no heartbeat. If I was Kevin McCarthy, I'd grow a beard and dig a spider hole."

Instead, McCarthy and other House Republicans played the victim, Colbert said. "Railing against 'cancel culture' right before you cancel someone for holding a different opinion is like shooting a 'Just Say No' commercial then celebrating by doing a line of coke off of Nancy Reagan's a--."

Republicans are "like Dorothy at the end of Wizard of Oz: It turns out the cancel culture you were looking for was right there inside you all along," Late Night's Seth Meyer joked. "Liz Cheney is among the very last people in the world I want to side with," but "this is not about heralding her as a hero, because she isn't one. It's about the GOP's hard turn against Democracy. She's being punished for pointing out that Trump lost and that his claim that he won is a big lie."

"I respect Liz Cheney taking a stand against Trump, but it does feel a little less threatening when she's doing it as she's being removed from power," Trevor Noah said at The Daily Show. "It's got the vibe of a villain falling into a volcano while saying 'This isn't over....!'" It's over, and to show where the GOP is headed, Noah profiled Cheney's replacement, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). "Stefanik surrendered her principles, her dignity, and even her voice to Donald Trump," he said. And honestly, "it seems like it was kind of worth it." Peter Weber