He soared high, but quickly got his wings clipped! Dr. Drew Pinsky was booted from The Masked Singer, losing to Penguin! A Penguin?!?! How does a proud bird of prey lose to a frozen flightless fowl? “I don’t know, it was some fluke of nature.” Dr. Drew took us behind the mask after getting the boot. “Wild! Like nothing I’ve ever experienced.” But he says it was still nerve wracking. “It was a relief to get out of there. I felt like Terry Bradshaw the season before where he said ‘thank you for voting me off.'”
Learning To Fly
“The whole process of song selection is a bit mystical.” Song selection is everything, and on The Masked Singer, you have to coordinate it with your character. And that meant Drew had to make changes once he got into rehearsals. And that meant starting the process all over. “You have to be able to be cleared. Other singers have to not want those songs. Has to fit the characer, producers have to be happy, vocally it has to be in the right spot. It’s quite a process.”
He went with Meatloaf’s I Would Do Anything For Love, but that was far from his first choice. “It’s not in my comfort zone at all. I sang opera as a kid. I was preparing anthems. American eagle, american anthems, Sinatra songs and stuff. Then I put the costume on and it was like oh no, we’re going a totally different direction. This is a rock eagle. And that was a stretch for me. That was difficult.”
And it was his costume that made all the difference. “Yes, it was a bad ass eagle. And bad ass eagles don’t stand up and sing Come Fly With Me, Sinatra.”
Getting His Wings Clipped
Drew knew trouble was brewing after round one. “It’s funny, my smackdown song was not that strong. And when I didn’t get through at the beginning, I called my team in and said ‘I’m vulnerable.'” And he was at peace with that, but his team tried to rally. “Don’t worry. It’s okay. I had a great experience, I’m happy. And they were like ‘no no you’re going through, don’t even think about it.’ I was like I don’t think so. And lo and behold I was not.”
When it came down to elimination, the good doctor was up against an anonymous penguin. In nature, eagles always beat penguins. On TV, that’s not always the case. And it’s truly our loss. “You all missed out. The next week was gonna be Pour Some Sugar On Me from Def Leppard.”
So I asked if he’ll belt out a rendition and post it online. “No, I will just not. I was actually really fretting about that. It’s one of the reasons I was relieved. I was like, wow, this is gonna be hard.”
And Doc told us he has great memories. “It was such a fun experience. The production team was so great. It was really something that I missed everybody once I was out of there. It depends who you’re up against to be fair, right? The competition was the competition. And my competition was solid and it’s just one of those things. The team there was exceptional. It was a really positive experience.”
The Secret’s Out
The best part of taking off the mask, is dropping the veil of secrecy. Only a very few people in his circle could know what he was up too. And that’s not easy when you’re a busy doctor. “It’s way worse than that. You’re not allowed to tell your family! I could tell my wife. I do a lot of podcasting and have a radio show every day. So I was having to block off lots of time, and you don’t know when you’re gonna get kicked off. So they ask you to prepare for being there for awhile. And everybody had tons of questions. I couldn’t answer any questions. I told them I was working on a documentary.”
But he didn’t raise any dummies, and one of the kids caught on. “My family, my kids are all (moved out), but one happened to be living with us when these vocal coaches started showing up. I sing the national anthem at sporting events like Dodgers and Kings. I told him I’m preparing for another national anthem and all of a sudden they started showing up three days a week. He was like ‘what are you doing?’ Sign this paper. We had him sign a non-disclosure and we told him.”
And it takes its toll over time. “You’re keeping this thing for months. It’s really hard to do that.”
What Would The Fox Say
There is also a Fox on the show this season. I can’t help but wonder if it’s FOX head honcho Rupert Murdoch in the costume. Doctor Drew says my theory is way out there. “I’d say no. The Fox is clearly a trained performer, I think Broadway performer of some type. I’m pulling for him.”
He was there. I’ll trust his insider knowledge.
The Critic’s Cocktail Recommendation
Someone else gets unmasked tonight (8PM ET on FOX). So I’m pouring a bourbon-based Double Eagle.
Cheers!
Critic's Cocktail 