BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. _ It's hard to imagine a celebrity who's eager to perform anonymously. But that's exactly what's happening when Fox unveils its new show, "The Masked Singer," Jan. 2.
Garbed in outlandish costumes that obscure their identity, famous stars compete on the stage with others equally anonymous, while a panel and the audience tries to blow their cover.
The show, which is a gigantic hit in Asia, pits 12 "singers" against each other _ two performing opposite each other in segments. One singer will be eliminated each week and will, at last, reveal their identity. The contenders aren't all singers, either. According to Nick Cannon, who hosts the show, rivals represent 65 Grammy nominations, 16 Emmy Award nominations, 16 multi-Platinum Awards, four Super Bowl titles and four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The studio panelists include Jenny McCarthy, Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger, who oversee the performances and try to guess who the secret singer is. McCarthy says the talent behind the elaborate costumes could be executing a routine they've never done before. "They could be an actress that we never knew had a singing voice," she says.
"So that's what was so fun in trying to figure out who they were, because a lot of them looked like they'd been doing this for their whole lives, and we found out this was the first time they've done it on stage."
Jeong, who starred in his own sitcom, "Dr. Ken" on ABC, says he wanted to participate because the Asian version is his mother's go-to show. "I'm Korean, and this is my mother's favorite show in Korea. No joke," he says. "So when Fox invited me to be a part of this show, it was as simple as that. My mom was like, 'You HAVE to do this show.' And she showed me all these YouTube clips. It's like billions of views on these YouTube clips. And I was like, 'I'm in.'
" ... Throughout filming the series I think I represent the eyes and ears of kind of the untrained musical eye and ear of the viewer," he continues. "And I'm just swept away by being connected with these performers. Because, for me, the metric was, 'Do I want to see this performer go to the next round?' I mean, that's a little bit arbitrary. But that, to me, is connection."
The entire production is shrouded in super secrecy. Even the families of the participants don't know they're one of the masked singers. "No one knows who any of these people are," says Cannon. "So even when they drive onto the lot, it's, like, secret service is taking them into this cave."
Cannon, who's hosted shows like "America's Got Talent" and "Wild n' Out," insists, "I don't host anything unless I'm thoroughly enjoying it. So when I saw the tapes, I said, 'That looks like a good time. It looks so much fun.' I get to wear my crazy shoes and outfits and don't seem out of place," he says.
"It's not just a singing competition. It is a mystery show. It has a game element. It's extremely hilarious. It's the true essence of what variety is. And anything you have ever seen me do in my career, I like to be able to implement everything I do as a multifaceted entertainer.
"So if I can be a part of something that's music-based and comedy and being able to be a master of ceremonies _ and I am very meticulous about the things that I choose to host because ... sometimes that experience can get mundane. But if you can be a part of something where it just feels larger than life, like this show."
The costumes are so intricately designed that there's no chance of identifying the person behind the mask until the unveiling. And each entertainer gets to pick their costume, says Izzie Pick Ibarra, the show's executive producer and one of the creators of "Dancing with the Stars."
We had an amazing costume designer, Marina Toybina ... She would sit down with the singers when they first signed on to do the show, and offer them up a variety of different insects, mammals, flowers, whatever _ all the different costume designs that we have."
While they are amazingly deceiving, the costumes are also difficult to manage, says Ibarra.
"Some of them had very limited vision with the mask on. And your peripheral vision basically disappears. So trying to then perform on stage with lights shining, wearing a mask and an incredibly kind of heavy costume, it took some skill to do that."
Elaborate measures have been taken to protect the identity of the entrants. No one knew, says Ibarra, not even the crew.
McCarthy agrees. "I went around pressing cameramen and everyone, being so nosy, going, 'Do you know?' 'Do you know?' And no one knew. I mean, the secrecy made it that much more fun, even for us, to try to figure out."
LAUREL AND HARDY MOVIE PREMIERES
A bittersweet retelling of the last days of comics Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy is depicted in the new film "Stan & Ollie," opening Friday. John C. Reilly plays Hardy and British actor Steve Coogan portrays Laurel. Coogan says when he was a kid in Manchester, England, he adored American TV. "I used to do voices of all these TV and movie stars, and I'd do that for my friends," he says.
"I also did a goofy thing, and also I was kind of obsessed with horror movies. And I bought this wax skin and makeup, and I'd give myself a bite in the neck like a vampire had taken a bite from me and walk around just to freak people out. I was 11 years old, and I think my mom and dad were a little worried about me. They thought, 'What've we got here?'"
TV RINGS IN THE NEW YEAR
You won't miss out on everything if you stay home on New Year's Eve and just watch the old tube. NBC will feature Kelly Clarkson, Diana Ross and Blake Shelton on its festive "NBC's New Year's Eve" with Carson Daly and Chrissy Teigen hosting ... Christina Aguilera will be holding court over at ABC as it presents "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019." Aguilera last performed on the show in 2007, and this year she will be joined by Bastille, Dan + Shay and the New Kids on the Block ... It will be the ever-present Steve Harvey hosting the celebration over at Fox with its "Fox's New Year's Eve with Steve Harvey: Live from Times Square." Co-hosting once again will be Maria Menounos ... The Travel Channel will play ghost busters when it airs a marathon of the popular series "Ghost Adventures" on New Year's Eve.
THORNTON RETURNS TO 'GOLIATH'
Billy Bob Thornton will take one more sling at "Goliath," which returns in 2019 to Amazon Prime Video for Season 3. The gritty tale of a down-at-the-heels lawyer and the cast of bizarre characters around him has been mostly neglected by the snooty awards hierarchy. But you can't beat Billy Bob when he latches on to a redolent role. He comes by that naturally, he says.
"I wanted to be an actor 'cause I couldn't be a baseball player," he says. "It's because when I was kid I was raised around a lot of characters. I was raised in Arkansas and every block had either a weirdo or a really great person _ there were all kinds of characters and there's a lot of storytelling and imitating that goes on down there. And it's sorta a fun atmosphere in terms of talking about characters, and I always loved it. I guess that's probably why I do what I do. I always play somebody kinda different. If I had to play like myself in every movie, don't know if I'd have very much fun at it."
