Cast: Wayne Brady, Chip Esten, Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles, and Drew Carey

Let's Make a Date: Chip = contestant; Wayne = female American Gladiator; Colin = makes animal noises whenever he gets turned on; Ryan = angry farmer looking for person who slept with his daughter
A good start to the show. Wayne's American Gladiator was very convincing. I liked how he took off his helmet and swished around his hair. I bet that Wayne had watched the show more than once in his pre-married days! Colin's animal noises have always been a little worrisome to me. They always seemed a tad too real for a human. Maybe Colin is part beast, who knows. I've never heard him do an elephant before. I'm sure it was an accident, but I liked how the mike altered the sound at the beginning, muffling it somewhat. Added to the effect I thought. Memo to Chip. If Colin ever ends a sequence by smoking a cigarette, he's giving a clue that he's been "turned on". Once again, Ryan got a quirk where he was already in the middle of the whole story. Ryan gave a few clues that he was a farmer: the accent and the attraction to Colin's animal noises. Clearly Ryan had a photo that he was comparing men to (right side up and upside down!). But there weren't any hints as to why Ryan was searching for a particular man. I don't blame Chip for thinking that Ryan was a hit man. After all, Ryan had said that if he found who he was looking for, Ryan would kill him. Speaking of Chip, yes, he got everyone wrong. But he was so delightfully wrong that I found myself enjoying him as much as the players with quirks. I liked how he picked Bachelor #2 but wanted Bachelor #3 there too. Kinky. (Chip may be the only contestant to actually pick a date.) Most of his guesses were in the right area. Aztec Warrior for American Gladiator. (We'll assume that the whole Battlestar Galactica thing was a .... Um..... mental lapse.) Colin as a whole menagerie of animals. I think Colin liked Chip's second guess: Colin turns into an animal when he's turned on. I wonder what Deb thinks. (Actually, I don't think I want to know after all.) I loved how Chip went around his hand to get to Ryan's Farmer. Farmer's daughter's father. I kinda got the feeling he was verbalizing his thoughts as he was having them. And after the game, where Chip asked Drew if he could even one point, good fun.

Duet: Wayne and Chip sing to Derek a diesel warehouse foreman in the style of the Village People
I spend most my time watching the non-players during any song styles, and this time was no exception. Ryan was really laughing when Chip brushes his butt up against Derek. I sure wish I knew what Chip was doing when he turned and faced Ryan, but whatever it was had Ryan in hysterics. Did you notice that Wayne and Chip spelled Derek differently? Chip went for the spelling I'm using. While Wayne went for "derrick" which is how you spell the machine but isn't used often for the name. Afterwards, when Wayne started talking to Derek in the audience, I'm sure you noticed that Derek mimed a phone and said "Call me". But did you notice that Derek started to take off his wedding ring before the mime? I agree with Wayne, someone should offer Derek a job. He has potential. I don't normally think of Drew as an actor with a wide vocal range. But I loved his delivery on the line "two million points from Derek". By the way, I think Derek actually said two BILLION points. That's what I heard anyway. I think Ryan heard two billion as well because that's what he repeated.

Props: Wayne and Colin = a flat stick with an oval on top; Chip and Ryan = 2 pick inflated cylinders joined by a rope
Lots of funny ideas here for a change. Chip swinging the prop like nonchucks (sp?) and nearly hitting Ryan! Colin using his as a crutch and doing Tiny Tim. Chip and Ryan using theirs like hair dryers. Good, original ideas. Question for WLiiA UK fans: did Wayne and Colin's props remind you of the early 1992 show with Chip and Ryan and Jim Meskiman and some other guy (sorry, I'm drawing a blank on the second name). It's the episode where Chip pokes Ryan in the eye. Remember that props game? Chip and Jim had a prop that reminded me of Colin and Wayne's. Chip and Jim used theirs to make a halo, run a marathon basketball game, and make an On Strike sign.

Party Quirks: Chip = host; Wayne = early movie footage of King Kong vs. Godzilla; Colin = has a personal vendetta against the neighbors downstairs; Ryan = series of crunching football tackles in slow motion
Ah, yes. The reason this episode is referred to as the Melissa episode. Wayne came out and started this elaborate mime of the birth of King Kong and Godzilla. It's a good thing Chip had a long time to work on this quirk because it's extraordinarily complex. And probably would have taken a while to figure out anyway. Colin's quirk was probably the easiest to guess of the three. I liked how he drilled a hole through the floor and started shooting into the apartment below. That's a good way to convey the quirk's idea. I'm impressed with how Chip played along with and into Ryan's quirk. I don't think Chip knew what to expect for the first tackle. But by Ryan's second tackle where he caught Chip by the throat, I think Chip knew what Ryan was doing. I say this because Chip actually steps into the tackle in order to guarantee that Ryan catches him by the throat. If Chip hadn't moved, Ryan would have missed him. No, I haven't forgotten HER. Really, now. Did you think I had? Under the circumstances, I think Melissa handled the whole thing rather well. I probably would have bolted from the studio. It's lucky she was wearing black hose. I don't think the censors would have let the scene broadcast if her hose were flesh-colored. Once again, I was surprised at Drew's delivery of "Thank you, Melissa". He might have more range than I give him credit for. Did anyone else catch Ryan yelling to Drew to give Melissa the points at the end of the game?

Hoe-down: cop shows; all four
For once Wayne's Hoe-down impressed me. I thought it was funnier than Chip's whose rhyme was acceptable just not particularly funny. Colin's Hoe-down was an oucher! Abe Vigoda / Erik Estrada .... Fish and Chips. Owww! I have some bandages if anyone is still bleeding from that one. Ryan's was best, by far. "Thursday at 8, you can see Melissa's underwear." Very, very, nice.

I was going to save this tangent dissertation for the Africa episode review, but since ABC in its infinite wisdom felt that we deserved an additional half-hour of Millionaire, I'll have to dissert my tangent now. There have been many discussions (to put it mildly) on whether or not the UK WLiiA version is better than the US version. I tend to stay away from those debates. I generally don't compare the two versions on an overall basis but on a feature by feature base. One feature where I prefer the US version is the inclusion of running gags. To me, a running gag is a joke or reference that is specific to a taping. A recurring gag is one that crops up again and again at various tapings. Clive abuse, differences between American and British culture, and Tony's numerous Jeremy Beadle jokes are recurring gags. But I can't think of many running gags in the UK version. The only one I can think of is when Ryan references his Film and Theater Styles Australian accent during the intro to a game of Secret later on the episode. I'm sure there are more, but after having watched eight seasons of UK episodes (I missed Season 1 and Season 10 hasn't been started yet), you'd think I could come up with more examples.

But I can easily name several examples from the three-quarters of Season 2 that I've seen. Africa and Captain Hair are the most famous. But we've got the Melissa reference here in Hoe-down. Satan and the Schoolgirl showed up in Scenes from a Hat. Captain Hyperactive Moth showed up in Film and Theater Styles. "I kissed Ryan Stiles" in Scenes from a Hat. And those are the ones off the top of my head. Now, from an editor's perspective, running gags are a nightmare because you can't really separate a running gag from its point of reference. This limits how the editor can slice and dice the taping. But from my perspective, running gags add an extra oomph to the improv. Somehow, the improv seems more spontaneous when a running gag is used. Yeah, I know. That doesn't make a whole lot of logic sense. But it's still true.

Do I think that the guys never did running gags while in the UK? No. I think it's a result of a different editing team and different directors. And it's one area where I definitely prefer the US version to the UK version. And this is the end of my dissertation on that subject.

Three-Headed Broadway Star: Wayne, Drew, and Ryan sing "You Know How to Wiggle" from the musical "Worms"
I think Three-Headed Broadway Star is Drew's best game of the ones he plays. I enjoyed this song. Good game, guys.

Credits: Colin as a substitute teacher trying to get an unruly class under control
Colin always does a good credit reading. He's very good about working in the staff names while carrying on whatever scene he's asked to play. I liked one of his last lines, "I don't get paid enough for this!" I'll second that thought. Give Colin a raise!

Best Game:
Hmm, Party Quirks wasn't the automatic winner I expected it to be although ultimately I picked it to win. I really enjoyed Let's Make a Date, especially Chip. But Party Quirks has that extra element of the serendipity that only Lady Luck can impart. So Party Quirks, it is.

Overall comments:
When I think about this episode and the players, I find myself thinking about Chip most. This must have been a spectacular taping to attend. When you combine the games in this episode with the games in its sister episode [Superheroes: Out of Spam; Title Sequence: Satan and the Schoolgirl; Narrate: gas station ("I was dyslexic"), and Greatest Hits: Songs of Pizza ("Have I told you how much I love working with you?")], you have two of my personal favorite episodes from this season. This episode is going on my Be Careful Not to Wear Out the Tape from Repeated Viewing list.

© LKK 10/01/00