While the "art" of lip syncing doesn't necessarily tie into to any specific time of year, the producers behind Lip Sync Battle nailed it with the decision to air a special live episode on September 11, complete with the most successful Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps. And he certainly brought his A-game to the show, basically broadening his Phelps Face out into an entire performance has he quiet-rapped Eminem's "Lose Yourself" on the Lip Sync Battle stage. Grab some of mom's spaghetti and check it out!
8 Mile? I'd give that at least a 9.8 Mile, am I right? Seriously, though, is there any other song that Michael Phelps seemed destined to perform for people after his pre-swim game face went viral? I guess if he'd have used the song he was actually listening to, but let's pretend that couldn't happen for some reason. Getting back into a hoodie to quasi-spoof Eminem's acclaimed feature film breakthrough was perfect for an athlete whose ascent to the top was full of times where he needed to lose himself in the moment to push forward. (I would have also accepted him lip syncing Wesley Snipes' role in the video for Michael Jackson's "Bad.")
Phelps' performance was the winner of the night, and there's a good reason why. It started out "behind the scenes," which is always fun, and then incorporated a big group of people all doing the same thing at once, which also always works. And then the oh so timely and universally beloved kicker, the American flag dropping behind him. You can just imagine that he was thinking of all the other swimmers and Phelps-naysayers when he was waving around his #1 finger here.
Michael Phelps faced some other Olympians during the episode as well. Olivia Munn was technically the swimmer's main opponent, but when she heard he was going to appear, she enlisted the efforts of Phelps' fellow gold medalists Simon Biles and Aly Raisman. The gymnasts joined Munn for a rousing rendition of Sia's "Cheap Thrills," but it clearly wasn't enough to take the top honors here. They followed Eminem's advice the wrong way, losing themselves the competition.
A show that has somehow already perfected pop culture references, Lip Sync Battle will return to Spike on Wednesday, October 12, at 9 p.m. ET. To see when everything else is returning to the small screen later this year, check out our fall premiere schedule.
