Lisa Rinna previews an all new SING YOUR FACE OFF
What do you get when celebrities like Jon Lovitz, Sebastian Bach, and Lisa Rinna are transformed into singing sensations like Elton John, Adam Levine, and Britney Spears, while John Barrowman hosts, and Debbie Gibson and Darryl Hammond judge from the sidelines (with guest judges like David Alan Grier among others)? You get ABC’s SING YOUR FACE OFF, a competition series airing back to back new episodes Saturday nights at 9/8c.
The show is a ton of fun, and it’s a great way to pass the time – watch it with the family, and re-watch the musical performances online. You won’t be disappointed. To celebrate two all new episodes tonight, I spent time chatting with Lisa Rinna about the two big names she takes on next!
Watching the show – you look like you’re having the time of your life. Is that what drew you to it – how did you get involved in SING YOUR FACE OFF?
I got an email from my manager and she said would you be interested in doing anything like this and they had a synopsis of the show and I said absolutely, it sounded so fun to me! Remember, I did DANCING WITH THE STARS, and once you have that experience, you’re always looking to do something similar because it was such an amazing experience. This seemed like so much fun – you get to sing, dance, and act. Become these pop icons, it was a no brainer to me.
I think I’ve watched your Britney Spears performance 5 or 6 times now – you’re letting loose, you’re having fun, you’re totally embodying her character. What kind of research into her, or Dolly, what do you have to do embody that character?
That’s a really amazing compliment, so I thank you for that, because it’s truly what I tried to do with each person. We only had 4 or 5 days to become every character, and that’s with choreography, and voice training; singing live with the band, and learning the songs. It was, again, very similar to DWTS where you cram it all in. I think it’s just luckily we have the internet and we can watch hours and hours of video and YouTube. You can see these people over and over and over again, and so I was always with my iPad watching videos of everything they’ve ever done. You hope that they can embody that person. I didn’t want it to be a parody, certainly. If I did that, then I did my job.
What can you tease for us about tonight’s new episodes?
It’s a 180 – everybody does a 180. You saw the first two episodes and you saw me do Dolly and Britney. Now I do a 180 and I do Katy Perry and then I don’t know if you know this, but I do Justin Bieber!!
I thought I saw those pictures out there!
[laughs] Ok, so it’s true! Need I say more! It couldn’t be two completely different characters to play. I’d never played a boy before, or a man. Actually, I’m playing a boy, I’m not playing a man at this point because I’m playing 14 year old Justin Bieber. This week was so fun to go from Katy Perry to Justin Bieber. They’re modern, they’re of the times right now. They’re two completely different performers; again, it was a dream come true.
Everyone seems to be having fun – John’s having a great time as host, the judges all seem to really enjoy it. Why do you think that it’s a show that people should be tuning into?
It makes you feel good! Don’t we want to watch things that are enjoyable and fun and makes you feel good? It is a fun, feel good show, and you can watch it with your family, and there are not a lot of shows that you can do that. We were all having fun. We all had a blast. It’s enjoyable to watch people doing what they love to do, and having fun.
You mention DANCING WITH THE STARS and wanting to keep finding new things like that to do – what do you think would be next? Are you going to venture more down the music past, live shows, what is next?
[laughs] That’s a good question! I was able to play Roxie Hart on Broadway in the musical Chicago, and that was another amazing dream come true. That was about 6 years ago. I always hope that another gig will come along like this. I don’t know! I hope! You always hope. I love to sing, so I hope something comes out of it for sure.
What else do you have going on where we can find you?
I have a line on QVC that I’m selling all the time – Belle Gray by Lisa Rinna. I’m on [Saturday]; I’m on at 2AM and 9:30AM, so you can stay up with me! I have really cute clothes. I had a boutqieu in LA for about 10 years. So now I’m selling the line on QVC. I have all sorts of things cookin’, so hopefully, you’ll be seeing more stuff soon.
Any time, honestly, that you or Harry, or you and Harry together show up, it’s so much fun to see you guys!
Well, thank you so much! I just am so proud of this show and everybody’s so amazing, and I’m loving that the audience is loving it. It seems to be really fun for everybody and I hope they continue to enjoy it!
Check out Lisa as Justin and Katy tonight – and tune in each week for more transformations. For more on SING YOUR FACE OFF, head to ABC.com.
Lisa Renna is the biggest showoff in showbiz & I’m not impressed! She likes to upstage everyone & be the center of attention! And entirely, too, much flirting with Darrel Hammond! Landry & Levitz were the best! A 14 year old with these adults????? Nah! Stay with her own age group & compete! No denying, she is , really, great, BUT………..