For instance, in the episode entitled “Chili Eating,” participant Dustin Johnson holds the intimidating nickname the “Atomik Menace” after eating 122 of the world’s hottest chili in under 10 minutes. Those featured in the show appear as if they were characters selected from a book. During the introduction of “Chili Eating,” the camera pans to a scientist extracting the spice from a chili to measure its spice in Scoville Heat Units, while an opera plays in the background and Wilson’s curious narration begins, “How do you measure pain?” The music and filming techniques follow Wilson and Erlbach’s refined and dignified style. While introducing “Frog Jumping,” Wilson describes the jumping potential of “the great American bullfrog” with poetic, waxing medieval verbiage: “In their quest for jump perfection, a few elite bullfrogs have found an even more powerful teacher than nature, the great American frog jockey.” While humorous, the hyperbolic, absurdly dramatic eloquence of Erlbach’s writing and Wilson’s delivery avoid the purposeful, potentially obnoxious irreverence of popular comedic works like “Borat” or “Trailer Park Boys.” Erlbach’s writing and Wilson’s narration of the games exhibit an appreciation for honest competition, storytelling, and other cultures and backgrounds, while being entirely drenched in a modest and good-hearted hyperbolic humor.
We are the champions narrator series#
The series is light-hearted, clever, informative and engrossing, and its stories of odd competitions are entertainingly told by Wilson’s odd and remarkably eloquent character.
Reminding watchers of Rainn Wilson’s clever, Dungeons-and-Dragons-saturated, Type-A character from “The Office,” Dwight Schrute, Wilson’s words carry a grandiose, epic tone, betraying the archetypal nature of a gritty competitive arena or battleground. “We Are The Champions” covers a series of unique competitions, from cheese rolling, to dog dancing, to fantasy hairstyling.
Primary narrator Rainn Wilson and writer Matthew-Lee Erlbach collaborated on Netflix’s new show “We Are The Champions,” released on Nov.