Notably missing from the critiques this week? Any emotion resembling anger from RuPaul. She sees right through Willow Pill’s insecurities and has good performance notes for Jorgeous, and honestly, she is pretty funny in the Snatch Game! Maybe I need to go binge Liv and Maddie.

Honestly, the person able to give the most astute analysis this week is guest judge Dove Cameron. They know what they want (“Be funny”), but they have no way to express their notes in a way that’s helpful or actionable. Not helping matters is that there’s no duo on Earth worse at giving Snatch Game advice than RuPaul and Michelle Visage. As opposed to being asked questions that could be taken a million different directions (“What did you have for breakfast this morning?”), the new format gives enough specifics to narrow the options down to just a few (“Where would you, Lady Gaga, take Tommy Dorfman on a date?”).īut I can’t lay all the blame at the queens’ feet. Snatch Game of Love eliminates much of the guesswork involved in structuring a character by giving each contestant a fixed structure they must play into. Ironically, the frequently maligned Snatch Game of Love alleviates many of these issues. The takeaway? Comedy rules are made to be broken, but if you’re not willing to take that risk, they’re a great place to start. Think Alaska as Mae West, the queen of the double entendre, BenDeLaCreme as master of innuendo Paul Lynde, or Shea Couleé as the rambunctious catch-phrase-spewing Flavor Flav. Not a fan of painstakingly workshopping possible personas to make your impression pop? You can always take a page out of the really savvy RuGirl booklet and pick a celebrity who’s already done the legwork of finding a comedically viable persona for you. As did BenDeLaCreme with her time-traveling Maggie Smith. In season 12, Gigi Goode won as a self-aware, potty-mouthed version of Sophia the robot. In All Stars 5, Jujubee dominated with her Eartha Kitt by describing mundane activities (like turning up the thermostat) in the most sensual way possible. (We need only look as far as Katya’s off-the-wall Björk or Kandy Muse’s Patrick Starrr to see that sometimes unstructured absurdity works just fine.) But the most memorable ones often do. Of course, not all successful Snatch Games follow a set pattern or obey a strict set of rules. Deciding that Barrymore brings that same whimsy and unfaltering saccharinity to, say, her new gig as a boots-on-the-ground war correspondent abroad? Well, now we might have a joke. Mimicking the nonsensical platitudes and non sequiturs Drew Barrymore herself could conceivably say on her own talk show? A good place to start. But while there is some humor to be found in the accuracy of an imitation, the best comedy comes from elevating an impression to some ludicrously heightened context. Willow (another demonstrably funny queen) falls into an adjacent comedic trap by playing her Snatch Game too close to reality. Maybe this Paltrow is so out of touch she thinks she’s the first person to discover that cows can produce milk (“not just oats and almonds!”), so she starts selling 2 percent milk for $40 per ounce on Goop. Starting there gives us a little more to work with. It’s ridiculous and silly, to be sure, so why doesn’t it work? Well, the reason Goop’s $75 vagina candles are funny isn’t because a vagina-scented candle is “gross.” They’re funny because they’re the final evolution of the Gwyneth Paltrow persona: an exorbitantly wealthy, self-styled aesthete who erroneously believes herself to be on the cutting edge of all things health and beauty. Last year a vagina candle, this year a probiotic made from come.

In Bosco’s case, she decides the comedy comes from the products escalating in grossness. Sure, Bosco can (and must) use it as a baseline, but only as a tee-off for something more. But merely pointing out that fact is not in itself comedy. Along with the rest of the world, she correctly recognizes that Gwyneth Paltrow selling kooky products is comedic. It’s easy to recognize when something is funny. So let’s talk about what makes a good Snatch Game.

But to hear others recount it, Chad was just good at doing Cher’s voice. She poked fun at Cher’s absurd dedication to showmanship and drew our attention to how ridiculous it would be to watch Cher appear on a Logo reality show. When Chad Michaels won as Cher, she didn’t merely repeat Cher quotes or sing some known Cher songs. No matter how accurate, the imitation alone isn’t enough to stand out in a crowd of eight queens. While it’s presented as merely about giving your best celebrity impersonation, in reality, it’s so much more.

Drag race all stars snatch game