MacGyver references Leroy Jenkins with Russ Taylor — who is he?
After Friday’s night episode of MacGyver some pressing questions were…. who is Leroy Jenkins and why did Russ Taylor yell out his name?…. in what proved to be the scene viewers were left talking and chuckling about.
Thank you Matt Carter for this article and explanation!
MacGyver February 15, 2020
“Friday night’s MacGyver came prepared with a number of great moments … and then also quite possibly the most entertaining reference out there.
Over the past couple of episodes, we’ve learned a couple of different things about Russ Taylor — he’s got a lot of super-spy skills, a good bit of wealth, and also recognizes patterns in just about everything. He also happens to be a big-time player of World of Warcraft.
In what has to be one of the most delightful moments of the episode, Henry Ian Cusick’s character sprung into action with a “Leroy Jenkins” battle cry. We’re sure that for many fans of the show, this is a joke that went right over their head. For diehard gamers, it’s a callback to one of the greatest moments in history. Leroy Jenkins is known for an extremely-viral World of Warcraft meme where a player shouted this while also storming into the field of battle … screwing over just about everyone in his party at the same time. It was reckless, but the end result of it (other players complaining after the fact) was hilarious. It remains to this day one of the funniest moments in gaming since so many of us have all been in that position. (You don’t want your entire mission to be ruined by one gamer going rogue!)
If you want to watch the original video, you can do so over here. (Technically, we should note that the character’s name is Leeroy … not that anyone would know to spell it that way in advance.)
Is there a chance that we could see this again later? There’s a pretty good case to be made for it. Of course, we’d also argue that there’s a pretty good case for the show to just use different memes almost any time that Russ goes into battle. It’s a great quirk for a character who brings SUCH a different energy to the show. “
*Don’t miss a new episode of MacGyver Friday night on CBS at 8/7c.*
