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

Superheroes: crisis = out of Spam; Colin = Cheese Man; Ryan = Random Acts of Violence Man; Chip = Captain Limbo; Wayne = Captain Hugs A Lot
You could tell the guys were all in a good mood during this taping just from their behavior during the intro to this game. Ryan winking at Colin and giving a thumb's up sign. Everyone reacting and laughing to Colin's superhero name and even more so to the world crisis. (I don't know about you, but the world running out of Spam sounds like a good thing to me.) Normally, I'm not a fan of puns, but Colin's "That's Gouda" got to me about as strongly as it got to Drew and Chip. I've always wondered what the lead superhero would do if his friends didn't come "quickly". Now, I know. The lead will need help "slowly". Makes sense when you think about it.

I loved how Chip literally leapt onto the stage. Probably one of the most melodramatic superhero entrances ever. Quick thinking on Chip's part to use his Captain Limbo quirk as a means of escaping Ryan's random acts of violence. I felt a little let down by Wayne's solution to the crisis. (Why do I keep insisting that the final superhero come up with a clever solution to the crisis?) If the guy down at the store had cans of Spam, then we wouldn't be running out of it, now would we? But I liked his performance especially his interaction with Ryan. I sort of wish Wayne hadn't run over to hug Drew as he was leaving the stage. There are times when I prefer the players not acknowledge the host. This was one of them. Wayne's actions actually threw Chip too. You can see that he was preparing to limbo off the stage, but stopped and pulled back waiting for Wayne to leave Drew alone so that the audience's attention was back on the main players. Wayne and Chip both loved watching Ryan head butt Colin as Ryan left the stage. You can hear them laughing in the background. And as for Colin's final pun: "Oh, I don't give Edam" All I can say is OUCH!! I've eaten cheddar cheese that wasn't as sharp as that pun. More fun afterwards as Drew awards the points for making the world safe from Spam bandits.

Title Sequence: Satan and the Schoolgirl; Ryan and Colin act; Wayne and Chip sing
Title Sequence is a game that probably shouldn't work. Hillary and Monica didn't. I think Satan and the Schoolgirl works because the "two unlikely roommates" are not real people but characters which means the singers and actors have more leeway in what they play. I worry a little about the audience member who came up with the title. I worry even more that, according to Ryan, someone else in the audience came up with Satan as well. I never heard the second suggestion. But I think Colin heard it too because just before Ryan speaks, Colin turns to him and says "Take it away" meaning that Ryan can make a comment on the second suggestion, I guess.

I liked Ryan's quick Oops! expression when he realized that Chip was singing "Kelly was brushing her hair" while Ryan was putting on lipstick so Ryan went back to the hair brushing that had inspired Chip. This little song is an example of why I rate Chip as one of WLiiA's cleverest lyricists. Chip incorporates some of the most unusual words into his lyrics. Anybody who can bring Mephistopheles into a song has my admiration.

Both singers' lyrics gave the actors something to do. You can see Colin wait for the lyrics to guide him. And as soon as he heard Wayne's apple lyric, he pulled an apple out of his pocket. The apple effect also gave Ryan a hook into how to play the next few lines as "little Kelly" slowly became more demonic following the bite. All in all, the lyrics and the action complimented each other well. And the game worked. (I'm not sure what Ryan thought of the whole thing, though. As he's walking back to his seat, you can hear him comment, "Oh, Lord." Or maybe he was asking forgiveness for what he'd just played. I dunno.)

Scenes from a Hat: [scenes: odd definitions found in Webster's Dictionary; inappropriate things to do with a loved one's ashes; bad things to say to someone on their deathbed; things you don't want to see on TV; prizes you'd like in a cereal packet; bad songs to serenade someone with; lines you shouldn't open a sermon with]
Every so often, I like to try to guess the taping order of the games as opposed to the broadcast order. Scenes from a Hat clearly came right after Title Sequence even at the taping. I doubt that Wayne would have bothered with the devil horns reference if the game were played several games after Title Sequence. One or two of the jokes in Scenes from a Hat were a little old or weak. Ryan and Colin both resurrected a couple of deathbed jokes. (For some reason, every time I watch this game, I think Colin is saying Jade instead of Jane in his ready to date again joke.) But Chip's and Wayne's were original. I especially liked Chip's peek-a-boo joke. Ryan's sermon opening line didn't work for me. Chip's worked better since it incorporated the Gospel, but I thought but was too close in style to Stiles'. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) I liked Colin's entry, "How's it hanging?" So casual. So wrong for a sermon. So right for a joke.

Drew knew he was in for a slam when he announced, "things you don't want to see on TV" and Wayne didn't disappoint. I don't want to see Drew naked ever. Wrestling chimpanzees or not. But Chip mentioning the new hit ABC sitcom, Satan and the Schoolgirl, complete with singing the title song was inspired. Popping back to the odd definitions in Webster's Dictionary, I think Colin should hold onto that dictionary he was reading from. A misprinted dictionary where "practical joke" comes before "fooling someone" in the paging has got to become a collector's item someday. (Don't believe me? Check out how Colin flips the pages while looking up the phrases.)

I think Colin had the best entries in the game overall. I've mentioned his sermon line and his dictionary entry. I also liked his cereal box find. His bad serenade song was very funny albeit a little disturbing. The topper of the entire game was his too. Vacuuming his loved one's ashes. Oh my. Well, as Drew pointed out, "It was inappropriate. What do you want?"

Narrate: at a gas station
This is a Chip watching game. He was having a grand ol' time in the background watching Ryan and Colin. Colin first got Chip going (and me) with the blind in one eye and the milky white film in the other. But Ryan didn't even blink. Ryan didn't react either (but Chip and I did) as Colin pointed out that when you kill someone by cutting off their head, rolling them up in a carpet, and burning it, you'd better make sure they're dead. Of course, Ryan probably didn't react because wherever that gas station was located, it was probably somewhere in the Twilight Zone. It took Colin eight years to track Ryan down to the gas station but Ryan said the sheriff had just run Colin off in late November for giving his wife a lube job. Time there must be on a different schedule from ours.

Speaking of lube jobs, did you notice that Colin anticipated Ryan's lube job comment? Colin reacted before Ryan could finish his "Haven't seen you since the lube job." If Colin were really hearing that line for the first time (in other words, if Colin couldn't have heard Ryan's narration), Colin would have had to wait until Ryan finished his line in order to understand what was said. (It's something actors with scripts have to be very careful about. You have to wait for the cue to finish so that you look as if you're hearing the words for the first time.) Maybe the Twilight Zone is the explanation for Ryan's word mix-up too. One of the signs of a person's experience in any profession is how he handles himself when things go wrong. If you can't get your words out in their correct order, accept it, build on it, and make a joke out of it. Well done, Ryan. And if your acting partner can't get his words out, and you're not supposed to hear him talking anyway, don't react. At all. Even if it is funny. Well done, Colin. Each a 1000 you points for.

Greatest Hits: songs of pizza; Ryan and Colin sell; Wayne and Chip sing
Couple of quick questions. Have you noticed that Ryan always walks over to the side to pick up his stool which is really pointless because Colin always beats him to the stools and takes them downstage before Ryan gets there? So why does Ryan keep going over there? And have we ever heard Ryan pick the suggestion before? Or at least strongly suggest the suggestion? Just some random thoughts, there. Now to the game itself. A lot of people incorrectly use "discovered" and "invented" interchangeably, so I was impressed that in the middle of a taping session with all that he had to think about, Ryan had the presence of mind to correct himself on using "discovered" and to turn his error into a joke. I liked the Wayne and Chip's yodeling song even if Chip's first yodel was a little off-key at the beginning. I was surprised to see from the piano shot that Colin was already wiping the tears from his eyes even before the singers had finished their number. Obviously, Colin had the memories of cannibalism joke ready and waiting for the song ending. (That joke caught me as off-guard as it did Drew who nearly had a true spit-take scene there.)

When Colin was describing the college fight song, I'm not sure if he changed his mind and switched tactics mid-intro or if he simply remembered that he had intended to do the "studied hard but didn't get very far", but I found it odd how he switched from happily organizing pep rallies to being depressed about his career mid-way through the introduction. The fight song was good, but did anyone else want to take a pair of scissors to that tag sticking up from the side seam of Chip's shirt? It kept flashing at me while he was swinging his arms during the song. Very distracting. It was like his shirt was trying to send out Morris Code or something. Maybe it was sending out game tactics to the football huddle. I don't know. And never a truer a phrase was sung than Wayne's line, "Pizza is the best food at a frat party." Amen, brother.

The intro to the doo-wop song should be part of the Ryan and Colin pantheon, in my opinion. I truly believe that Colin knew before us that Ryan was drawing a blank on the title. The first time I saw this, I realized Ryan was blank when he asked Colin if he knew what the song was. (Remember Ryan doing that in the UK version when Josie was singing songs of the gas station? Colin came in to help with the disco hit, "Lube Up!") But watching the show again, I've become convinced that Colin knew Ryan was blank before that. When Ryan looked at Colin saying, "One song that is close to my heart to this day." Colin looks at Ryan and starts grinning. That's when I think Colin knew. Poor Ryan; Colin was not going to help out this time. Even more impishly, Colin decided to announce to the entire world that Ryan was blank. Ah, Colin. Do you know how much Ryan loves working with you? You deserved Ryan's hit for that. And I'm so glad we got to see it. One final comment on this game, further proof that WLiiA lives in a different dimension than our own. Chip's pizza delivery guys drive up to the house in little red, white, and blue cars. But after getting their tip, they drive off in little white trucks. If the delivery guys get to keep the buck, does Chip get to keep the car?

90 Second Alphabet: Ryan = zoo keeper; Colin and Drew = couple visiting zoo where animals are escaping
Another game you should spend some time watching Chip. Winged vipers, cows. He enjoyed this game. And rightly so. This was one of the best Alphabet games that the three have played. Okay, so "tens" of animals escaping probably really aren't a problem. "Thousands" would have been better. But "winged vipers" certainly would worry me. I guess "cows" is easier to think of when you're in panic mode than say, cougars, but I liked how everyone incorporated the cows into the game. And if I fault Drew for coming up with cows, I must credit him with coming up with a good game twist, by asking what kind of a zoo has cows in it anyway? A very strange zoo. "Like we've never seen some kind of a scam like this." Another good thought. Ryan bringing in the manager was a nice touch. And Drew's ending Q line: "Queer kind of a thing just happened" was delivered very nicely. For the record, they finished in less than 90 seconds, and they used all the letters.

Credits: Chip and Wayne as preachers haranguing the congregation
Both Wayne and Chip make excellent preachers. And they harangue quite well. I'm not sure I'd want to go one of their sermons with a guilty conscience. I think the demons were Ryan's idea and were a nice touch. I liked this credits reading. It was enjoyable. (When we came back from the commercial break, did you see Ryan running back to the chairs from stage right and Chip pointing to him as he ran?)

Best Game:
Greatest Hits. Definitely, Greatest Hits. That little bit between Ryan and Colin at the beginning of Keep the Buck would win all by itself, but the entire Greatest Hits game (songs and intros) was great too.

Overall Comments:
This is one of my favorite episodes from Season 2. I don't have to guess whether or not I'll replay this one. I know that there were many times when I would hunt through my tapes looking for this particular episode to replay. It may not have any sidesplitting, tears in the eyes, games. But there's an overall feeling of fun and friendship that permeates the show. The guys were having fun that night. And we're invited to have fun with them. This show is like attending a casual party or a picnic or a barbecue where everyone has been good friends for a long time. The point of the party is to kick back, revel in the friendship, and have some fun. That's the point of this episode. And this time, the point matters.

© LKK 11/14/00