Friday, February 21, 2020

FRIDAY HALL OF FAMERS FOR 02/21/2020 - ICE-T



Detective Fin Tuotola of ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ was inducted into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame at the beginning of the month as the February showcase.  Today we dip into the League of Themselves to induct the actor who portrays him. Ice-T has a healthy collection of credits for playing himself in fictional settings.

From Wikipedia:

Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American musician, rapper, songwriter, actor, record producer, and author. He began his career as an underground rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987, when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays; the second hip-hop album to carry an explicit content sticker after Slick Rick's La Di Da Di. The following year, he founded the record label Rhyme $yndicate Records (named after his collective of fellow hip-hop artists called the "Rhyme $yndicate") and released another album, Power, which went on to go Platinum. He also released several other albums that went Gold.

He co-founded the heavy metal band Body Count, which he introduced on his 1991 rap album O.G.: Original Gangster, on the track titled "Body Count". The band released their self-titled debut album in 1992. Ice-T encountered controversy over his track "Cop Killer", the lyrics of which discussed killing police officers. Ice-T asked to be released from his contract with Warner Bros. Records, and his next solo album, Home Invasion, was released later in February, 1993 through Priority Records. Body Count's next album was released in 1994, and Ice-T released two more albums in the late-1990s.

Since 2000, he has portrayed NYPD Detective/Sergeant Odafin Tutuola on the NBC police drama ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’.


Many of his appearances as himself in TV shows are related to him playing Fin in ‘L&O:SVU’.  There is no Zonk in this because the cases solved by the SVU would make a great TV series in Toobworld and Ice-T does bear an amazing resemblance to Detective Tuotola.


Here is a list of TV shows in which Ice-T played the fictional televersion of himself.



30 Rock
- Hogcock!/Last Lunch (2013)

O’Bservation:

‘TGS’ star did a cameo on ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’… as a corpse.


Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
- Kimmy Sees a Sunset! (2016)

O’Bservation:

Ice-T eulogized an actor who was an extra on ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’.


Younger
- Secrets & Liza (2016)

O’Bservation:

Ice-T was one of the onstage guests at the launch of a new book, “Crown Of Kings” by Edward I.L. Moore.


Deadly Class
- Saudade (2019)
... Ice-T Slot Machine (voice)

O’Bservation:

Even though it was just his voice, having a slot machine about Ice-T confirms his presence in the TV Universe.


Saturday Night Live
- Kit Harington/Sara Bareilles (2019)
... Fin Tutuola (uncredited)

O’Bservation:

Eventually ‘Saturday Night Live’ should be inducted into the TVXOHOF as part of its TV & Television Museum.  And although he was listed in the IMDb as the character he plays, he was actually playing himself playing Fin in a ‘Game of Thrones’ sketch.

And then there’s the Geico TV commercial in which Ice-T is chaperoning a lemonade stand on the front lawn….




And now we come to the multidimensional additions to Ice-T’s tally….


We begin with his televersion from the main Toobworld conversing with Space Ghost from the Tooniverse:



Space Ghost Coast to Coast
- Needledrop (1997)

O'Bservation:
What’s interesting about this particular exchange which separates Ice-T from the other Toobworld guests who have appeared on Space Ghost’s talk show is that he also has a Tooniversion, not just a televersion….



Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man
- A Star Is Abhorred (1997)

O’Bservation:

Cornfed sat next to Ice-T at the MTV Music Video Awards.


American Dad!
- The Census of the Lambs (2018)

O’Bservation:

Tooniverse Ice-T met Hailey Smith at the Law & Order Fest in Langley, where they made a real connection.  Later, Ice-T rescued her and Stan from an old lady making a man suit out of skin.  Ice-T killed the old lady.


Within Skitlandia, Ice-T had further experience in dealing with the Tooniverse, when Dora the Explorer crossed over to the ‘Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’.

Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Ice-T!