Every “Play It By Ear” Episode Ranked (+ My Favourite Song From Each)

Dropout continues to be the gift that keeps on giving – “Play It By Ear” is another banger of a show, probably my second favourite after “Game Changer”.

Zach, Jess and the rest of the cast are geniuses of improv comedy, and they wowed me throughout all fifteen of the excellent episodes … but improv is temperamental by design, so some episodes were better than others. How would I rank them all?

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

Good

15 – Skyline Flight 314 (S1E4)

BEST SONG: “Skyline to Control”

Before we begin, I want to make it abundantly clear that I enjoyed all of the episodes to a certain extent. Mano is always a great host, the band are always on form, and the improvisers could provide comedic entertainment in their sleep.

If I had to pick, “Skyline Flight 314” was probably my least favourite episode. The limited location of the plane meant that the improvisers quickly ran out of unique songs and stories to tell, and most of the musical numbers blended together by a certain point.

The highlight was definitely “Skyline to Control”, where the pilots had a series of misunderstandings with Control and the improvisers got the chance to flex their quick-wittedness.

14 – Humpty Dumpty (S1E1)

BEST SONG: “You Don’t Know Jack”

The very first “Play It By Ear” episode, which meant “Humpty Dumpty” acted as more of a test run than a fully-fledged episode.

Season 1 could sometimes suffer from railroaded prompts, lifeless backdrops and too many performers on stage, and I think this was the episode that encapsulated those shortcomings.

There were still some really funny scenes and moments, though, like the cheeky “You Don’t Know Jack” which allowed Jess and Ross to let loose.

13 – The Missing Member (S2E5)

BEST SONG: “Put Myself In Your Mind”

The “worst” Season 2 episode, and yet I still really appreciated the noir / detective vibe that they attempted and successfully pulled off – it’s not easy to write a mystery plot, so I have no idea how you’d improvise one!

The noir aesthetic meant “The Missing Member” was more slow and methodical than a lot of the other episodes, which is maybe why it didn’t stick out to me that much. The stand-out, I thought, was the scene where they all switched characters and eventually instruments too.

12 – Trade School Musical 2 (S2E4)

BEST SONG: “I’ll Never Trade You (Let’s Do It Again)”

The premise was my favourite part of “Trade School Musical 2” – having to come up with a sequel to a non-existent first outing, including the genius opening number “I’ll Never Trade You (Let’s Do It Again)”, was a lot of fun.

The rest of the episode dwindled a little after that, however, and I never felt as if the performers found their footing with the plot.

11 – Heartbeat Hospital (S2E3)

BEST SONG: “The Other One”

I’m not really a fan of hospital dramas so the premise of “Heartbeat Hospital” was never going to hook me, but I really like what they did with it.

The plot gets absolutely ridiculous in the best way, and I loved the whole saga – including the track “The Other One” – where Jess and Zach both play pairs of identical twins with differing relationships and motives.

Great

10 – Space Rocks! (S1E5)

BEST SONG: “The Space We Find In Between”

The grand finale of Season 1, and they couldn’t have chosen a better premise than the space opera epic “Space Rocks!”.

It’s got melodrama, it’s got great jokes, it’s got a sexy group of baddies, and it has show-stopping numbers like “The Space We Find In Between” in spades.

9 – The Muck of Merkmere (S1E2)

BEST SONG: “The Confrontation”

“Humpty Dumpty” was a good pilot episode, but “The Muck of Merkmere” was the episode to make me fall in love with the format.

The cast all adopting characters with various motives made for some really dynamic scenes and natural jokes, and Zach plays a really great villain – his evil song “The Confrontation”, with the increased tempo throughout, was a chance for him to flex his deliciously maleficent muscles.

8 – Animal Style (S2E2)

BEST SONGS: “Birds Of A Feather” / “Whoops Wops Widdly-Wops”

I was shocked when only three performers – Zach, Jess and this time Ross – walked out on stage, but the fewer players made for a much tighter game.

The trio’s chemistry is off the charts for multiple songs, so much so that I couldn’t pick a favourite this time around – “Birds Of A Feather” was a very clever prompt and execution, and Ross screaming “Widdly-Wops!” continues to put a smile on my face every time I think about it.

7 – Elevator Pitch (S2E9)

BEST SONG: “Everything, Nothing, Children, Glass”

The back half of Season 2 was banger after banger, so while “Elevator Pitch” might have seemed inconsequential comparatively it still made the top half of this list!

The story spirals out of control into curses and baseball just as quickly as I wanted, and the sheer chaos of “Everything, Nothing, Children, Glass” was rarely topped in the season.

6 – Joust Because (S2E8)

BEST SONG: “25 Minutes To Become A Sword Master”

I wasn’t sure what kind of comedy the cast would be able to find in a medieval fair, but “Joust Because” ended up being the biggest surprise of the season.

The giddy plan to steal a falcon from the horny villains was hilarious, and “25 Minutes To Become A Sword Master” goes much harder than it had any right to.

Amazing

5 – Mallapalooza (S2E1)

BEST SONG: “Bears Gotta Go To College”

Season 2 immediately started strongly with “Mallapalooza” – a brand new set, a great setting and a cast on top form made it an immediate classic.

It’s one of the most consistent and follow-able plotlines in the show (which is admittedly a low bar to clear), and I absolutely loved the ending with the janitor as well as the cast-breaking “Bears Gotta Go To College”.

4 – Cornhole in One (S2E6)

BEST SONG: “You-nicycle”

Along with “Mallapalooza”, “Cornhole in One” felt like one of the only episodes with a sensible climax that was well built to.

Jess and Jiavani did a great job of setting up the rules in the first place, which then led to Zach and Ross smashing the love confession out of the park in “You-nicycle” and beyond.

3 – Whimsy on Wheels (S1E3)

BEST SONG: “With Our Powers Combined”

Zeke and Ross are probably my two favourite guest stars on Play It By Ear, so it’s no wonder “Whimsy on Wheels” ended up being my favourite Season 1 episode by a country mile.

I really like the plot of the main character travelling through space and time to find his confidence, and the show-stopping number “With Our Powers Combined” was the icing on the cake.

2 – Heebie Jeebies (S2E10)

BEST SONG: “You Forgot The Powder”

The most recent episode at the time of writing, and along with “Joust Because” I found “Heebie Jeebies” to be the most pleasant surprise of the bunch.

This is easily the funniest episode outside of the songs, as I found myself laughing to almost every scene and joke. My favourite song? “You Forgot The Powder” – it’s the right amount of petty, and was a great way of including the “sounds not words” prompt.

1 – Backwards Compatible (S2E7)

BEST SONG: “Shortcake Stacks”

The Play It By Ear cast are at their best when they have to piece together scenes and tidbits on the fly, and nowhere is this seat-of-your-pants chaos more glorious than “Backwards Compatible”.

Jess struggling to say “Huge” was an amazing recurring joke, Zeke carries some scenes despite being the only guest, and the uproarious “Shortcake Stacks” – including the genuinely touching line “Can we make this part short, the part where we don’t talk anymore?” – might just be my favourite song in the series.

Aaand that’s my list! Check out Dropout if you haven’t already, and then come back here to check out some of my latest blog posts: