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

Film and Theater Styles: Ryan and Colin stealing dinosaur bones are interrupted by night watchman, Wayne [styles: chick flick, Keystone cops, work out video, porn, a golf show]
Another three-person Film and Theater Styles and a good example of why I don't like Film and Theater Styles played with three people. Because of the time restrictions between each style, each performer basically gets one chance to play in the style before it changes again. Watch this Film and Theater Styles again and this time pay attention to how many performances Ryan, Colin, and Wayne give in each style. Each style becomes a series of monologues with very few dialogues going on. It's not the guys' fault. It's not Drew's fault for buzzing in. It's just the natural consequence of playing Film and Theater Styles with three performers. I like what the guys did with the scene. I just wish there could have been more interact among the performers. Side question: Did you notice Colin's expression when Drew called "Porn"? Not exactly Colin's favorite style, I'd guess!

Duet: Wayne and Chip sing to Katie the sandwich maker as a boy band
(Question: does anyone else get confused on when this game is called Duet and on when it's called Song Styles?) Oh, I like this one. I rarely replay the long singing games when I rewatch the tapes. But I always rewatch Katie who works at Hogi Yogi. From Drew selecting Katie to Drew commenting on Katie making $6.50 an hour, I watch this from beginning to end. The jokes are funny; the lyrics are clever; Katie's response is so perfect; Ryan and Colin in the background are fun too. Chip not only nearly tips Katie off the stool, he nearly throws Ryan out of his chair unto the floor laughing too! Fun, fun, fun.

Song Titles: at a beach party; all four
Probably not the best game of Song Titles ever played, but still quite enjoyable. Chip should have been buzzed out earlier at the beginning, but Drew seems to be more forgiving than Clive would have been when it comes to judging the tag games. I loved how Colin threw Ryan out with "Yellow Submarine" — I probably wouldn't have thought to use that song title! Question: Is Chip's "My name is Luca" really the name of a song? And, of course, who could forget that classic song title, "I'll Get a Harpoon, La la, La la!", which is clearly a song title from an unseen game of Greatest Hits. (And if it's not, it should be!)

Newsflash: Chip and Ryan = anchors; Colin = field reporter reporting on WLiiA clips of Colin
Not just the episode highlight, but a season highlight as well. And a candidate for overall series highlight too. Words alone cannot describe the joy that this game brings. I think that Colin needs to get a professional copy of that video. And the next time some short-sighted network executive doesn't want to hire him because he looks too old, Colin should hog tie the executive and make him watch this video. I knew we were in for something special because Drew nearly lost it while he was explaining the game rules. (I wonder if Drew had seen the tape or just knew what it was about.) Of course, I understood why Drew was dying as soon as the video started. How did Chip and Ryan manage to keep their composure until Colin guessed what was behind him????? Talk about self-control!

Of course, the clincher was the badly timed bald joke. Which was, in reality, an excellently timed bald joke. Someone, somewhere wrote that Colin's bald joke reference wasn't really good improv because it was just an accident and not planned. Yes, it's true that it wasn't planned. But aren't those accidents part of what makes improv so special?? If Colin's line had been scripted, or if Colin had known what was behind him, the bald joke would have been hokey instead of the rolling on the floor laughing moment that it was. As painter Bob Ross would have said, that bald joke was "a happy accident". And we LOVE happy accidents!

And did you notice — after all the facial contortions on the screen and all the lively performing that Colin gave while he was "reporting", that at the moment of realization, there was absolutely no expression on Colin's face at all???? None. Zilch. Zippo. Total Blank Slate. Which somehow, maybe because it was in complete contrast to everything else, was the funniest facial expression of them all!

After the game was special too. And I'm glad the director / editor left the by-play in. Colin's reaction when he realized he'd told the bald joke was great. I don't think Ryan meant for us to hear his comment to Colin for two reasons (1) it was very difficult to understand and (2) it seemed like a genuine friend to friend comment as opposed to something said for the audience. After many replays, I finally decided that after Colin said, "I told the bald joke too." Ryan responded with "You did! You were right on it. Man, it was freaky!" A rare, unguarded Ryan Stiles moment.

(Oh wow, I just realized I've written a book about that one game!)

Hoe-down: plastic surgery; all four
Was there some secret requirement here that all performers had to sing about other famous people???? Weird coincidence. My usual opinion about a Wayne Hoe-down applies here. They just don't impress me all that much. I liked Chip's for mentioning rhinoplasty. Chip manages to bring some of the most interesting words into his lyrics. I always look forward to his lyrics; I think he might be one of the cleverest lyricists in WLiiA history. (But that's another dissertation.) Colin's Hoe-down should have pleased me more than it did because anyone who can mention Picasso in song ought to get a thumb's up. But every time I hear it, I'm slightly disappointed. Maybe because he pronounces Picasso differently than I do, so it always breaks the rhythm of the song to me. I liked Ryan's best of the four. Yes, I know he's made the Doogie Howser joke before. But any song that can successfully bring in mauser as a rhyme word, gets my vote for best song.

Foreign Film Dub: "Out and About" in Canadian; Drew acts (Ryan translates); Wayne acts (Colin translates)
Ugh!!!! This is painful. What a let down to a great episode. One thousand points to every Canadian who watches this without throwing something at their TV. Ryan's and Colin's faces speak volumes. Although, this game does have one of the rare times we get to see Ryan stick up for his Canadian heritage. Sticking it to Drew in the Cleveland is the best way to zing Drew that I can think of, and Ryan got him good.

Credits: all four = Can Can dancers
I like this credits reading. One of these days I hope to decipher what Ryan says about Drew during the credits. Has anyone figured it out, yet? I really liked how Colin was out of synch with the others. And then when the three turned around, Colin remained facing front until Ryan reached over and turned him. Nice interplay.

Best game:
Do I even have to say it????

Overall comments:
The filming of this episode combined with its sister episode that has the full Captain Hair reference must have been an awesome taping to attend. The Captain Hair episode might have the slightly funnier selection of games if you exclude Newsflash from this episode. Adding in Newsflash, though, I'd probably pick this episode over the full Captain Hair one. Of course, I just remembered Captain Hair has the Alamo Whose Line game too, but this one has Katie from Hogi Yogi........... Argh!!! Can't decide!!!! Oh well, you could force me to watch either one, and I'd be a happy camper!

© LKK 09/10/00