Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)

■ “Jeopardy!” played a memorial montage of host Alex Trebek.

- By Andrew Dalton

More than two months after Alex Trebek’s death, fans of “Jeopardy!” finally got the chance to say goodbye.

A video tribute to the host closed Friday’s episode of the quiz show, the final one that Trebek taped before pancreatic cancer claimed his life on Nov. 8.

The 90-second montage, set to Hugh Jackman singing the Peter Allen song “Once Before I Go,” is a lightheart­ed and laughter-filled remembranc­e showing Trebek’s changing look through his 36 years as host, with suits from several decades.

It celebrated the wackier moments of the usually straight-laced Trebek, showing him verbally sparring with contestant­s and arm-wrestling with one.

Trebek is shown walking on the set pantsless in one clip, dressed as the Statue of Liberty in another and wearing the costume of a Trojan solider in another. A clip of the host declaring “I don’t dance” is shown amid scenes of him dancing through the years.

The tribute is still plenty sad and sentimenta­l, though, as Jackman sings “it’s so hard to say good-byes, when there’s so much that’s left unspoken in your eyes,” and “once before I go, I would like to let you know, that I would do it all again.”

And in its final moments, it shows Trebek signing off through the decades, repeatedly saying, “So long, everybody.”

Trebek died Nov. 8 at age 80 but had pretaped several weeks of shows that have continued to air. He kept working for nearly two years after his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer, remaining in place at the podium where he had become an institutio­n since starting in 1984.

The show will continue next week with a series of interim hosts, starting with veteran “Jeopardy!” champion Ken Jennings.

The week’s final Trebek episodes began Monday with the host urging viewers to give to others who were suffering during the coronaviru­s pandemic.

“We’re trying to build a gentler, kinder society, and if we all pitch in just a little bit, we’re going to get there,” Trebek said.

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Alex Trebek

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