Spike's Lip Sync Battle has become one of the most entertaining shows on television. What started as a funny segment on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon has become a hit show on its own, and fans everywhere have John Krasinski to thank for all the epic musical celebrity face-offs. As it turns out, the idea came out of a pretty unusual brainstorming session with Krasinski, his wife Emily Blunt, and Stephen Merchant. Here's what Krasinski had to say about the origin of Lip Sync Battle:
I was about to go on Jimmy Fallon's show and he said, 'What do you want to do on the show?' And I said, 'What if we did this thing like '8 Mile,' but we lip-synced?' And Stephen Merchant was like, 'Let's give it a shot right here in the car!' So we all started battling in the car.
John Krasinski's reveal to Huffington Post that Lip Sync Battle had been born out of a car jam session with his wife and friend is a cute story, especially considering how huge a phenomenon the lip sync battles have become. I'm just glad Jimmy Fallon is so open to wild suggestions from his guests. Nobody could have known that they would get a hit show out of their segment.
John Krasinski and Jimmy Fallon faced off for the first "Lip Sync Battle" in 2013. The two men put on their game faces and battled with a variety of songs, including Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love to You," and "Melissa Manchester's "Don't Cry Out Loud." Their inaugural lip sync-off was such a success that Fallon turned the sketch into an ongoing segment. It was only a matter of time before the segment was spun off into a show of its own. That show became Lip Sync Battle on Spike, and YouTube has never been the same since.
Lip Sync Battle is produced for Spike by John Krasinski, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Merchant. The series has produced viral hits as celebrities do their best to outperform each other on stage, and it may actually be physically impossible to only watch one clip without going on a binge. The first two seasons have done well enough with viewers who tune in live instead of waiting for YouTube that a Season 3 was ordered while Season 2 was still underway.
Most of John Krasinski's contributions to Lip Sync Battle have come from behind the scenes, but he appeared in an early Season 1 episode to challenge Anna Kendrick to a battle. His rendition of NSync's "Bye Bye Bye" is actually one of my favorite lip sync battles of all time. He channeled his inner Justin Timberlake and recreated the classic boy band moves of the original 2000 music video. Check out Krasinski's Lip Sync Battle for yourself!
Check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see what you'll be able to catch on the small screen whenever you have to take a break from Lip Sync Battle.
