Beloved ‘Masked Singer’ Guest Judge Returns Tonight

The fifth season of The Masked Singer continues to pull out all the stops, including bringing back actor Joel McHale for his seventh episode over the course of the series’ run as a guest judge. McHale’s acerbic wit is always a welcome addition to the competition series and solidifies him as one of the most popular guest judges, particularly because of his easy camaraderie with his old Community co-star, Ken Jeong. McHale returns to the panel on March 24, and chaos is sure to ensue.

In a new clip, the former host of The Soup does not hold back. After taking in the Raccoon’s performance of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” McHale quips, “Well, I’m speechless. Much like The Raccoon was during his song.” After judge Jenny McCarthy jokes “Don’t make fun of my boyfriend,” McHale fires back, “So, I’m in trouble, and I can’t believe Mickey Rourke is back.”

McHale hilariously explained that he would never appear as a judge on the competition show’s spinoff, The Masked Dancer, in an interview in our PopCulture @ Home series. “No, I’m not going to be on it because, I mean, they haven’t asked me. […] You think I knew anything about singing? I know less about dance. OK?” McHale joked at the time. “I’d be like, ‘That pirouette was terrible. Who do you think you are, Terry Bradshaw or something?’ […] Of all the people to be judging dance, could you imagine me?”

McHale also denied that he would ever appear as a competitor, despite the fact that it would be quite a twist. “I would break my leg — a compound fracture,” he said. “The bone would be sticking out, and people would be like, ‘Well, his dancing was so awful that this finally put an end to it, so thank God.’”

“Dancing is just one more thing you can do with that format,” McHale continued. “When The Masked Singer started two years ago — two and a half years ago — I was on the show and didn’t understand the format. I’m like, ‘Am I guessing or judging? What am I doing?’ And obviously, the format works so well, and if you had said to me — I would’ve been like, ‘I don’t know. That seems crazy.’ And all the clue packages look like Requiem for a Dream the whole time.” The Masked Singer airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.