Las Culturistas podcast co-hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers hosted the fifth edition of their Culture Awards, streaming on Bravo, and the variety show masquerading as a very serious awards show gave out accolades for categories like “Fastest Four-Legged Mammal” and “The Break Me Off a Piece of That Award for Man We Wanna Dip in the Chocolate.” The duo’s whole show is streaming now on Peacock if you’re one of the seven people who subscribe to that service, while the rest of us make do with clips circulating online of good bits and special guest appearances. One of those guest appearances in particular featured a star who deserves a spotlight: Pikachu.
Yang and Rogers took the stage for a campy performance of the original Pokémon anime theme song, with dancers dressed like trainers from across the series carrying props of “tall grass” similar to the kind you walk through in old Pokémon games to find and catch wild critters. Who do they find in this grass? None other than the little yellow guy himself.
For those who aren’t aware, that’s not just any ol’ Pikachu mascot costume on the stage; it’s an official one that you might see at events like Go Fest and the World Championships tournament. In other words, this performance was an officially sanctioned collaboration between the show and The Pokémon Company. Appearing at a show like this put Pikachu in the company of some pretty NSFW performers. That’s growth for a brand that is typically very precious about its image (unless you’re the U.S. government, I guess). The official Pokemon account on Instagram even commented on a clip of the musical number, saying it was the “most iconic performance” of the night.
Anyway, you can check out Yang, Rogers, and Pikachu’s performance below. The boys have got vocals for days.