Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Lip Sync Battle’ Gets Spinoff TV Show
One of the most beloved routines from Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show reign is about to get its own television show: Lip Sync Battle, based on those ridiculous competitions that pit the late night host up against celebrities to see who can pantomime pop songs better, will head to Spike TV in 2015. Fallon and actors John Krasinski and Stephen Merchant, a pair of lip sync vets, will executive produce the show as well as appear and “perform” on occasion.
The “lip sync battle” was a game that Merchant created with Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt. Krasinski first battled Fallon back when the host was still on Late Night, but the competition really hit its stride when the host had an epic faceoff against both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Merchant. The gag made its Tonight Show debut with a bout versus Paul Rudd, which was followed by Emma Stone busting out Blues Traveler’s “Hook” and DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win.” Most recently, Fallon was challenged by The Voice judges Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton.
“Lip sync battling is one of the coolest things happening in pop culture right now and already has a huge fan base thanks to the amazing talent involved,” Viacom Entertainment Group exec Casey Patterson said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter. “We’re thrilled to be in business with producers as talented as Jimmy, John and Stephen as Spike broadens its programming in new and exciting ways.”
Former SNL director Beth McCarthy-Miller will direct Lip Sync Battle. The pilot episode will film in front of a live audience in New York this coming January, with the Spike premiere penciled in for April 2, 2015. Lip Sync Battle‘s fulltime host and participating talent will be announced later, the Hollywood Reporter writes.