You just knew the Season 2 premiere of Lip Sync Battle was going to be a big deal when host LL Cool J revealed that Quentin Tarantino was in the audience.
The auteur was there to support The Hateful Eight co-star Channing Tatum, who was competing against his wife, former Janet Jackson backup dancer Jenna Dewan Tatum.
The special guests kept flowing as Paula Abdul joined Jenna for “Cold Hearted.” Other highlights included Channing channeling his inner Elsa for “Let It Go” from Frozen, and Jenna giving her husband a Magic Mike-inspired lap dance to Ginuwine’s “Pony.”
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“Stripping ain’t easy,” Jenna said after her second performance, saying she has a “whole new respect” for what he did in the two films.
Lip Sync Battle has essentially become an acceptable platform for straight male actors to do elaborate drag performances in public and receive endless praise for leaving their inhibitions at the door. See Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s impeccable performance of Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” last season as a prime example.
For this episode, it was Channing’s embrace of Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls)” with—you guessed it—Queen Bey herself that brought the house down. Our hero.
