The actors on Lip Sync Battle may as well be in actual drag with contoured faces and wigs done up to the gods, mostly because the comedy of “Hey, there’s Joel McHale in a yellow dress†wears off fairly quickly. (It does provide a good snort at first though.) Well, here’s Joel McHale, star of Community and The Soup (RIP to both) sporting a 5 o’clock shadow in a yellow gunny sack as Björk, the Icelandic singer lip syncing her biggest pop hit, “It’s Oh So Quiet.†He’s up against his former Community co-star, Jim Rash, who deliciously played the sexually fluid Dean Pelton of Greendale and chose “So What†by Pink. How do they fare?
This is really about commitment level, and McHale is just not committed. He doesn’t really bother to get his large, strapping body into that Björk physicality: the impish quietness followed by the manic explosion of joy. (It’s still a great music video — thanks Spike Jonze!) As such, he’s just awkwardly walking about the stage and missing some of his “Shh†marks. Meanwhile, Rash goes all in for Pink’s “So What.†He looks good, has abs to high heaven, and isn’t afraid to get on his knees … for art. Dean Pelton would be so proud.
But even better was Rash giving McHale a lap dance while lip syncing En Vogue’s “Giving Him Something He Can Feel.†Bless you, sir.