Strike Force Five Rides Again!

During the Writers Guild strike, the five hosts of nighttime talk shows – Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver – teamed up to do a weekly podcast that they called Strike Force Five.  The point was to raise money for their staffs, which they did through donations, selling merchandise and having a couple sponsors (including Ryan Reynolds who does truly funny ads on the podcasts for his companies Mint Mobile and Aviator Gin). 
 
They did 12 episodes in all.  I caught up with the podcast well after the fact, and (for my taste) found them exceedingly funny – and even very interesting at times – in fact, often hilarious.  What stands out from the podcasts is how much the hosts seem to truly like and respect one another – though being comedians have no trouble ridiculing the others, at times mercilessly, including relentlessly bringing up past derision from previous weeks, not letting foolish misdeeds be forgotten.
 
I won’t link to them all, but do want to single out several which I thought especially leaped out.  And will post here over the coming weeks.
 
This first is from Episode 5 which Jimmy Fallon hosted.  (Hosting duties alternated from week to week.)  Every episode’s host got to pick the themes to talk about, and for Fallon’s week here, he decided to make it a sort of Newlywed Game.  During the preceding week, he texted the other hosts’ wives and asked them questions which he would then, in turn, ask the hosts to try and match.  All I’ll say is that it goes hilariously bad, and the others are utterly cutthroat in their treatment of Fallon.  So pitiless that they continue to bring it up – at length – on later shows.  He takes it all in good-natured stride, though that doesn’t bring any comfort or let-up from the others.
 
Let’s put it this way -- on the Strike Force Five website, they describe the episode this way:  “Episode five is about our wives. Jimmy Fallon hosts the WORST GAME SHOW EVER in our favorite episode so far.” 
 
One last thing I’ll mention.  For the first podcast, Jimmy Kimmel found an explosion sound that he would play every time the show’s name, “Strike Force Five” (booooooom!!!) got mentioned.  He continued this for several shows until some of the others complained.  This became a running debate – some listeners loved it, some didn’t, and the hosts themselves were a little divided between absolutely hating it or wanting it in moderation.  Moderation tended to win out, but the debate continued.  I don’t recall if they discuss it much in this particular episode, but you’ll definitely hear the explosion, and that’s what it’s about.
 
I can’t embed the podcast – it was done for Spotify – but here’s a link to the episode on the Strike Force Five website. 

​Sorry, I mean on the Strike Force Five  (booooooom!!!) website.