The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Jimmy Owen on September 25, 2003, 10:57:33 AM
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Here's a fun question with these caveats (not Dick Caveat) :) How many game show hosts have you met? Here are the caveats: 1) The meeting could not be on the set of a game show. 2) The meeting could not be in New York City or Hollywood (Burbank included). I have met two.
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Chris Dickson brought this up on another thread, and I think it's a terrific question. Your caveats are a little restrictive, though. I certainly don't think merely *seeing* them at a game show taping counts as meeting them, but I think very few of us are going to have met too many hosts outside of their native habitat.
I worked with Greg Lee when he was doing a promotional tour for Carmen Sandiego and we were getting QuizBusters off the ground. He's the only one I've met outside of Southern California, but there are nine others I can come up with that I've spoken to (in most cases quite briefly).
Obviously, there are members of this forum who've met (and worked with) dozens. Randy, for example, has probably lost count.
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Might as well add my two cents. I've met four:
1. John Davidson (HSq8x, $100KP). Embarrassing story, but I might as well come clean. While touring in \"State Fair\", he made a promotional appearance in Chicago. I happened to get there a little late, and for whatever reason he decided to single me out and have a little fun with me--which ended with him hugging me. Twice. I'm terribly sorry. :)
2. Frank Nicotero (STREET SMARTS). He was doing his thing at Chicago's Navy Pier and I was watching. We chatted briefly about Sammy Sosa (Nicotero had been at Wrigley Field a couple of days earlier singing \"Take Me Out To The Ballgame\"--at least he was more intelligible than Ozzy).
3. Bobby Van (MML, SHOWOFFS and dare we mention FUN FACTORY). Again, another theatre tie-in. To celebrate my 12th birthday in 1977, my folks took me to see Van play Professor Harold Hill in \"The Music Man.\" Then, unbeknownst to me, my mother had arranged a backstage meeting. Super nice man--we lost him far too soon.
4. A stretch--but what the heck? Chris Berman (B&BSBOST). Saw him as he was coming up the ramp at Wrigley to work a Florida/Chi. Cubs game for ESPN (I'd heard rumblings that he wasn't the nicest guy in the world, but we chatted amiably for a moment before he did his broadcast).
Never met any of the biggies, though. Oh well. . .
Doug
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It was Chris' (Dickoon) post that inspired this one, I thought it got lost in the discussion on the other topic. Both of the gentlemen I met were in conjunction with my radio job, Ray Combs and Soupy Sales (JAAG). I also met Peter Lind Hayes, but he is not primarily known as a game show host. I will remove the caveats to spur discussion, but note if they were met on set.
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How was Ray Combs?
I've heard he was nice when he started Feud and it got worse as time went on.
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I've talked to Bob Barker and Chuck Woolery on the set. I've also stood next to Ray Combs while hosting Feud. I've been in the same room with Bob Eubanks, Jim Perry and Pat Sajak if you want to count them too. However..... my most formal meeting was with Tom Bergeron who I met while hosting People Are Talking in Boston.
John
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I've met three off the set...
1. Bob Eubanks. Only the briefest of hellos, just after he finished doing \"The Newlywed Game\" at a mall in Miami, Florida. (It wasn't aired... I think it was part of some promotional tour.)
2. John Davidson... backstage, after one of his \"Music Man\" performances here in Rochester. Still have the \"Zingers from the Hollywood Squares\" album he signed for me (on the back, but what the heck).
3. Marc Summers... at Fox News in New York, where he was promoting \"Unwrapped.\"
...and one on the set:
4. Johnny Gilbert, whom I met at the J! ToC tapings in Atlanta.
- David
EDIT: So I met Summers in NYC... wasn't on a game show set, at least. :-P
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I met Ray Combs in 1991 and he was very cordial to me. All the folks mentioned were very nice and fun to be with.
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[quote name=\'Skynet74\' date=\'Sep 25 2003, 12:26 PM\']However..... my most formal meeting was with Tom Bergeron who I met while hosting People Are Talking in Boston.
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You hosted \"People Are Talking\"? Why didn't you put that in your bio? :)
Doug
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Vicki Lawrence, a year or two before she hosted WLD, at a public appearance promoting union membership. She had an entry in a reference book I was compiling, and she autographed the page on which it appeared.
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I had forgotten Chris \"Shelley\" Berman; sat next to him for a few minutes at the Football Hall of Fame inductions a few years ago. So I guess there is one. I saw Bob \"Kevin\" Eubanks when he toured with Wheel of Fortune back in the mid-90s but didn't get to meet him.
No other hosts, but one producer: Henry Winkler (see post elsewhere on this board).
As far as panelists, I actually met Gretchen Wyler once; as it turns out, she's on TTTT coming up soon. A sweet lady who loves animals.
And this will probably get me put in the penalty box, but does meeting a member of the Clue Crew count? :)
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I met Graham Elwood at the GSN \"Get Schooled\" Tour at Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills in April. He signed my Spencer's Card with him on it and stood next to me for some photos. When I asked one of the workers if I could talk to him, the worker went and told him and he dropped everything to come talk. I was very surprised at how different he was off the set. He's a very nice man, and he seems to love his job. At the end of the show he was thanking GSN for giving him a job, I yelled \"IT'S A LOT BETTER THEN STRIP POKER RIGHT?\" and he laughed and was like \"Not that show!\" Hopefully I'll add those photos to my site soon.
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Off the set of a game show? That cuts things down a bit. Not that much, though. In roughly chronological order:
Anneka Rice: wagged little school for a day in about 1984 because my parents found out that Treasure Hunt (the one with helicopters, not the one with klunks) was being recorded semi-near. Half-counts because it was at a hotel after the show had finished taping and she was doing lots of photos for the local press; half-doesn't-count because the show doesn't have a set as such, being filmed around the gorgeous British countryside.
Carol Vorderman: attending the national final of a schools' science quiz, circa 1988. (My school made the final; I wasn't on the team.) She hadn't been a host in her own right at that point. Heck, she was such a relative unknown at that point that she wasn't even announced to the audience - she was just a supportive person who was interested enough to come along.
Nicholas Parsons, Bob Holness and Richard Whiteley: all came to speak at the Oxford Union, circa 1995, 1996 and 1997. Parsons got a fair crowd, was fairly disinterested and really only cared about plugging his book. Whiteley got a fairly packed crowd but was clearly very much going through the motions. Holness took questions for ever such a long time, but a shockingly tiny audience came to hear him. Really nice guy.
Tim Vine: first met him on set taping \"Whittle\", but two days after the episode with my most (ahem) striking appearance was broadcast, I bumped into him on Oxford Street in London. The super-cool thing was that I didn't recognise him, he recognised me. Damn, that's good. (David Bodycombe can back me up on this.) Also saw Tim do his stand-up comedy show here in town t'other month. He claimed to recognise me still, but I find this hard to believe.
Richard Whiteley and Jeremy Beadle: interviewed both of them at the seventh Mind Sports Olympiad for the daily bulletin I produced (http://\"http://www.msoworld.com/2003/bulletins/\"). (Whiteley: day 4, Beadle: day 9.) Whiteley phoned in his performance, again; Beadle was absolutely fantastic, a real diamond gent.
So, er, six and a half out of a total of eight.
Oh, hang on. I forgot about Ted Robbins, who I've only ever met on two game show sets: doing warm-up for University Challenge, then later hosting Chain Letters. Technically I can get to nine if I count Jeremy Paxman, met on the UC set, but I hardly swapped two sentences with him. I suppose Ray Cokes on the set of Wanted would just about be a tenth, then William G. Stewart behind the set of first-series Wanted because he was producing it at the time would be an eleventh...
Six and three-quarters out of a total of eleven. Fifty is well within my sight!
Chris
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I met Dick Goddard once during a J.R. and Lucy Ewing look-a-like contest at the Westgate mall in suburban Cleveland while Dallas was at its pique--the Who Shot J.R.? mystery was looming large at that time. Dick hosted the local version of Bowling for Dollars for a year and a half.
Over the phone, I've called Jim Lange and Charlie Tuna during their morning radio shows. The reason? Pure stargazing. Jim was really tickled that I was such a fan. I don't think Charlie believed that I was really calling L.A. from Cleveland, but he was kind to me anyway.
And I look forward to being Randy West's chauffeur when I'm in California in February. You'll recall that previously in this newsgroup, Randy said I could hang out with him for a day as long as I'm driving. If you're serious, my main man, you've got a deal. Can't wait to play dodge-em on the Los Angeles freeways.
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Lets see....
Dont know personally, but met and chatted with
Eubanks---backstage at wheel Live
Monty Hall--backstage at LMAD Live
Bob Barker--backstage at Price
Know
Pat Finn
Geoff Edwards
Jim Peck
Jack Narz
David Ruprecht
Thats all I can think of now...ALL GREAT guys!
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Hmmm....I met Gene Rayburn and Jon Bauman at the MG/HS Hour in '84 and I've seen but never actually met Peter Marshall, Bobby Van, Jim Lange, John Davidson, Wink Martindale, Robb Weller, and Jimmy Cefalo.
EDIT: Oops, I forgot Elaine Joyce and Pat Sajak.
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I've met:
Marc Summers (DD Roadshow, '89...I was 10 at the time, and was fortunate enough to be 10 min from a local mall that the tour stopped at)
J.D. Roth (Jan '99, my cable company was covering his \"Zooventure Live\" roadshow at the same mall, and I was interning w/them at the time)
Peter Marshall (HS book signing, NYC, Nov '02)
Chuck Barris (CoaDM book signing, NYC, Jan '03)
Todd Newton (GSN Get Schooled Tour, Philadelphia, May '03)
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")
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Oh yeah, thanks, had a meeting with JD Roth too...another cool dude
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Ignoring your parameters :-) I have personally met:
Regis Philbin (as a Contestant on WWTBAM)
Todd Newton (GSN Get Schooled in Los Angeles)
Donny Osmond (Pyramid City Sweeps in Laguna Hills and Miami)
Mark Richards (at the Game Show Congress 2)
Tim :-)
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I met and interview Chuck Woolery in Ashland, Kentucky(his hometown)which is right next door to me here in Huntington, West Virginia. They named a part of a street for him. I interviewed him for a radio station I worked for in nearby Greenup, Kentucky. He was getting ready to return to the \"All New Scrabble,\" which he said was probably \"going to be the same old crap.\"
I had Art Fleming on my radio show twice in 1979 & 1980 when he was here in Huntington to do the radio finals of \"College Bowl\" on the Marshall University campus. I got many pictures of him. He was a wonderful man. He helped critique a tape of mine from the high school quiz show I hosted called \"High Q,\" the high school version of \"College Bowl.\" I had him cut a :10 ID to use on one of my shows in 1979. He was great!
I met Pat Sajak in Columbus in 1980 when he did \"College Bowl\" on the OSU campus. I got his autograph. I told him I had driven 3 hours just to meet him. He was surprised I would drive so far. He was very kind.
I met Johnny Gilbert and got his autograph at the Million Dollar Masters Tournament at Radio City Music Hall. Again, a very kind man.
I had Soupy Sales on my radio show in 1980. We played a round of Pyramid. That was the first time he said he'd seen the home game. He said he had given away more money than any other celebrity at that time and he didn't even \"have a lousy home version of the Pyramid.\" He posed for many pictures and signed autographs.
I met game show announcer Alan Kalter at this past Labor Day's taping of Letterman. I was at the show and caught up with him outside afterwards and related that I had audio of him saying, \"This is Alan Kalter speaking for the Money Maze, a Daphne/Don Lipp Production.\" He was amazed and went on to tell me a delightful Money Maze story and thanked me for bringing back the memory. He posed for a pic with me.
I am very good friends with Chip Beall, former host of the Texaco Star National Academic Tournament in its Houston, Texas days at Channel 4 there. I have been a moderator at Chip's National Academic Tourney each year since 1988. I will be spending the Thanksgiving holiday with him and his wonderful family, now in Sandy, Utah, not too far from Chuck's Utah mansion.
My dream is to be a game show host on the national level, but being in West Virginia with lots of obligations doesn't help my dream. I was always hoping my \"connection\" with one of the aforementioned men would help. I've created 5 game shows and sent tapes of my work on \"High Q\" to all the biggies--to no avail. Not even the great Art Fleming was able to help me. I still have the dream.
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Hosts I have met on a game show set:
Jim Lange (as a NTT contestant in '84)
Michael Burger (in the audience of MG '98, and I got to kiss him!)
Hosts I have seen on a game show set but did not meet:
Peter Tomarken (PYL in 1985, I blew him a kiss from the back row!)
Bob Eubanks (CS in 1987)
Hosts I've talked to on the phone:
Mark Richards (when he had his 'radio game show party' at a station is Las Vegas in 1989)
Dave Hull (when he did morinngs at KRLA in 1992; BTW, he hosted Matchmaker in 1987, and no, we didn't talk about that show.)
Cordially,
Tammy Warner--the 'Carolyn White of the Big Board!'
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[quote name=\'Winkfan\' date=\'Sep 25 2003, 10:04 PM\'] Hosts I have met on a game show set:
Jim Lange (as a NTT contestant in '84)
Michael Burger (in the audience of MG '98, and I got to kiss him!)
Hosts I have seen on a game show set but did not meet:
Peter Tomarken (PYL in 1985, I blew him a kiss from the back row!)
Bob Eubanks (CS in 1987)
Hosts I've talked to on the phone:
Mark Richards (when he had his 'radio game show party' at a station is Las Vegas in 1989)
Dave Hull (when he did morinngs at KRLA in 1992; BTW, he hosted Matchmaker in 1987, and no, we didn't talk about that show.)[/quote]
I informally met Phil Moore. In December 1993, Nickelodeon did one of those Nick Arcade/Guts nationwide tours, and he was running through the audience to see who knew the name of the female commentator on Guts.
Guess who had the answer? :-)
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But where are all the stories about meeting Matt Ottinger?
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But where are all the stories about meeting Matt Ottinger?
They were in Burbank, so they don't count.
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[quote name=\'trainman\' date=\'Sep 25 2003, 11:33 PM\'] But where are all the stories about meeting Matt Ottinger? [/quote]
Ummmm...
He gave me a home game....
Ummmm...
(flees towards Quicksilver room)
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Sep 25 2003, 01:53 PM\'] [quote name=\'Skynet74\' date=\'Sep 25 2003, 12:26 PM\']However..... my most formal meeting was with Tom Bergeron who I met while hosting People Are Talking in Boston.
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You hosted "People Are Talking"? Why didn't you put that in your bio? :)
Doug [/quote]
I knew something didn't quite sound right with the way I worded that. :-)
John
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[quote name=\'jrjgames\' date=\'Sep 25 2003, 09:13 PM\'] Oh yeah, thanks, had a meeting with JD Roth too...another cool dude [/quote]
This is funny....... because I actually forgot that I met him too! He made an apperance at an Amusement Park in Rhode Island when he was host of Fun House. My ex girlfriend and I chatted with him a bit. Geez, He must be the most forgotton game show host on this board! :-)
P.S. Add Alex Trebek to my list too. I forgot that I met him and snapped a pic of him and my girlfriend together in the lobby of WBZ the day he was a guest on Tom Bergeron's talk show.
ya know.... this is starting to get real confusing. ;-)
John
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I only can count one - Pat Sharp, of Fun House (UK). He was nice enough to sit down with me for an interview in February 2002. Good guy, very down to earth.
And although it was on the set, I did meet Julien Lepers of \"Questions pour un champion\" when visiting Paris in Jan 2002 - and I still can't believe that I got a picture of my friends and I on the set with him!
I asked Bob a question in the audience of TPIR this summer... guess that doesn't count but frankly it was a dream come true!
Cheers,
Ryan :)
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I've met four GS hosts so far:
I met Marc Summers in spring '92 when he was doing the Double Dare live tour. I got to participate in a classic physical challenge where I got to throw the eggs and the other player had to catch them with cymbals. I received a \"Super Sloppy Double Dare\" T-shirt for that.
When I was vacationing in Orlando on January '98, I got to meet Alan Thicke (\"Pictionary\") and told him I tape almost every episode. That was when \"Pictionary\" did a taping in Universal Studios. That was the best vacation I ever went to.
In October 29, 1999 (two days prior to Halloween and my very first Internet experience) I went to American Bandstand Grill to meet America's Oldest Teenager himself, Dick Clark! I gave a copy of my picture of the Three Stooges performing on AB in the '60s. My so-called uncle, however, was a real pain in the butt and upset me real badly. Sadly, the AB grill does not exist in St. Louis.
Last year, I met Peter Marshall at Borders in Brentwood, MO for his \"Backstage with the Original Hollywood Square\" book. I asked him to sign my copy in the front cover and in the book flap (with my nickname) and he did. I also took a picture with him. Fellow GS webmaster and collector Joe Madigan (whose trading is put on hold due to college) was also there.
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So far, my count only holds up to Mark Cohen (Make Me Laugh). Around 1999-2000, MML was going to have a performance at a local Portland theater. Featured at the performance were some local Portland people (like Pete Schulberg and Darcell). The only comedian I remember there was this guy named \"The Mustard Man.\"
After the show, I got Cohen to sign my ticket with Mustard Man's pen, which we almost walked off with.
Yep, I meet a one-time host so far. since Portland isn't that well known, GSN hasn't stopped there for any special events... yet.
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The only GS host I've actually met was Alex Trebek, at a signing of \"The Jeopardy! Book.\" (Having accumulated a large number of baseball caps (but nowhere near AT's collection), I wore the most absurd one I own, the one with two small foam hands that clap together when you pull the attached string. I figured if he wanted it, I'd give it to him. He didn't want it. He also guessed (correctly) that I never wore it out in public. I lamely bluffed that I took it to sporting events. I did. Once.)
I did encounter Donny Osmond at the Seattle stop of the Pyramid City Sweep (which actually, I just now realized, was in the city of Tukwila.) His prep area for the City Sweep at the Southcenter Mall was the same hotel where the conventional auditions were being held. I had no chance to anything to him, for he was monopolized by a middle-aged woman who had to let him know she'd been in love with him since she was 8. I could just be projecting, but he seemed to have that \"Thank you for reminding me how old I am\" look in his eyes.
Esoteric Eric, who would probably do the same thing to Marie, since she was born five days after his now-gray-haired-and-balder-than-Colin-Mochrie countenance
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Just one. Wesley Eure, a native of South Mississippi.
Proof's here at http://www.dougmorris.net/scrapbook/weseure.jpg (http://\"http://www.dougmorris.net/scrapbook/weseure.jpg\")
He was in our neck of the woods on a book tour promoting his holiday tome for kids \"The Red Wings of Christmas\".
A couple of other game show personalities have come through here over the years...
\Vicki Lawrence: She was a keynote speaker at a women's life conference. But, as the name of the event implies, I wasn't permitted to attend.
\Fannie Flagg: Promoting her book that was a sequel to \"Fried Green Tomatoes\" (can't think of the title right now). Missed out on that because I was sick with the flu that day.
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How old is that photo?
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I'd met and got an autograph from Bob Eubanks when he hosted the Wheel of Fortune Live Tour.
I know Matt Ottinger very well, and still see him from time to time.
I was bummed when I missed out on meeting Dick Clark at his now closed AB Grill in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Though not a \"host, \" I also met Janice Pennington, and got an autographed paperback edition of her book in 1995.
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[quote name=\'Bob Zager\' date=\'Sep 30 2003, 10:53 AM\']
I was bummed when I missed out on meeting Dick Clark at his now closed AB Grill in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
[/quote]
Veering just the slightest bit off topic........Are all of the AB Grills closed now? I was dismayed to find in June when I was in King of Prussia for the Get Schooled! Tour that his restaurant there was closed...
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[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Sep 30 2003, 11:00 AM\']Veering just the slightest bit off topic........Are all of the AB Grills closed now? I was dismayed to find in June when I was in King of Prussia for the Get Schooled! Tour that his restaurant there was closed...[/quote]
Dick's own corporate web site (http://\"http://www.dickclarkproductions.com/html/restaurants.html\") indicates that the only remaining American Bandstand Grills/Bandstand--Food, Spirits & Fun are in the Kansas City area and at airports in Newark, Indianapolis, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.
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[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Sep 30 2003, 03:50 PM\'] Dick's own corporate web site (http://\"http://www.dickclarkproductions.com/html/restaurants.html\") indicates that the only remaining American Bandstand Grills/Bandstand--Food, Spirits & Fun are in the Kansas City area and at airports in Newark, Indianapolis, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. [/quote]
Wow...I'd have thought King of Prussia was one of the most safe, since it's so close to Philly, where AB was started..