RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Snoop Dogg is reinventing himself. The rapper became a star working with Dr. Dre on a song about killing an undercover cop for the 1992 film "Deep Cover."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEEP COVER")
DR. DRE: (Rapping) Yeah, and you don't stop.
SNOOP DOGG: (Rapping) Cause it's 1-8-7 on an undercover cop. Creep with me as I crawl though the hood. Maniac, lunatic...
MARTIN: So it might seem a little odd to see Snoop Dogg reinvent himself now decades later as the host of a cooking show and a game show, but NPR TV critic Eric Deggans says Snoop pulls it off.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Back in the day, there was no job on TV more square than the game-show host. That's why it was so odd to turn on TBS's new game show and hear this.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE JOKER'S WILD")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: The only show wild enough to do it doggy style. It's "The Joker's Wild."
DEGGANS: Snoop Dogg stars in a new version of "The Joker's Wild," calibrated to speak to his expertise. Contestants answer questions in categories with names like Froback (ph) Thursday - that's identifying stars by their afros - and Name That Strain.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE JOKER'S WILD")
JEANNIE MAI: Now, Snoop's going to read you three names of weed, but which one is made up?
DEGGANS: Snoop himself is a playful presence, cracking jokes centered on his penchant for consuming controlled substances - even when he gets a word wrong, as he did when naming several traditional songs in a clue.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE JOKER'S WILD")
SNOOP DOGG: Is it "Dayenu," "Hava Nagila" or "Hakuna Matata"?
(LAUGHTER)
SNOOP DOGG: You know they didn't give me no kind of class before I did this. You all got me out here just trying to figure it out.
(APPLAUSE)
SNOOP DOGG: Am I doing all right?
MAI: That was good.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.
DEGGANS: It's the kind of game show I would definitely waste a half-hour watching if I was home from work on a sick day. And this isn't the only TV show Snoop has on air right now. He's also co-starring with Martha Stewart in the Emmy-nominated - you heard right - Emmy-nominated cooking-slash-talk show on VH-1, "Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MARTHA & SNOOP'S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Singing) You're now cooking with Martha and Snoop. You're now cooking with Martha and Snoop. You're cooking. You're cooking. You're now cooking with Martha and Snoop.
DEGGANS: It's a show where Stewart's stiff patrician vibe somehow plays well off Snoop Dogg's around-the-way style as they cook with celebrity guests.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MARTHA & SNOOP'S POTLUCK DINNER PARTY")
SNOOP DOGG: We need a cocktail like a dog needs a bone. So what are you making me tonight?
MARTHA STEWART: Sangria - white sangria.
SNOOP DOGG: Is that Hennessy?
STEWART: Yes.
SNOOP DOGG: Lord have mercy.
(APPLAUSE)
DEGGANS: Snoop's emergence as a genial TV host is made possible because we've kind of forgiven him for his past as a self-professed pimp and hustler. That history now informs Snoop Dogg's distinctive TV presence - genial but with a dangerous past. He's a lovable, roguish ambassador - an entertaining bridge between youth culture and the straight-laced world of game shows and Martha Stewart that few could have predicted back when he was slinging rhymes on Death Row Records. I'm Eric Deggans.
(SOUNDBITE OF DR. DRE & SNOOP DOGG'S "NUTHIN' BUT A 'G' THANG") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.