At this morning’s keynote presentation at the PromaxBDA Station Summit at the Mirage in Las Vegas, Alex Trebek took center stage to share his personal stories about his 50-year broadcasting career, the last 35 as host of the wildly successful game show, Jeopardy. Trebek was comfortable, funny, engaging and self-deprecating on stage in front of […]
At this morning’s keynote presentation at the PromaxBDA Station Summit at the Mirage in Las Vegas, Alex Trebek took center stage to share his personal stories about his 50-year broadcasting career, the last 35 as host of the wildly successful game show, Jeopardy.
Trebek was comfortable, funny, engaging and self-deprecating on stage in front of the room of local TV marketing executives. Keenly aware of who was in the audience, Trebek said he was not there to “suck up, although that’s not beneath me,” which got big laughs.
After watching a video that took the audience through Trebek’s career, Trebek commented that he looked somewhat like a chameleon through all the years. He said that when he first moved to California, he was a sun worshipper which resulted in a deep dark tan to go along with his long dark bushy hair. He said that at the time he was once a guest on the Dinah Shore Show with Julius “Dr. J” Erving, the star basketball player for the Philadelphis 76ers, and someone on the staff asked if he and Erving were brothers.
Trebek walked the audience through the production of Jeopardy, which is approaching its 8,000th episode. Jeopardy tapes five shows a day twice a week for 46 weeks a year.
He said he’s often asked what he would like to be if he weren’t the host of Jeopardy, and he said, pope, because he’d look good in those long white robes.
And yes, Trebek loves the parodies done by Saturday Night Live and wishes Will Farrell was still a cast member so they could continue.
Harry Friedman, Jeopardy’s executive producer, said on tape days, Alex is the first one at work, preparing for the shows, and that the host drives himself to work even though he could, if he wanted, be chauffeured.
What kind of car does Alex Trebek drive to work?
Answer: A Dodge Ram truck with a hemi, and instead of a gun rack, his truck has a wine rack.
Here are some Jeopardy promos produced by various stations over the years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch0S_XPhfFg
For other PromaxBDA Station Summit stories, click here.
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