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

Weird Newscasters: Colin = anchor; Chip (co-anchor) = high energy game show host; Wayne (sports) = sadistic drill sergeant; Ryan (weather) = hit in the crotch with a football
I liked how Chip jumped right in at the beginning even before Colin began to talk in order to introduce Colin. That really established his character. And the way he spoke real fast but slowing down on the one thousand dollars. Nice. Okay, it's been said before, but they really need to let Chip do more than sing. He can do other stuff, Dan. Trust me. Wayne's sergeant was nicely done. I think the audience member enjoyed his 15 seconds of fame. But I think the woman with him (his wife?) was quite embarrassed. Every time we saw her, she had her face covered. Ryan showed a real "making of a television show" business streak at the beginning of his quirk. He realized that the time allotted for the entire game was quickly running out. So he let the people on the production team know that he was going to make up the time. I guess that's the wannabe director coming out in him. I liked how Drew threw out the points after the gaming making everyone catch them. Did you notice that Chip pulled a point off the tip of Colin's nose? LOL

Scene to Rap: The Exorcist
Good start from Wayne and Chip. I wonder which movie Ryan thought he was in when he walked in asking about Demi? (I assume he meant Demi Moore, but what movie???) I really liked Colin announcing himself as the Richard Simmons, the Exercisist. Colin has become so skilled in word play since his early days. Did you notice when Drew was setting up the game — he teases Ryan and Colin about being artificial vanilla icy. Ryan has his arm on Colin's shoulder. Then lowers it and announces, "We'll get jiggy with it." Colin dances a little and Ryan does that crossed arms thing. Well, if you watch carefully, you'll see that the editors re-arranged that sequence so that it looked like Drew said the icy joke and Ryan responded with the comment and arm movements. But the arm movements and dance had to have happened before Drew's comment. Otherwise, Ryan would have put up his arm on Colin, then put it down, then put it back up, and then down again. I know it sounds confusing but watch it again especially the master shot from Laura's piano and you'll see what I mean. There was definitely some edit-switching going on there.

Interlude: More Ale Wench!!
My name for this episode. Another one of those pieces that I'm glad the director / editor decided to leave in. It helps to sell the show as a semi-live event. Clearly Drew was about to tell Colin that he'll get five hundred points if he waves his arms around like he just doesn't care. (Which he does say later in the show.) When in walked that poor unfortunate production girl. I loved Ryan and Colin's faces! Disbelief is such a rare expression. Ah, me.

Props: Wayne and Colin; Chip and Ryan
Better than usual. My personal favorite — when Ryan and Chip are holding their starburst thingies in their nether regions. I'm not sure what they'd planned to say. But I don't think it was originally going to be "I'm not gonna say it."

Newsflash: Ryan and Chip anchor; Colin reports in front of a harem
Ryan and Chip work well together as anchors in this game, I think. And of course, Colin is the champion guesser at this. I knew Colin had the right movie scene when he said that since Ryan couldn't hear him maybe he should "gesticulate". Nice, theatrical reference there. (For you young 'uns, "Gesticulate" is a song title from the musical Kismet which is set in the Arabian Nights era.)

Greatest Hits: Songs of the Doctor; Ryan and Colin sell; Wayne and Chip sing
Wayne and Chip were neck and neck with Ryan and Colin after the new wave Devo song, "HMO" which I really liked. But Ryan and Colin came back with a great section about showtunes ("You got something to say. You looked like you had something to say." "I'm married.") and then Wayne and Chip completely cacked it with that delightfully bad Rodgers and Hammerstein song. That's the closest I've ever seen Ryan and Colin come to stumping the singers. And Chip and Wayne knew it. Heavily into the bottle, indeed!

Questions Only: soldiers trapped behind enemy line; Colin, Wayne, Ryan, Drew
I think this is the first time Chip ever buzzed a game. And has he ever played Questions Only before? They weren't playing it in the UK version when he was on. Has he done a US version game? If not, then we can forgive him for buzzing in too early. But Drew should be spanked for buzzing Colin out just so that he could come in again and play. A little selfish there, Drew. Although, Drew did manage to stump Ryan which is a rare occurrence. But even still, buzzing out poor Colin. Not nice.

Credits: Ryan and Chip as square dance callers
Those two do make a good pair. I'd like to see more of them together.

Best Game:
A tie between Weird Newscasters and Greatest Hits, I think

Overall Comment:
I thought this was a good episode for Chip. I'm writing these reviews from memory with only a listing of who played what in each game plus a small comment or two. And I find myself most easily remembering what Chip did in each game. So if you're a Chip fan, this one's for you.

© LKK 09/18/00