Cast: Brad Sherwood, Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles, and Drew Carey

I found Drew's points don't matter joke about Tiger Woods and the actor's union funny. But I wonder if it was too much of an inside industry joke for most of America.

Let's Make a Date: Brad = contestant; Wayne = the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkey army; Colin = drunk fireman responding to a call; Ryan = goldfish in a bowl of water with a 5 second memory
Once again, Brad did an annoying woman's voice. I wish he'd find another persona for the contestant role. That screech has got to go. Wayne's wicked witch / monkeys was a pretty good performance. I didn't realize though that the witch was originally from Ireland. When he was reciting the poem for the second question, his accent certainly seemed to take on quite a brogue. Colin has always done a great drunk. And this time was no exception. He did get a little carried away with the firehose. During one swing, he came close enough to Ryan that Ryan felt it was prudent to lean back a little. Ryan's fish was the gem of the game. Watching him through the bowl; listening to him burble his words. And then when he slowly forgot the question — his eyes lost their focus and his face became blank — it was very effective. I liked how he panicked and reacted to Colin's cigarette that was tossed aside. I don't think he expected to be tossed off his chair, though. You can hear him give an "uffmph" as Colin hits him. But Ryan recovered well and slowly died on the carpet. I think Drew was right to end the game there even though Ryan never got a second question or a chance to further show the 5-second memory part. It just wouldn't have worked to have Ryan do any more, I think. I'm surprised that Brad didn't get the monkey part when Drew told him that Wayne was the witch "and...." Why did Brad go for the broomstick? Because Wayne had ridden around on it a little? Wayne spent far more time doing the monkeys. I guess Brad had just forgot. Interesting that Brad thought Ryan was a kissing fish rather than a goldfish. I guess it was all the lip action that inspired him. Did you notice as they were walking to their chairs, that Ryan told Brad about the 5-second memory? Drew was right in not trying to drag that part out of Brad because there was no real way for him to have known about it. I think Drew is getting better about knowing when not to force the full quirk out of the guesser.

Duet: Brad and Wayne sing to Kim who sells light bulbs in the style of a Jewish wedding
Okay, I'll be flat out honest here. I thought this was one of the lamest duets / song styles I have heard on the US version. I think I would have preferred to listen to the ladies play an instrumental because the guys added absolutely nothing to the music. Was it the music style? Was it the subject, Kim and the fact that she sold light bulbs? I dunno. I do know that my finger will be on the fast forward button the next time I watch this episode. How many younger viewers understood the Sammy reference, do you think? There's a blast from the past. Sammy Davis, Jr., has been dead for how many years????

Infomercial: Ryan and Colin sell products to remove cellulite
A game similar to Home Shopping where Ryan and Colin sell products that are designed to accomplish a task — in this case remove cellulite. I like the concept. But then I'm partial to any game that puts Ryan and Colin in sell mode, which is one of my favorite formats they do. I also liked this playing even though Ryan wasn't on the top of his form. The celluloid / cellulite mix up was obvious. But did you also notice how the frozen peas were hard for him to explain as well? Watching the problems Ryan had and the way he worked through them reminded me of why I think he is one of the greats. Only one of the greats could have kept that scene from feeling painful. Instead, it was fun. By the way, I don't mean to slight Colin who was delightful and much more on his usual form. I thought the bit about ironing away the cellulite that seeped through the net was inspired. Don't you wish it really was that easy??

Scenes Cut from a Movie: all four [movies: Psycho; Showgirls; Pulp Fiction; Forrest Gump; Saving Private Ryan; Caddyshack; Braveheart]
Another new game. This one is a variant on Scenes from a Hat. One danger of this game is that if a viewer isn't familiar with a movie, the cut scene probably won't make sense. But even still, it's another game concept that I like. The last three movies were my favorite. Colin's Saving Private Ryan joke was so unexpected that you just had to laugh. And he struck gold again in Braveheart — a scene that was bordering on unfunny until he stepped in. (I mean, what was the bit about taking a shower, Brad? C'mon, that was a little lame, don't you think?) I had exactly the same reaction Drew had to Colin's "I don't want my freedom." I thought he sounded just like one of the chickens from Chicken Run; although I'm not sure that he meant to sound that way. I'm glad Drew had him repeat it. Partly because I really liked it. Partly because I don't think I've heard Colin use that voice before. And partly because it was nice to see Ryan openly laughing at Colin without the constraint of being professional. (I might have said this in a review before; I can't remember. But one thing I miss in the US version is watching Ryan watch Colin without being concerned about keeping a straight face.)

Irish Drinking Song: all four sing about having slept with an ugly woman
You know you really like a game when you enjoy it even when it doesn't go smoothly. This Irish Drinking Song didn't go too well, especially for Brad and Colin but I still liked it. Brad had real problems with lyrics in one of the middle rounds; repeating "What the hey" twice. Colin's first line of the last lyric was unintelligible. Does anyone know what on earth he said? Or even want to guess at what he meant to say? And to Wayne, what does looking like Jamie Farr have to do with not getting very far as Ryan had said?? Finally, I want to go on record that I categorically believe that violence against women is an inappropriate subject for a light comic song. But watching Colin totally collapse after his song ending line took any sort of moral indignation out of the line. Have we ever seen Colin so completely fall apart in a game? You just know that his subconscious mind went for the rhyme word. And when his conscious mind realized what he had said...... well it was like watching a balloon deflate. I felt sorry for him. Well, not so sorry that I wasn't laughing, I have to admit. Poor guy.

Foreign Film Dub: French action film "Un-hunh"; Wayne acts (Brad translates); Drew acts (Ryan translates)
One word: painful. I definitely remember saying this in a review before. Drew is not good enough yet to pull off the level of improv that this game requires. And it doesn't help that Ryan always translates Drew in ways he knows will insult or embarrass Drew. (To be fair to Ryan, he pulled the same translation stunts on other performers in the UK version as well. So it's not like he's targeting Drew especially.) Unfortunately, Drew either overcompensates or underplays. Simply put, this is not a game he should be playing.

Credits: all four = Wicked Witches of the West
Okay, answer me this question: who on the production staff has stock in Turner Movies? Someone has to. Otherwise, why all the Wizard of Oz references this season??? If there isn't another reference this season, I'll be quite happy. (Unfortunately, I have a feeling we're in for some more. Bummer.) I did like Ryan turning into Glenda the Good Witch with her floating bubble. I wonder if Colin really didn't recognize the reference or if he simply didn't see enough of it to guess whom Ryan was? And for once, the wicked witch got to beat the bubble lady. I like.

Best Game:
Ooo. This is actually harder for me than I thought it would be. I can tell which ones WEREN'T the best: duet and Foreign Film Dub. But I liked the others about equally. I guess objectively speaking, I'll pick Let's Make a Date. But like I said, I'm always partial to Ryan and Colin in sell mode. And watching Colin react to his own lyric in Irish Drinking Song warms my heart too. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Chicken Run character doesn't show up again in some future quirk someday. I love that voice!

Overall Comments:
This show was like watching the glowing embers of a fire as you let the fire die down. It wasn't the burning passion of the roaring flames of hilarious laughter. More like the warm enveloping pleasing hypnosis that watching glowing embers produces. A snuggly, hot chocolate, warm blanket kind of show.

© LKK 11/05/00