S05.E02: Playing Hardwick To Get

[Tara Ariano]

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Celebrities Chris Hardwick, Mike Colter, Charlotte McKinney, Xzibit, David Walton, and Sherri Shepherd partake in unique party games.

[Aliconehead]

Saw a preview and I have a feeling Hardwick is going to annoy me. I hope I am wrong but this could be a long episode for me. 

[weightyghost]

1 hour ago, Aliconehead said:

Saw a preview and I have a feeling Hardwick is going to annoy me. I hope I am wrong but this could be a long episode for me. 

Canadian who saw it Tuesday.... maybe have a glass of wine beforehand... (and this comes from someone who used to enjoy Hardwick)

[Primetimer]

He's trying really hard. Wick.

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[helpmerhonda]

I actually like Chris Hardwick most of the time.

Not this time.

Maybe he's just used to hosting shows, so he feels like he always has to be talking and moving the show along?

Or maybe he was just being obnoxious?

[BobH]

Yeah, agreed on the general consensus on Hardwick. Just too much, in all the wrong ways. And also said as a one-time regular listener of his podcast, who now needs an extraordinarily compelling guest to click the download button.

Mediocre episode for the most part, except for a pretty well played bonus round, marred somewhat by Hardwick's couch-jumping antics (which also spoiled the ending when it was included in the opening montage). It was weird that they only did the one round of Back-to-Back. Both teams weren't that good at Where You Going. Pop Quiz I could do without. Couldn't get anything in the backwards song thing. I'd probably like Hold My Balls if they could refrain from the "clever" ball jokes, and had more challenging questions. 

One laugh I did get, when Xzibit sat down with his one-handed driving pose, I immediately compared it to Hardwick's 10-and-2 pose and thought of the old Simpsons scene where Homer is watching a black stand-up comparing black and white driving poses ("It's true! It's true! We're so lame"). And then Xzibit made that comment about how he's black so that's how he drives.

Edited June 30, 2017 by BobH

[sweetandsour]

I already disliked Hold My Balls after the first time and am officially completely over it now.  I wouldn't mind never seeing it again.  I really dislike games where one team ends up disadvantaged, whether on purpose or by chance.  Once Mike Colter got the two huge exercise balls, I thought that team was going to lose.

I didn't mind Hardwick as much because at least he was legitimately into the game and helping his civilian win.  Compare him to total useless hams who really don't give a shit about the show or the contestant (looking at you, Martin Short), and I'll take him any day.

Xzibit was a real delight, I thought.  Not as much in the gameplay, but his attitude.  He was always laughing and smiling at the others and he had zero qualms about interacting and being friendly with his civilian.

Charlotte McKinney joins the club of female celebrities (in her case, I should say "celebrities") that did not get the memo on really high heels, or doesn't understand the nature of HGN, or doesn't care bc looking good is the most important thing.  And oh man about her little spotlight time with Jane.  I'm not sure if they do any preparation with the celebrity for this (I mean, it's not the same thing as going on the Tonight Show and production making sure the interview isn't a disaster), but she was just so uninteresting.  I'm not surprised, but geez.

Jennie the civilian was a superior contestant so I'm glad she won.  River was probably just OK/average.  Hardwick wasted a lot of time in the car game with his intros.  If the other team had ended up pulling out the win, he should have rightfully felt bad about that.  Charlotte didn't help with her physical slowness and her clues.  I really did not understand the snail's pace River physically moved at during the car game.  Bro, you know you need to do as well as the other team + 5 more answers.  David and Sherry were dashing around and this dude is like molasses.  And his clues were terrible.  Maybe nerves?  Sherry's clues were inefficient, but she got Xzibit there.  David was the only one playing to win.  I felt bad that River was disappointed, but his lack of hustle didn't help.  Not that that would have closed the gap of 5 answers, though.  They did get the same number right as the other team, so there's that.

Once Jennie advanced to the final round, I knew she was going to get the $25k, even if she got mediocre clues and Hardwick was yelling and screaming.  She definitely knew her pop culture.  If she had Yvette Nicole Brown giving her the clues, they might have been able to set a time record in the final round, too.  I thought it was cute how she cursed when she won.

[biakbiak]

Damn this show stays on the shelf for a long time it was filmed in October or November if last year because Chris was married in August of 2016 and he said he had been married 2 months and he was playing Pokémon Go.

[gpgurl50]

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I thought it was cute how she cursed when she won.

I loved that too.

My enjoyment of the show has increased since I stopped watching everything but the actual games.  I skip all the talking before and after and just wait to hear about it on the podcast.  Thanks for suffering on our behalf, Joe and Tara!  I will say I would have chosen Hardwick for the final round because interviewing celebrities is his whole deal but the last game of the night is not time to do your bits.  The other team could've caught up there.

I also thought it was an interesting aside when River's team all got sent out of a game and they said to each other, "we have zero chance of winning" and then Xzibit yelled out something like "you got this, River."  

They did show Mini-Cooper as the answer at the bottom of the screen though Jane didn't announce it out loud.

[Spaceman Spiff]

4 hours ago, sweetandsour said:

I didn't mind Hardwick as much because at least he was legitimately into the game and helping his civilian win.  Compare him to total useless hams who really don't give a shit about the show or the contestant (looking at you, Martin Short), and I'll take him any day.

A little Chris goes a long way, but I didn't mind him here. As you say, he was into the game and wanted his civilian to win. I liked how during pop quiz you could see him once shake his head no when he realized his teammate answered wrong, and then again when he did the slow-mo dive in front of the civilian because he knew she answered wrong and took the popcorn hit for her. I also thought he did well at where ya going and when he kept saying "Holy F*** Luke Cage is in my car...where ya going?" I laughed. The female civvie was nailing everything, the male was a total dud. In where ya going one of his clues was "Where I live..." like the celeb is going to remember that from Jane's intro of him.

I also think I preferred the backyard record player (song backward game) to last weeks smash the buzzer ball pit. I didn't care for the ball pit added to that game, I thought it put certain people at a disadvantage and seemed like a bad addition to that game.

Edited June 30, 2017 by Spaceman Spiff

[sugarbaker design]

Wow, a contestant who makes it to the final round who actually knows who celebrities are?  How refreshing?  Also refreshing is she brought up the two best players, Walton and Hardwick.  The generic blonde brought nothing, Sherri and Xhibit did better than I expected, but the night's real revelation was...

Mike Coulter!

Where has this man been hiding all my life?  The swagger, the sense of humor, the talent, the voice, the arms!  And he graduated from Rutgers!  My new man crush is firmly in place.

[iMonrey]

The contestant that won really deserved it. Not only did she crush that bonus round she also crushed that backward song game. I would never have gotten any of those! I barely know some of the modern "hits" played frontwards let alone backwards. I don't know how she did that.

Personally I adore Chris Hardwick and he really is a total dork. I can't believe he actually said "I just want to touch you" to Mike Colter then actually reached over and touched him. Yeah I know a lot of people find him tiresome because he's always so "on" but he was genuinely trying to help his contestant, as noted above, and I think his enthusiasm for the game was perfectly appropriate. I laughed at the way he was dancing around like a dork over the closing credits. 

[April Bloodgate]

I have a very high tolerance for Chris Hardwick (used to listen to the podcast, know he's very genuine in his nerdiness, mostly still find him adorable), but he was really obnoxious from the time it was announced his team won onward. If I didn't know he's been sober for years, I'd say the alcohol had gotten to him by that point in the night. I'm also irritated that he did bits that took up extra time in the car game. All that said, he and Walton did a good job in the final round, and they were definitely the right choices for that. Also, female civilian was so much better than male civilian throughout the game that it made me feel bad for him. (But it was dumb of him to start his clue for New Orleans with "My hometown." If they mentioned that in the intros, I missed it because who really pays close attention to the civilian intros. There's no way his celeb was going to remember that.)

I haven't listened to the podcast yet, so apologies if I'm overlapping with things Tara and Joe said.

[swimmyfish]

I feel like Chris Hardwick should have been disqualified not because of his ridiculous mugging, but because he failed to actually ask "Where You Going?" when anyone got in his cab. Follow the rules of the game, man.

Also, I agree with banishing him from the game forever. He was a very strong player, but damn. He irritated me from the get for talking over Mike Coulter's intro, and then referring to him over and over again as Luke Cage. He's an actual person, dimwit - use his real name.

I was a little surprised Sherri Shepard didn't do better. I did, however, immediately say "HAM!" when they said her name in the intro. She managed to inject the proceedings with some personality without making it all about her (ahem, Chris), so I would like to see her come back. Xzybit, too - I've never seen him before, but he was fun and into the games, despite not really knowing any of the answers.

This was a strangely boring episode, though, especially considering how very enthusiastic so many of the players were. I don't know if it was Hardwick sucking all the joy out of everything or just the whole being less than the sum of its parts, but this was not great for a second episode. And it got off on such a strong foot last week. Shame, really.

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, swimmyfish said:

I feel like Chris Hardwick should have been disqualified not because of his ridiculous mugging, but because he failed to actually ask "Where You Going?" when anyone got in his cab. Follow the rules of the game, man.

No celebrity assigned as driver during "Where You Going?" has ever managed to ask the question every time.* Hardwick got it about half the time, which is better than most. Typically they neglect it altogether, which is why Jane desperately and rather forlornly begs for it every week. 

(*Except the guy who did their very first game, long ago. He did them all. Was it Kevin Pollak?)

1 hour ago, swimmyfish said:

I was a little surprised Sherri Shepard didn't do better.

I wasn't. She does miserably whenever she's on Celebrity Name Game (Craig Ferguson's show). Actually I was pleasantly surprised by her here. She was collegial and relatively subdued.

[Irlandesa]

6 hours ago, April Bloodgate said:

I have a very high tolerance for Chris Hardwick

I agree with everything you said.  Plus, he actually did make for a strong clue giver in the final round.  I appreciated that neither Chris and David gave these uber vague clues like "she's a comedian...with blonde hair."  The only time they approached that, from what I remember, was with Miranda Lambert when they said "she's a singer...." And they basically signaled that they only had the slightest clue who she was.  The contestant wisely realized this and passed. 

I actually liked this episode because she was so good even though the huge discrepancy in scores was a bit of a bummer. Not only did she do well at the final game but she was talented with the backwards song.

[jhlipton]

I liked this episode, and didn't mind Hardwick (I don't watch or listen to him, so there's that).  But this really was The Jennie Show -- she just dominated!

11 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Wow, a contestant who makes it to the final round who actually knows who celebrities are?  How refreshing?  Also refreshing is she brought up the two best players, Walton and Hardwick.

I would have thought Shepard would be good -- she'd know about celebrities from The View, you'd think.  But if she stinks on Celebrity Name Game (yuck!), then Jennie was smart to skip her.

[annewithaneee]

I'm guessing they're not going to film any more of these given how intermittently they air them, probably just burning off what they already have, but if they do make more someone should give Jane the memo to try and avoid plugging anything time-sensitive or topical. Clearly it's just filler for mid-season replacements or summer. I cackled when she asked Chris Hardwick about The Wall. We haven't been doing plinko ripoffs for several months now, now it's all about having people rappel down giant ipads playing Candy Crush.

Part of me wants to like Chris Hardwick. Most of me wishes his parents had paid better attention to him as a child, because we're all now suffering for it.

[Kromm]

Mugging for the camera? Trying too hard? It's Hardwick's whole brand.

[jhlipton]

6 hours ago, annewithaneee said:

I cackled when she asked Chris Hardwick about The Wall. We haven't been doing plinko ripoffs for several months now, now it's all about having people rappel down giant ipads playing Candy Crush.

They did two episodes in May and an episode of The Wall came on right after HGN for the last two weeks.  Candy Crush won't start until July 9th, and is on CBS, not NBC.

[peeayebee]

On 6/30/2017 at 3:00 AM, Spaceman Spiff said:

A little Chris goes a long way, but I didn't mind him here. As you say, he was into the game and wanted his civilian to win. I liked how during pop quiz you could see him once shake his head no when he realized his teammate answered wrong, and then again when he did the slow-mo dive in front of the civilian because he knew she answered wrong and took the popcorn hit for her. I also thought he did well at where ya going and when he kept saying "Holy F*** Luke Cage is in my car...where ya going?" I laughed.

Yeah, I thought Chris did fine, except for in Where Ya Going'? where he kept doing shtick before each 'passenger' started with their clues. He was eating up time. Fortunately the other team did worse.

Jennie was amazing, esp in Turn the Beat Around. Wow. She really has an ear for that. Very well done.

I had no idea that Kit Kat has been around since 1937. 

[bybrandy]

Every time I see Mike Coulter I think of how close my dorm was to the theater department.   I could have known him.  I didn't but I could have.  My theater major friend did know him and says only good things.  

 

Aside from the mugging Chris took the game seriously and had a good knowledge.  The mugging drove me nuts but I'd prefer him if I was the contestant to didn't know anything at all, not even a little bit Charlotte.

I got ABC on the turntable game.   

I laughed when River said it was his hometown because who would remember that about a stranger, but I really can see it just being stuck in your head.  It is literally the first thing you think when you see your hometown... and you need to clear out that crappy clue to get to better ones.  

[joanne3482]

I have no frame of reference for Chris Hardwick so I found him pretty funny. I thought this was a fun episode and I like it when the celebrities are good and really into the games. 

[paigow]

On 7/1/2017 at 8:42 PM, Kromm said:

Mugging for the camera? Trying too hard? It's Hardwick's whole brand.

Soon he will be half of the AMC schedule....

[Black Knight]

On 6/30/2017 at 9:40 AM, iMonrey said:

The contestant that won really deserved it. Not only did she crush that bonus round she also crushed that backward song game. I would never have gotten any of those! I barely know some of the modern "hits" played frontwards let alone backwards. I don't know how she did that.

I was amazed too until I remembered from her intro that she's a Zumba instructor. She would naturally listen to a lot of music and be very in tune with the beat.

At first I groaned at them doing Hold My Balls for the second week in a row, but then I couldn't stop laughing during it. Especially near the end when Mike Colter was completely covered up. The driving game, though, I'm over. I suppose they're doing it a lot to justify the new car prop.

[damnman]

out of all the celebs this week I enjoyed Xibit the most, he's always so happy (good drugs???) in any program (other than acting) that he's in. I'd add him to my list of celebs I'd like to drink beer with...