When rumors of a show spurred from the lip sync segment on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Falloncame out, we were a bit skeptical, to say the least. Spike TV, the network to host said show, has spit out some pretty outrageous programs on their line up, but a show about lip syncing? It’s fun to belt out your favorite jams on a long car ride, and karaoke is always great after you’ve had a few, but mouthing words to a song doesn’t seem that entertaining, if you think about it. Also, the big question on our mind was what talent would the show actually manage to get? Sure, Jimmy always had his guests do a killer routine (we’re looking at you, Emma Stone), but nailing down some A-list celebs for a weekly show seemed hard. We’re so, so happy that we couldn’t have been more wrong.
Lip Sync Battle, a Thursday night staple hosted by LL Cool J with the always entertaining Chrissy Teigen for commentary, is the surprise hit of the summer. Already renewed for a second season, the first episode alone was the highest-rated premiere in the network’s history, which says a lotttttt about a 30-minute program that has celebrities lip syncing on stage for fun. Regardless of the absurd content, fans love it, we love it, and it’s going to be a long wait before season 2 rears its head around spring next year.
In honor of tonight’s season finale, which has Empire stars Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson duking it out for the title, we’ve curated a list of our favorite moments with our favorite stars from the show’s first season (in no particular order).
Alison Brie’s ‘Shoop’
The Community star went up against her Lego Movie buddy in this episode, and she was ready to kill. Her first song, a rendition of Salt-N-Pepa’s ‘Shoop’, had her moving her hips in a way we never thought was possible. The petite brunette had a huge presence on that stage, and it allowed to her take home the belt at the end of the night, to no surprise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Liib3RvaQ
Anna Kendrick’s ‘Steal My Girl’
We know going into this episode that it was going to be the highlight of the season. Anna Kendrick has some real-time experience with stage presence thanks to her Pitch Perfect days, and she pulled out all the punches against opponent, and Lip Sync Battle exec producer, John Krasinski. Her rendition of the One Direction tune had us jamming along even if we didn’t want to, and things got even better when she turned up the dial and directed the song’s message at an unexpected suitor – John’s wife, Emily Blunt.
Emily Blunt’s ‘No Diggity’
Speaking of Emily Blunt, the multi-talented British goddess went up against her The Devil Wears Prada co-star, Anne Hathaway, early on this season. As the first pair of women to take the stage, we expected gauntlets to be thrown, and indeed they were. In the first round, Anne’s rendition of ‘Love’ was no match for Emily’s performance of the karaoke favorite, ‘No Diggity.’ She bumped, grinded, and got the crowd waving back and forth, before dropping the mic (literally) and bouncing back to her seat. Though she won the battle, she ultimately lost the war when Anne came swinging across the stage in round 2 during her extremely literal take on Miley’s ‘Wrecking Ball.’ Don’t worry, Emily, you’ll always be a winner to us.
Julianne Hough’s ‘I Just Had Sex’
The Hough siblings, famous for their dynamic choreography on Dancing with the Stars, battled it out to see who was the true triple threat in Hollywood. We weren’t expecting much from this episode, but things took a turn for the excellent, and slightly creepy, when Julianne decided to lip sync The Lonely Island hit, ‘I Just Had Sex.’ Thrusting and body rolling her way across the stage with two half-naked men, we knew that the belt was going home with her that night. The only thing better than the performance? The face of Julianne’s brother, Derek, as he watched in horror as his sister sang about getting penetrated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYetZzlVOLI
Abbi Jacobson’s ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’
The ladies of Broad City have introduced us to a new level of hilarity thanks to their hit Comedy Central show, and they brought it with them to their performances. Abbi shined just a little more than Ilana, thanks partially to her sparkly full-length dress, but more because of her outstanding performance from the musical Dreamgirls. She channeled her inner-Jennifer Hudson and blew the audience away, even receiving a standing O from her opponent. She might not have the pipes in real life to tackle a song of that caliber, but it was just as great in this capacity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kutJPDCsJRI
John Legend’s ‘Slow Motion’
One of our personal favorites, we knew this was going to be epic when the soulful R&B singer whipped out a pair of shiny, new grills to enhance his lip sync performance. While John Legend slapped invisible ass back and forth across the stage, we found great pleasure as his model girlfriend Chrissy Teigen gave him horrified glances from the high-rise podium. We never would’ve thought he had it in him, but clearly he was itching to get out from behind that piano and do something real dirty. Plus, you couldn’t go wrong listening to the post-battle banter about ‘outside dick’ with fellow artist Common.
Photos by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SpikeTV