Author Topic: Letterman and Concentration (Read 15110 times)

dmota104 · « **Reply #15 on:** August 17, 2005, 07:15:27 AM »

Dave's been known to inject a few game show references back in his NBC days -- including the aforementioned "not a match" and Allen Ludden's hand gesture showing the password "pinhead" on the screen.

My favorite game show-esque bit from the NBC days started when Dave read a letter from a viewer hoping to be a contestant on Family Feud (Combs version). The viewer wanted to recruit Dave and Paul Shaffer as teammates because the viewer considered the host and bandleader like family.

Dave asked Paul what he thought of the viewer and his request. Paul responded, "I think he's a bonehead."

Dave then said, "Show me 'bonehead'!"

Cue to video of a FF/CBS board with the 10 ten answers on the board. Immediately after Hal Gurnee, the director, starts rolling the video, the #1 answer of "bonehead" (sans what the survey said) flips over. The FF theme plays, the audience is cheering and Paul's jumping up and down. Seconds later, Paul and (I think) Will Lee, the bassist from the then World's Most Dangerous Band, place their hands on part of the set -- as if they're getting ready for the faceoff to start a new round.

The bit snowballed from there throughout the hour.

musicman · « **Reply #16 on:** August 17, 2005, 11:59:29 AM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 15 2005, 02:41 PM\']I wouldn't be surprised if Alan Kalter's game show background played at least some part in his hiring. They certainly riff on it often enough. "What are we playing for, Alan?"

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Alan Kalter WAS a subtitute announcer on the $20,000 pyramid, and Letterman WAS a celebrity on the same program.

I bet those two met and conspired to create the lamest talk-show in history.

tvwxman · « **Reply #17 on:** August 17, 2005, 12:18:34 PM »

[quote name=\'musicman\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 10:59 AM\'][quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Aug 15 2005, 02:41 PM\']I wouldn't be surprised if Alan Kalter's game show background played at least some part in his hiring. They certainly riff on it often enough. "What are we playing for, Alan?"

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Alan Kalter WAS a subtitute announcer on the $20,000 pyramid, and Letterman WAS a celebrity on the same program.

I bet those two met and conspired to create the lamest talk-show in history.

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You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding. 23 Posts and I can't tell. Please tell us you're kidding.

Don Howard · « **Reply #18 on:** August 17, 2005, 01:09:13 PM »

[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 11:18 AM\'][quote name=\'musicman\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 10:59 AM\']
Alan Kalter WAS a subtitute announcer on the $20,000 pyramid, and Letterman WAS a celebrity on the same program.
I bet those two met and conspired to create the lamest talk-show in history.

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You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding. 23 Posts and I can't tell. Please tell us you're kidding.

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Tough call. Let's go to the audience and post the odds.

PYLdude · « **Reply #19 on:** August 17, 2005, 01:44:21 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 01:09 PM\']Tough call. Let's go to the audience and post the odds.

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Anybody wanna ride the 99:1 that it's Karlberg in disguise?

But if you think about it, he might be right. Kalter and Letterman may have met on the set of the Pyramid, and they could have made a conspiracy. Of course, my name is not John Chartier.

The first thing that defeats the argument is the fact that Kalter didn't even start to work with Letterman until 1995, which would put around 20 years (can't say exactly how much, because I have never seen an episode of The $20,000 Pyramid) between that time and the debut of Big Red on the Late Show. (And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Bill Wendell the announcer before Kalter?)

As for musicman's crack that Letterman is the lamest talk show of all time: maybe Dave's not as good as he once was, but surely you can't honestly say that Dreammaker, Mark Walberg, Dr. Laura, The Howie Mandel Show, Donny & Marie, The Magic Hour, whatever the hell Carnie Wilson hosted, Jim Rome Is Burning, or anything else you can list is better than Dave. Give me a break, kid.

FOXSportsFan · « **Reply #20 on:** August 17, 2005, 02:09:24 PM »

Yeah Bill Wendell was the original announcer for Late Show and Late Night...I think he evens date back to The David Letterman Show on NBC. Of course, he and Kalter were announcers on TTTT and yadda yadda...

uncamark · « **Reply #21 on:** August 17, 2005, 02:15:54 PM »

By the time "Concentration" got to Bob Clayton, the "We'll finish this game in the studio..." line was a holdover from the live TV days, when they did finish the game after they went off the air--and perhaps when tape first came in, but they were still doing the show live, they taped the completion of the game and showed it the next day (while holding up set changes if the studio was going to be used for another show that day). By Clayton's tenure, they were taping multiple shows in a day and even though he'd say that, everyone would go back and change clothes and tape another show 10 minutes later.

But outside of self-designed logos, set repaints and other minor game or prize tweaks, Norm Blumenthal seemed to be resistant to almost any change--including host verbiage.

Steve Gavazzi · « **Reply #22 on:** August 17, 2005, 02:50:48 PM »

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 02:15 PM\']By the time "Concentration" got to Bob Clayton, the "We'll finish this game in the studio..." line was a holdover from the live TV days, when they did finish the game after they went off the air--and perhaps when tape first came in, but they were still doing the show live, they taped the completion of the game and showed it the next day...

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Maybe I'm missing something here...but does that mean that early on, parts of games never got broadcast or even recorded?

uncamark · « **Reply #23 on:** August 17, 2005, 02:58:02 PM »

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 01:50 PM\'][quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 02:15 PM\']By the time "Concentration" got to Bob Clayton, the "We'll finish this game in the studio..." line was a holdover from the live TV days, when they did finish the game after they went off the air--and perhaps when tape first came in, but they were still doing the show live, they taped the completion of the game and showed it the next day...

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Maybe I'm missing something here...but does that mean that early on, parts of games never got broadcast or even recorded?

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Very likely--I'm too young to remember, but I assume that in the days of live television and no taping, they'd finish up the game after going off the air and open the show the next day with Hugh introducing the winner, showing the puzzle and doing the prize plugs (perhaps having the board set to show where the puzzle was solved). They'd then go to a commercial and bring out the new challenger.

Convenient, just in case someone couldn't come back to 30 Rock the next day.

Adam Nedeff · « **Reply #24 on:** August 17, 2005, 04:17:06 PM »

[quote name=\'musicman\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 10:59 AM\']I bet those two met and conspired to create the lamest talk-show in history.

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Sorry, some of us appreciate Dave's ability to spin a five-minute yarn about going to a rodeo far more than we appreciate Jay Leno's, uh, comedy ("We picked a D-list comedian at random and sent him to a convention this weekend. Let's see what happened! After that, we'll be looking at items sold on Ebay without an actual punchline to the piece!")

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #25 on:** August 17, 2005, 06:04:58 PM »

I'm pretty sure that, upon moving to CBS in 1993, Dave conspired with the Family Feud folks to load a 12-answer board (or two) with offbeat answers, and film each of them being revealed. The first few months of the CBS run had Dave using the bit constantly. "Show me ham!" *ding*

(Dave dug it up as recently as a year or so ago with a "Show me Oprah!")

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #26 on:** August 17, 2005, 06:53:57 PM »

Paul also had some affinity for game shows. When Catherine O'Hara appeared a few years back, her entrance was accompanied by the theme from the Canadian "Party Game," on which they had apparently appeared. This led to an inquiry from Dave on how it was played, who was the host, etc.

musicman · « **Reply #27 on:** August 17, 2005, 08:22:22 PM »

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 03:17 PM\']Sorry, some of us appreciate Dave's ability to spin a five-minute yarn about going to a rodeo far more than we appreciate Jay Leno's, uh, comedy ("We picked a D-list comedian at random and sent him to a convention this weekend. Let's see what happened! After that, we'll be looking at items sold on Ebay without an actual punchline to the piece!")

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I am not a fan of "The Late Show", Dave's monologues are only four minutes long (Jay's is ten minutes long), none of what Dave does between the monologue and top-ten list is funny (except for funny edits of Bush). The only two things I look forward to on the Late Show are the top-ten lists and Alan Kalter getting beaten to a bloody pulp by either a person or the "Late Show Bear".

Would someone PLEASE beat Dave to a bloody pulp!? Preferably by the guy outside the Ed Sullivan theater always giving Dave the finger.

P.S. About Jay's "Stuff we found on EBAY", the final price and whether or not it was sold or not IS the punchline!

clemon79 · « **Reply #28 on:** August 17, 2005, 09:50:35 PM »

[quote name=\'musicman\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 05:22 PM\']P.S. About Jay's "Stuff we found on EBAY", the final price and whether or not it was sold or not IS the punchline!
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Shame it still isn't all that funny.

Don Howard · « **Reply #29 on:** August 17, 2005, 09:56:45 PM »

[quote name=\'musicman\' date=\'Aug 17 2005, 07:22 PM\']Would someone PLEASE beat Dave to a bloody pulp!?

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Start the clock now, please, while I tell Bill Rogers he may be introducing a new guest soon.