Your First Face to Face Meeting....

[TimK2003]

I am pretty sure that most on this forum have had the opportunity to meet a famous game show person or to have seen a show taping in person.

What show, or who did you first meet in the game show realm?  Was it planned, or did you just happen to see them in passing at the airport?  Did you get to talking with them?  What was your impressions?  

My first encounter was in 1987.  I had gone on Spring Break to L.A.  While there I got tickets to see Super Password which was taping at NBC Burbank.  I don't remember who were the celebs (B-list that day), but officially, the first 'official' person I saw was Gene Wood.

He warmed up the audience, was very personable, and took time to answer all the audience questions.  He also had some games that we played between the tapings, and nearly everyone who participated got a few bucks.

What was cool out of this first encounter was how easy it was to talk to him when the tapings wrapped up.  I stopped to talk to him for nearly 15 minutes after the audience was allowed to leave, and had asked if I could interview him on my college radio station.  Not only did he oblige, but he gave me his phone number and mailing address to get in touch with him as if he was just a lowly stagehand -- no big deal and no hesitation.

When we did the on-air interview, he was just as cordial & friendly as if he was right there in the studio with us.

Bert was also pretty fun to see as host, but he wasn't as personable as I thought he'd be when the camera was off.  Perhaps the B-listers were part of the problem.

I had also seen Rich Jeffries running around in the audience getting people to applaud, ooh & ahh at the right time.

[zachhoran]

Regis on 8/24/1999. Regis actually did two run through hot seat questions with each contestant at the time. He seemed nice enough, and seemed to keep it as cool as possible during the stopdowns that occurred during Schutterley's $500K run(the answer to a question was challenged by Mike IIRC). Besides that, Randy W. and Mark L. Walberg on 9/20/2004 at TPiR Live in AC. I met Jeff Trachta on the 8/16/2004 show of TPiR Live in AC, but don't consider him enough of a game show celeb(Daniel Rosen left the premises when it came time to greet the audience and do autographs post-show). Of course we know how great Randy and Mark L. are, as has been mentioned by many people here.

[Jimmy Owen]

Let's see.  Because I worked as a camera operator on a local TV talk show in Michigan, I got to meet a number of celebs passing though town.  It was probably a tie between Polly Bergen and Peter Lind Hayes (host of "Alumni Fun") around 1979.  Both were very nice to me and I was especially awestruck with Polly.  The problem is, when I met them, I was unaware that they were associated with game shows, so I will add a couple of others, as follows....

While in radio in Ohio around 89 or so, I met Soupy Sales (at two different times) and Ray Combs.  Ray was appearing at a department store in Toledo doing a live in-store "Feud" game.  Both gentlemen were very nice to me and I have a autographed photo to me from Ray.  Didn't get to spend much time talking but enjoyed meeting these folks.

[TonicBH]

I believe around 1998-1999, I got to meet Mark Cohen of "Make Me Laugh" fame, doing a local version in Portland.

That's as close as I've gotten to a "Game Show" personality thus far.

[GSWitch]

I've met about 4.

CHARLIE O'DONNEL:  When Wheel came to Houston.  I told him that when I play the home version, my cousin calls me a CHEATER!!!  Charlie told me they don't allow cheaters!

STEVEN SAUNDERS:  Met him after he did Pyramid auditions held @ a mall in Frisco, Texas.  I told him that I remember him a long time ago from "Secrets of The Cryptkeepers Haunted Mansion".

WILLIE AAMES:  Met him @ a church when he had his Bibleman show.  While getting an autograph, I mentioned 8 Is Enough, his singing career, his wife use to be on a Saturday morning series, as well as him hosting The Krypton Factor (1990).

MARIO LOPEZ:  Future Masters of the Maze/America's Most Talented Kid (NBC) host.  I met Mario @ a San Antonio mall in 1991.  He was very kind enough to play my snare drum, autograph my snare head & take a pic with me.  I got the funds from winning $475 @ bingo.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Jan 3 2005, 06:34 PM\']I am pretty sure that most on this forum have had the opportunity to meet a famous game show person or to have seen a show taping in person.

What show, or who did you first meet in the game show realm?  Was it planned, or did you just happen to see them in passing at the airport?  Did you get to talking with them?  What was your impressions? 

[snapback]69718[/snapback]

[/quote]
Well, there was the time that John Davidson hugged me.  

Details here (not for the squeamish).

Doug -- and the countdown to 900 continues

[JayC]

I went to a taping of What Would You Do? in 1992 (I think), but I wasn't called on stage (a kid right in front of me was though!)  Also, I went to a taping of Wheel in 1999, and I was pretty close to Pat and Vanna for about maybe 2 seconds when everyone was exiting.

[BrandonFG]

In December 1993, Nickelodeon Live came to Norfolk, and I "met" Phil Moore ("Nick Arcade" host), by answering a question regarding the commentator on "Guts" (Moira Quirk). I say met because all he did was place a microphone in front of me for the answer.

He did give me a Nickelodeon hat though. :-)

And this doesn't count as a meeting, but when I was in NYC, I walked past Frank Nicotero doing a Street Smarts segment. Being in a rush, I couldn't watch much of the segment, or better yet, talk to Frank. However, I can say that he's a pretty funny person, and very short. ;-)

[Matt Ottinger]

1973, on a trip to New York City, I got to see a taping of The $10,000 Pyramid.  Afterwards, the only celebrity who stuck around to sign autographs was announcer Bob Clayton.  He was impressed that the kid -- who was technically too young to be at the taping -- remembered his days as the Concentration host.

Dozens since then.

[Jay Temple]

Only one:  Vicki Lawrence, October 1986.  She was making public appearances to promote union membership.  I got her autograph and we exchanged a sentence or two about Pyramid.

[SamJ93]

Back in 1996 or so I met "Carmen Sandiego" host Greg Lee at a show "brunch" held at my local mall.  Greg came out, took questions from the crowd and I believe played a brief mock game with a few people from the audience (I was 11 at the time so memories are a little hazy).  I got his autograph afterward; he seemed quite friendly and personable, from what I can recall.

--Sam

[MikeK]

The first in-person experience with a local host was Paul Tapie, former host of the Ohio Lottery's game show, at a Cleveland Indians convention in 1993.  Among national game show hosts, the first one I met was Dick Enberg in 1994.

[mystery7]

Wonder if TPiR Live visits count. Rady West had enough stories to keep us in Atlantic City from the end of September 'til April.

Mark Walberg couldn't stay very long, but it was extremely cool of him to come by and hang with us while he could. He's very witty and down-to-earth. Not too different from the Mark you see on On The Cover.

[Steve McClellan]

I'm dating myself here, but the first non-local-show host I had the opportunity to speak to was Todd Newton, when the Get Schooled Tour came to Pittsburgh on 4/22/03. Really nice guy; spent a lot of time fielding questions from the game show fanatics present.

(Others that I have very positive memories of conversing with include Kurt Long, Donny Osmond---who noticed me merely as a repeat Pyramid audience member---and Meredith Vieira.)

[chris319]

In August 1975 I paid a visit to TPIR to see Marc Breslow directing the show. During a break in rehearsal, who should step into the booth but Janice Pennington!