- 1 year ago
Buzzy Cohen
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FunTranscript
00:00Our next guest is one of the more colorful characters through the years of contestants on Jeopardy.
00:06So much so, not only a Tournament of Champions winner, but they loved his personality so much, brought him into host.
00:12He's been hosting this week, the Tournament of Champions.
00:14He's been doing a great job.
00:152021.
00:16Buzzy Cohen is joining us.
00:19Buzzy, a good morning teaser.
00:21Hey, I got to ask you, man, how was it?
00:24I mean, you guys filmed these things in advance.
00:26Was it as surreal as you thought it might be, being up there, standing in Alex's place?
00:33Totally.
00:34It was like dreaming in a dream, you know?
00:39Like, it was so bizarre, but also so wonderful.
00:43It's always great to be back on that stage.
00:45I'm a fan first, you know?
00:47So anytime I get to be a part of the show, I'm absolutely stoked.
00:50But even on the first tape day, we taped five shows in a day.
00:54So the first week of shows we did in one day.
00:57Wow.
00:58On the lunch break of the first week, I just went out and, like, walked out on set just to, like, drink it in and, like, you know, have a moment by myself.
01:08Because you never get that, you know?
01:10You're always, like, when you're a contestant, you're always, like, in the green room, you're being shoveled off.
01:14And so I really tried to take advantage of that.
01:16And it was, you know, I was in Alex's green room.
01:20It was really connecting with him.
01:23It was amazing.
01:25Well, I have to say, first off, you've been doing a great job.
01:28I love to see people who excel.
01:30And, you know, Ken has done it.
01:32You guys are, you know, goat status.
01:35Ken, the goat, goat at this point.
01:36But still, you guys have, I think, a singular credibility when it comes to being up there and doing this.
01:43And the show is just so a, you know, you can tell.
01:47You are a fan.
01:48And if you were nervous, that didn't come through.
01:51What I do love is the knowledge, and you always sense this with Alex, that there is a wealth of knowledge behind the clue giver who can sort of accentuate a little bit of information that's being, you know, imparted throughout the show.
02:05As you're doing it, did you have that moment, though, in that where you're so overwhelmed, where you're like, oh, yeah, I'm actually running this thing.
02:12Like, you know, did you lapse into contestant mode for nanosecond or observer mode?
02:17Well, I, you know, I spent about four weeks getting prepared for this, and I had to totally, I watched a lot of Alex, and I had to totally change the way that I was watching the show to switch.
02:30So by the time we got there to the actual tape day, I had, like, my mentality had totally shifted.
02:36But one thing that I think it really helped me with is that being a contestant, I kind of understand the way you listen to the clues and hear the clues.
02:45Yes.
02:46So it helped me kind of understand where to kind of put a little more emphasis because, you know, like Alex, like, I want the contestants to get the questions.
02:55I'm not here trying to, like, trick them.
02:58Well, you know, there's a perfect example of that, and you make a good point.
03:02Last night there was a clue where this spotted dance, and it was polka.
03:09And I would not have known it other than the clue of spotted.
03:13I thought, oh, polka dots.
03:16And so, but that's the genius of the show.
03:18And then you asked it.
03:19Totally.
03:19I think you laid it in there.
03:22I got it.
03:23They didn't get it, but I got it.
03:25And that's what Alex did so brilliantly.
03:28Yeah.
03:28I think that what I, you know, his North, he is my North Star.
03:33And what he always did was, like, he was on the side of the contestants and the show, like, the integrity of the show.
03:39And so, that's whenever I have a, had a question about how to approach something, it was, like, how do I keep the integrity of the show strong, as strong as possible, and also make this enjoyable for the contestants.
03:51My Tournament of Champions was so fun.
03:53Yeah.
03:54And I just wanted to make sure that they were having a good time.
03:56For me, that was making sure that the taping and everything went as smoothly as possible.
04:01And so, I really wanted to, I really just wanted to do a great job, not just for myself, but also for them, and also for the fans.
04:09I wanted them to have a great Tournament of Champions.
04:11This is, like, a highlight of the year.
04:13Buzzy, was there anything that you discovered that you didn't realize that was one of Alex's responsibilities as host?
04:20Maybe that's kind of not even really even seen.
04:22It's just you have to be in that place to go, oh, yeah, he does this as well.
04:25Well, he, the thing that you realize when you start, because when you're getting ready as a contestant, you're sort of ignoring his reads in a way.
04:35You're reading the clues faster than him to try to figure out if you know it, and then just listening for him to finish.
04:40What I realized is every single clue that he is reading, he approaches, like, its own thing.
04:49He doesn't have, like, an Alex clue read.
04:51Every single clue is its own story.
04:54I don't know where that's going.
04:54It's not a marathon.
04:56It's 61 sprints.
04:58Each clue, like, he gave its own life.
05:02And that, to be able to do that and not just kind of, like, zone out and get into, like, okay, here's my clue read rhythm is incredible.
05:11And I think the other thing he did so well was he could pepper in little bits of color, like, just for fun, like, teasing, oh, you're out of the hole, blah, blah, blah.
05:20Doing that when you're in the moment and trying to track what clue is happening, all that is not easy.
05:26And, you know, I think what was amazing is how effortless he made the entire thing.
05:33Preston and I, and we've all discussed those little things, like, when the, good, like, encouraging somebody.
05:39That's right.
05:39Totally.
05:40Those little things which seem like, oh, what, what, what, that he's just simply conversing?
05:43That everyone can do that.
05:44No, no, no.
05:45To sort of finesse it in there and keep momentum because think about it, without that, you'd have these glacial pauses that, you know, that, that would really, would really resonate.
05:56But, but that forward momentum, and you're doing it well.
05:58You're doing a good job.
06:00And, and so, yeah, I mean, but it's, it's, that's why the show is, is the creme de la creme of game shows.
06:06I, I agree.
06:07And, and the other, like, little things, like, that I had to learn at the beginning, which was, like, saying, yes, correct, right, good.
06:13Not always just saying, yes, yes, yes, yes.
06:16By the way, when, the first time I did it, I just, like, you know, when I did a practice game on my own, it was, yes, yes, yes, yes.
06:22Because we don't think about changing it up, but as a viewer, it gets so boring when you, when you hear.
06:28So, so little things like that, that he just, because he'd been doing it for almost 40 years, it was just so second nature.
06:36As a radio show host, that's one of the things that I do.
06:39So I'm glad other people are finally picking up on that.
06:42Yeah.
06:42Yeah.
06:42So, uh, Buzzy, this is Nick.
06:44I'm a huge fan and, and, uh, thanks for responding to me over Instagram and agreeing to come over the show.
06:48It was really cool.
06:49And, um, I've been watching like Steve and everybody here, you know, every bit of the tournament this, uh, over the last couple of weeks, I wanted to ask you about, um, polarizing contestants because, uh, Ryan was on last night and there was a lot of response to him.
07:01That was, um, it was negative.
07:02And he, listen, he made it to the tournament of champions.
07:05He's a really good contestant.
07:06He's, he's really smart, but he was, um, he was kind of, uh, off putting.
07:11And so I, I saw on social media and I contributed to it, uh, you know, that there was some pushback against the guy, but you as a host, obviously you have to remain neutral.
07:19Is that, is it hard for you to, um, to incorporate that into your job while you're actively hosting it?
07:26I, you know, I, uh, I mean, right.
07:28Ryan was, if you hadn't seen the last, he was basically was a bad sport.
07:31He was, he was, he was, he was, he was kind of, you know, I'm going to, he ran as a bad sport.
07:36Yeah.
07:36I'm going to come to Ryan's defense here.
07:38Um, I've, you know, I've been through this and I know people who have, like, everyone has a different approach to this.
07:45And I think Ryan, he was a great competitor.
07:50First of all, he's a great player.
07:51You know, if you look at, you know, if you take out those daily doubles, he, he outplayed Veronica last night.
07:56Right.
07:57If you, if, you know, just straight clue clue play.
08:00And I think that it's hard to be on how many of us have to be on camera for like a devastating moment.
08:07Like, yeah, you know what I mean?
08:08Yeah.
08:08We're not like, I think, you know, we, we, if to compare, um, jeopardy contestants to professional athletes is not quite fair because if you're a professional athlete, you've been through like the high school and college and you've been through this, like, this is the second time he's lost a game of jeopardy ever.
08:27Okay.
08:28He played his heart out and it just wasn't enough.
08:31It's hard to have four cameras on you in that moment.
08:35And he, he, and the other contestants have a great camaraderie.
08:39I don't think it had anything to do with Veronica.
08:42I think it's hard to be processing that on camera.
08:46I think that he, you know, different people have different, like I had a very like happy, go lucky, win, lose, whatever attitude.
08:56Not everybody's like that.
08:57And I don't think, um, we need to expect that from, well, the dude made it to the tournament of champions semifinals and I'm sitting there on my couch, you know?
09:06And so it's, it's, I have no place to judge.
09:09I'm a, I'm a viewer.
09:10I'm not a contestant.
09:11So, um, you know, I don't want to be harsh on the guy, but it's just gotta be, you know, you see people rooting for or against particular contestants and it just, it makes it difficult for somebody like that.
09:20I'm sure to have to go through.
09:21Yeah.
09:21And I, for me, I was like, to be honest, when I saw the, I think the moment, the feeling in the studio was, was, I think a little different than what it came across at home when he, you know, missed that daily double.
09:35And then was like trying so hard to come back.
09:37I think everybody suddenly was like, oh man, you got to feel for this guy.
09:41Well, and that, that, that to me read that even at that point, that, that read is, that read is passion.
09:46I got it.
09:46I'm like, damn, I'm off my game or like, you know, we, I just happened to, a couple of days ago, we had, we were at a golf charity and I'm seeing people respond to her hitting bad shots.
09:54Like you see that same frustration.
09:55I got that at the end, you would like to think though.
09:59And again, you're right.
10:00It's, it's a unique circumstance.
10:02Everything's on the line.
10:03And I get it.
10:03Cause I think he's normally a likable guy.
10:06It just seemed like there was, um, it was her moment you lost.
10:10And he's, he's, I think that's what a lot of people read and saw is like, wow, man, you, you, you, not even an acknowledgement or something.
10:16And, and, and that's what that sort of thing is, you know, and, and also you have to remember there's editing, like, you know, those after true that, that after game chat is much longer than what you get on TV.
10:25So I think, I think everyone's got to give game show contestants a lot more.
10:30I mean, people thought I was an arrogant asshole.
10:33I was on the show.
10:36We'll let it go.
10:40But no, no, but you, you were, I was just having fun.
10:42You know what I mean?
10:43So I think that there's, it's very easy for us to like project a lot of stuff.
10:47The other thing to remember too, is like, this is very different.
10:50Um, the experience of taping because of COVID, the studio is, is very empty.
10:56It's just like other players and a couple of producers in the audience.
10:59So I think the, I, you know, like you're less self-conscious, right.
11:03About how you are presenting yourself.
11:06Right.
11:06When you're up there, uh, Buzzy, I wanted to ask, uh, from a, uh, contestant's perspective and one who especially gets on a role like you and wins multiple, uh, multiple nights when, cause you don't know what the categories are going to be.
11:19How do you bone up?
11:20How do you prepare for that?
11:21Do you, do you dive into, do you research the things that you're weakest at, um, or, or, or do you take the, the history of, of, of categories?
11:30And what likely might be on there?
11:32Like, you know, I don't know any, uh, Shakespeare is my Achilles heel.
11:34It's terrible.
11:35So if I were to head into the show, would it be a good idea to bone up on my Shakespeare?
11:40Yes, it would.
11:41Um, Shakespeare, rivers, capitals, uh, classical music.
11:44But the thing to remember is, um, I actually wrote, uh, an audio book called get ready available on audible.
11:50Sorry for the plug.
11:51No, absolutely.
11:52That is about kind of how I got ready for the show.
11:54Um, and what you realize is that Jeopardy has, um, certain subjects it likes to cover and it is a, a piece of mass market entertainment.
12:05So they're not going to pick something completely obscure, right?
12:09So there's sort of a level, a depth of information that they're going to go for.
12:13Um, and so for, for me on that stuff, I really looked at what the, not just what the show has asked before, but the types of things that they've asked before.
12:22Um, so for instance, like if there's Pulitzer prize winners, you don't have to know every book ever published, but there's notable books to know, right?
12:31No, that's absolutely, that's absolutely true.
12:33With, with Shakespeare, you don't need to know every single plot point, but it would be good to be able to connect either a place or the main characters to the show because every Shakespeare clue is going to have a character's name in it.
12:45So if you know that Cordelia is King Lear, that's all you need to know.
12:50You know what I mean?
12:50You don't need to know that you don't need to read King Lear.
12:54And so there's all these, um, different pieces of information, um, in the Jeopardy world, they call them Pavlovs, right?
13:01So like if the year is 1927, we're talking about Lindbergh or the Yankees, you know, it's like, um, no, but that's a skillset to know a little about a lot is what, and it sort of works in radio as well.
13:14Like I said, I can go about a minute and a half into any conversation and then tap out, but you guys are on another level.
13:23Preston, tell what you guys do on the, the, the, the, the, the final Jeopardy question.
13:28And you might get a kick out of this, this is a thing that they all do.
13:32Nick and Casey and I, uh, when the category comes up and you know, there's a commercial break right after that, we will text each other what we think the answer is, what we think the clue is without even hearing the answer.
13:45So just on subject alone, uh, you know, if it will be, you know, um, uh, American authors, right?
13:52Well, Nick got it the last time, uh, the, the, the last correct answer before the question was what was the category Nick and what was, man, I'm blanking on it.
14:00Okay.
14:00I said Roald Dahl, uh, and you said it was like a children's literature or something like that.
14:06Okay.
14:07And so what it's, this is a game we play and every now and then, you know, you guys can, you can join in.
14:13And then there's a Twitter account. That's just for that Jeopardy blind guesser.
14:16Oh, that's great. But you know, that speaks, it speaks to what you were saying though, to know what the go-to is.
14:22We watched the show enough.
14:24Exactly. Like if, you know, uh, if they're, you know, John Updike comes up a lot and do people read a lot of John Updike?
14:31I don't know, but John Updike comes up a lot, you know? Um, so it's exactly that. And, um, they're not going to ask some, they're not going to ask about some author that nobody's heard of because watching at home,
14:43you're completely lost. Even if you don't know it, even if you don't know that Eugene O'Neill wrote Moon for the Misbegotten,
14:49you hear Eugene O'Neill and you're like, ah, I should have known that.
14:52Wait, Buzzy. I have one for you, Buzzy. I'll just, oh, Chinese born American architect.
14:58Uh, that would be I.M. Pei.
15:00Yes! Every time!
15:02If that ever shows up.
15:03Yeah, yeah.
15:04Totally. Yeah. I mean, and that's kind of what, that's what, when you're playing Jeopardy, you're not,
15:08a lot of the clue information is sort of superfluous. Last night, there was a clue about during the Eid festival,
15:15um, you eat this thing with this food that has another name for its worm-like appearance.
15:21All you need to know is worm-like noodle and you know it's a vermicelli.
15:25That's it.
15:26Any of the other information, right?
15:27That's why it makes it such a great game, is that there are tactics that can be employed that are,
15:33it's not just happenstance. I mean, there certainly is a level of that, but, but there is a way to,
15:39to play the game and have different methodologies that, that can get you across the line. And then,
15:45of course, there's also luck.
15:47Tons of luck.
15:48Yeah, and that's it.
15:49And, and then that clue I just mentioned is, is a great example of, as a viewer,
15:53you might know vermicelli, but then you learned all of this stuff about the Eid festival and,
15:57and another quote. Like, there's, you can learn, like, of course, there's the game aspect,
16:02but then there's all the, the other inflammation, information, which may not help you get the
16:06answer. It's like, oh, I didn't realize that, you know?
16:08Yeah. Yeah.
16:09Yeah. When I do, I host trivia night at my kid's school. We brought it to the school. It's quiz
16:14zone night. And I'm the one who comes up with the questions and I, and I take a page out of,
16:19out of Jeopardy's notebook. Like I will ask a question where, you know, the, the, the audience
16:23would be like, how am I supposed to know the answer to this? And then you're supposed to ask
16:27yourself, how am I supposed to know the answer to this? The answer is in the question. Like,
16:31why would you think that any of us would even know this answer? Well, what's the question
16:35and how is it asked? You're right. Great riddles are done that way. And that's it. If you watch
16:40like a straight up college bowl type of game where they don't do that, you'll get slaughtered
16:46because it's as dry and on border collie ish, you know, in the way that you can be directed
16:52a little bit. It's just antiseptically. What is this? And you're, and I, I, I, I have to tap
16:59out, but I can do better at Jeopardy because of a little bit, just a little bit of prodding
17:03will get you there. There's usually like three clues in each clue. And I think I, you know,
17:08I got a chance to finally meet the writers as a contestant. You're, you've no contact
17:12with the writers. So as the host, I finally got to meet them. And I was just like singing
17:16their praises because I think the format of the show, having so many clues, like if there's
17:21a category about, you know, some pop artists or some subject you don't know, it's only a couple
17:27questions and there's a bunch of other stuff. That's one thing, but the writing of the clues
17:31is so masterful. And I was like, I'm not worthy because it's exactly what you're talking about.
17:37There's always a way, even if you don't know the information to find, like, except for maybe
17:42the $2,000 clues, which sometimes get, you got to know it or you don't. It's true. 90% of the clues,
17:49you can figure it out. And that is as much fun as knowing something cold. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
17:54You're right. Buzzy, I wanted to ask you about another book. It's called Answers in the Form
17:58of Questions. Claire McNeer wrote it. I don't know if you had a chance to read it or even. Yeah. And
18:03she goes into the production of the show and where the contestants stay and what they bring to the set
18:09and how many different pairs of clothes they have to wear and all that kind of thing. Yeah.
18:12Do you think that that was an accurate representation of what your time as a contestant
18:16on Jeopardy! was like? Absolutely. Claire is fabulous. Like we joke that if Jeopardy!
18:22is Harry Potter, she's our, like, Rita Skeeta or whatever.
18:25Yeah. The Daily Quibbler or whatever. Yeah. You know, I don't know if she likes that,
18:31but I actually, you know, I interviewed her. I actually invited her out to, there's like
18:36an ex-Jeopardy! trivia night here in L.A., which is like known as one of the hardest
18:41bar trivia nights in the country. So I made her come out and play to have that experience.
18:46She's incredible and she really knows her stuff and she's a fan. And she, like, I think that's
18:51a great, I really recommend that book to people who are fans of the show because you, you start
18:56to see all these different sides of the experience, whether it's, you know, being a contestant,
19:01sort of community afterwards. You know, I, I, I, I thought, I think she did a great job
19:09of sort of giving everyone a taste of the experience and not everyone's experience is
19:13the same. You know, some people have, you know, not a great experience when they come to
19:18taping because of whatever reason. Um, but I think she did an amazing job. I love that book.
19:24You know, I knew about the, uh, the filming schedule and, and five a day, but what I didn't
19:28consider is say when you had your nine game run, were you, you were doing all those, you
19:34had to have knocked out five in one day as a contestant as well. Correct? Yeah, that's
19:37right. Yeah. So my first, um, game was a Monday game. So I did two consecutive tape days
19:43and I lost in the 10th game. I lost on the last game of the second day. And I think that's,
19:49that's part of what, you know, once you're a contestant, when you see someone go on a
19:53long streak, the endurance of, you know, just shot nerves coming in to do it again. I mean,
19:58it's not usually a tape two or three days a week. So it's not like you're doing five days
20:04of five shows a day, but it's still just such an impressive feat of endurance and getting ready
20:10to host. I knew I needed to have endurance and bring the energy to the same energy to
20:15a Thursday or Friday game that I bring to a Monday game. So for that month where I knew
20:19I was going to be guest hosting, I, um, I was doing a ton of training. I would do strength
20:24training in the morning and then I would do like cardio two times throughout the day just
20:29to make sure I could like, you know, still like some in the energy to have the pheromones
20:35released. Yeah. You know, I can absolutely see that to be, to be sharp. Um, I wanted to
20:39ask you just you, um, in your, in your personal life, we know you, you know, you were in the
20:43music industry or may actively still be, uh, went to school for communications and, uh, so
20:49music, I studied music, music. Okay. So, so what, uh, what do you do? We, we had a little
20:54bit of a, of a hint here and there, but specifically what, what are you mostly involved with Buzzy?
20:58I do, I do music for commercials actually. Okay. Um, yeah, so I do, um, uh, I find music
21:05for commercials or I, you know, hire composers to write music for commercials. Do you yourself
21:11play or write or, uh, yeah, I do. I mean, I don't really do anything for professionally,
21:15but for fun, I, I play and write a lot. Yeah. So, so for specific campaigns, you'll, you'll
21:20choose the, the music. Absolutely. So I'm sure everybody is going to like, uh, you know, give
21:26me a hard time for this, but like the Airbnb campaign that everyone thought was the in memoriam
21:30films. Yeah. Right. Um, I did all those. So I did all the music for those. Very nice.
21:36Very nice. Um, I do. Yeah. I mean, that can be, that can be very lucrative. Obviously you,
21:41you, you get a quicker hit from, uh, from a win on, uh, on Jeopardy and correct me if
21:45I'm wrong. I don't know if this is true. We, we have big discussions about nicknames on
21:49the show and how one earns a nickname. Were you appointed your nickname while still in,
21:54um, in utero? Yeah. You were. Yes. How did that happen? Well, I, you know,
22:00I'm 36 and I think when I was in my mom's stomach, we didn't have sexing of babies right
22:08yet. It wasn't quite as advanced as it is now. Right. And so they didn't know if I was
22:12a boy or a girl and I have an older sister and she needed something to call the bump.
22:17Right. Because it was like, Oh, I've got a bit, there's a baby in there. And my dad had
22:21gone to high school with a guy named Buzzy and he thought it was a cloying. To be honest,
22:25I think the original nickname was Bozo. My mom was like, Oh, we're not calling this baby Bozo.
22:33You dodged a bullet. We switched to Buzzy. They gave me my real name, Austin, after Steve Austin,
22:38the $6 million man. Cool. Uh, my sister's name is Lindsay, like Lindsay Wagner, the black woman.
22:44No way. Big fans of, uh, bionics. Um, but, um, the funny thing is like my great grandmother who was alive
22:53when I was born, my mom was like, all right, I'm going to let her decide. Cause my dad kept
22:57calling me Buzzy. And my mom's like, there's no way she's going to let this kid be called Buzzy.
23:01And my great great grandmother, like spent some time with me and she goes, Austin's much too big
23:06a name for such a little person. I'm going to call him Buzzy. And so that's how I've been Buzzy for my
23:10whole life. There you go. It works out. Well, listen, you've done a great job. The hosting continues
23:16through to Friday and a tournament of champions. Uh, and of course you can see that at seven
23:20o'clock on ABC here locally in Philadelphia. Buzzy, great, great talking with you, man.
23:25Thanks so much for coming on this morning. We appreciate it.
23:26Go birds.
23:27Love it. We'll see you later. Oh my God. That's great. He's actually from Jersey.
23:37I did not know that. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Well, um, I, you know, if I had the confidence,
23:42that's the show I'd love to be on. I just don't have the confidence to be on something that
23:49wide ranging, you know, every now and then I'll get, you know, man, I can run like two categories
23:53and be like, feel like, Oh, I'm the champ.
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