Although I’ve never mentioned it before, it should come as no shock that I, whose on-air persona is the Token White Guy, loves game shows. My favorite time of the year was the summer, not because there was no school (though that did make me happy), but because I could finally watch all the morning network game shows that I couldn’t watch while some teacher was trying to teach me science, or math, or English.
Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right, Scrabble, Joker’s Wild, High Rollers, and Press Your Luck are just some of my all-time favorite game shows from when I was growing up. For many of the games listed above, and for some games I didn’t list, I owned the computer versions of those games, whether for the Commodore 64, a game-console, or the desk-computer (once those became popular).
In 1998, one of my favorites, Hollywood Squares, was reinvented with Tom Bergeron as the host and Whoppi Goldberg in the center square. During this run, what has come to be known as the “You Fool” episode aired. It is one of the funniest game-show episodes ever.
As you likely know, contestants on Hollywood Squares attempted to complete a tic-tac-toe board by successfully agreeing or disagreeing with a question asked of the celebrity sitting in the square the contestant wants. While an incorrect answer normally gave the opponent the square, the winning square, whether it completes a tic-tac-toe or gives a contestant a five-square win, had to be won by the contestant directly. On most days, two to four complete tic-tac-toe games were played.
On this particular day, however, only one complete game was played. This was because the contestants answered nine questions in a row incorrectly, with many of the questions given to celebrities in squares that had to be won by the contestant directly. While answering nine questions incorrectly in a row is believed to be the record for the game, it is not what makes this particular incident so funny.
What makes the episode so funny is what happens when the contestants only have Penn & Teller and Gilbert Gottfried left. Penn gets things started by yelling “You Fool” at the contestant who incorrectly responded to his answer. But Gilbert Gottfried takes it up a notch when he is picked over and over and over again as the contestants attempt to finally win this long game.
It is a game show moment that will have you in stitches, as the stars, contestants, and even host Tom Bergeron start crying from laughing so hard. You will be reaching for the tissues yourself after watching the two videos below.
The first of the nine-in-a-row incorrect answers begins at the 6:54 mark on the first video when Valerie picks Judy Gold for the block.
The hilarity begins when at the 8:15 mark on the first video when Valerie picks Penn & Teller for the win, and it kicks into high gear in the second video.
Classic.
Loading ...
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)