Jay Pharoah Brings His Kevin Hart Impression to ‘Barmageddon’ in Sneak Peek (VIDEO)
USA Network‘s unscripted game show Barmageddon, from The Voice coach Blake Shelton and host Carson Daly, is beginning to take shape, and in the TV Insider exclusive clip above, guest stars Jay Pharoah and Cobra Kai’s Martin Kove join for its version of beer pong.
Host and WWE’s Nikki Bella tells the duo and the live audience attending the rules of the game, which sees the two teams tossing giant balls into giant cups from the bar’s second floor. There’s also a huge pendulum arm swaying back and forth to block shots from the guest stars. Bella says if Pharoah can deliver a good impression, she’ll let him call the coin toss that determines who goes first. Immediately, he jumps into an impressive impression of Kevin Hart, with perfect cadence, mannerisms, and other subtle vocal idiosyncrasies.
“You said head? You want heads, right,” Pharoah says as he turns to his team partner. “I say heads. Heads are gonna hit, swear to god, we’re gonna beat the game, all day, swear to god,” he says before wagging his tongue and yelling, “let’s go!”
The game gets off to a bad start, but when challenged by Bella to make a shot, Pharoah hits it without missing a beat and walks off to emphasize his success.
Although the clip above shows the teams having a rough start at the game, the game show itself is starting off strong in the ratings. According to live 3-day Nielsen data, the series premiere on December 5 was the network’s most-viewed series premiere in nearly three years, with 1.2M total viewers. The episode also scored the network’s best premiere rating among the 18-49 demographic in more than three years.
Barmageddon, Mondays, 11/10c, USA Network
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