Of all the pregame and postgame shows on these days, one of the more entertaining ones to watch is Inside the NBA on TNT as Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Shaq and Charles Barkley make for some great basketball banter. They also make for some bizarre moments, kind of like the one we saw on Thursday night in which everyone except Barkley busted out into an impromptu jam session live on air.
As video replay shows, Barkley is the only person in America not amused by this.
We’ve come to expect these sort sod outbursts from Inside the NBA and it’s part of what keeps the show fresh. Barkley is usually the kid too cool for school and hardly ever partakes in the shenanigans the rest of the crew routinely get into to liven things up on set.
Barkley’s utter refusal to every stoop to a lower level helps keep things balanced an also helps us laugh harder at whatever weird situation is going down. Barkley is the straight man in this comedy troupe of NBA commentators and while they’re all sometimes a little too goofy, Barkley brings it all back together with his deadpan expression anytime anything fun happens on the show.