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Johnny, Tell Them What They've Won
Last night I was the big winner at "Match Game 75", a hilarious rehashing of the classic Goodsen-Todman gameshow of the '70's & '80's, done as a fundraiser for Bald Faced Lie and Open Circle Theatre, at what is quickly becoming the de-rigeur locale for theatre-related benefit events, Re-Bar.
As a teenager, I remember watching this show with the sort of devotion others have for daytime soap opera, Star Trek, or professional wrestling. It came on at 4:00 in the afternoon, before the folks got home from work and was one of the first network TV programs in my memory at least that dealt with adult subject matter -- like drinking and sex, as if these were things that adults actually did. Plus, it was the first place I heard the mysterious and exotic name Regis Philbin ("Match Game" was shot at the CBS studios in New York, and of course nobody outside the northeast seaboard probably even knew who he was at the time).
Of course, this version of the game was even more "adult" than what in hindsight today looks like pretty tame shenanigans. The "celebrities" were all portrayed by local performers of note, including BFL regs Ian Bell as MG75 Host Gene Rayburn, and the always lovely Karen Gruber as Betty White, plus such local luminaries as Imogen Love, Cory Nealy, and of course the nearly ubiquitous Brandon Whitehead doing a disturbingly dead-on Charles Nelson Reilly.
I was matched up against an old "Mys(t)ery Cafe" friend Lisa Gayton, as a fellow contestant, but I have to say I did kind of blow her out of the water competition-wise, then scored all three prize levels on the "Super Match" finale, for which I was awarded a gift certificate to a local restaurant, a charming photo of Rayburn, Reilly and an aparently inebriated Brett Somers, a home edition of "Password", and an 8-track tape of "Glenn Campbell's Greatest Hits", all obviously in keeping with the mid '70's theme.
To top things off, it was also my friend Roy Stanton's 40th birthday, so as a present I gave him all of my remaining raffle tickets (which were used to select contestants) -- and he got picked for the second round of "taping", then went on to score two out of three prizes in his own "Super Match" round! So, yay to him! And welcome to the "Over The Hill Club"!
Posted byCOMTE
on 9:51 AM
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