‘Match Game’: Martin Short Leads All-Star Panel in Season Premiere
‘Match Game’: Martin Short Delivers The Jokes With Star-Studded Panel on Season Premiere of Revival
Disney/Jan Thijs
Match Game is back! Martin Short delivered the laughs on an all-new season after four years off the air. The Only Murders in the Building star replaced Alex Baldwin, who hosted the game show from 2016 to 2021.
In the premiere episode, six celebrities tried to match four contestants with the same answers for them to win $25,000. Those celebrities were Selena Gomez, Cara Delevigne, Kevin Nealon, Anthony Anderson, BD Wong, and Ziwe Fumudoh. Short has shared the screen with both Gomez and Delevigne in OMITB and Wong in Father of the Bride.
From the beginning, Short delivered the jokes, including riffing on himself for using Kris Jenner‘s plastic surgeon. “With us are the biggest stars in entertainment, and also, Anthony Anderson,” he joked.
Joy and Jordan, a drag queen from Montreal, Canada, were the contestants vying for money. Joy called Short a “cutie pie,” which made the host blush. Throughout the show, Short joked that he was “getting laid” when Joy kept delivering him compliments.
Short started off the game by cursing when he couldn’t get the card board to lower. “You son of a b***h. Look at that!” he said. He finally got it to go down, and Joy went first, picking the “A” envelope.
The first question was “Cara Delevigne is so ridiculously famous, and so are her eyebrows. They’re so famous, they’ve been seen walking the red carpet at ___.” Joy answered with “The Oscars.” She got two matches with Gomez and Nealon.
Jordan’s fill-in-the-blank question was “Chad said my safe word is ‘vanilla.’ The lady at the bank said, ‘Great. I’m happy for you, but all I need is your ___.” He answered with “ID.” Gomez and Nealon were matches again. Anderson also matched, giving Jordan three points.
During the second round, Short tried to press the button to open the board with the envelopes again, but he couldn’t. This time, he fell to the floor dramatically, which had everyone cracking up. Short finally got it after getting up off the floor.
Jordan’s second question was, “You always hear about people getting murdered on The White Lotus. That’s why I stay at the Jaleel White Lotus, where I get nerdy Urkel vibes and housekeeping always leaves ____ on your pillow.” His answer was glasses, which Short said was “Very clever.” He did not get any matches as they all said “chocolate.”
Joy’s next question was risque. “In throuple news, Adam and Eve are looking for a third. Applicants must be cool with nudity, heavy gardening, and blanks,” it read. Joy’s answer was snakes. Delevigne and Fumudoh were both matches, making Joy the winner with four.
For the Bonus Round, Joy had to fill-in-the-blank on “Just For ____.” She could pick three celebrities to help her with responses. Gomez picked “fun.” Nealson selected “laughs.” Fumudoh said “kicks.” Joy picked “laughs.” She won $2,000 since laughs was the third most popular answer. The other two answers were “You” and “fun.” She could multiply her total by five in a celebrity head-to-head match. She picked Gomez again. “Cat ___” was the blank. Joy said “Nip,” but Gomez said “Fish,” so she didn’t win $10,000.
The second game of the episode was played with the same celebrities, but different contestants. Kwame, an African market worker, and Missy, a preschool teacher and a senior citizen fitness instructor, were the two contestants.
This time around, Short had an easier time opening the board. Kwame went with B, which read, “Dr. Seuss wrote the children’s book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, but he also wrote a version for senior citizens titled, Oh, the Places You’ll ____.” Kwame’s answer was sleep. None of the celebrities matched him, with many of them writing “die.”
Missy’s question was “Sir Lancelot said, ‘I made the biggest mistake a knight could make, shopping a Temu. The last suit of armor I ordered was a knock-off of ____.” The contestant’s answer was “tinfoil.” Anderson and Wong both matched, giving Missy a score of two.
Short struggled once again with the envelopes, and this time the board went up as he fell to the floor, but he finally got it and was met with applause. “LGBTQ actor BD Wong was made an MD for the FBI on Law & Order: SVU. If he had anymore letters, we could call him a ___.” Missy’s answer was “doctor.” She did not get any matches, with two of the celebrities saying “alphabet.”
Kwame’s second fill-in-the-blank was “I once had a dentist named Ruth, always drunk on gin and vermouth. She revved up the drill, said, ‘Lie back and sit still.’ Then, board a hole in my ___, not my tooth.” As the celebrities took a while to give their answers, Short joked that they were “lost” and he believed that they didn’t think they were still playing the game. Kwame answered with “butt.” None of the celebrities matched him, so Missy won with two points.
For Super Match, Missy had to fill in the blank on “That’s So ____.” To help her, Nealon said “cool.” Anderson’s response was “Raven.” Wong picked “fly.” Missy picked “Raven.” She won $5,000 when her answer matched the top one. The other two were “fetch” and “funny.” For the head-to-head, Missy picked Anderson again.
The clue was “___ wash.” Missy won $25,000 after she said “car” and matched with the Black-ish star. Tune in next week to see six new stars help four contestants win money.
Match Game, Wednesdays, 9/8c, ABC (Streaming next day on Hulu)
Caitlin Cronenberg
