Jane Lynch tells Conan why Hollywood Game Night cut back the booze, cueing celebrity speculation
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Hollywood Game Night might not be the most challenging game show in TV history, with its roster of chummy celebrity party games coming in just a hair above Saturday Night Live’s version of Celebrity Jeopardy in terms of intellectual rigor. But, hey, if you want to see some mid-range famous folks goofing around on your television without having to watch Jimmy Fallon, then the Jane Lynch-hosted game show isn’t the worst way to spend a half-hour. Especially if you’re nostalgic for the old days of shows like Match Game (or the new days of Match Game), when you could see alternately embarrassed- or grateful-to-be-there faces trying to win prizes for some regular folk while suppressing the odd scotch-belch.
And if part of the appeal was the real or imagined thought of slumming celebs slurring their way through their time filling in the blanks and playing charades and so forth, then Hollywood Game Night has you covered there, too. Or at least it did, as Lynch told Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter on last night’s Conan. The Emmy-nominated host, actress, and legendary improviser said that some recent experiences on set have caused her producers to at least put an intermittent cork in the show’s longstanding bottomless booze policy. “We used to,” stated Lynch to Conan’s question about her show’s open bar strategy for celebrity lubrication, with Richter confessing that his few times on the show were, indeed, nudged to life with a magically refilling glass. Conan, claiming with mock incredulity that he’s never resorted to green room shenanigans to loosen up his guests, asked Lynch seriously if her famous-to-semi-famous contestants really abused the show’s largesse.
Oh, did they. While assiduously refusing to put names to anecdotes, Lynch offered up tales of one (female) celebrity who was so upset at losing a point for her non-wealthy teammate that she wound up weeping in a fetal position on the studio floor. “We had to cut around it,” explained Lynch, while Conan guessed Cate Blanchett and Andy speculated it was Barbara Walters. (Since neither has appeared on Hollywood Game Night, you can cross them off your list at home.) At least that weepy episode is sort of sweet in a sloppy-boozy way, unlike another famous contestant (gender unrevealed) who Lynch says went on an extended rant to the (presumably nanny-less) studio audience about the difficulty of finding a good nanny. Stars—they’re just like us.
17 Comments
It’s an hour long show, not a half-hour. My 12 year old son and I love it. We’ve sworn off the new Match Game, where what little propriety that was there in the 70s is all but gone.
The only things worse than drunk people or rich people are drunk rich people.
Don’t knock it. When they pass out you can roll them. Now I’d like to mention my eBay auction for a toupee that once belonged to Charles Nelson Reilly.
Circle takes the square…and the hairpiece!
Bullshit.I’ve got it on good authority that you can piss in the wind, and you can tug on Superman’s cape, but lord knows you just don’t mess around with CNR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLnapb-30hA
I. Had. Not. Seen. This. Thanks!
Roll them into what
How about drunk rich people on boats? It’s like being absolutely stranded at a party that only ends when they decide it does.
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So… looking at that linked IMDb list, trying to figure out which actress was the catalyst…. now, this is difficult, as i personally know fewer than half the women on this list…. but let’s try. Somebody intelligent, hightly strung…..
figure, a one-episode visitor (assuming she freaked out because i was unfamiliar; by the second visit, she’d not be new at it)…. so not Jenna Elfman, unfortunately…. or Julie Bowen, dammit….. i’ma gonna go with “who is Anna Chlumsky, alex”
Oh fuck I hope that’s not the case. My crush of 25+ years on her is still going strong
Wait, she’s 39 now, how old are you
Ha! Relevant question. I was 9 when My Girl came out, and my crush flared back up when I saw VeepETA: I think my crush actually stems from My Girl 2. The cover for that movie brought me back to the 90s way more than the original
……okay, you’re clear.
My guess is Tara Lapinski.
Hm. Competitive, highly strung, metabolism like a ferret’s. Makes sense.
Personally, I don’t think I could stand to be in a room with the oh-I-find-you-so-very-obnoxious Jane Lynch unless I was shit-faced, but I know I’m in the minority here.