RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Snoop Dogg is reinventing himself. The rapper became a star working with Dr. Dre on a song about killing an undercover cop for the 1992 film "Deep Cover."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEEP COVER")
DR. DRE: (Rapping) Yeah, and you don't stop.
SNOOP DOGG: (Rapping) Cause it's 1-8-7 on an undercover cop. Creep with me as I crawl though the hood. Maniac, lunatic...
MARTIN: So it might seem a little odd to see Snoop Dogg reinvent himself now decades later as the host of a cooking show and a game show, but NPR TV critic Eric Deggans says Snoop pulls it off.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Back in the day, there was no job on TV more square than the game-show host. That's why it was so odd to turn on TBS's new game show and hear this.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE JOKER'S WILD")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: The only show wild enough to do it doggy style. It's "The Joker's Wild."
DEGGANS: Snoop Dogg stars in a new version of "The Joker's Wild," calibrated to speak to his expertise. Contestants answer questions in categories with names like Froback (ph) Thursday - that's identifying stars by their afros - and Name That Strain.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE JOKER'S WILD")
JEANNIE MAI: Now, Snoop's going to read you three names of weed, but which one is made up?
DEGGANS: Snoop himself is a playful presence, cracking jokes centered on his penchant for consuming controlled substances - even when he gets a word wrong, as he did when naming several traditional songs in a clue.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE JOKER'S WILD")
SNOOP DOGG: Is it "Dayenu," "Hava Nagila" or "Hakuna Matata"?
(LAUGHTER)
SNOOP DOGG: You know they didn't give me no kind of class before I did this. You all got me out here just trying to figure it out.
(APPLAUSE)
SNOOP DOGG: Am I doing all right?
MAI: That was good.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.
DEGGANS: It's the kind of game show I would definitely waste a half-hour watching if I was home from work on a sick day. And this isn't the only TV show Snoop has on air right now. He's also co-starring with Martha Stewart in the Emmy-nominated - you heard right - Emmy-nominated cooking-slash-talk show on VH-1, "Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MARTHA & SNOOP'S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Singing) You're now cooking with Martha and Snoop. You're now cooking with Martha and Snoop. You're cooking. You're cooking. You're now cooking with Martha and Snoop.
DEGGANS: It's a show where Stewart's stiff patrician vibe somehow plays well off Snoop Dogg's around-the-way style as they cook with celebrity guests.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MARTHA & SNOOP'S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY")
SNOOP DOGG: We need a cocktail like a dog needs a bone. So what are you making me tonight?
MARTHA STEWART: Sangria - white sangria.
SNOOP DOGG: Is that Hennessy?
STEWART: Yes.
SNOOP DOGG: Lord have mercy.
(APPLAUSE)
DEGGANS: Snoop's emergence as a genial TV host is made possible because we've kind of forgiven him for his past as a self-professed pimp and hustler. That history now informs Snoop Dogg's distinctive TV presence - genial but with a dangerous past. He's a lovable, roguish ambassador - an entertaining bridge between youth culture and the straight-laced world of game shows and Martha Stewart that few could have predicted back when he was slinging rhymes on Death Row Records. I'm Eric Deggans.
(SOUNDBITE OF DR. DRE & SNOOP DOGG'S "NUTHIN' BUT A 'G' THANG") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
