If Brad Pitt thought that two decades of separation from a 1997 scandal that found nude photos of him plastered to the pages of Playgirl meant that he could finally breathe easy, he’d be wise to stay away from the premiere of Nashville Squares.
After getting a little lead-in performance of Shania Twain’s 1998 hit “That Don’t Impress Me Much” from the show’s house band in the sneak peek of the premiere episode above, host Bob Saget drums up one of the late ’90s most infamous press scandals, which ultimately inspired Twain’s lyric “So, you’re Brad Pitt — that don’t impress me much.”
Saget reveals that Twain dreamed up the lyric after seeing Pitt naked…but where? He poses the question to contestant Tanya Tucker, who hopes to get an assist from comedian Fortune Feimster.
“My bed, and I, too, was not impressed,” the comedian jokes in the clip before offering a sincere answer. “I believe it was in Playgirl magazine.”
Saget then turns to Tucker and asks if she agrees with the answer, but Tucker admits she hasn’t followed the magazine closely enough.
“You’re missing out, great articles,” Feimster quips.
Finally, after some consideration, Tanya agrees with the Playgirl guess, and it’s the right move, as Saget reveals that it is, indeed, the correct answer.
Good for Tanya…not so good for Brad.
Twain explained during an interview with Billboard in August 2017 that she wasn’t specifically taking aim at Pitt with the lyric — rather, she was exploring the broader implications of fixation on naked and exposed celebrities.
“I remember I had a girlfriend visiting me and it was near Christmas and we were baking cookies,” Twain said. “I was writing this album and there was a scandal of [Pitt] and Gwyneth [Paltrow] where there was naked photos of him. And this was like all the rage. I just thought ,‘I don’t know what all the fuss is about.’”
“We see people naked every day,” she added. “That’s really what I thought. I wasn’t picking on Brad Pitt. But that was just the association in that moment and things we make fusses about and whatever. Of course, it could have been any gorgeous guy.”
So, which other nude celebrities can we expect to exploit? You’ll have to find out on the premiere of Nashville Squares November 1 at 8/7c!