June 05, 2003
THE PRICE IS WRONG, BOB
As a member of the media establishment, I've always considered it a privledge that I get to occasionally interview celebrities.
To paraphrase Uncle Ben in "Spider-man": With great privledge comes great responsibility." And I consider it my responsibility to throw any and all kinds of questions at them. You know, because, uh, you know, uh, they know so much stuff, and junk.
I once asked Garth Brooks if he considered spurring sales of his live CD by giving away a bag of Wal-Mart orange circus peanuts with every disc. (He did not.) I asked Charlie Daniels what his favorite rap song was. (He lacked a coherent answer to that one.) I asked a Miss America whether she really just wanted to represent "the good states." ("They're all good states," she dutifully answered.) I asked the last man on the moon, Eugene Cernan, if he pooted in his moon suit. (He laughed and said he didn't recall.)
So I always like it when I see examples of such questioning exhibited by reporters in an effort to puncture their mental oxygen tent, as it were. The Onion A.V. Club's interview with game show host Bob Barker has some lovely lines of questioning, such as:
O: Do you ever get to a point with a contestant where you just want to say, "Well, obviously the breath mints are cheaper than the cleanser, dumbass"?
and:
O: What are some of the worst injuries you've ever sustained on the show?
and this great exchange:
O: Tell me about your dark side.
BB: My dark side?
O: We all see lovable Bob Barker on the television set. [BB laughs.] There's got to be the anti-Bob Barker who gets up in the morning and says, "You know, I don't want people to win on my show, and these people are idiots, and I don't want them to win some jukebox that's just going to be a big tax burden anyway." Do you ever wake up and feel like that?
Here are some other Bob Barker-related links to chew on:
A photo of Bob Barker wearing a sombrero during his "Truth of Consequences" days.
Bob's CBS bio.
A conspiracy theorist who claims Barker is forming an army of Price Is Right Youth to take over the world. (Cue evil "Mwwaaaahhhhahahaha" laugh.)
The WWWF Grudge Match, featuring Bob Barker vs. Richard Dawson.
