You have to love when a host of a show admits he was hammered more than once during tapings. Pat Sajak gave an interview on ESPN and admitted that he had been drunk several times when hosting early episodes of the show. Apparently they had a two hour dinner break in between tapings so Pat and Vanna would go "have two or three or six [margaritas] and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet. I had a great time. I have no idea if the shows were any good, but no one said anything, so I guess I did okay."
I doubt anyone could even notice. I am more shocked that Vanna actually went out to dinner with him to hang out than I am that he actually got drunk.
Yawn
ReplyDeleteRemember the early days when you had to use the money to buy prizes from the showcase? Anyone?
ReplyDeleteI dunno... if my career had consisted of 30+ years of watching that wheel go around and around and around, I'd probably drink a few too...lol.
ReplyDeleteLol...good for him.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great job!
ReplyDeleteif i had to do that job for as long as he has i would be drunk too.
ReplyDeleteSeachica -- yup, lol
ReplyDelete@seachica - yes!
ReplyDelete^I haven't watched since, lol.
ReplyDeleteSo do Pat and Vanna hate each other?
ReplyDeleteI'm a nerd who watches Jeopardy most nights and Wheel of Fortune comes on afterwards. I always change it, but last night I was doing something when it began. I hear the host say one of the contestants names and I look up....sure enough, it was this girl Precious that I used to work with 10 years ago. She won a car and something else...good for her!
ReplyDeleteSeachica, yes--and they always spent the last $100 on a porcelain dalamatian or something like that.
ReplyDeleteI remember that too and thought what if they didn't want any of that junk?
ReplyDeleteMeh, mix it up some nights ;) Sounds fun to me!
ReplyDeleteWho could hate these two crazy kids? It happened way back in the 80s apparently. So fucking what.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college, Wheel came thru looking for college kids for "College Week". One girl in my apt complex was selected.
ReplyDeleteWhen she hit Bankrupt, in her very deep Southern drawl, said "Shit". But in the South, it's pronounced "Shhheeee at". It didn't get censored.
Loved that ceramic dalmatian! Still refer to it on occasion. And I'm sure Pat & Vanna being hammered only made things more fun!
ReplyDeleteI think the only way to make that show fun is to do it a little tipsy. would totally enhance my viewing experience. : )
ReplyDeleteHe must have been hammered when he bought that hair.
ReplyDeleteLOL....so glad that so many of us remember the shame of the final $$s and those ugly ass prizes they had to pick.
ReplyDeleteNow I'll go back further in time. Anyone Pat Sajak when he was a weatherman on LA news, before his Wheel gig?
I was a little leery when I saw Pat Sajak was a trending topic on Twitter this morning (b/c in some cases that means someone is dead), but thankfully, it was just everyone talking about Patty & Vanna getting hosed on margaritas. This story kind of made my day.
ReplyDeleteSeachica, I remember that! Those "prizes" were mostly junk and wayyyy overpriced.
ReplyDeleteI met Fannie Flagg at a book signing a few years ago and talked to her about her days on "The Match Game" back in the early to mid 70s. She said those were very, very fun to do and involved lots of booze on the lunch break. If you watch the old reruns on GSN you can definitely tell which ones were taped after the lunch break!
Is this where "Vanna" comes from? Like, if I'm in team meeting and my manager asks me to handle the slides on the projector, and she calls me Vanna when it's time to switch? :D
ReplyDeletelol maja - yes! Did you not know that honestly? I'm laughing so hard at you wondering wtf "Vanna" was about all this time.
ReplyDeleteRJ, there were some wild Match Game shows. I think Gene Rayburn knocked a few back too.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Pat was L.A. news guy. Also Bryant Gumbel.
Hell, I watched Wheel BFV (before Vanna) with Susan Stafford. Wasn't Chuck Woolery the host?
Lol at the $100 ceramic dog.
ReplyDeleteMost of the old Hollywood Squares with Paul Lynde was filmed while they were all hammered. They filmed 5 shows in one night and were treated to an open bar to keep things loose.
Does anyone remember High Rollers with Alex Trebek and Ruta Lee? It was craps with giant dice. He also did one called Window Shopping which was set up like a mall on two levels with elevators.
ReplyDeleteI remember all of those Cheryl. They used to smoke and drink while they were taping the Match Game! I think that show had TVs first openly gay man. Charles Nelson Riley! At the time we just thought it was a character he played.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, Ruta Lee? Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while.
ReplyDeleteYears ago a friend lent me a really juicy book written by a couple of Hollywood groupies. In it was mentioned Vanna White and her predilection for coffee enemas. That book sure had some good stuff. By the time the book made the rounds of all of our friends the binding was cracked and pages were falling out. I wish I could remember the title. (It wasn't one of the Des Barres books.)
ReplyDeleteThere is a game show channel here (maybe it's everywhere, I don't know, I only know that it's terrible) and sometimes you can catch some old, really shitty Canadian game shows. I say Canadian because the prizes are worth less than the change in your couch cushions. Everyone on it has high wasted tapered light blue jeans and frizzy lady-mullets. It's hilarious for two minutes and then it becomes the worst thing ever.
ReplyDeleteThere are too many specialty channels.
It was indeed noticeable. More in Pat than Vanna, because she didn't talk as much. He'd get a little too happy. It certainly didn't cause anyone any harm. Not like when I worked at a park in high school, and our park director used to get drunk over dinner break. Dude, you were supervising a bunch of kids!
ReplyDeleteAnita_mark, I love that channel! I can't get enough of "The Mad Dash"!
ReplyDeleteThat was a game show taped in Montreal in the '70's and it was a giant board game played with two sets of couples (one rolled the dice and the other moved). The prizes they gave away were fantastic-- a Brother typewriter!
I miss the Game Show Network though, because I am an absolute Match Game fanatic. Maybe the double-entendres made an impression on a young mind rushing home from school in time to catch it many moons ago.
I imagine the afterlife is a giant Match Game panel, and your entrance to Heaven will depend on how many panel members will match your answers.
@Goggles, yes, that show and the one in the grocery store are the two I always see. So bad.
ReplyDeleteDon't laugh at me! I had no idea...we didn't have this show in Sweden *L*
ReplyDelete