sincerest form of flattery

After two episodes, "The Next Best Thing" continues to hold my interest. The contestants are amusing but one of the judges is a little irritating. Jeffrey Ross and Elon Gold are both trying to be the Simon Cowell of the series. Ross, as a veteran of celebrity roasts, is perfectly suited for the role. Gold is an impressionist who should offer helpful advice. It could be the editing but it seems that he rarely gives constructive criticism. Instead Gold often tries to one-up the contestants by doing his own impressions or tries to one-up Jeffrey Ross by insulting the bad contestants.

Tonight's show featured Sevierville resident Denny Murphy as Kenny Chesney. He easily made it to the next round. One of the contestants who advanced to the next round during last week's show was David Gee as Jack Nicholson. Gee is friends with comedian Allan Havey and often opens for him at comedy clubs in casinos. When I worked on Havey's radio show, Gee would call in to do his Jack Nicholson impression. One time Havey had him call during a discussion about something that had happened in Minnesota so that "Jack" could close out the segment by saying "you can't handle Duluth!"