Alex Trebek Talks Shaving His Mustache and “Jeopardy” Strategy (2015)

tazeen

Watch Alex Trebek Talks Shaving His Mustache and “Jeopardy” Strategy (2015) - tazeen on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00When you shaved your mustache off, it was disconcerting to me.

00:03Jimmy, you said it too.

00:04I cried.

00:04That's when you...

00:05You had a tear in your eye when he shaved his mustache.

00:07I didn't like it at all.

00:08But I grew it back this season.

00:10Alex, that was 2001.

00:13When you'd make a decision to shave off your mustache,

00:15you're probably thinking in your mind,

00:17this is not that big a deal, right?

00:19Did you go to the producers of the show, the owners of the show?

00:22Do you say to...

00:22I don't know, is King World on the show, I guess?

00:25No, I thought it was King World.

00:26No, Sony.

00:27Sony.

00:27Do you go to Sony or do you go to someone there who owns...

00:29I was in the makeup room just before we were taping the fifth show that day.

00:34We taped five shows a day, normally two days in a row,

00:37three weeks on, one week off.

00:39And before the fifth show, I said, I'm going to shave my mustache.

00:43So I cut off half.

00:45Were you just sick of the mustache?

00:47No, I just did it on a whim.

00:48Right.

00:49And then the producer came over.

00:52He said, oh, God.

00:54I said, do you want me to come out with half?

00:56He says, no, no, not half.

00:58So I came out, and half the people in the audience didn't notice immediately.

01:06Wow.

01:06I went home.

01:07My wife, my son, and my daughter were sitting in the kitchen, and they didn't notice immediately.

01:14And I chatted for a few minutes, and I said, anybody notice anything different about Dad?

01:22And then my wife said, oh, my God, you shaved your mustache.

01:27Yeah.

01:28And my son, who was only 10 at the time, I think, started to cry.

01:32It was such a big shock.

01:34For some reason, I'm not a big mustache guy.

01:36I had a mustache years ago, but I'm not a big...

01:39Because it's annoying, and...

01:40Most people can't pull it off well.

01:42And don't you notice, too, that guys with mustaches, a lot of times, as an announcer, they're unwilling to move their mouth.

01:49They want to keep it straight and keep their mustache looking well, and it sort of affects the way they speak, even.

01:54So I'm not a fan of the mustache, but with you, it worked.

01:57It was a betrayal when you shaved that mustache.

02:00I actually filed a class action lawsuit.

02:02People still ask me at the studio, they say, and usually it's guys in the audience who have mustaches or beards, or full beards and mustaches.

02:14They say, are you going to grow it back?

02:16When are you going to grow it back?

02:16Some things are comforting.

02:18I found your mustache comforting.

02:19And everything in the game show business, too, is likability, and how much do you trust the guy?

02:24After the game show scandals, it became about trust.

02:28And that's where Jeopardy! came out of.

02:30Jeopardy! was a direct answer out of the game show scandals.

02:34From what I remember of the history of Jeopardy!

02:36Yeah, Merv's wife.

02:37Merv's wife said, hey, if we give the answers, then we can't be accused of cheating, because people were giving them the answer.

02:45And Merv says, oh my God, what do you mean?

02:46We can't do that.

02:48What do you mean?

02:50The answer is 5,280.

02:53There's your answer.

02:54How many feet in a mile?

02:56Boom.

02:57Merv had a wife?

02:58Yes!

02:59Yes!

02:59She came up with Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

03:02By the way, did you...

03:04She didn't do Wheel of Fortune, I thought she had.

03:07Did you audition for the job?

03:10No.

03:11You were working in game show.

03:13After you graduate college, you go into radio, and this is what, CBC?

03:16CBC.

03:17For 10 years or so?

03:1812 years.

03:19I came to the United States in 73 to host Wizard of Odds.

03:24Oh!

03:24Alan Thicke was one of the writers.

03:26Are you still close with Alan Thicke?

03:27I'm...

03:28Yes.

03:28Well, not that close, but I mean, we're friendly, and...

03:31I mean, Alan Thicke gave you your break.

03:33Yeah.

03:34He made you the host of Wizard of Odds.

03:35He was a fan of yours.

03:37Well, I had hosted a daily talk variety show in Toronto, and Alan and his singing partner

03:45used to appear as guests on the program.

03:48What made you give up your dream of being a doctor or, let's say, a more legitimate profession?

03:53Yeah, how did you get into this?

03:54I got into it because I needed a job to help pay for my tuition at university, and tuition

03:59was a whopping $500 a year.

04:02Right.

04:02But you had no money.

04:03I had no money.

04:04And that was...

04:04And so you went into TV.

04:06I got a job at the CBC, and they said...

04:09What do you mean?

04:09You walk into the CBC, and you're like, hey, I'm a pretty polished guy.

04:12No, I auditioned for a summer announcer job, and they hired me, and then they had two openings

04:20that came up in February on their permanent staff, and they offered me one of them, and

04:25I said, I'll take it if I can finish my college, and they said, okay.

04:29So I'd go to school in the morning, 9 till noon, and then I'd work the 4 to 12 shift.

04:33What gave you the confidence to walk into the CBC when you're clearly a novice, you'd

04:38never done this kind of thing before?

04:39Or did people just say to you, boy, you sound like a radio announcer or a television announcer?

04:42Is that what they...

04:43No, I had done well in debates at school and in public speaking contests at school, but

04:52that was about it.

04:53And I auditioned for a private radio station before the CBC, and the guy said, well, that

04:59was pretty good, but we have some of the top announcers in Canada on our staff, and you

05:04have no experience whatsoever, so we're going to pass on you.

05:08I said, oh, thank you very much.

05:10But you went out there, and you got a job at the CBC being a complete...

05:13You see, that's what is awful about the business, that you could be a trained professional.

05:18My father used to tell me this.

05:19He says, and he goes, the local garbage man could walk in and take your job, because...

05:25Why do you bring up local garbage man?

05:27Because I did that in Cincinnati, Ohio.

05:29That is correct.

05:29There you go.

05:30Is that right?

05:31That's the correct answer.

05:31Oh, yeah.

05:32Wow.

05:32In fact, can you answer all my questions in answer form, if you don't mind?

05:35So, it really is an amazing story that you could go in there and get a job, and then

05:40you do that for 12 years, and then Alan Thicke discovers you, and then you become known as

05:45a game show host, because you host Wizard of Odds.

05:47That lasts, what, a year?

05:49Lasted one year, and it was replaced the following Monday by High Rollers, which I wound up hosting

05:55for four and a half years.

05:56Thank God for High Rollers.

05:58Did you think after Wizard of Odds, that's it?

06:00My career is over?

06:00Uh, almost.

06:03They called to cancel the program on the day that I put a...

06:08I signed the final papers on my first house in Los Angeles.

06:12Oh, my God.

06:13Always works that way.

06:14They say, don't buy a house.

06:15It's a jinx, yeah.

06:16But then, uh, I've been canceled twice and replaced myself twice on network television,

06:24so it worked out pretty well for me.

06:26I see.

06:26What is it, Ralph?

06:27Quick, for Alex Trebek, he's got to get out of here.

06:29Quickly, quickly, if these people are so smart to play the game, how come so many zero out?

06:33Like, isn't the basic rule to at least leave a dollar at the end of the game?

06:36It's true.

06:37A lot of people...

06:38That used to be the rule.

06:39Once I saw three people, they all lost.

06:41My father goes nuts.

06:42My father watches Jeopardy! every night.

06:44He knows you better than you know you.

06:45And he goes, he goes, these people...

06:48I get a lecture on him.

06:48He goes, these people, they don't know how to bet!

06:50But why does it matter if you have a dollar left?

06:53Well, because in the early days, somebody figured out that, hey, they're going to bet it all,

07:00and I'm going to leave myself a buck.

07:02Right.

07:02And it started a trend, and everybody thinks that...

07:05It's like when we had Chuck Forrest as the champion on the program.

07:09He would jump all over the board.

07:11So all the newcomers say, oh, well, the way to succeed is to jump all over the board.

07:15So doesn't this drive you nuts?

07:17Yeah, it drives me nuts because you don't know what the category is all about.

07:22The writers get very creative, just as your writers do.

07:25You say, oh, okay, that's where they're going.

07:29It drives me nuts because as smart as they are, as Ralph says, they're idiots!

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended