Cast: Wayne Brady, Kathy Greenwood, Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles, and Drew Carey

Hollywood Director: Ryan = gas station owner pumping gas; Kathy = impatient customer; Wayne = thief come to rob them; Colin = director [styles: insult comics; Tarzan; Tarzan as Jerry Springer guests]
The US production staff has a bad habit of pigeonholing the actors, always giving them the same types of role game after game after game. Sometimes the roles border on racial, gender or another form of stereotyping. Most of the time, the actors silently accept what they're given reserving any comments they might have for off-stage. Every once in a while though, an actor, often times Wayne, will remind everyone of the problem. This game was one of those times. As Drew is announcing the roles, he ends with Wayne: "Wayne is a thief who has come to rob them." Wayne: "Why I gotta be the thief?" The question is a valid one. Because of the format of Hollywood Director, Wayne needed to be someone who enters the scene midway, and he should be playing a character that provides additional conflict in the scene. But why a thief — a role he has played before (remember the Robocop Hollywood Director)? Is it just because Wayne is African American? Why not let him play another irate customer? Or a trucker delivering more gas? Or a city inspector? Drew admits that he doesn't have an answer to Wayne's question. And then Drew points out one of the difficulties facing minority actors: "you know, maybe you should count your blessings. You know, if this was NBC, you probably wouldn't even be on this show." The actors and audience laughed, but Drew does have a point. Hollywood tends to say to minorities, "you either accept the stereotypical roles offered or you don't work at all." The WLiiA staff tends to say it too, and Wayne was right to point it out.

Finished sermonizing temporarily, the actors jump into the game with Kathy taking the lead and angrily upbraiding Ryan for how long he's taking. Ryan: "Would you like me to fill 'er up?" Kathy's on a roll: "I've said yes to the question 15 times!" Ryan: "How about the car?" Ryan's implied proposition throws Kathy, and she doesn't know how to respond — a situation many WLiiA women have found themselves in when the scene unexpectedly turns sexual. Ryan fills in the gap admitting he finds her attractive just before Wayne swings in landing with a smoke bomb "poof!" At least, I'm assuming that Wayne swung in to the scene. It's the only explanation I can give for the "zzzzzz" sound Wayne makes while he enters. Sneaking behind Ryan while Ryan investigates the sound, Wayne grabs Kathy who in turn bites him. Pulling a gun, Wayne demands "give me all the .... Gas." Ryan complies, providing gas that is probably more personal than Wayne had intended. Colin stops the filming and warns Ryan not to improvise any more. (Nice touch, Colin.) Colin is not pleased; as the French would say, "crappé". With no apologies to Wayne for his spit, Colin demands a new style — insult comics. Go!

Ryan takes the opening line this time with a clever insult involving the "I Love Lucy" show of all things: "Fill her up with ethyl? You don't look like Lucy." Kathy's insult comic style riposte was neither an insult nor comic; did she not understand what the style meant? Ryan gets in one more line before Wayne enters as comedian Chris Rock. I've seen a little of Chris Rock's routines. I've never thought of him as an insult comic though, so I was surprised to see the impersonation. Ryan enjoyed it; I don't think he was smiling in character during it. Maybe he liked Wayne's joke about him looking like a giraffe with three legs missing. (Since Ryan still has two legs, I have to wonder if Wayne thinks giraffes normally have five legs.) After not trying to rob the gas station, Wayne wanders off and Colin cuts the film scene: "You had the insult part down, but the comic was gone." By this time, Wayne has come back downstage and is standing between Kathy and Colin. Something odd happens right then. We see a shot of Drew laughing at Colin's "comic gone" joke and when we return to the stage, Colin and Wayne have switched places so that Wayne is between Colin and Ryan. It's possible that Colin and Wayne moved during the Drew shot, but when we see them again, they don't look like people who have just finished walking. They look like they've been standing there all along. I suspect that there was another film style between the insult comic style and the upcoming Tarzan style that was edited out of the broadcast.

Moving on to the Tarzan style, Colin assigns Ryan the role of Tarzan, Kathy becomes Jane, and Wayne becomes Cheetah, the monkey. Back on the side steps and off-camera in a sense, Wayne brings back his question from the very beginning of the game, "Why I gotta be Cheetah?" Like Drew, Colin doesn't have an answer and just shrugs. This time, I think Wayne asked for comic effect more than anything else though. Back in the main playing area, Kathy takes the lead again playing Jane as if she were trying to get Tarzan to communicate with her. Ryan: "Tarzan no pump gas. Gas come from city. Tarzan no pump." (Ryan seemed as puzzled by his "gas come from city" line as I was.) Wayne might not have swung into the scene during the first round, but he certainly swung into the scene as Cheetah. In fact, he swung in twice. Just as he was going to throw the smoke bomb on the ground, Wayne realized Cheetah wouldn't have a smoke bomb and so used a peeled banana. Poof! Ryan: "When Cheetah start saying poof?" Offended by the question, Cheetah reaches back, grabs some feces, and throws it in Tarzan's face. Why? The best I can guess is that Wayne was trying to create a simian equivalent to the gun he pointed earlier. Whatever Wayne's reasons, Ryan played right along turning the scream from his reaction into Tarzan's famous yell. Cut! Colin walks in, turns to face Wayne only to feel Ryan humping his leg. Colin: "What are you doing?" Actually, that's my question. Well, not so much "what" as "why" because I can't even guess what Ryan's reasons were for that one.

Colin wants some violence, some action in the scene — everyone should act like guests on "The Jerry Springer Show" while maintaining the Tarzan characters as well. (Watch Ryan's face when Colin announces the style. He seems dismayed.) Taking her most demanding tone yet and coming from somewhere in New York City or New Jersey, Kathy starts the scene again. Ryan as Tarzan refuses to pump gas because he keeps thinking of his mother who is his sister. (I don't think that's genetically possible, but that's never stopped Ryan before.) Ryan continues; Tarzan refuses to leave his trailer — a statement that amuses Ryan, so he tries again — "Tarzan no leave trailer to go to city." A very chastising Cheetah enters and quickly gets into a fight with Tarzan. Kathy becomes a show security guard and jumps in between them; Colin comes down to cut the scene; Drew buzzes in and cuts the game. And the question of why Wayne is always playing the thief is never satisfactorily answered on the air. Perhaps in future games, we'll discover that someone in the production staff was listening if an actor other than Wayne is given the role. I hope so.

After everyone is settled in the chairs, Drew awards his customary 1,000 points. I should say, Drew's voice awards the points. Drew pulls out a small tape recorder, holds it to his microphone, and plays it. "One thousand points." Did you notice that the audience behind Drew doesn't react? They can't see the tape recorder from behind. So it's a good thing that Ryan and Wayne asked Drew what happened. Wayne: "What was that?" Ryan: "Your tricorder?" Tape Recorded Drew: "One thousand points." This time, the audience behind Drew realizes what's happened, and they burst out laughing along with the cast. In an aside to the camera, Drew whispers that he's trying to work it out so that he doesn't have to show up at all. Obviously, Drew wasn't quiet enough. Ryan: "Damn close." Drew: "We're going to miss you, Lewis." It's good to be the king, isn't it Drew?

Living Scenery: Ryan and Colin = getting up and going through their morning routine; Wayne and Kathy = human props
The scene suggestion caught Ryan off-guard "You know, when we get out of bed". Based on his tone, Colin's reaction, and Wayne's interpretation of the scene start, all three men assumed the scene implied that Ryan and Colin were lovers — possibly another gay joke at Ryan's expense. Perhaps the gay jokes have become so ubiquitous that it no longer occurs to any of them that the scene description could have been interpreted differently. Ryan and Colin could have been platonic housemates with different bedrooms. One of them could have switched genders and played a woman. Or they could have been in separate buildings completely, although that would have made interaction between them nearly impossible. It doesn't really matter which way they chose to handle the scenario. Their interpretation is probably what the writers' intended when they created the scene. My only point is that the scene description did not dictate the gay couple interpretation as all three men seemed to think.

To start the scene, Wayne grabs Colin and Ryan and lies down between them as their blanket. Colin gets up slightly before the alarm which sounds just after Ryan comments that he hadn't heard it go off. Reaching down, Colin silences the alarm and heads off to take a shower. (Watch Wayne after Colin pats him on the head. Wayne has a lot of trouble not laughing during this game, and his problem starts right then.) Colin walks into the shower (Kathy), turns the handles (conveniently located on Kathy's breasts), and stands while the water trickles down him. To simulate the water, Kathy begins running her fingers lightly down Colin's body while making soft "sshshshshs" sound. Running her fingers back up and then down again, she turns Colin around and starts wetting down his back paying special attention to his buttocks. Colin wears the faintest hint of a smile but whether it's pleasure or slight embarrassment, I'm not sure. Meanwhile, Ryan has thrown off his half of the Wayne blanket, gotten up, and looks like a man eager to take a shower himself. "Make sure you save some water for me." Colin turns off the water; Ryan steps in and turns the shower handles. Kathy changes tactics. Rather than provide a stream of water as for Colin, the Kathy shower now produces pulsating message bursts, pouncing Ryan on the chest. Meanwhile, Colin is drying off by rubbing the Wayne towel around his back and between his legs. Hanging the Wayne towel on the rack, Colin goes to find some clothes. Ryan grabs Wayne, reaches forward with his free arm, makes a clicking sound, and bends forward. One of the difficulties of Living Scenery is actor and human prop not knowing what each other intends. Wayne assumed Ryan wanted a mirror. But that's not what Ryan intended commenting that the blow dryer must be broken. Instantly, the Wayne dryer is repaired. (I wish I could fix mine that quickly.)

By now, Colin has gotten dressed, but he's not too certain about the Kathy shirt he's picked out, so he asks Ryan for advice. Ryan: "Why don't you look at yourself in the mirror?" Still wearing the Kathy shirt, Colin turns to face the Wayne mirror, which mimics his body position. Suddenly, the game takes on an amusing subtext as a ray of light blings off the reflection of Colin's head in the mirror. Colin squints at Wayne in response. Now, the game is not only about the scene but also a personal contest between the two. Colin: "There's something wrong with this mirror." (Side note — Ryan and Colin say "mirror" differently. Colin says it with two syllables, "meer-rur", while Ryan just says "meer". I noticed because Ryan uses the word mirror in his hoe-downs occasionally and rhymes it oddly. I've often wondered how he pronounces the word when not singing it.) Ignoring Colin's comment about the mirror, Ryan asks if he wants any waffles. Picking up the Kathy waffle and carrying it to the kitchen (apparently they store their waffles in the bathroom), Ryan puts it in the toaster. With a bit more difficulty, Colin carries the Wayne waffle to the kitchen and puts in the toaster. Just then, the Kathy waffle pings up. Ryan: "Oh! This one's done." Ryan picks up his Kathy waffle and goes off presumably to eat it. Up pops the Wayne waffle. Seeing his waffle, Colin sounds disappointed. "oh." Apparently it's burnt — payback for Wayne's earlier mirror joke. The score between Colin and Wayne now stands at 1 all. With the faintest hint of sarcasm, Colin proclaims, "Just the way I like it." The score is now Colin 2, Wayne 1 as Colin starts cutting his waffle.

Interrupting the contest, Ryan reminds Colin that they need to hurry but they both take in a little exercise before leaving to get the kinks out. Colin hears a "beep, beep" from outside: "That's our car telling us we should drive it." Judging from Wayne's expression, I think he was thinking of a carpool ride arriving actually. Either way, Ryan decides he's taking a different vehicle to work. Pulling Kathy over and pushing her back slightly to get her to bend over, Ryan says that he's going to take the moped to work that day. As Drew buzzes him, Ryan briefly puts his other hand on her waist and the Kathy moped heads off downstage — right through the kitchen. The Kathy shower was the hit of the game for the men. Drew declared it a new game to play with the wife. (Although Wayne preferred to play moped.) Ryan and Colin were impressed with the spray modes. Ryan: "I don't know if you caught that pulsating action. That was great." Colin nods his approval.

Afterwards, Ryan begs for the taped Drew voice, using a mechanical and slightly childish tone himself. Drew plays the tape. Ryan snootily comments "Ahhh, gotta rewind, do you?" Betrayed by his toy's failure, Drew throws a little tantrum in his chair ultimately pounding the recorder into submission. Two things strike me about this little sequence. One, the sequence doesn't feel as if it immediately followed the Living Scenery game. I tried to find some hard proof of this, but I couldn't. I checked clothing, water levels, Party Quirks cards, everything I could think of to explain why I feel this way. But I couldn't find anything solid. It's just that the camera shots don't feel right to me. The second thing that I noticed is more solid. Ryan's comment about rewinding makes no sense based on what we see and hear. Drew didn't rewind the tape before playing it or after it played. At least not on the broadcast.

Three-Headed Broadway Star: Wayne, Ryan, and Colin sing "You've Got a Beautiful Earlobe"
Still laughing from whatever banter preceded Three-Headed Broadway Star, Drew introduces a new cast member for this game, "Wyan". But Wyan didn't show up, so Wayne and Ryan step down to take his place. Did you notice that as audience volunteer Katie stands up to leave her seat, she puts her hair behind her ears? I thought it was very nice of fate to provide the cast with a volunteer whose ears were exposed given that they were singing about a beautiful earlobe. Normally, I don't like it when the audience member is sung to during Three-Headed Broadway Star because the person isn't involved with the song at all. But this time, I felt that the guys were singing to Katie. Wayne and Colin kept playing with her ears to accentuate their lyrics. Whenever she turned to look at one of them, they would smile back to her. Katie was clearing listening to the lyrics and reacting to them. She became a part of the song more than most Three-Headed Broadway Star volunteers do.

Speaking of the lyrics, Colin is famous for his unusual words in this game, but he wasn't the only creative one this time. All three had odd lyric moments. Trying to keep the rhyme scheme, Wayne ended the line "grab your lobes and" with "grow" which earned him a puzzled look from Colin. One man declared that Katie's lobes "sing" to him while Ryan announced that her lobes were "moist" which earned him a puzzled look from Katie. Colin sits on her earlobes which earned him a puzzled look from himself. When Wayne finished the line that "other girls don't like touching" with the word "there", I think he meant the location. Ryan took it to mean the possessive word "their" and continued with "earlobes" prompting Katie to reach up and touch her ears so obviously she does — just as the men sang that she did since Katie is their easy earloby girl (compliments of Wayne). The capper of this odd love song came during the list of things the men like to do: rubbing, tickling, caressing, locating, and ultimately flambéing Katie's earlobes. Even Ryan was impressed with the idea of flambéing Katie's earlobes; he laughed about it after the song's long (almost) harmonized ending note. This isn't the funniest Three-Headed Broadway Star in the history of the game, but it is definitely a high caliber playing and worth watching.

Interlude: return from the commercial break
As far as I know, this episode's return from the mid-episode commercial break was a first for WLiiA in both the US and the UK version. Normally in the US version, the return from the commercial begins with a sweep of the studio accompanied by music finally closing in on Drew sitting at the desk and announcing "Welcome back". This time, we see that the stage has been prepared for the next game (obviously Helping Hands). Drew is nowhere in the studio. Wayne is standing over Drew's desk and whispering "My ass, my ass, my ass" into the tape recorder. Drew and a production member walk from behind the bleachers as Wayne casually walks back to his chair. Drew sits and announces "Welcome back" with no music accompaniment. Things proceed as normal then as Drew launches into a Colin insult joke with a punch line that everyone sees coming a mile away. (Wayne: "I see that one coming." Ryan cues the punch line.) I don't think the show has ever broadcast so much of the down time of a taping in either version, but it is essential for what comes later.

Helping Hands: Ryan and Kathy = young Italian lovers; Ryan has invited Kathy over for a romantic meal so he can propose to her; Colin = hands
When Drew announces the players, Ryan starts fiddling with his microphone. I assumed he was moving it up as he sometimes does for this game. But when I saw him down at the table, I realized that he was taking off his tie and unbuttoning the top shirt button so that he wouldn't choke himself when his arms were around Colin. Sighing with disappointment that he's playing a young lover but not able to use his own hands, Ryan begins the scene with his Italian accent firmly located in Italy. For once, Ryan's famous wandering accent never leaves its country of origin. He manages to sound Italian through the entire game. Rapturously comparing Kathy's skin to a smooth baby's bottom, he comments that it isn't quite as smooth as his own skin though. Enticed, Kathy points out that food is a form of seduction. They decide to have some champagne — with a little pepper in it as Colin's hand lands on the wrong container. Locating the correct bottle, Colin pops the cork before Ryan declares that he will make the pop sound himself. After finding Ryan's mouth, Colin puts a finger in, and the two men manage to make a convincing pop sound. (Quite an accomplishment given their positions, I think.) Colin pours Kathy a glass using his fingertip over the glass lip to warn him when the glass is almost full. Then he offers the bottle to Ryan to drink from. Kathy interrupts; shouldn't they toast something? Oh, that's right; Helping Hands isn't just about getting Ryan to swallow things. The actors are supposed to be playing an actual scene. A toast to their love? Kathy asks. No, Ryan replies, with Colin's hand caressing her cheek, a toast to her beauty. And so they do.

Kathy sees a present on the table, and when she sees a present she must have it right away. She mustn't look, Ryan cautions. Colin's hand covers her eyes. Ryan apologizes for the wet hand. Kathy turns away at Ryan's request while he brings forth the present — a sheer red teddy. Kathy gasps; Colin puts the teddy up to Ryan for size. Ryan: "I should have gotten one for you as well." Kathy takes it and sets it aside, "we'll use that later." Colin reaches down for one of the food items on the table. Kathy sees it, "I've never eaten one before" — an oyster on the half-shell that Colin promptly puts into Ryan's mouth. While "Ryan's" hands are stroking his face in ecstasy, Ryan's face is projecting a very different emotion — revulsion? Or may be disgust? Finally swallowing the oyster, Ryan comments, "All I can say is I hope it's the right season." Colin picks up another oyster; Ryan rarely rejects any food offered in Helping Hands but he is not going through that again, "Oh, I don't think I want another." Colin offers it to Kathy who takes it reluctantly. Ryan offers some advice — in all seriousness I think — "Let it slide down your throat. Don't eat it." Too big to swallow, Kathy has to chew the oyster — a most unpleasant experience based on her facial expressions. Colin offers his hand so she can spit it out. But Kathy swallows it. (Major points to her for going through with it. I don't think I could have done it.) Kathy: "That was one big oyster." Ryan: "I hope I hear those words again tonight." Kathy: "Oh, baby, so do I!" (Check out Wayne throughout this sequence; he's enjoying Ryan's and Kathy's discomforts just a little too much.)

Deciding they need some food to wash down the oyster, Ryan offers to make some pasta. Colin pours some ready made pasta sauce (looked like Prego to me) into a bowl of spaghetti. Taking revenge for being forced to eat the oyster, Ryan coolly announces, "why don't I just mix that up?" Colin sets about mixing the spaghetti and sauce by hand. Thoroughly enjoying himself, Ryan admonishes "I don't think it's mixed enough" when Colin slows down. "I'm going to get down into it because I love the feel of it underneath my nails." Then Ryan decides the pasta should be topped with a little whipped cream. Finding the can, Colin sprays whipped cream on top of the mess. Ryan requests a little for himself. Based on what normally happens, Ryan was probably expecting Colin to shoot some cream from the can into his mouth. But Colin had some on his fingers and reached up to put the cream in Ryan's mouth — along with some of the cold pasta sauce. Colin was a little off-target leaving a little dollop of cream on the tip of Ryan's nose as he jerked his head away in disgust. Colin reaches down and brings up a single strand of spaghetti covered in cold sauce and whipped cream and starts playing with it. Suddenly, Ryan realizes his mistake about the pasta sauce. In Helping Hands, the actor playing the hands will ultimately win any contest. You can see on his face that Ryan knows he's in trouble. The audience knows it. Most importantly, Colin knows it too — you can tell by the way he's playing with the strand.

Suddenly, Ryan finds a way out of his predicament — his young Italian girlfriend whom he is supposed to propose to but never does. Perhaps inspired by Kathy's line, "The way you play with your food, I want you to play with me", Ryan responds, "But I would like you to have the first bite." (Check out Wayne there.) Probably remembering the oyster experience, Kathy backtracks, "no, no, no". Ryan persists; he doesn't want to eat the spaghetti either. Hurt, Ryan asks, "You don't love me enough to have the first bite?" The game shifts from a contest between Ryan and Colin to one between Ryan and Kathy — Ryan is having fun. Kathy: "I love you so much." Ryan: "I shoot it in your mouth. Open your mouth; here it comes." Kathy comes up with a clever compromise: "I think we can only share it. That will prove the love." Ryan accepts her compromise: "Oh? Like the puppy film?" Amused, Kathy agrees: "Like the puppy film." (I always laugh at Ryan's description right then. Why did Ryan refer to the movie "Lady and the Tramp" as the puppy film? Could he not remember the real name? Was he afraid that Disney might object to using the title? Since Disney owns ABC, I doubt it. Maybe that's what his children call it at home? Whatever the reason, I've now got the phrase "the puppy film" firmly attached to that movie in my head.)

Fortunately all three actors understood the reference. Colin puts one end of the spaghetti in Ryan's mouth. He tries to put the other in Kathy's mouth, but the angle is wrong and the strand swings free. Kathy scoots further under Ryan's chin trying the catch the free end while Colin is blindly trying to grab it as well. The whole thing looks like one of those picnic games where people try to pass an orange under their chins to each other. Eventually, Colin grabs hold of the free end and gets it into Kathy's mouth. Kathy swallows the spaghetti shortening the strand until her lips meet Ryan's. (It looked to me as if Kathy did all the swallowing. Ryan didn't look like he ate any of the pasta.) The couple remains with their lips locked for a moment then breaks away with looks of love in their eyes. Ryan surreptitiously spits out the spaghetti end while Kathy comes away with a small bit of whipped cream on her cheek from where Ryan's nose touched it. Ryan: "ohhhh, like the little puppy film." Drew buzzes in, and the romantic spell is broken.

Kathy turns back to Colin, "Oh my God!" Ryan steps aside with his head bowed. Colin steps to the table and mutters something. Ryan nods his head once. I think Colin was asking Ryan if he was okay. Kathy is still marveling over the scene, "that was disgusting". Ryan grabs a breadstick, chews rapidly, and sprays the crumbs out. Back at their seats, Ryan picks up his tie that was hanging on the armrest and starts swinging it. Colin is sitting with his hands covered in pasta sauce and whipped cream. Drew to Colin: "Doctor, how was the operation?" An accurate description of what Colin's hands looked like. Colin mutters in dismay. Drew: "Is he gonna live?" Colin: "I ... uh ... it was just tonsils... it's like a buffet, I couldn't stop."

Then Drew pulls out the tape recorder — just for old time's sake. Only instead of hearing "One thousand points" as he expected, Drew hears another voice muttering, "my ass, my ass, my ass". Stunned, Drew stares and realizes what's happened. The entire studio breaks up at Wayne's joke. Ryan points to Wayne who stands up and takes a bow for his handiwork. What the broadcast doesn't tell us is just how long Wayne had to wait before seeing the results of his joke. The episode makes it seem as if Drew played the tape immediately after Helping Hands ended. But he didn't. The Party Quirks cards are gone. Ryan is wearing his tie again. And Colin's hands are clean. So some amount of time had to have passed between Helping Hands and the tape playing. At least enough time to clean up and possibly time enough for some more games to be played. This probably explains why some of the audience looked as surprised as Drew did when they heard the tape. They'd probably forgotten by then that Wayne had changed it.

Props: Wayne and Colin = tan foam letter V with curled ends; Drew and Ryan = large red cap that looks like half a bird's head and beak
When Kathy handed Wayne the V-like prop, she gave it to him point down. I'm not sure what Wayne imagined when he saw it (although I can guess) but whatever it was, the image certainly amused him. Looking to see why Wayne was laughing, Ryan must have had a similar vision — "oh no, oh no". I thought Ryan's reaction was interesting because he doesn't react to the props that often. Colin began their session by turning the V into a shark's nose and attacking Wayne. With the V on top of his head like antenna, Wayne wanted to know if Colin had seen him in "A Bug's Life". Holding his motorcycle handles, Colin offers Wayne a ride. Wayne uses a pump to inflate his Colin balloon. (I really liked that one for its elegant simplicity.) Wayne thinks Grandpa Colin's crutches look odd. (You can hear Kathy laughing at that one.) While Colin thought the Alps would have been more impressive. Colin resurrected a burial joke — this time burying Bugs Bunny. I didn't mind the repeat joke this time because the sight of the V ends bobbing plus the unusual nature of the deceased appealed to me. Finally, Scarlett O'Hara asks Bartholomew for a push on the swing. Only to have him push her sideways not forwards as she intended.

On the other side of the stage, Drew starts off bemoaning his broken heart. Then wearing the cap like a baseball cap, he yells at umpire Ryan for calling him out. Rickshaw driver Ryan pulls customer Drew. Afterwards Drew plays bass fiddle while Ryan mimes a saxophone. In a rare literary reference or maybe he had recently seen a movie version of "Mutiny on the Bounty", Ryan wears the cap like a tricorn hat and orders Mr. Christian to set sail. Tortoise Ryan claims the hare isn't going to beat him in this race. In a snafu, Drew steps into the cap, squats, and then falls backwards against the Party Quirks step pulling the brim up with him. Carrying on with the improv, Drew starts wailing like a baby in a crib while Ryan bemusedly rocks him. From Ryan's expression, I'm guessing that is not what Ryan had intended to happen. So points to Drew for carrying on in spite of the problems. In their last entry, Drew is standing in front of Ryan completely covered by the cap. Ryan: "I can't believe I'm having Drew's baby." I think the snafu from the previous entry was supposed to be something similar to what they did here.

All in all, this was a much better round of Props than we usually get. Lots of new ideas were introduced. There were one or two repeats but even those were sufficiently different to be interesting. If all the playings of Props were as good as this one, I might not dislike the game so much. Might not.

Credits: Kathy reads while everybody takes a shower
Kathy, Colin, and Ryan all seemed dumbfounded when Drew read the style — none of them could believe it. Since Kathy only has two hands, one of the men would have to do without the Kathy shower. That man turned out to be Ryan. While Kathy showered water on Colin and Wayne, Ryan stood in front of Colin who washed Ryan's back. Kathy started to actually read names but gave up quickly. "Developed for television by ... well, who really cares when you're taking a shower?" I think the developer's name had scrolled off before she could read it, to be honest. When Colin stops washing Ryan's back, Ryan asked for the soap so he could continue alone. Colin hands it to him and then turns to Kathy who is giving Wayne a pulsating massage. Reaching over to Kathy's nose, Colin squeezes some shampoo out of it. Kathy gives the names one last try. "Stage hand ... who cares?" Colin grabs one of her hands for some water while Wayne uses the other hand for blow-drying. I liked this credit reading. Kathy's the Devil May Care attitude indicated a comfort level she rarely displays during readings. A good job for the US version.

Best Game:
A difficult choice. Three games are in the running — Hollywood Director, Living Scenery, and Helping Hands. I'm going to go with Helping Hands (for the first time I think). From the set up of Wayne's prank, through the game itself, to the revelation of Wayne's impishness (even if it did happen sometime later at the real taping), the whole thing is just plain fun. Whenever I rewatch this episode, I find my attention is always strongest during the second act which consists entirely of this game.

Overall Comments:
Could you guess that I liked this episode? This episode is one of the strongest episodes this season. In my opinion, it's also one of Kathy's best episodes yet. The tape-recorded Drew gimmick was funny without being intrusive, and it led to some unexpected results for Drew himself. The games were a good selection and well balanced among the players. Wayne scored some points in the battle against repetitive role assignment. The game humor worked on a character / scene level and on an actor to actor level. Was this the best episode of the season? No. But I'll put it in this season's top level grouping.

© LKK (12/28/01)