From Standup Comic to Game Show Host: A TV Tradition

With the announcement that Drew Carey will be the new host of "The Price is Right" on CBS beginning this fall and Howie Mandel's current success on NBC's "Deal or No Deal," you might wonder if TV is moving in a new direction--the selection of comedians as game show hosts. Actually, it's been going on for years.

Although game show hosts are normally a breed unto themselves and most, including original "Price" host Bob Barker, never did standup, TV, from its earliest days, employed comedians to ask questions and give out prize money. Like Carey and Mandel, many are quick with a funny ad lib and know how to react fast while keeping their poise.

Johnny Carson, famed host of the "Tonight Show," was a comedian and magician a first. Those same skills led to his selection as host of "Who Do You Trust," a popular game show that hit the air in 1958. Even then he showed the unflappable demeanor which was his hallmark as a legendary talk show host.

And before Carson, there was Groucho Marx, whose contestant interviews and brash comments in the early 1950s made "You Bet Your Life" a memorable part of TV's Golden Age. No matter how outrageous the answers by his contestant, Groucho could top them with an ad lib that had the studio audience laughing long and loud.

There are no doubt other comedians who successfully segued into talk show hosting (Louie Anderson on "Family Feud" and, before him, Ray Combs, for a couple of examples) but the point is there's nothing radical about Carey's new role. It's part of a time-tested tradition.

Posted by Barry Garron

Comments

[Bob]

I am hearing some great things about the Fall show called The Big Bang Theory on Mondays on CBS. The critics love it and think it is very,very funny. Everyone who has seen the pilot loves it. It comes from Two and Half Men's Chuck Lorre. This could be the next hit show. See clips from the show
here :

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory/

or see clips here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpdDG6BTQdw