Image © Disney Channel
Take Two with Phineas and Ferb isn’t the first TV talk show with animated hosts and real human guests, but there’s no danger of it being confused with Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Each episode of the spin-off, which premieres tonight some time between 9:00 and 9:15pm ET/PT on the Disney Channel, is only two minutes long, but packs more fun into that short time than many conventional talk shows manage in an hour.
Phineas, of course, is the host behind the desk, the one who does the talking, while Ferb keeps the guests company on the chairs and mostly (of course) keeps quiet. Isabella makes regular appearances as (what else?) the stage manager, and you can be sure some of the other characters will have cameos here and there. With the popularity of Perry/Agent P and Dr. Doofenshmirtz, you know we’ll be seeing them — and of course the fact that the boys have no idea that Doofenshmirtz is an evil scientist will no doubt make his appearances all the funnier.
The guests are all A-listers: Jack Black, Andy Samberg and Seth Rogen are the first three, and future guests include Taylor Swift, Tony Hawk, Regis Philbin and Dr. Horrible himself, Neil Patrick Harris. In each episode, they try to get the guest to do something unusual, something they wouldn’t be asked to do on a “normal” talk show. In the inaugural episode, for example, Jack Black juggles; and, while I’ve not yet seen it, I’ve been told that Regis Philbin will sing the awesome rap song from Phineas and Ferb, “Squirrels in My Pants.”
The person who told me that, a man named Bobby Gaylor, has been serving as a consultant on Take Two. Gaylor used to be a stand-up comic, and so was called upon to stand in for Phineas for guests not used to working with a green screen, and was the brains behind many of Phineas’s lines. I was very surprised to learn from Gaylor, who does the voice of Buford the bully on Phineas and Ferb, that each two minute episode is produced from 60-90 minutes of live footage, and that none of it is scripted. I’m seriously hoping they’ll make expanded versions of the episodes when the DVDs come out.
As you’d expect from a series of two-minute shows, every episode will be made available for free viewing online, via DisneyChannel.com and DisneyXD.com, and also through the official YouTube channel. The premiere episode, with Jack Black, can be seen below (after the jump). The one with Andy Samberg and the one with Seth Rogen are also available right now.
So spread the word, because if Take Two becomes the hit I think it deserves to be, they’ll make more of them!
