Two Legends Unmasked, Tribute to Leslie Jordan

Filmed before his tragic death last month, the “Call Me Kat” star made his final visit to TV’s wackiest show, which bookended his appearance with touching tributes to his comedic impact and larger-than-life heart.

He was joined by fellow guest panelist Joel McHale, because Ken Jeong was unavailable. Poor Ken missed out on a doozy, too, as the theme was Hall of Fame Night and “TMS” delivered with some of the biggest stars on the planet.

With this new (stupid) format of only one Mask advancing each week, we got to see the secret identities of two of those legends. Interestingly, they share the same first name, but almost nothing else about them or their careers is the same at all.

Let’s just say, though, that called them both the G.O.A.T.s (Greatest of All Time) in their respective fields is definitely appropriate. We wondered if this one-and-done format would bring out bigger stars, and it’s been hit-or-miss so far this season. This week, though, the stars were huge!

Let’s jump right in with this week’s masks. And don’t worry, before we get to the shocking unmasking, we’re going to make you power through the terrible (and occasionally good) guesses made by our illustrious panel of Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Joel McHale, Leslie Jordan and Nicole Scherzinger first. We do this because we love … to torture you.

Along with the panel’s guesses, we’ll be sharing some internet speculation, too, so if you don’t want to be potentially spoiled (because they are very good at this), you may want to skip past the guesses sections.

(“Fame,” Irene Cara) Nicole Scherzinger is certainly enjoying the opportunity to show off her own pipes this season with various openings, as she went all out for this opening sequence, even falling into the arms of some of the dancers and singing as they carried her around. The rest of the star just came down, including Robin Thicke — does no one remember that he sings, too?

(“Shut Up and Dance,” Walk the Moon) The Bride has a lot of grit in his voice, but not a great grasp on melody. His stage presence doesn’t offer much more. It was an interesting performance, but not one we’d classify as particularly strong by any measure. He seems to have a lot of fun personality, though.

Guesses: After that performance, we’re thinking the clue package might be suggesting more of a comedian than a musician — as the lack of timing and rhythm even has us wary to think this is a non-singing musician. His clue package talked about selling out arenas, but also suggested messiness.

He talked about having a rugged personality and getting into a lot of messy feuds, though he also suggested he’s been known for telling “feel-good stories.” Did his persona change, or is he different when he’s “on” than in his private life?

Visual clues included a rose, a globe with a crown on it, what looked like a wooden wreath and was that a wrestling-style belt buckle with musical notes on it? He also spoke with a British accent, but it could easily have been put on as it was pretty dramatic at times. The phrase “smashed a rock” was also featured.

The on-stage clue came “straight from his field,” suggesting it’s another clue as to his identity, was an actual goat named Hawkeye. The medal says, “action hero,” suggesting that maybe there are ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Nicole thought the rock-and-roll pin and snake pin could suggest this is David Coverdale from Whitesnake, but surely he can still sing better than whatever that was? Robin, though, wondered if maybe it was Carrot Top, which left Jenny telling him he didn’t have to offer up Ken guesses in his absence.

Some of those on Twitter were feeling pretty confident they knew who The Bride was, with a few guesses for Rodman, but most people leaning toward former WWE Superstar and current AEW wrestler Chris Jericho.

(“It’s Your Thing,” The Isley Brothers) Gopher offered up limited mobility and vocal range, suggesting he’s an older celebrity who’s well past his prime. He could definitely hold a tune and was clearly having some fun up there, but this was not a dynamo performance by any stretch of the imagination. It felt and sounded a little sleepy.

Guesses: With one clue suggesting he’s an “expert in British politics,” Gopher said that his “space ship” was in the greatest hall of fame of them all, the Smithsonian. He used space ship as reference to him being an “intergalactic space cowboy” with an “out of this world imagination.”

He said that the latter helped him to start a movement, blazing new trails down lots of old town roads. He referred to himself as a party-rocking doctor, saying that even dogs wanted to be party of his legacy. At this, he mentioned Cesar Milan while showing a corgi in a constellation.

Another visual clue was a small gramophone, which does look a lot like a Grammy. He didn’t necessarily sing great right now, but that’s not to say he couldn’t back in his day. Or maybe he was a world-class, legendary instrumentalist. Hell, maybe he still is?

Confirming our theory that he’s an older gent, Gopher was given a stool to sit on while a woman named Crystal brought out his medal reading simply, “LOL.” “I guess I’ve been known to be funny,” Gopher said. “You’ve danced to some of my jokes.”

The audience wasn’t feeling Jenny’s terrible Martin Lawrence guess, while Leslie Jordan just started throwing out names for fun: Flava Flav, Lil Nas X. Then, Joel decided he knew exactly who this is, landing on legendary comic George Wallace.

Robin, meanwhile, wondered if maybe Sly Stone was making a rare appearance, or perhaps George Clinton. That last guess even got Nick invested, though he joked it didn’t smell funky enough. Is the mask holding it in?

The internet was kind of digging the idea that it could be Clinton or Wallace, but also threw around names like Ron White, Lewis Black

(“Get Ready,” The Temptations) Venus Flytrap has a smooth timbre to his voice. It didn’t have much dynamism to it and he offered up a very understated performance lacking in any energy or enthusiasm, but with a tone that was pleasant and on-key. So he can hold a tune, but we’d argue he’s never really performed as a singer.

Guesses: Venus Flytrap loves his name, and he’s been a hall of famer twice in his life. Calling himself the “king of reinvention,” he said he first achieved the honor in his 20s, and then repeated in his 40s. Then, a decade later, he had his “greatest hit.” This came with a picture of a Weekly TV magazine, suggesting he either became a sports commentator or found a new career on TV.

He said that he went down as the “best in history” for at least one of those hall of fame achievements — or maybe it’s the same achievement happening twice in one career? A visual clue came in the form of a horseshoe, as he claimed that “every one of you” has had a piece of him in their home at one point.

His on-stage clue was 100 million, to which he replied, “Always believe in yourself. I did. I took the punches, I took the blows, and look at me now.” Leslie didn’t get much love out of his Mike Tyson guess, while Venus laughed at Jenny’s Bo Jackson guess.

He started laughing again when Jenny threw out Charles Barkley, but Robin said they were all wrong and confidently threw out George Foreman, who had boxing hits in his 20s and 40s and then blew up even bigger with his grill a decade later, which everyone had at one point. Did he sell 100 million of those?

The internet was feeling Robin’s guess, but not with an overwhelming groundswell of support. We saw other names tossed around like Tyson, Booker T and even Michael Jordan.

An interesting night on “The Masked Singer” because honestly, nobody was all that great and we hope none of these three wind up in the semi-finals with Harp and Lambs. But, for what it was, the one that struggled the most was The Bride, who couldn’t carry a tune or melody.

The audience switched things up on us, though, and actually booted out the act we’d have probably had win the whole thing. With Venus Flytrap unmasking first, does that mean Gopher could become this week’s King, or will it go completely backwards and land on The Bride?

• Robin Thicke: George Foreman
• Jenny McCarthy: Bo Jackson
• Joel McHale: Mickey Rourke (again)
• Leslie Jordan: Mike Tyson
• Nicole Scherzinger: Charles Barkley

The best guess of all was George Foreman, so we were a little surprised when none of the other panelists switched it up and changed their guesses after hearing Robin throw that out earlier. In fact, this new one-and-done format means we rarely get changes from first guess to final guess, making this segment somewhat anticlimactic.

All props to Robin, once he laid out all the logic behind his guess, it could only be the one and only legendary George Foreman under that incredible costume. When asked why he did this show, George replied, “It’s the greatest show on earth.”

When George said he needed to go into the recording industry, Nick told Robin to write him a hit record. Robin’s reply? “I need one myself!” But, he said, once he could do that again he’d be sure to hook George up.

(“All Star,” Smash Mouth) In keeping with the spirit of the Hall of Fame theme, Gopher and The Bride were accompanied by Sheila E. on drums, as if there wasn’t pressure enough on these two non-singers. Gopher started sounding a little like Lewis Black as he attacked these lyrics with a respectable cadence and rhythm. The track suited his laid back performance style — at least until the chorus upped the energy, and he didn’t bother. The Bride suddenly sounded like a whole different performer on this one, nailing the rhythm and hitting the notes. When he dropped all that gravel, he was actually able to hit the notes. He did, though, bring out the wail for the big final moment.

It’s always fun when a Battle Royale makes you change up your perspective on things. After this one, we definitely had a new respect for The Bride. He brought a whole different level of energy and range to this performance, showing another side to his abilities as an entertainer. For that, we’d give him the edge and see what he can do next week.

It looks like he won the audience over, if he didn’t already have them, as The Bride picked up the first crown of this round, becoming the King (for now). That meant it was the end of the road for the “OG” underneath the Gopher mask.

• Robin Thicke: George Clinton
• Jenny McCarthy: Bootsy Collins
• Joel McHale: George Wallace
• Leslie Jordan: Flava Flav
• Nicole Scherzinger: George Clinton

Nicole added the “atomic dog” to that corgi in the stars with the samples and the legendary career to land on George Clinton right alongside Robin, who could well go two for two on the night, as that’s a rock solid guess — and way stronger than Bootsy Collins or Flava Flav.

Robin and Jenny — and Sheila E. on the sidelines — were right in that this was indeed the legendary founder of Parliament-Funkadelic, the Prime Minister of Funk himself, George Clinton. They really did get some huge, huge stars to agree to be on the show this week.

George said that seeing T-Pain, Gladys Knight, Dion Warwick having so much fun being part of the show

“The Masked Singer” celebrates a Comedy Roast Special next Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.