Michael Strahan

OF “THE $100,000 PYRAMID” ON ABC

Does hosting “The $100,000 Pyramid,” where you have to do a lot of thinking on your feet, keep you sharp for “Good Morning America” and your other broadcasting responsibilities?

Oh absolutely. You know, this thing you have to direct the game. It’s interesting because I don’t know the word that they’re trying to guess. I know the subject, so I have to direct the traffic of the game, who’s leading and who’s doing what, what the names of the contestants are, who’s up this time, who’s giving the clues – all those things. But at the same time, I’m still playing the game as well, so it’s like I’m a fan and I’m playing it, but you’re going to have to be involved in a totally different way. And all of the things from the other shows play into it, without a doubt. But it’s fun. I love it because there’s nothing like a show like that, where it’s spontaneous and you don’t know what’s going to come out of anybody’s mouth, and just the reactions from the celebrities or the contestants. And it’s for real money, so it is a fun show to be a part of. Some hosts who are stand-up comedians say doing a game show helps their comedy. Oh yeah. Even for me, not being a stand-up comedian, but in some ways you have to be a comedian. The timing, there are certain things that happen that I have to go back and pull the joke out of, because it may be a word association with something really funny, but they went on to get three words after that. And just being able to remember that and go back and pull that out and say, “Why would you say this for that?”