I’ll take Great Men of Reason for $2000
As we were driving around running errands, my son regaled me with facts about dinosaurs. So many facts. His nonstop chatter made me feel as if I had been pummeled with a copy of Jurassic Park. I started to grow annoyed, but then realized that his love of trivial facts may very well be genetic, and I was to blame.
Our love of facts hit home recently when the world collectively mourned the passing of Alex Trebek, the idolized host of Jeopardy! I met the grandmaster of knowing things when I appeared on the show over 20 years ago.
When the show announced a contestant search in New York City, I immediately signed up. On the testing day, I showed up at a hotel in Midtown swarming with hopeful trivia buffs and facts fans. I noticed that many had almanacs or Jeopardy! reference books and kept busy studying while we waited in line.
The test was simple. The producers rolled out a TV and VCR on a stand and played the tape, which had Alex reading off a series of 50 questions. We had to write down the answers, forgoing the traditional Jeopardy! rule of putting it in the form of a question. If we got a certain number of them right, our names would be filed until they needed us.
I left the hotel with my Jeopardy! pencil and not a lot of hope that I might appear on the show. So, when I returned home after Christmas and pressed the button on my answering machine, I was surprised to hear the voice of a producer telling me that my name had popped out of the hat.
The show’s taping process was fascinating. Each day the studio taped five episodes — a full week — and they only taped two days a week. While a show was taping, those of us who were not up yet sat in a separate part of the audience and waited our turn.
Finally, my turn came, and I was taping a Friday show that would air in June. The crew got us ready as we practiced clicking the buzzer buttons.
Then it was time and the Man Himself came out. He shook our hands and chatted with each of us for a few moments. His attitude was friendly, kind, gentle, and a little distant. To those of us obsessed with the game, he was a godlike figure mingling with us mere mortals.
The actual show is a blur in my mind now. I do remember that some mistake happened — Alex accidentally gave away the answer as he was reading the clue. We competitors had to turn our backs so we couldn’t watch the board and make plans, and the writers put together a couple of lines to transition away from the mistake. Once it was done, we turned back around and watched as Alex delivered the lines to the cameras. The whole process was so competent and professional, and Alex delivered the lines with such fluent good humor that I was awestruck.
The game ended rather badly for me. The Final Jeopardy! topic was gymnastics, and, although I could clearly see Kerri Strug’s face in my mind, I completely blanked on her name. Nevertheless, I loved my fleeting 20-odd minutes in the spotlight. Alex Trebek’s presence was a gigantic part of that. His persona, built around 37 seasons of the show, exuded competence and knowledge. In a world where facts are not always valued and where knowledge isn’t necessarily an asset, Alex Trebek was an island of calm rationality. I will miss him for this above all else.