Yahoo News George Clinton revealed as Gopher on The Masked Singer , says he's down to reprise Good Burger role if asked
Warning: This article contains spoilers from Wednesday's episode of The Masked Singer.
It was Hall of Fame Night this week on The Masked Singer, and in keeping with the theme, the show really brought the G.O.A.T.s out — literally.
Yes, to introduce clues about each of the three new contestants — Bride, Venus Flytrap, and Gopher — a real live goat named Hawkeye was brought out with a cryptic medal. (Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg made the astute observation that it surprisingly took eight seasons to bring out farm animals on the show.)
But the episode also featured many of the other type of G.O.A.T., or the greatests of all time. Panelist Nicole Scherzinger kicked things off with an all-time great performance of "Fame" by Irene Cara, and everyone's favorite guest panelist, Leslie Jordan, appeared posthumously in his final stint on the show. The episode was dedicated to the late actor, who died Oct. 24, and featured a special montage of his time on Masked Singer at the end of the show.
The contestants also followed in the G.O.A.T. theme. The first singer to be eliminated after the initial round of performances was Venus Flytrap, who was unmasked to reveal two-time world heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist George Foreman. Guesses for this one were relatively close, with McCarthy-Wahlberg sticking with Bo Jackson, Scherzinger going with Charles Barkley, Jordan guessing Mike Tyson, and guest panelist Joel McHale — who was subbing in for an ill Ken Jeong this week — taking a Jeong-esque shot in the dark with Mickey Rourke. In the end, Robin Thicke was the only one to correctly guess Foreman.
This sent the overly exuberant Bride and the Gopher to this week's Battle Royale, which felt like it could have been straight out of last week's '90s Night, since they had to perform "All Star" by Smash Mouth. Ultimately, Bride stomped his way into next week to face off against two new masks, and Gopher was forced to "take it off."
Here, we got another G.O.A.T. This time of the funk music scene. Gopher was indeed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Grammy Lifetime Achievement honoree George Clinton of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. (Thicke and Scherzinger both got this one right.)
Michael Becker / FOX Gopher on 'The Masked Singer' season 8
EW caught up with Clinton to talk his time on the show, what he thought about his funk-worthy costume, and why he's just happy to be having fun right now.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Were you familiar with The Masked Singer before doing the show?
GEORGE CLINTON: Oh, I was pretty aware of it, as a matter of fact I liked it. Ever since I saw T-Pain and Gladys Knight, and a couple of other people. My family, grandkids, they all wanted me to do it anyways. They don't know I did it, but they all were hoping I did it.
So tonight is going to be fun for them.
It really is, it really is. [Laughs]
You're the king of funk, so would you say The Masked Singer is one of the wildest things you've ever done?
Oh, yeah, definitely. Not only that, the song that I did, and the choices that I had, was really good, you know, [and it had me] reminiscing over my life and songs. I've heard other people do that. Oh, another one I wanted to mention was Dionne Warwick. I saw her doing it and I thought, wow. I've dreamed of doing [the show] and it was definitely worth it.
You sang "It's Your Thing" by The Isley Brothers. Tell me about that. Was it your top choice or what other songs did you want to perform?
Well, there was a couple of more that I really wanted to do. But that was a good one. There were a couple that I can't name, but it was a lot of good choices.
What was your favorite part of being on the show?
Oh, actually, when I got unmasked, and I was able to jam with everybody.
And two people even guessed you!
I gotta figure that they were gonna get me. I would have been able to get me just from the clues. Yeah, and they are pretty good when they give them the clues. They follow that pretty good. They got a good system, and I knew I was busted right from the beginning.
What'd you think of that Gopher costume?
I knew that was the one I wanted. It was a cool, colorful character that looks like it would have been in P-Funk anyway.
Rebecca Sapp/WireImage George Clinton
I don't know if you've seen the news but Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell have said a script for a Good Burger sequel has been written, and you had a memorable part in the first one. Would you be down to participate in a sequel?
I'd be down for it. I haven't heard anything about them doing it. I didn't even know if it was the same characters or not. I didn't know that. But oh, yeah, definitely. I can hobble through, I can play [Dancing] Crazy.
Are there any other films or television series you'd like to be a part of?
I just want to be on the scene, period. I'm having fun just being relevant in this period of time, for whatever they do. Right now, I'll be on TikTok, my favorite spot right now. I love what kids are doing. They always take it to the absurd. And I think I'm a kid at heart, so I like the room you get when you can play crazy, when you can be crazy. And there's lots of room for that now.
Yes, and The Masked Singer is perfect for that, too.
Perfect place right now. Can't wait to see myself.
What's next for you?
Well I'm actually painting now. I'm in LA now. Just opened up my paint show at the Jeffrey Deitch. Yeah. I'm doing this brand new thing that's gone very well, the art thing. So look out for that.
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