David Cross thrills fans, confuses old lady at live ‘What’s My Line?’ show
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- April
- 22
While seeing my friend Patti serve as hostess of a weekly live staging of the classic game show “What’s My Line?” at the Barrow Street Theatre, I wondered who would be the week’s celebrity mystery guest. I was hoping for someone of equal or greater caliber of LeVar Burton, who was a previous mystery guest for the staging.
After the first three panelists—a singer/songwriter for “Sesame Street” (Chris Cerf, son of frequent “WML” panelist Bennett Cerf, responsible for the star-studded “Put Down The Duckie”!); a Good Humor Lady who also appeared as a guest on the original “WML”; and a trombonist for the New York Philharmonic—I anxiously awaited the evening’s mystery guest.
Before David Cross could even fully emerge—I think only his goatee had made it past the curtain—I tossed my fists in the year and howled. About half the crowd, which skewed older perhaps because they are nostalgic for the original game show, seemed confused about why some of the crowd was going bonkers.
While pinching his throat, Cross answered the blindfolded panelists’ questions using the voice of Maple Syrup, the Jheri-curled soul singer he played on “Mr. Show.”
One of the funniest moments of the night was when the panelists correctly determined that the sitcom he’s best known for is “Arrested Development” and deduced in a conference that he was either “Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor or Will Arnett.” Cross threw his head back with laughter. The panelists came close, but couldn’t determine who it was after 10 questions were answered in the negative.
Cross said he had to postpone the “What’s My Line?” appearance twice because his “girlfriend was having an abortion,” which made the miffed old woman to my right ask me “Is this the kind of humor they had on his show?”
Read more about Cross’ appearance—including what he revealed about his new HBO pilot and the “Arrested Development” awkwardness of staging a scene with James Lipton (whom he’d mocked tirelessly)—on my personal blog, Varsity Basketweaving.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 1:35 pm by Chris Serico.
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