Say your final farewells now, for it will be a while before the boys are back in town. HBO’s acclaimed program ‘Entourage,’ which follows the career of fictional actor Vincent Chase and his best friends, wrapped up its sixth season last night. While Vince, Eric, Drama and Turtle will be back for a seventh season, the wait for its arrival will be just as painful as assisting Vince’s agent, Ari Gold (a multiple Emmy Award-winning performance by Jeremy Piven). In order to make the wait seem a little shorter, here are the top five episodes from the first five seasons that will make you say ‘Yeah, yeah.’

‘The Script and The Sherpa’

Episode five, Season one

In this episode, Vince struggles between pleasing his girlfriend and his friends as each tries to give him their contrasting opinions on which new movie he should take a role in. It’s rather relatable material, as many guys wage an internal battle to please their buddies or their girlfriend. However, the episode doesn’t become memorable until Val Kilmer makes a hilarious guest appearance as ‘The Sherpa,’ a burned-out hippie who, not surprisingly, has the largest supply of marijuana in California during a drought. The interactions between Kilmer and the rest of the cast are nothing short of hilarious as Kilmer takes the role of the stoner-hippie to a level that rivals Cheech and Chong.

‘The Bat Mitzvah’

Episode 18, Season two

While this episode lacks any real guest star power, the main cast is more than capable of delivering all of the laughs. Panic arrives at Ari Gold’s door when his retired boss, Terrance McQuewick, wishes to steal Vince as a client. However, this is just another opportunity for Ari Gold to prove yet again what a delightful jerk he is. He pawns off his own daughter to Vince during her Bat Mitzvah in order to shield Vince from any proposals Terrance might spring out. Turtle and Johnny Drama stay true to form as the laughable idiots, delivering quote-worthy one-liners as they get stoned to take advantage of the Bat Mitzvah feast.

‘Vegas Baby, Vegas!’

Episode 31, Season three

The boys decide to escape from the madness that is Hollywood and spend a relaxing weekend in Vegas. As recent movies like ‘The Hangover’ tell us, nothing ever turns out as perfect as they hope, much to the audience’s advantage. Turtle convinces Vince to judge a beauty contest for a hefty sum of money, only to find out that the so-called ‘beauty’ competition is actually a stripping contest – which can hurt an actor’s public image. Meanwhile, the gang keeps running into guest star Seth Green and his ‘evil entourage.’ Seth keeps taunting Eric, suggesting that he and Eric’s girlfriend once shared a particularly steamy night together. These random confrontations erupt into a battle of the entourages, and quite possibly one of Johnny Drama’s best moments in the whole season. The actors and creators of ‘Entourage’ have often said that this is one of their favorite episodes, which comes as no surprise.

‘Sorry, Harvey’

Episode 46, Season four In order to save Vince’s new movie ‘Medellin’ from the psychotic director Billy Walsh, Eric goes behind the group’s back and attempts to sell the movie to an equally psychotic and enraged producer, Harvey Weingard. When the group discovers this and forbids Eric to sell the movie after he’s already promised it to Harvey, Eric must concoct a way to break the bad news to a man who does not take bad news very well. Harvey’s character is a gruff, impatient time bomb that makes you hold your breath as you anxiously wait for him to explode. Over in Ari’s world, director M. Night Shyamalan gives Ari the script for his latest movie, as well as a one-night deadline to read the entire screenplay. Ari must overcome hurdles that range from engagement dinners, to a bag of sex toys and yes, even a little jail time.

‘Tree Trippers’

Episode 59, Season five

As Vince finds himself at a major crossroad within his acting career, Drama decides the best possible way to make the tough decision is to trip on mushrooms while roaming the desert. After dragging along a reluctant Ari and enlisting the funghi of Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), the boys from Queens embark on an epic quest in search for the truth. Naturally, the best moments of the episode are seeing how each character reacts to the magical mushrooms. Vince looks for signs, Eric’s ‘mouth won’t talk’ and Ari’s hands are huge. Ari’s assistant, Lloyd, uses Ari’s night out as an opportunity to host his unique version of ‘game night’ at the Gold residence. Needless to say, hosting parties at an employer’s house only ends in tragedy…or in this case, comedy.

ansteinb@syr.edu

Published on October 4, 2009 at 12:00 pm