There was always a pretty decent chance, given the subject matter, that The Masked Singer’s “2000s Night” was going to be a rough one. The show casts its unnamed celebrities for shock value more than musical talent, after all, and the depths of the era between 2000 and 2010 are rife with some truly godawful musical crimes.
Even so.
Even so, it’s been a minute since we’ve, let’s say, experienced something quite like the performance from “The Pickle” tonight, who unleashed an-even-worse-than-usual cover version of Weezer’s biggest hit/204th-best song, “Beverly Hills,” on the assembled audience, complete with a lot of “Pickle pickle” being tossed out between lines. It’s kind of a perfect storm of things we never wanted to see or hear, a statement that also encompasses the Pickle’s “Guesses” portion of the program, in which he bragged about his “Big Dill Energy,” and appeared to make host Nick Cannon seem genuinely uncomfortable with a slap on the ass. Alas, none of the judges’ guesses (which included Craig Kilborn, Howard Stern, and Dax Shepherd) were even remotely right, because apparently nobody heard that thick New York accent and thought “Michael Rappaport.”
But Rappaport it was, with the Atypical star ultimately revealed after failing to beat The S’More in an all-out Fall Out Boy showdown. (At least, we can’t help but think as the strains of “Beverly Hills” echo endlessly in our ears, it was better than last week’s big, exciting Tom Sandoval reveal.) Meanwhile, other performances tonight included an appearance from The Cow (singing “Cry Me A River” by Justin Timberlake), and the Gazelle, who performed a version of “Lucky” by Britney Spears, and who will now be eligible for a run at next week’s “A Celebration Of Elton John.”