Tough Hosting Jobs

[The Pyramids]

Past or present, what do you think is the hardest hosting job there is? I say then & now its \'Let\'s Make a Deal\'. Wayne Brady is underrated in my opinion. 

[Vahan_Nisanian]

The Price is Right, with all the people who have hosted it since 1972, including Doug Davidson. Because for one thing, you gotta memorize all the pricing games they have on rotation.

[BrandonFG]

I second TPiR for the game memorization. I mean, most of us know the games, but how many would be able to remember them at the drop of a dime, then explain them to a contestant in 15 seconds or less, as Bob/Dennis/Tom/Doug/Drew have had to do?

 

Honorable mention: I always admired Jim Perry for his near-flawless execution on $ale, particularly the rapid-fire speed rounds.

[TLEberle]

I second TPiR for the game memorization. I mean, most of us know the games, but how many would be able to remember them at the drop of a dime, then explain them to a contestant in 15 seconds or less, as Bob/Dennis/Tom/Doug/Drew have had to do?

How short a time span would you give me?

[DoorNumberFour]

Family Feud. That\'s a show that takes a special kind of host...one that can be into the game and entertaining/witty just enough without being a camera hog.

[TLEberle]

Past or present, what do you think is the hardest hosting job there is? I say then & now its \'Let\'s Make a Deal\'. Wayne Brady is underrated in my opinion.

I disagree that Wayne is underrated; I think he is ill suited for the gig. Furthermore, I think he and Drew are in exactly the wrong positions.

[BrandonFG]

 

I second TPiR for the game memorization. I mean, most of us know the games, but how many would be able to remember them at the drop of a dime, then explain them to a contestant in 15 seconds or less, as Bob/Dennis/Tom/Doug/Drew have had to do?

How short a time span would you give me?

How many active games are there? I think back to the blog I read interviewing Roger Dobkowitz, where the initial plan was to give Drew the more popular games first, then a few per week, to the point of where he knew about 30 or so.

 

To answer your question, if anything, a few months maybe (six at most)? Like I said, a lot of us are more familiar than Drew is (was?). I think it would be an issue of getting the wording right. I know how to play One Away, but explaining it to the contestant off the top of my head is easier said than done. Then there\'s the vocal inflections...

[Kevin Prather]

 

Past or present, what do you think is the hardest hosting job there is? I say then & now its \'Let\'s Make a Deal\'. Wayne Brady is underrated in my opinion.

I disagree that Wayne is underrated; I think he is ill suited for the gig. Furthermore, I think he and Drew are in exactly the wrong positions.

 

Are you saying they\'d do well on each other\'s shows?

[TLEberle]

Not necessarily well, but certainly better.

[Mr. Armadillo]

How many active games are there?

 

 

Seventy-two, give or take.

 

I think back to the blog I read interviewing Roger Dobkowitz, where the initial plan was to give Drew the more popular games first, then a few per week, to the point of where he knew about 30 or so.

 

 

Close.  The first taping week, they taped shows using a total of seven games - if I recall, four of the lineups were identical, and the other two had one game swap out for another (for less frequent stuff like Golden Road that they didn\'t want to play six times in a row).  They repeated this for four more weeks, then shuffled everything about on the air schedule so we didn\'t see repeating pricing games in a week on the air.

 

After that, they slowly added in the other 40 or so games at a rate of a couple per week or so.

[DrBear]

First, you have to define toughest. Now, overall, \"I\'ve Got a Secret\" seems to be easy - be a friendly host, know which panelist you\'re starting with. But add in the stunts the host did, some of them with a legitimate amount of risk, and that gets very tough.

 

Granted, that\'s an exceptional way of looking at it. I think the goal here is \"which show required the most overall work by the host?\" Given that qualification, yes, TPIR would seem to be tops - if you are new at it, or Drew at it. I\'m sure it was tougher for Barker in the first few years, but after he got the games down, he was able to concentrate on interactions with the contestants - something he put on autopilot in the later years, and something Carey is inconsistent at. I agree Brady might work better on TPIR - he\'s sharp enough to pick things up and works very well with the contestants, For LMAD, you have to have that patina of the sharpie salesman, something Monty Hall did very, VERY well.

 

You could also say that the games that are toughest for the host are those that require the host to take an active part in the game, as Hall/Brady would do in trying to convince and confuse the contestant. Consider \"The Newlywed Game\" - the host is not only there to ask the questions, but perhaps nudge the contestants into embarassing themselves, something Bob Eubanks did ... you get the idea.

 

Now, that doesn\'t mean a host who just stands/sits there and asks questions doesn\'t have a tough job and a key role in interacting with the contestants/panelists. That\'s what made Cullen the master - teasing the contestants, joking about the game, and generally lending a friendly aura. Or \"What\'s My Line?\" Being younger when it first ran, and not as educated, I never realized how much humor John Daly\'s obtuse \"clarifications\" added to the show.

 

And then there\'s knowing when to step out - Peter Marshall running the Squares, not as a funny man but as Mr. Setup.

 

Each show required unique talents - IGAS to play along with stunts, WML to be the wise misleader, TPIR/LMAD to keep a contestant who is about to lose his/her water somewhat focused on the game but still excited and do so with a variety of approaches, \"Malcolm\" to interact with a puppet.

 

Having thus confused the issue, I withdraw.  (Now if you ask me what is the toughest job for a sportscaster, I will nail that one - horse racing.)

[Jeremy Nelson]

I say it\'s Jeopardy- flawlessly reading 61 clues at a steady pace while recognizing contestants every 7 seconds is a feat to me having seen  my fair share of quiz bowl moderators.

[Jimmy Owen]

I think the buzzer-beater shows (my favorite sub-genre) are tough to host.  Also any show that involves quick mathematics (Monty\'s LMAD and Wizard of Odds.)  From what I understand, Alex Trebek as a Canadian, got the job on WoO because the US-based hosts weren\'t able to do the math fast enough. Without question, TPIR and the AudPar shows (TorC) are also tough to host. 

[Matt Ottinger]

I say it\'s Jeopardy- flawlessly reading 61 clues at a steady pace while recognizing contestants every 7 seconds is a feat to me having seen  my fair share of quiz bowl moderators.

[Matt Ottinger]

For the record, Alex is good, but he\'s not that good.  The reason it looks like he reads 61 clues \"flawlessly\" is because after each show, they re-record anything they aren\'t absolutely perfectly happy with.