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Would Richard Dawson have a career today.
- Thread starter Don CT
- Start date
No, I don't think "Mr. Kissy Kissy" as my grandma used to call him, would offer a kiss to each lady who'd appear on the show today (nor have the nearly 1/2 dozen guys who've hosted Family Feud since Dawson's time. Indeed, I can't imagine the guy from the TV show "Tool Time" who later hosted Family Feud going in for a smooch from each female contestant.)
That said, there are a number of things that were somewhat regularly seen on game shows and talk shows that one would never see today. Charles Nelson Reilly smoking his pipe on Match Game, Carson and his guests lighting and smoking cigarettes while chatting away (at least one of Carson's earlier desks had a built-in holder for this ash tray). Many of the more un-PC guests on Carson's show who seemed funny then, wouldn't fly today (I remember Don Rickles trying to speak jive to a black member of the crew, and a lot of Buddy Hackett's material may not work today). I also remember a LOT of double entendres and more adult-themed humor on game shows back then..Everything from Match Game to Hollywood Squares to the Gong Show. I recall one time when they asked one of the famous actors on one of the game shows to demonstrate the breast stroke. I'm not sure what her had was doing, but they blacked it out from view of the camera, and it certainly wasn't the swimming technique. Chatter on Carson could be racy, as could some of his sketch comedy, especially the ones with the supporting cast of large-busted women in short skirts and heels.
Cut to more recent times, I recall on one of the last telethons Jerry Lewis hosted, he started joking with a member of the staff, and made reference to him using a homosexual slur that's 3 letters long, starts with f and ends in g (I initially spelled the word, but it was blocked here). This was probably in about 2009. I remember the backlash in the media and on talk radio was swift and brutal.
That said, there are a number of things that were somewhat regularly seen on game shows and talk shows that one would never see today. Charles Nelson Reilly smoking his pipe on Match Game, Carson and his guests lighting and smoking cigarettes while chatting away (at least one of Carson's earlier desks had a built-in holder for this ash tray). Many of the more un-PC guests on Carson's show who seemed funny then, wouldn't fly today (I remember Don Rickles trying to speak jive to a black member of the crew, and a lot of Buddy Hackett's material may not work today). I also remember a LOT of double entendres and more adult-themed humor on game shows back then..Everything from Match Game to Hollywood Squares to the Gong Show. I recall one time when they asked one of the famous actors on one of the game shows to demonstrate the breast stroke. I'm not sure what her had was doing, but they blacked it out from view of the camera, and it certainly wasn't the swimming technique. Chatter on Carson could be racy, as could some of his sketch comedy, especially the ones with the supporting cast of large-busted women in short skirts and heels.
Cut to more recent times, I recall on one of the last telethons Jerry Lewis hosted, he started joking with a member of the staff, and made reference to him using a homosexual slur that's 3 letters long, starts with f and ends in g (I initially spelled the word, but it was blocked here). This was probably in about 2009. I remember the backlash in the media and on talk radio was swift and brutal.
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Simple answer: No. And most of the questions Gene Rayburn was given to ask on "The Match Game" would never have made it to the final production.
You haven't seen Alec Baldwin's version of the show, have you? There's plenty that has to be bleeped or blurred and a lot more it's amazing the censors will allow. This is also a response to the post below but if I knew how to add it I don't now.
I saw it. Mikey Radio and I posted at the same time.
From what I've seen, the questions given by Alex Baldwin are much more suggestive than the ones Rayburn gave
Yes, 70s Match Game is pretty tame compared to the current ones, from a sexual innuendo standpoint. But there are questions they asked back then that they wouldn't get into now, like questions involving little people, or using stereotype voices to imitate Native Americans or Asian people.
They also made fun of people based on their weight, their intelligence and other traits that would definitely cause problems today -- the questions that began with "Big Bertha was so fat ...," "Skinny Sally was so thin ..." and similar phrases.
"Dumb Dora is so-o-o-o-o-o dumb..."
Most of the year perhaps, but I for one watched it almost nightly for the 3 months I was on summer vacation and for the weeks I was on holiday/New Year break in later grade school years and throughout high school.
If he was a true professional, I'm sure Richard Dawson would have adapted with the times, and certainly tone down with the kissing. When he did his comeback to the Feud in 1994, out of respect to his younger daughter (and his wife at the time--a former Feud contestant), he stopped kissing female contestants on that show. His reasoning, as to why he kissed women on the Feud, was to give them "good luck"...the first time it happened on the Feud, there was a contestant who got stuck with an answer, and he gave a kiss on the cheek to calm her nerves. However, once it got started from there, initially ABC and Goodson-Todman executives wanted him to stop, but they did a mail-in poll in which they asked fans of the show whether or not Dawson should continue to kiss female contestants; the poll was overwhelmingly in favor of him continuing with the kissing. Eventually, they instituted a questionnaire in asking whether or not they would want a kiss from him, and the rest is pretty much history.
Besides, Dawson wasn't the only game host to smooch female contestants--Wink Martindale did it on Tic-Tac-Dough, Bob Barker did so on The Price is Right (and backstage with one of his Beauties once upon a time), and several other "old-school" (pre-1990s) game show hosts have done so as well.
Besides, Dawson wasn't the only game host to smooch female contestants--Wink Martindale did it on Tic-Tac-Dough, Bob Barker did so on The Price is Right (and backstage with one of his Beauties once upon a time), and several other "old-school" (pre-1990s) game show hosts have done so as well.
Alec is still doing her.
It's all about tradeoffs. Probably no kissing on Feud today, but back in the 70s "Booty" or "Badonkadonk" weren't generally given as survey answers. One thing to consider about old game shows and talk shows--Full bars in the green room/hospitality room. I've heard the story at least a couple times on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast about an angry drunk Paul Lynde going on anti-Semitic backstage rants on "Hollywood Squares". Also, in one of the most famous Tonight Show clips ever (George Gobel "Did you ever get the feeling the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?"), Gobel is holding a beer in a plastic cup, which Dean Martin uses as an ashtray at one point.
Badonkadonk wasn't a word in the 70s, was it?
It is suggested the celebrities on "Match Game" are drinking alcohol.
Now we know what he is doing these days.
That’s a different Richard Dawson. The one we’re talking about died in 2012.
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