I'm Slightly Addicted to "Lip Sync Battle"

I fell into a Youtube rabbit hole recently, watching clips of the performances from Spike/The Paramount Network's "Lip Sync Battle." On the surface level it looks like all the other celebrity-led reality competitions of recent years. LL Cool J and Chrissy Teigan host, and two celebrities face off in every episode, performing lip syncs of two different songs apiece before a winner is declared. Regular episodes are only half an hour, so nobody wears out their welcome, and the show has become known for its high production values. Elaborate costumes, sets, props, and a troupe of background dancers really help the performances pop.

However, what originally caught my attention was that the participants are more high profile actors and musicians than the usual participants on something like "Dancing with the Stars" or "The Masked Singer." "Lip Sync Battle" started out as a segment of "The Tonight Show," and was spun off as its own show, with John Krasinski and Stephen Merchant credited as creators. The performances are a mix of earnest homages and exaggerated parodies. However, everyone clearly has a blast playing at being larger-than-life music stars for a day, or in the case of the professional musicians who participate, playing very different musicians. There's a tremendously appealing vibe of wish-fulfillment in many of the appearances. Race and gender lines are crossed constantly, with so many drag performances that the show is often compared to "RuPaul's Drag Race."

So, I can see the appeal of the show for a performer. "Lip Sync Battle" is an opportunity for them to let loose and play with other personas. It's so much fun to see John Legend doing "Can't Touch This" in M.C. Hammer pants, or Neil Patrick Harris as "Moonwalker" era Michael Jackson performing "Smooth Criminal." I appreciate the really unexpected subversions, like Kathy Bates absolutely killing Bruno Mars's "That's What I Like," or Jenna Dewan doing her husband's "Magic Mike" routine right in his delighted face. Many of the performances go for laughs or irony, like Josh Gad dressing up like Donald Trump for "I Touch Myself," but there are a handful that are truly touching. Zoe Saldana stepping into Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez's shoes, alongside the other members of TLC, is magical. So is Laverne Cox borrowing some of Beyonce's glamour for "Lose My Breath."

In many ways, "Lip Sync Battle" embodies all the usual reality schtick. The hosts are pretty bland, with Chrissy Teigan often being used as a prop. Later seasons have gotten too spectacle heavy, and I miss the early days when it was mostly a bare stage, chintzy costumes, and the lip-syncers had to rely more heavily on their own impersonation skills. However, when you get a group of talented people together to do something they really enjoy, even if it's something very silly, it's terribly entertaining. And once in a while, you get lucky and something transcendent happens, like Tom Holland as Rihanna, or Anne Hathaway on Miley Cyrus's giant wrecking ball. And I can't help being a little envious of being able to do something that daring, and wild, and fearless. I can't help enjoying the vicarious thrill.

Now, if I were on "Lip Sync Battle," what would I want to perform? Well, I always did wonder what it would be like to wear David Byrne's giant suit...

 

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