In Ramada Da Vida

Plot

Drew (Drew Carey) is tasked with entertaining some Vietnamese investors, who are thinking of opening a Winfred-Louder department store in Hanoi. During drinks at a Ramada Inn, Drew and his friends, Lewis Kiniski (Ryan Stiles) and Oswald Lee Harvey (Diedrich Bader), notice the house band is on a break and take to the stage to entertain the investors. The hotel's manager (Rick Scarry) enjoys their performance and asks them to play at the Inn for the rest of the week. Drew thinks it would be a distraction, but changes his mind when he meets Darcy, a groupie who finds him attractive. The guys audition for a guitar player and after turning down a number of guitarists, they hire Ed (Joe Walsh), believing that his skills will not show them up. Meanwhile, Drew's friend, Kate O'Brien (Christa Miller), tries to get herself fired as she hates her job. Drew allows Kate to quit, but promises that he will re-hire her if she cannot find another job in a week.

Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney) comes to the Inn to inform Drew that he is expected to appear at a party hosted by Mrs. Louder (Nan Martin), as they have closed the Vietnam deal. Mimi laughs at Drew when he chooses to skip the party and continue playing with the band. The hotel manager invites the Horndogs to become the Inn's new permanent house band, but Oswald and Lewis have to quit because they cannot handle having two jobs. When Drew's boss, Mr. Wick (Craig Ferguson), asks him to set up the new store in Vietnam, Drew decides to turn down the promotion to stay with the band, which continues with two new members. When Kate asks for her old job back, Drew breaks their deal, telling her that he wants her to find something she loves, like he has with his band.

Production

Carey first teased the plot of the episode on August 3, 1998 during an interview with Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Sun-Times. Carey mentioned that the episode would see his character holding auditions for his band and turning down a number of famous guitarists. A reporter for MTV.com said that various musicians had been approached to appear in the episode, including Lisa Loeb, Slash, Joey Ramone and Jonny Lang. Further details were released on August 15, when Carey confirmed that there would be a new musical number featured in the episode. He said, "it's something somebody did in the '80s that we're going to make a humorous version of. I can't tell you anything because it's not finalized, but it involves special effects and really cool music." It was later announced that James Gang musicians Joe Walsh, Jim Fox and Dale Peters would be guest starring in the episode as members of Drew's band. Commenting on his casting, Walsh said "I guess I'm going to see myself on television. I'm going to turn the sound down and pretend it's the Joe Walsh show with special guest Drew Carey."

"In Ramada Da Vida" was written by Clay Graham and directed by Gerry Cohen. It was filmed in Los Angeles during the week commencing August 24, 1998. The episode's plot sees Drew and his friends form a band to play at their local Ramada Inn, and hold auditions for a guitarist in Drew's back garden. The episode's theme tune sequence was replaced by an elaborate opening showing the characters repeating a series of "off-kilter office images". The guitarists and musicians that audition for the position in the band are Joey Ramone, Slash, Lisa Loab, Jonny Lang, Matthew Sweet, Dave Mustaine, Dusty Hill, Rick Nielsen, Roy Clark and Michael Stanley. Carey chose all of the musical guest stars himself. Ramone, who was better known for being a lead vocalist, relished the chance to play the guitar again and he was allowed to smash it up at the end of his scene. After his rejection, Ramone also improvised a line, which the crew found "hysterical". The episode also marked the first of five appearances by Drew's season four love interest Darcy, played by Pauley Perrette. Darcy was described as being "an ultra-hip and sexy rock groupie" by Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith from the Los Angeles Daily News.

Reception

In its original broadcast, "In Ramada Da Vida" finished 11th in the ratings for the week of September 28–October 4, 1998, with a Nielsen rating of 11.4, equivalent to approximately 11.3 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on ABC that week, following episodes of 20/20 and Home Improvement.

"In Ramada Da Vida" was chosen as a "highlight" for the day of September 30, 1998 by a reporter for The Washington Post. Steve Johnson from the Chicago Tribune enjoyed the episode, despite not having liked the sitcom previously. He thought the opening was "oddly poetic" and said that the episode went on to exhibit "the shaggy charm that others have tried to convince me is typical." Johnson also said there were better jokes than usual and Carey worked well with the plot. However, he maintained that he still disliked Mimi and the show was "no more than a pleasant distraction". The Sydney Morning Herald's Bruce Elder loved the opening minutes of the episode, saying "marvel either at the organisation that went into constructing this wonderful, one-shot piece of frippery or, more likely, at the computer technology which can create a seamless single scene which looks like a one-shot." Elder found that he could not watch the rest of the episode.

The Star Tribune's Neal Justin gave the episode three out of five stars, and commented that Walsh should have his own show as he was "hilarious", while the opening was "complex" and "neat". However, Justin thought the "vaudeville bits" and jokes were not good enough, and added "Carey's self-deprecating fat jokes and Mimi's outrageous wardrobe are starting to grow tired." MTV Hive's Kenneth Partridge included Ramone's appearance in the episode to his list of "Great Moments in Joey Ramone TV". Partridge noted that Ramone "displays some previously unseen guitar heroics" and thought that he "looks darn cool in his leather pants and Misfits t-shirt." Erin Whitney and Christopher Rudolph from The Huffington Post included "In Ramada Da Vida" in their feature on the "14 Musician Cameos That Stole The Spotlight On Your Favorite Shows". Whitney and Rudolph observed that "Slash is too good for them, they turn down Dusty Hill of ZZ Top for his beard, and Joey Ramone is just too tall and skinny."