Whose Watchdown is it Anyway: S16E14, or You Got My Gender Pronoun Wrong

Seasonal Code: S16E14
Production Number: 355
CW Seasonal Code: S16E05

For the last guest star show we’d see for a while, the producers managed to muster one more Adam Rippon game out of the material from the Gary show from S15. He wasn’t bad in his first episode, let’s see how he does here.

Also, very funny that I’m doing this episode now considering that Adam just won Stars on Mars, and managed to take down another S15 guest star, Tinashe, in order to do so.

Weird Newscasters: Colin anchors, Gary, Colin’s bitchy gossiping BFF, co-anchors, Ryan, Bad tempered repo man visiting the Whose Line studio, does sports while Wayne,  TV going through lots of different channels, does weather

Something about the intro gives me ‘re-taped at pickups’ vibes; I don’t know if these are the genuine reactions to these quirks.

Gary’s already bitching to Colin as the game starts. I love that Colin has to cut him off by going “I’m working.”

And with one of the most iconic bitings of the hand that feeds you in this show’s history, Colin introduces himself: “I’m your anchor, Rich? NoIWorkFortheCW.”
What’s even funnier about this slam is that he’s about to go into the top story but the audience erupts in both surprise and amusement, so he has to trail off and wait for them to recover. Aisha has a big laugh at this, and eventually the audience applauds. And as it’s come out in years since how little the performers were being compensated for episodes, especially considering the number of later opportunities for episodes to be broadcast, it’s a very pointed move.

Colin: “A man who works in a Chinese restaurant burnt himself severely while doing a stir-fry. Paramedics say he may never wok again.”
That’s such a good one

Gary: “You know what I like about the word ‘wok’? Spelled backwards it’s ‘kow’, and very few people walk cows…”

Colin takes an extra half-second to figure out a name for Ryan, but lands on “….Balls McGillicutty.”
Ryan:

I do not blame him in the slightest.
Ryan, after taking a moment: “PLEASE. Call me Balls.”

It’s funny, Ryan’s quirk plays right into the ‘Rich? No, I work for the CW’ gag, because he’s just taking more and more things away, verging on integral:

I think the funniest bit is when Ryan decides to go bigger:

My favorite detail is just the feed we get from this camera:
I love that. Aisha’s just confused.

Gary: “This is the kind of work environment that YOU ENJOY COMING TO WORK EVERYDAY?”
Meanwhile:

This is a great decision by the editor

I love that, the camera operator, befuddled as she is, just waves

Plus, the very silly detail of this is that, because Ryan took the stools,

THEY’RE JUST STANDING

Wayne’s is too quick and hits too many familiar beats for Wayne. So we end with a thud, honestly.

To that point, this was one of the freshest and most classic-feeling WN playings in a while. Colin’s CW joke gave this playing a ‘we’re running out of money’ feel that carried throughout, and was helped by Ryan repossessing everything. I just wish it had a better Wayne quirk to go out with. This is honestly why he was better in the third spot, because he didn’t have to end the game.

Scenes from a Hat:

“if team sports were done in a sexy way”
Ryan, for about 10 seconds:

It really is that simple
This ends clumsily, as both Ryan and Colin have punchlines they want to get out, they overlap, and Aisha buzzes.

“Unlikely questions from a school test”, the US version of the Mock the Week “unlikely exam questions” topic:
Colin: “…Why?”
PFFF
Wayne, similarly: “…who DIS?”

“Bad professions in which to play practical jokes”
Ryan has a really excellent one, convincing Colin to turn the key to deliver the nuke, then busting up, “I didn’t get a call!”
Colin, after 10 seconds: “…..oh, I get it!”

I also like Wayne’s, where he pulls over Gary as a sadistic cop, then pulls off a mask to reveal it’s Gary’s friend. For the moment, a really funny subversion
Gary: “I ALMOST SHOT YOU!”
Wayne: “I ALMOST SHOT YOU!”

Colin: “now very carefully, cut the RED wire”
Ryan: “the red wire..”
Colin: [sprints out of the room]
Maybe it’s because this is giving us the most extended improv energy but i really love this suggestion

“Magic shows you’d never want to see.”
Wayne has a very fun idea for this one, as a maternity magician that delivers Colin’s baby, makes it disappear and then returns it. Colin does have trouble when Wayne grabs something else from under Colin’s legs, but they must not have been on the same page.

Ryan: [mimes eating something]
Gary: [is already giggling in advance]

The audience is shocked by this. Where did you think he was gonna go??
Colin finishes the trick by removing something from Ryan’s ass. As opposed to the last one, they’re on the same page
Wayne even helps out by revealing that it was a bird that Ryan ate by having it fly away. THAT is more like it

Wayne has the topper, though, by bringing back the cop character that pulled over Gary and making him ‘magically’ plant drugs in Gary’s car. Like the first time, it plays with the modern experience of driving while black, and it really doubles down on Wayne’s satire against cops.

Colin does a cute ‘saw a woman in half for real’ gag, but he nails it with the facial expression.
Ryan, entering sowing himself up: “I know, I made the same mistake.”
It was verging on grotesque but it became silly

A really nice SFAH. It got so much better when it favored extended scenes, like in the practical joke and magic show ones.

Dubbing: Colin is the world’s greatest female ice skater auditioning her young protege Adam, voice by Ryan, to be her ice dance partner when suddenly her ex-partner Wayne skates in to prove he’s still got what it takes

Colin heading to the stage amuses me. He does a lot of ‘OH!’. Maybe they told him to be more up, but you see him realize what game they’re playing, realize Laura and Linda are in it, and nearly run into Wayne on the way to his mark.

It also amuses me that Aisha describes Adam as a ‘television presenter’. Looks like a british person wrote that card..

Ryan: “I’ve got a signature move I’ve had for years, it looks something like this:”
Adam:

Yes, Adam brought his comedic timing to this one
Colin, almost metatextually: “honey, I’ve been doing that for more years than you’ve been alive..”

Ryan has Adam turn their move into almost a chicken impression.
Colin, so cleverly: “Of course, cause you always see chickens on ice. [sticks finger out] oh, we’re done.”
THIS IS WHAT HE’S CAPABLE OF

I like Ryan, when Adam demonstrates the signature move again, adding a ‘yeeeeahh..’
Adam’s also very good at owning Ryan’s vocal decisions, and really goes big to nail Ryan’s boastful ‘THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT’.

I like the little trepidation Wayne has to doing his signature move at the same time as Adam, and how that plays into Ryan trying to get everything in. Ultimately,

Yeah, that’s about right
Colin just turns to Wayne and goes “no.” Adam dies at this. There’s no WAY they’ll get that on air.
Colin: [leaves]
Wayne, confused: “…that is my move…”

I do like the silly diplomatic ending we go towards. Colin has a great line of “maybe you’re right, or maybe you’re both just stupid.”

I like Wayne pimping out Adam, and thereby Ryan, to do a ‘signature song’ as all three of them do the move.
Adam: [mimes pulling sheet music out of his uniform]
Colin: “…oh, you have a lyric sheet.”
PFFFF. WHAT A GREAT MOVE.
Adam also hands the music to Laura and Linda. Man, if only more guest games actually had moments for the guests to flex their improv muscles, cause Adam’s going above and beyond more than he did in his other 2 games.

Ryan tries his best to follow the backing, and vice versa, but there’s a disconnect. Ryan even justifies, ‘I can’t sing well I’VE GOT A CLEFT.”

And so the rest of the game is singing a song while the other three twerk. Anyway, the CW markets to the 40-60 demographic now…
Wayne does add a line in about “slap them cheeks like Cardi B”, but…yeah, they kinda lost me

Ryan, as they’re wrapping up the song, throws in a Colin slam, “who’s the guy on the right, he looks like a phony”, and as Wayne leads towards a tender final note…
Colin, standing, finishing the song defiantly: “you got my gender pronoun wrong” [leaves]
Now, let’s compare this to Greg’s line from last show, assuming that if Wayne isn’t a man he is obviously some non-binary overly sensitive thing. Clearly coming from the voice of the opposition, however subconscious. Colin, as has been documented, comes from the voice of the cause, he’s all for queer and trans rights, but beyond that he was mostly just trying to right the wrong of Ryan’s mistake, because Ryan’s desire to slam Colin got in the way of the rules of the scene. So the final line from Colin is not only a way of writing an improv mistake, but he uses it as a way of rejecting Ryan, and Adam’s character, and leaving both people that were supposed to be fighting for him to themselves.
It also works because, uh…not that I’ve been following Stars on Mars, but something came out about Lance Armstrong causing a shit-fit about trans athletes, and the one of the first people to shut him down was Adam Rippon, because that’s what heroes do. So if anyone would stand by Colin’s move of turning the ending line into a confident stance against a subconscious misgendering, it would be Adam Rippon.

Also, it’s just a funny ending line, especially how it fits perfectly into the final notes of the song. So that’s good too.

So, very good Dubbing. When this originally aired I thought this was one of the best Dubbings I’ve seen in a while. It’s good, but the decision to make this a twerk-off and go about the usual Dubbing beats does hold this back. What does make this game still good is not only Adam’s surprisingly great improv moves, but also the emotional finale, where nobody wins and Colin takes the high ground. I like that a lot.

Aisha, summing it up perfectly: “it was upsetting and also unifying at the same time.”
Colin: “and it was such a fight for women’s rights.”

Wayne: “so…you were playing a female skater?”
Colin: “YES. Just because I didn’t do the stereotypical [higher-pitched] OOH I’M A WOMAN, I played it REAL. THAT’S what makes America GREAT.”
…I mean, I’D vote for him..

Infomercial: Ryan and Colin deal with personal hygiene 

Ryan starts his intro as usual, then stops: “I can’t even continue, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?”
Colin: “what is wrong with me? I got hit with the stink…stick.”

Also, very silly timing on both of them slapping the table once they reveal the topic. They play this less often, and that honestly makes it successful whenever they do play it.

Colin goes with an easy joke with a pair of green foot-looking things that Ryan uses to talk about footcare: “and if you don’t take care of it quickly, gan-GREEN sets in..”

Then, after they finish with the foot care bit, Ryan makes a discovery:

“Hey, I could have used this for the foot instead of that green thing!”

The ‘breath-powered glove’ bit is very amusing, because Ryan’s breathing into it like he would a bong, all while Colin’s trying his best to explain the prop

Ryan takes out a grabbing claw type thing, then says “some places you can’t get you, cause they’re too damned tight”, so he asks Colin to turn around and begins to come around back of him with the claw. Then, Ryan realizes something “…well you’re way ahead of me, aren’t ya?”
Yeah, where else is he gonna go?
Ryan, to Colin: “you got off lucky! Maybe later…”

Colin: “some people don’t want their personal hygiene taken care of right away.”

“…CHAIN THEM TO THE FLOOR.”
The simple ones work for me here too

Colin: “WE’RE NOT KIDDING. PERSONAL HYGIENE IS IMPORTANT. IT CAUSES CLIMATE CHANGE. AND YEAH, IT’S A REAL THING.”
This has become a very politically charged Whose Line
I also love, after that, Ryan smiling and chucking the chain and a mace-ball into the bucket without saying a word

Colin, suddenly:

Ryan, of course: “I WISH.”

A strong Infomercial, definitely improved as it went on. I wish we got a bit more, and a few more out-of-the-box uses for these props, as it treaded familiar ground in some points, but some of the frantic energy here was very good.

Props: Ryan and Gary vs. Colin and Wayne

Gary is very good at putting a creative spin on ideas we’ve seen before, like the reveal that he’s going through a car wash without a car, or that the hairdresser just gives everyone the same hairdo, “but it’s GOOD.’

Wayne does a ‘wrong size condom’ gag.
Colin: “WELCOME TO FANTASY ISLAND.”
PFFFF

Gary: “Can’t believe it, we adopted two reggae babies…”

I love this little aside Colin has while Wayne’s trying to get into the props:

like ‘give us a second..’

Finally,

“…that’s all.”

Colin: “…it’s a reverse birth…”

Alright props. There were some original ways of going about some ideas we’d seen before, but you could tell that some of these guys, especially Wayne and Colin, were struggling.

Overall: A good show but there was just this uneven feeling to a lot of it, even if there were good games. My favorite games of the night, being WN, SFAH and Dubbing, all had major flaws. Weird Newscasters’ biggest flaw was its lack of an ending; Wayne didn’t do enough to make the finish as strong as the rest of it, and, like the theme I’ve been noticing, was something he was comfortable doing from before. SFAH had some of the best extended energy here, but only in the second half. Dubbing was excellent but going towards a payoff where three performers twerk, IN 2019…was not a move I would have done. And as good as Infomercial was, there wasn’t enough of it. It just felt like there were aspects of this show that were dragging it away from greatness at multiple points, and that isn’t even beginning to mention that Gary only appeared in 3 games, the one Adam game feels incongruent to the rest of the show, and some banter sections [after Props and WN] felt like complete afterthoughts. I liked a lot of this show, but it frustrates me that it couldn’t be better.

Show Winners: All four
Best Performer: Ryan Stiles. Even with his Dubbing mistake, Ryan had the cleverest moves tonight, and was the star of the first half.
Worst Performer: I’m actually going with Wayne, because he made the most improv mistakes tonight, and had more moments where he wasn’t on the same page as the others.
Best Game: Dubbing. Even with the issue I have with it, there’s still a lot of great stuff in there, and a very advanced ending.
Worst Game: Props, just kinda ended us with a shrug.
Guest Star Rating: 9/10, Adam brought it in Dubbing, arguably more than he did in his prior two games.

COMING UP NEXT: Finally, we take on the last of the S15 leftover shows, which is also our last Brad Sherwood show to date.