‘The Masked Singer’s Hamster on Having Fun Making Nick Cannon Uncomfortable
Spoiler Alert
Take It Off! Take It Off!
For exclusive news and updates, subscribe to our The Masked Singer Newsletter:
[Warning: The below contains to MAJOR spoilers for The Masked Singer Season 6 Episode 6 “Time Warp.”]
One of Group A didn’t survive the “Time Warp” or the introduction of another wildcard (the Jester, the creepiest costume yet) in the October 20 episode of The Masked Singer.
After singing Luis Miguel’s “Sabor a Mí” for his wife, Hamster was eliminated, and in that adorable costume was actor and comedian Rob Schneider. “I think they made a mistake. America made a mistake. They should have kept me from one more song. They would have loved it,” he tells TV Insider. So what was that song? Weird Al’s “Amish Paradise.”
Below, Schneider discusses his experience on the Fox hit singing competition.
What made you say yes to doing The Masked Singer?
Rob Schneider: My kids loved the show and I wanted them to see it and enjoy it. It’s the one show that I looked at on TV — and I don’t say this about any other — [and said], “You know what? That show I should do. That will be fun. And eventually they’re going to call me, because I’m perfect for that show, a comedian who can sing a little bit, that’s what they need.” They were just terrific. They really know how to treat people and how to make you feel comfortable. The costume design is amazing and you can just tell like the hosts are having a blast and it’s a perfect television show. It’s what TV should be.
Speaking of the costume, the Hamster was adorable.
It’s like cheating. They basically said, “Look, if you don’t want to get kicked off right away, wear this.” It’s very cute. It’s much cuter than Larry the Cable Guy’s toothless Baby outfit, which scared children and gave children nightmares all over America, or Toni Braxton, the fish. I said, “How do you talk to Toni Braxton, Grammy award winning singer into being a fish? Why would you do that to her?” But I’m glad they did because they kicked them off before they kicked me off.
FOX
You were clearly having fun on the stage, especially with [host] Nick [Cannon]. Did you go into this thinking, “how uncomfortable can I make Nick”?
Well, you got to go with what’s happening. And he was uncomfortable and I thought, well, that’s kind of fun for me. I was whispering to him, “You’re uncomfortable? I’m dressed as a rodent. I got fur down my throat. You’re wearing men’s clothing.” But he was a decent sport. I wouldn’t say great sport. I’d say decent sport because I saw him getting genuinely annoyed. [Laughs]
What went into your song choices? You dedicated this last one to your wife.
That’s all I wanted to do. I said, “If I get kicked off on this one, at least I’m going to try to sing a song since her favorite singer is Luis Miguel.” So I wanted to do that for all my Mexican friends and fans and family, and I love Luis Miguel. It’s just barely in my range, and I hope I did OK. I was a little nervous and it’s a lot of words to remember. I wasn’t able to move a lot because I was really concentrating on just by singing plus I’m dressed like a Hamster.
[Roy Orbison’s] “Oh, Pretty Woman” is my karaoke song, my go-to I could knock out of the park anytime. To me that was my “let me just get one just in case.” But then they threw me for a loop because the producer suggested a second song and I didn’t ever really knew the lyrics to [Queen’s] “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” I just wanted to sing it my way and just do a lot of voice trills and have fun with it and be really loose. I think that was good. I think it ended up being my best one.
But it’s just a blast. It’s exactly what people want to want to do these days: just sit back and watch something that’s entertaining and it could be thrilling because some of the singers are phenomenal. Your ego starts to get to you after a while — “maybe I’m good at this thing” — and then you hear somebody like the Pepper. I don’t know who that is, what a voice. And then you see somebody singing and dancing like the Bull, and I don’t know if that’s Nelly or what.
I will say, oh, I wanted to do one more, but I had a blast and I could not be more grateful for the experience. They treat you like a superstar, which is really nice.
What’d you think of the panelists’ guesses? It seemed like they were naming every comedian until Jenny [McCarthy] guessed you.
Jenny knows me. She was on NBC and had a TV show when I was on Men Behaving Badly. She had a show on there. I’ve been on her podcast before and her XM radio show, so she could tell my voice. I guess it was pretty obvious I’m a comedian — physically, you’re just trying to get laughs anytime you’re on stage anywhere, and so they pretty much nailed that right away. And they’ve been doing this six season, so they get a handle on who’s been on this show, who’s is likely to be, whether it’s a comedian, a professional singer, an athlete. They can just tell by the way they move. They’re really good. They know what they’re doing.
What are you going to take away from your experience on The Masked Singer?
Never put on a Hamster outfit ever again, ever. I did it once. And just to say yes to more things, because I really did have a good time and I wasn’t sure I was going to do it. So because of that experience I said yes to doing this new movie I’m going to start pretty soon. I’ll start saying yes to stuff. It put me in a good place, so I’m very, very happy with them. They were very kind to me. So thank you, Masked Singer.
The Masked Singer, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox
