OOPS! KATHY LEE GIFFORD FORGETS MARTIN SHORT'S WIFE DIED IN 2010

[gregg75]

Talk about awkward......(starts at the :40 second mark in the video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk3TxOnqyCA

 

[Markxxx]

It sounds like something out of a sitcom

Oh wait a minute

Rhoda) So how are you? How's Bess?
Phyllis) Eh
Rhoda) How's old Lars?
Phyllis) Old Lars is dead Rhoda
Rhoda) Same old Lars
Phyllis) No, I mean he really passed away
Rhoda) Oh my God, oh my God, I didn't know, Mary why didn't you tell me?
Mary) I thought surely Phyllis had told you
Rhoda) Phyllis why didn't you tell me?
Phyllis) I was afraid you might want to come to the funeral

 

[DToTheJ]

At a telethon in 1994, Cousin Brucie once asked Roberto Clemente Jr. how his father was doing. His pop died some thirty years earlier.

 

[Ultimajock]

...second time around for that gaffe from KLG. Back when she was Regis Philbin's co-host, she asked James Taylor how his musician brother Alex was doing; Alex Taylor had died three years or so before the broadcast...

 

[FreddyE1977]

I believe this happened once before, back when Billy Crystal was doing his
"you look MAAAHvelous!" bit on SNL.

Phyllis George interviewed him and asked "have you heard any comments from
Fernando Lamas about this?"

After a long awkward silence Crystal replied, "uhhhh.....I believe he died quite a long time ago."

Of course making the mistake about someone's spouse is much more personal and painful.

 

[dhett]

What a horrible mistake. Yet, I couldn't help but notice the grace, dignity and professionalism with which Short handled himself during the interview. Afterward, when asked about the gaffe during an interview with E!, he replied, "On live television, people make mistakes. There's no ill will intended."

 

[quadraphonic]

He handled it a lot better than a lot of people blogging about it are handling it.

 

[LKellerIII]

He handled it a lot better than a lot of people blogging about it are handling it.

Truly. I'm not a fan of Kathy Lee - she gives me the heebie-jeebies. But it was just a mistake - a careless one, perhaps, but give the woman a break.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Not quite as serious, but just as awkward---One of those game show blooper shows had a clip from "Scrabble" where Chuck Woolery asked a contestant if he was getting ready for Christmas, only to be told, "Well, no, Chuck, because I'm Jewish."

 

[LKellerIII]

Not quite as serious, but just as awkward---One of those game show blooper shows had a clip from "Scrabble" where Chuck Woolery asked a contestant if he was getting ready for Christmas, only to be told, "Well, no, Chuck, because I'm Jewish."

I've known a lot of Jewish people. I can assure you that they're used to these kind of questions - and people saying 'Merry Christmas" during the holidays, and so forth.

And that's the kind of thing Woolery always stepped into - but he always handled it well - usually it became a laugh line for the audience. There were also those moments on Scrabble when a contestant would say, "I'll take a P, Chuck..."

 

[searadiofreak]

You see how Short turned this around?

He was totally "high-road", and this is the major story here. The fact that he didn't lambast Kathy Lee, or even correct her, tells you something, (no, not something, a lot, about Martin Short). What a class guy. And a very funny, class guy I might add.

 

[ixnay]

At a telethon in 1994, Cousin Brucie once asked Roberto Clemente Jr. how his father was doing. His pop died some thirty years earlier.

That would've been in 1964.

Click on http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clemero01.shtml and look at Clemente's death date. Somewhat more recent than 1964.

ixnay

 

[Ultimajock]

...Larry King has done worse on a more frequent basis. The example that stuck out for me was when he chatted with Sammy Davis Jr.'s widow, Altovise Davis, and asked her how strongly Sammy took Dean Martin's death. Sammy died in 1990 while Dean passed away five years later...

 

[firepoint525]

...or the time he tried to accuse Roman Polanski of murdering Sharon Tate.

 

[Nate Wesley]

Not quite as serious, but just as awkward---One of those game show blooper shows had a clip from "Scrabble" where Chuck Woolery asked a contestant if he was getting ready for Christmas, only to be told, "Well, no, Chuck, because I'm Jewish."

Copy this quote, print several copies, and hand them out to the poor souls taking selective offense at hearing 'Happy Holidays' and 'Season's Greetings' instead of 'Merry Christmas'.