The Soup

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For the Seinfeld episode, see The Soup (Seinfeld episode)
The Soup
Image:The Soup.jpg
The 'set' of The Soup with Joel McHale. This set was used until January 2007.
Genre Comedy
Creator(s) E!
Starring Joel McHale
Lou the Chihuahua
"Mankini"
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 112
Production
Running time 22 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel E!
Original run July 1, 2004 –
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Soup is an E! Entertainment Television series. This is a revamped version of Talk Soup that focuses on recaps of various pop culture and reality show moments of the week with host and co-writer Joel McHale providing sarcastic and biting commentary on the various clips.

Contents

[edit] Format

The program was originally The What The? Awards prior to the name change, but was quickly reformatted, renamed and refocused (after four episodes) after receiving low ratings and unflattering comparisons to VH1's competing Best Week Ever.[1][2][3][4][5]

The shows have some similarities, but The Soup has managed to create its own unique niche with the one-host format and use of skits to skewer pop culture, along with the ability of the show to make fun of shows on its own network such as The Girls Next Door, Gastineau Girls, Paradise City and Taradise, while promoting them at the same time. One of Joel's favorite quotes is, "It's not A&E. It's just E!"

The show also uses frequent ad-libbing. Several times, McHale admits they doctored or edited a clip, saying the confession is "so we don't get sued."

[edit] Setting

Lou auditions for American Idol.
Lou auditions for American Idol.

The studio audience consists of a small group of E! employees, and family/friends thereof, along with the typical production personnel. The clips are introduced by McHale on a green screen set with a 'plasma screen' and 'window' overlooking Hollywood, but the crew will often laugh along at the clips and McHale's comments and cheer whenever a favorite segment/clip is shown. Also joining Joel occasionally is executive producer Edward Boyd's chihuahua named Lou, used in skits and to add a cute touch to the show, and to also make fun of Paris Hilton's lazy petkeeping habits. As another connection to the show's past, former Talk Soup stage manager and comic foil Tom McNamara also works on The Soup in the same two roles. A female and male staff announcer also have occasional on-camera roles beyond their voiceover work for the show. The show contains other regular "characters", such as a man in a "mankini" (male bikini), a running prostitute (used usually when Donald Trump driving is involved), a "dancing maxi pad" (inspired from a segment on The View involving dancing boxes of Kleenex) and Ripsi (actually, a Ripsi impersonator) from The Bad Girls Club. Occasionally, some of the "rehearsed" bits seem to go wrong; causing a moment of akwardness followed by a sarcastic comment by Joel; the audience laughs even more, thus making the failed bit even funnier than planned; as if no one cared the bit went wrong.

When the show premiered its fourth season on January 12, 2007, The Soup had a new background.

[edit] Regular features

  • A satirical look at Hollywood and celebrity news from the past week starts out the show, with commentary by McHale and jokes involving the subjects of the news. McHale ends the segment by yelling out "You're in 'The Soup' now!"

[edit] Chat Stew

  • "Chat Stew" shows clips from various talk shows with equal comments, usually with a joke involving how self-obsessed Tyra Banks is about herself on America's Next Top Model and her self-titled talk show, and something about Dr. Phil. The segment's name is a play off of the show's inspiration, Talk Soup, and is introduced with a CGI Crock Pot filled with talk show logos and host heads, while a woman voices about the "stew" being "so meaty!" McHale has voiced his embarrassment over the intro several times. Also regular fodder for the segment are Oprah, and The View.

[edit] Cybersmack

  • "Cybersmack" shows strange things and viral clips from the Internet (a response to VH1's Web Junk 20), such as David Hasselhoff music videos. In 2006, E! partnered with YouTube and created the first "Cybersmack" contest. The top ten videos were selected from user submissions to compete for a $25,000 prize. The winning video was Normal Town[6] by Ben Pluimer.

[edit] The Hollywood Access Extra Insider Entertainment Report

  • The "Hollywood Access Extra Insider Entertainment Report" reviews the week in infotainment shows such as Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, Extra and The Insider, with Insider host Pat O'Brien usually the target of many jokes. The intro to the segment is a mash of all the logos of the shows listed in the title. Eventually, McHale started lackadaisically saying the names and often replacing some of the title with his own writing, such as calling it "'Extra Access Report' La-De-Dah Gaylord Perry On The Mound For The Mariners." But, as of September 8, 2006, instead of McHale saying the names and replacing it with his own writing, a female voice has (poorly) sung the title for the segment. McHale once wondered if the producers had hired a banshee, but admitted in a later show that they squeezed a cat for the theme.

[edit] Cruise Watch

  • Tom Cruise has had fun poked at him regularly since the summer of 2005 with "Cruise Watch" looking at some of his antics on talk shows and interviews. The introduction shows Cruise on various shows, ending with him at the 2005 BET Awards show calling out "Much love!" On the November 17 2006 episode, The Soup debuted "version 2.0" with a new intro of images on a golden background, ending with Cruise yelling to a crowd "See you in Harlem!"

[edit] Celebrity Hook-Up Name Generator

[edit] Chicks, Man

  • "Chicks, Man" focuses on female celebrity news, with the segment's logo being a photo of baby chicks, followed by recording of one of the writers saying "Chicks, Man!" in a laid-back voice. A recent off-shoot is "'Oprah, Girlfriend," which looks at Oprah Winfrey with McHale again announcing the title. A clip of Ryan Seacrest from the 103rd episode was used for a short time, with him saying "Chicks, Man!" in a laid-back fashion. As with most of the new intros, McHale did not like his E! stablemate introducing the segment. The original introduction is now being used again.

[edit] Big-Time Celebrity Guest Star!

  • One of the most recent segments incorporated is having a "Big Time Celebrity Guest Star!" appear on the show, usually minor ones such as one of the stars of Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. The appearances usually involve the stars mocking themselves.

[edit] Reality Show Clip Time!

  • At the mid-point, the show will feature "Reality Show Clip Time!" where McHale would yell "It's Reality Show Clip time!" and the audience would cheer. It features clips from various reality shows are played with McHale adding comedic comments. At one point in the above, a clip will usually run from Iron Chef America where the secret ingredient is shown, the crew cheering at the way it's announced in a loud manner.

[edit] Let's Take Some E!

  • "Let's Take Some E!" is an offshoot of 'Reality Show Clip Time' focusing on E! shows such as The Simple Life and The Girls Next Door, while "grudgingly fulfilling my contractual obligation to promote these shows", as McHale has pointed out. The animation and McHale's comments about the opening sequence are based on the drug Ecstasy and rave culture.

[edit] Local Newsbreak

  • "Local Newsbreak", a relatively new feature, is basically explained in the title; this segment features clips from local news shows stationed in Los Angeles, California (such as KABC-TV), where the show is filmed.[7]

[edit] Souper Fantastic Ultra Wish Time!

  • "Souper Fantastic Ultra Wish Time" features wild clips from Japanese television. The introduction has an anime-style image of McHale. So far, there have been four or so showings of this segment, the first having a clip from a Japanese game show where the contestant had to look really close to a butt, (The start of the clip saw the butt censored out, but the next near showing, they censored it with a Soup logo) the second showed a clip which McHale describes as "How to stay safe and keep fit at the same time", ending with three women (on the set) saying in rhythm to the song (was repeated three times):
“ "What the hell was that?" ”

The third showed a "tweaked version" of last week's clip, and a later airing (on September 10, 2006) involved two clips; a candy bar commercial starring a scantily-clad, well-endowed Japanese woman, and a talk show 'hosted' by a monkey.

[edit] Tales from Home Shopping

  • "Tales from Home Shopping", a segment where something non-sensical from QVC or HSN is shown and commented on by McHale, mostly involving Suzanne Somers' various statements on HSN.

[edit] Most Disturbing Video of the Week

  • "Most Disturbing Video of the Week," which is what The Soup staff consider to be the oddest clip that's been shown on television for the past week.

[edit] What the Kids are Watching

  • "What the Kids are Watching" showcases disturbing clips from children's shows, particularly 4Kids TV's Bratz and series based on the doll line and Gina D's Kids Club, as well as commercials aimed at kids. The sequence introducing the segment with a screaming claymation child was called even more disturbing by McHale than the "Chat Stew" intro. The segment sometimes includes daytime talk-show clips the producers feel would be disturbing for children to have seen while "surfing channels" in the afternoon.

[edit] What the Old People are Watching

[edit] What Your Boyfriend is Looking At

  • The most recent feature to be featured on The Soup, this segment showcases clips from shows that young males will be interested in. The intro uses clips from Halo 2, Girls Gone Wild, the newer version of Battlestar Galactica, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team, then a football kickoff, ending with a woman saying, "Are you even listening to me?!" In one episode it is said that you can have sex in God of War 2 and you can do that part over and over.

[edit] Ad Nauseum

[edit] The Clip of the Week

  • "The Clip of the Week", which is what the Soup staff consider to be the best, or worst depending on the viewer's opinion, clip that's been shown on TV that past week. A video with Lou being "neutered" ("clipped") by Joel in full surgical gear introduces the segment.
  • While most clips are generally considered funny, on the February 9, 2007 episode, instead of showing normal clip, a short interview by E! of Anna Nicole Smith (who had died the day before) was shown. The interview featured her after a long period of being the butt of jokes, she had lost weight and become a spokeswoman for TrimSpa.

[edit] Fake polls and commercials

  • Fake polls are flashed after the end of commercial breaks, with sensical answers to start out with and a satirical majority or minority factoid at the end of the segment.
  • During the commercial breaks, fake commercials are shown, such as the track listing from Kevin Federline's upcoming rap album, featuring phony track titles such as "Pope John Pao" and "Ppp Ppp Ppp."

[edit] One-shot Features

  • Sometimes, the show will introduce a "new feature" that will only appear once on the show and never be heard from again. A couple of examples are "Milk Milk Lemonade", a collection of clips featuring thinly-veiled innuendos, and "Oh, Dear!", where an off-screen female voice saying that will be heard after Joel describes a particularly embarrassing celebrity moment (such as British musician George Michael leaving a sexual escapade in a bush with an elderly gentleman).

[edit] Sanjaya Malakar|Sanjaya Head

[edit] Regular features and gags

[edit] Seattle references

  • Affectionate mentions of Seattle by McHale are sometimes made (including a "Go Seahawks!" shout-out during their Super Bowl run, and a mention that he subscribes to the King County Review of Books), as Seattle is his hometown, and where he started out his comedy career as a cast member on KING-TV's local comedy show, Almost Live! Also when talking about American Idol in Seattle and saying that of course it would be bad, McHale said "okay what chain smoking writer wrote that?"

[edit] Kong Monkeys

  • One regular gag was the Kong Monkeys, which were usually dressed in costumes from recent movies, more recently they included Brokeback Mountain and Memoirs of a Geisha. These films were called Brokeback Kong and Memoirs of a Geisha Kong, in a "cross-promotion" with King Kong. When Brokeback Mountain lost the Academy Award for Best Picture to Crash, McHale announced an official end to all Brokeback jokes and retired the monkey via gunshot. However later, in a Beauty and the Geek clip, two of the "geeks" were washing each other. McHale said, in response, "Must resist Brokeback Mountain joke...can't...I wish I knew how to scrub you."

[edit] Ryan Seacrest

  • Since early 2006, McHale has made fun of Ryan Seacrest being hired on E!. McHale will regularly show clips of Seacrest's E! appearances, making fun of his comments and wardrobe. One clip showed McHale and Seacrest together at the 2006 Emmy Awards, Seacrest visibly stepping on a platform to get on equal footing with McHale. "Here's the scary part," McHale commented. "I'm five foot-three." (in reality, McHale is 6"3'[8]). In recent episodes, Ryan has introduced the "Chicks, man" segment as a video clip on the set of E! News.

[edit] Little Gay

  • Starting in September 2006, if Joel said "that's a little gay" following a clip being played, one of the people in the "audience" would act offended, so McHale would then respond with "Oh, no, I was talking about THIS guy!" He would hold out his palm and a small man would appear and act in a stereotypical way. Normally after disappearing, he leaves something gay-related on Joel's hand (such as a Scissor Sisters CD) and Judy Garland. Also introduced in 2007 was his Spanish counterpart, "Un Pequeño Gay", shown to comment on a clip from telenovela Así Es La Vida.

[edit] Sanjaya

  • Since the 3/23 episode of The Soup with the House of Sanjaya sketch, a graphic consisting of Sanjaya Malakar's head sweeping across the screen accompanied by a whispered "Sanjaya" has been used as a transition between clips, particularly during updates on American Idol.

[edit] Hamwinkies

  • A fictional product called Hamwinkies, which consists of a Twinkie stuffed with a slice of smoked ham, covered with chocolate, and then deep fried, has made appearances on the show. The box art for the product is modified from the Twinkies packaging, with the name Mostess replacing Hostess, and a contented cartoon pig resting atop of a chocolate-covered Hamwinkie. An 'ad' for the product (which had the highest production values in the show's history, according to Joel) noted that this unique treat was "Britney-approved!" and Joel has eaten Hamwinkies on camera several times. Hamwinkies recently returned when a pretend children's performer made them and shoved them in McHale's face, in a ripoff of that night's "What the Kids are Watching" character, a cook talking about "Happy Face" cookies. In actuality, the performer was a man in drag who revealed that he used to be on Talk Soup.

[edit] "Kiss my ass!" Clip

“ I've been to jail before, and that's American! ”

which leads to the clip, which shows Whitney's reply of

“ Kiss my ass! ”

The clip popped up in nearly every episode for the rest of 2005, always to a loud ovation, with McHale at one point calling it "the 'Hey Jude' of clips." On the special year-end Clipdown '05, it was named the number one clip of 2005. At the end of that clip, Elmo is seen saying,

“ Elmo says (voice changes to Whitney's) kiss my ass! ”

After a long absence, the clip was used in August 2006 to mark Houston's 43rd birthday and on a later broadcast discussing the rumor that Osama bin Laden wanted to make Houston one of his wives. The clip was also recently used as part of a montage of favorite Whitney and Bobby moments, (With only one other clip being used) following the announcement that Whitney had filed for divorce. The clip has also been used when covering the Michael Richards racial outburst, when Joel said

“ When asked for comment, they (black people) had this to say. ”

following with the clip. It was used on February 2, as a response to the Tyra Banks "Kiss my fat ass!" clip.

[edit] Sci-Fi Channel

  • The show frequently discusses Sci-Fi Channel's original movies with McHale mocking the cheap special effects and bad acting involved.

[edit] Spanish language television

  • At one point in the 2005 season, clips and re-enactments of scenes from popular Mexican telenovela La madrastra were featured weekly. In 2006, this was re-introduced with Peregrina taking the place of La Madrastra, mainly because the latter had finished its run. With Peregrina's recent demise, The Soup has shifted its gaze to what McHale calls "the most evil practical-joke show in the world": Infarto. Also, a new telenovela (Mi Vida Eres Tú) has had a scene featured as a Clip of the Week, namely a poorly-done special effects scene involving a teddy bear with a bomb in it.

[edit] Muppets

“ George Bush doesn't care about Muppets! ”

This treatment was also given to Kermit the Frog when he guest-hosted Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, where the dubbed Muppet insinuated that Ty Pennington was eaten by Miss Piggy, that he was eyeing up a high school's female basketball team sexually saying "I get older, they stay the same age" (a quote referenced from the movie Dazed and Confused originally spoken by Matthew McConaughey), and was about to commit contractor fraud by moving money in the show's construction budget elsewhere so he could "clear a nice fifty large! (the equivalent of $50,000)".

[edit] Iron Chef America

  • McHale makes references to the Food Network's show Iron Chef America. McHale plays upon the over-exaggerated introduction of the secret ingredient at the beginning of each episode. Coincidentally, McHale was a recent guest judge on the actual show.

[edit] The "Indestructible" Cheerleader

  • After being infatuated with Claire Bennet from Heroes, Joel decides to hire an "indestructible cheerleader" of their own and harm her with various weapons. She is, in fact, a cheerleader, but unfortunately, this one isn't indestructible (her first appearance involved her getting "cut" with a chainsaw, albeit with her being offscreen, and her second saw her having one arm missing). Each time, she has protested
“ Joel, I'm telling you, I'm not indestructible! But I am a cheerleader! ”

In another episode McHale let a rabid Lou attack her. On the special "Soup Awards '06", McHale gave a special award to the girl, who was in a wheelchair. He then said the award was radioactive, stuffed E. Coli laced spinach in her mouth, pushed the chair away and fired a gun at her head off-screen.In another episode before the Super Bowl they brought her mother who can light things on fire. Mchale was about to torch the cheerleader when a referee came out. Mchale asked 'is it time for halftime'? then the ref replied it's reality show clip time and shot the cheerleader.

[edit] Katie Holmes

  • Another running gag is from a two-second clip of Katie Holmes saying "Sure!" in a close-up (used to mock her indoctrination into Scientology with the monotonic sound of her voice), with McHale asking her questions that make no sense in contrast to the original interview, or are contrary to her relationship with Tom Cruise. For example in answer to the allegations Cruise bought a sonogram machine to monitor his unborn child, McHale 'asks' if she doesn't mind the child being exposed to radiation. The answer to every question asked is always "Sure!"

[edit] Heather Mills' publicist (PT Cruiser Incident)

  • One of the few clips who became a running gag is from a clip of Paul McCartney's former wife, Heather Mills' publicist deflecting claims that she was a golddigger. The highlight of the clip is when the heavily accented publicist claims she has an allowance and drives a "PT Cwoozuh", and not a luxury car as most celebrity wives would drive. McHale would use it when stories of the couple's divorce would appear, or in random spots.
  • On one incident, a fast-paced mashup of the publicist and Barbara Walters was shown briefly at the start of one episode. Barbara was describing Star Jones' leave from The View, saying "She gave us no warning." The clips got faster and faster until reaching its peak refrain of "Warning cruiser. Warning cruiser. Warning cruiser." McHale stopped the clip and, referencing the accents yelled, "Can we PLEASE work on our 'Rs'?! You're in the 'Soup' now!"
  • On the Clipdown 06' show, when Joel was finished placing the clip on the countdown, the woman from the actual clip (Michele Elyzabeth) came on the show and presented a bottle of champagne to Joel, but also throwing a glass of it in his face.

[edit] Hypno-Harry

  • A puppet named Hypno Harry, a recurring character, was introduced in a "What the Kids Are Watching" segment, where the controversial new DVD-only spin-off of Sesame Street, Sesame Beginnings was mocked for targeting merchandise to preschool children. In one (partially edited) clip of the DVD, Hypno Harry tried to hypnotize children into buying nothing but Sesame Street products, convincing them their parents do not love them when they [the parents] said no, then said not to watch Bratz because "they are whores." Later, he tried to convince McHale and the audience that Taradise was an Emmy-worthy program and to "watch The Daily 10, it's informative!" and in a subsequent episode was Denise Richards' divorce attorney, trying to hypnotize the public into not believing Charlie Sheen.

[edit] Edited clips

  • Occasionally, whenever The Soup plays a clip from a show that contains easily-disliked characters, they edit the clip so that the characters "die" in some way (although the fact that they're edited is usually noticeable). Examples include two characters from Laguna Beach's second season finale being ran over by a bus, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's Ty Pennington being flattened by a partially raised house that he's underneath, and Lauren Conrad's apartment from The Hills being hit with a cruise missile. These aren't the only times when obviously edited clips are featured on the show; sometimes, Joel and/or another cast member will make an "appearance" in other shows thanks to this technique.

[edit] Entertainment Tonight's birthday segment

  • Before the first commercial break, the show parodies Entertainment Tonight's birthday segment, along with the trivia segment of various shows which end with 'the answer after the break', with some nonsense question like
“ What famous musician auditioned for Wife Swap three times before learning what the show is really about? ”

that mocks a current celebrity, usually Paris Hilton, and an odd silhouette to disguise the celebrity's identity. The question is never answered after the break. On one occasion, an answer to the previous week's question was shown, which read:

“ 9 shots of tequila, a kinkajou, and you thought she was Mary-Kate Olsen. ”

It has also parodied ET's birthday segment, only instead of a real celebrity, it's usually an obscure extra from a forgettable movie. For example:

“ Celebrating a birthday today, 'Girl On Bus' from Police Academy 4 is 37. ”

But, recently it has parodied real celebrities' birthdays, with a female voice (similar to the one who did the original ET birthday segment parodies) announcing the name of the celebrity whose birthday is on that day or in that week and stating his/her age and also saying some sly comment about his/her age or his/her personality like for example:

“ Kim Cattrall turns 50 today. So, no more old sex jokes, okay! ”

On whitney Houston's birthday the announcer said whitney is 40 then the kiss my ass clip appeared and the announcer said Whitney you don't look a day over 50. Sometimes the format take an odd twist, like on February 2, 2007:

“ Celebrating a birthday this week, Oprah turns 53. Also celebrating a birthday: (voice turns deep) NO ONE! IT'S OPRAH'S WEEK, DAMMIT! ”

[edit] The Paris and Nicole Debt Reduction Drive

  • In December 2005, the show began the Paris and Nicole Debt Reduction Drive where, to offset the cost of having The Simple Life on E!, McHale would auction off actual interview clips from the E! archives on eBay; examples include a Pauly Shore interview from an early 1990s press junket, and a Full House interview with Jodie Sweetin (Bob Saget was thrown in as a 'bonus'). In the first new episode of 2006, McHale announced the drive was being ended (after taking in $396.50) so they could begin the Pass the Hat for Ryan Seacrest Fund, a similar auction to "balance the cost" of bringing Seacrest to E!

[edit] Tony Danza

  • During the latter half of 2005, the show would poke a lot of fun at Tony Danza and his poor talk show skills. Most notable was a segment entitled "Danzitions" where Danza's awkward topic transitions were highlighted. However, in March 2006, when it was announced Danza's show was going off the air, a suddenly contrite McHale (who admitted they needed something to make fun of) began the Save Danza from Cancellation Fund, where clips of Danza from the E! archives were put up on eBay. Danza was also in a joke about Armed and Famous. He was featured in the 'Armed and Famous in Iraq' in a tank with Danza saying "Sad news, I'm hit!" (The tank then explodes.)

[edit] Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

  • In reaction to the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the show made a spoof movie trailer using out of context quotes and clips to suggest a gay relationship between Ron and Harry. During the spoof, corny porno music is in the background, and when the title of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is said, there is extra emphasis on the word "fire". Two memorable quotes from the clip are "I don't give a damn what your father thinks" and "Look, I don't know what happened last night." Some Harry Potter fans disliked it, but many laughed along with the slash-like content of the modified trailer.

[edit] McHale mocking himself

To show how good a sport he is, McHale has not been above poking fun at his own appearances on TV, such as a guest spot on CSI: Miami, a judging chair on Iron Chef America or talk shows. During Star Jones' feud with The View, McHale was brought in for a TV show talking about it under the title "Star Wars" and thus came on camera dressed in a Darth Vader helmet ("Yes, my big chance at a television appearance and I resort to prop comedy."). Also, when Dateline did an interview with Madonna, they used a Soup clip as an example of how the media "vilified" Madonna for her adoption of an African child. McHale sarcastically thanked Dateline for "giving us more promotion than our own network." When making fun of the Fox news weatherman he said he's just a loser who makes a living in front of a green screen.Then the screen Mchale is standing in front of goes green.

[edit] Cha-ka

A recurring highlight of Cha-ka from Land of the Lost running and listed as starring in new and fictional movies and TV shows, such as Smokin' Aces.

[edit] The What The? Awards Recaps

  1. ^ The "What The?" Awards: Episode One
  2. ^ The "What The?" Awards: Episode Two
  3. ^ The "What The?" Awards: Episode Three
  4. ^ The "What The?" Awards: Episode Four
  5. ^ TWoP Forums _ Pop Culture Shows _ The Soup (aka E! What The ? Awards)
  6. ^ http://www.unaimless.com/normal.htm
  7. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421460/locations
  8. ^ http://imdb.com/name/nm0570364/bio

[edit] External links

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