Cindy Crawford hangs out with actor Denis Leary in Hawaii in 1992.
Photo: MTV
Season: 4 Episode: 14
Title: Swimsuit Edition
Original Airdate: 4/29/92
Appearances: Denis Leary, Niki Taylor
POP CULTURE AND FASHION: CINDY CRAWFORD DRAGS DENIS LEARY TO HAWAII
What's better than a throwing a cranky Denis Leary into the Hawaiian surf with Cindy Crawford? Getting a cranky—and pale—Denis Leary to hop into swim trunks, go boogie boarding (unsuccessfully) and then climb onstage with Don Ho to warble "Tiny Bubbles" to a crowd. This was waaaaay before Leary was in movies and the FX fireman drama Rescue Me, and just after he wrapped his three-year writing/acting gig at MTV's game show Remote Control, on which he played Keith Richards and Andy Warhol in a number of skits. Remote Control was the channel's first non-musical program, and launched the careers of comedians Colin Quinn and Adam Sandler.
This segment was clearly aimed at broadening the show's audience by enlisting the Boston comedian (who had, by that point, already deployed his high-speed ranting in MTV television commercials) to undertake touristy activities with our host. Leary might not have been so obliging a year later, when his stand-up album No Cure For Cancer came out and identified him with its signature song: "Asshole."
+ WATCH CINDY CRAWFORD AND DENIS LEARY
RISE OF THE SUPERMODEL: NIKI TAYLOR'S 'VOGUE' SHOOT
Model Niki Taylor at her American 'Vogue' shoot in Miami in 1992.
Photo: MTV
If you were in high school in the early '90s, 16-year-old Niki Taylor was one of the more relatable models. Sure, we're on the set of her Vogue shoot, and of course she's tall, thin and blonde but at the time, Niki was still attending high school in Florida and aspired to be a marine biologist (not unlike every 16-year-old in 1992. Ed note: What was it with marine biology and the '90s?).
These days, it's entirely typical for coltish 13-year-olds to get plucked from obscurity from tiny Eastern European villages to travel the world with their moms, but with Niki, modeling was a hobby before it became a career. Even when adults like Vogue Fashion Editor Elizabeth Saltzman talk about how well Niki will do, provided she "doesn't get caught up in the fashion world," you have faith that Niki's sweetness will keep her on the straight and narrow. This is our most young and American (and in some ways the most reality TV-like) segment so far.
I remember adoring Niki, a familiar face in a slew of teen magazines even if she was a little milquetoast for models back then. She just seemed like a lovely girl with good genes and after her younger sister Krissy joined the modeling fold and was just as pretty and humble, I enjoyed seeing them walk and do shoots together. It was shocking when 17-year-old Krissy overdosed on an asthma inhaler and died from complications due to what was discovered to be a rare heart condition on July 5, 1995. There were multiple news stories on the side effects of over-the-counter medications containing epinephrine and it was tragic and scary that a life was cut short not by drugs or reckless behavior but by something that could've happened to anyone. It was just another way–a terrible way–that these girls were so relatable.
+ WATCH NIKI TAYLOR FOR 'VOGUE'
+ CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS FROM EPISODE 14
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