TAKEStelevision’s behind-the-scenes notebook

Daytime fixture and pop 20 culture icon Bob Barker COME ON Mo Knows Television, Guiding Light Gives Back D 22

Villain’s Manifesto O W N! 24 12 questions for television’s favorite game show host

t age 83, Bob Barker is the oldest more time making the world a better Remembering man ever to host a weekday place for animals. After one of his Peter Boyle game show—and to beat up last show tapings, Watch! caught up A Adam Sandler. From flying with Barker backstage for an exclusive fighter planes in World War II to master- one-on-one interview. ing karate midlife to advocating animal rights, this beloved, white-haired, day- Watch! : What will you miss the 26 time TV dynamo has shown no signs of most about Th e Price Is Right? slowing down … until now. Bob Barker: The paycheck. For 35 years, Barker has hosted The Price Is Right, and it’s at this juncture W: Did you ever think the words In the Stars that the television icon is ready to hang “come on down” would become

Bob: Tony Esparza/CBS; Peter: Monty Brinton/ CBS Brinton/ Monty Peter: Esparza/CBS; Tony Bob: By Mona Buehler up his mic, skip the studio and spend part of pop culture history?

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“I enjoy the younger generations very much,” Bob Barker says. “Not only do they make splendid contestants, but they bring energy to the audience.” W: Do you do the buying in your household? BB: My housekeeper shops, and sometimes when I do an interview, the interviewer will show up with a brown paper bag and start pull- ing things out and play the games with me. And I must confess that I fail miserably.

W: And are you going to take Th e Price Is Right mementos with you? BB: Well, I already have many The Price Is Right mementos … Barker dollars that we’ve used in games. I have a little wheel, a replica of the Big Wheel—and Bob Barker bobblehead dolls!

W: You’ve done a lot to introduce yourself to a younger audience. Do you still find it easy to connect with younger generations? BB: I enjoy the younger generations very much. Not only do they make BB: Johnny Olson was our W: What’s your favorite splendid contestants, but they bring announcer then, and “come on game on Th e Price Is Right? energy to the audience. It started down” was just three words on a BB: I like them all or they wouldn’t about 15 years ago with my appear- printed page. It was Johnny who be on the show. I particularly ance in [the movie] Happy Gilmore said “Come on down!” and created like the games that give me … I know that I can never tape a this thing that has swept the coun- an opportunity to interact with show now without someone bring- try. You can’t go anyplace without the contestants. ing up Happy Gilmore. hearing it. And I hear it now in commercials, and if I go anyplace W: Has the Big Wheel ever W: What was it like to work out in public: ”Hey, come on down, broken down? on Happy Gilmore? Co-ed: Cliff Lipson/CBS; Stamps, Emmy: Tony Esparza/CBS; Hole: CBS Archive Bob!” They shout it to me from BB: Never. The Big Wheel is BB: The thing I’ve enjoyed the across the street. indestructible! most is the reaction to the fight

7 Things You Didn’t Know About Bob Barker

1. Barker grew up on the 4. He is a member of Sigma Nu 6. He has made animated appear- Rosebud Indian Reservation fraternity. ances on Futurama and The in Rosebud, S.D. Family Guy and had a cameo 5. He takes animal rights very on The Bold and the Beautiful 2. He attended Drury College in seriously, quitting as popular Missouri on a basketball schol- host of the Miss USA and Miss 7. He trained and earned his arship and graduated summa Universe pageants because karate black belt under Chuck cum laude in economics. pageant owners wouldn’t honor Norris and actively practiced his request to eliminate furs. The martial arts until age 75. He 3. He is a military history and Price Is Right doesn’t offer furs exercises daily, but now sticks Civil War buff and has more or leather as prizes, and previous with walking, stretching and low- than 175 collectibles. shows with them are banned. impact karate and workouts.

18 June 2007 Watch!

FdCW0607_17-19_QT_Barker7.indd 18 3/15/07 1:45:38 PM scene. At every taping of The Price W: You’re renowned for your Is Right, someone in the audience devotion to physical fitness wants me to repeat the line—“The and you are a black belt in price is wrong, bitch!”—which I karate. What are your secrets rarely do, of course! for staying healthy? BB: If you want to enjoy the “golden W: How does it feel to years,” I think that you should pay have generations of families particular attention to nutrition and watch you? exercise. … You have more energy. BB: We feel that we have been You get more done. blessed in that our show, over the 35 years that I’ve been doing it, has had a complete cross section of viewers. We have had all ages participate, from 18 to a 95-year- old winner in the showcase who won everything.

W: Was there a specific event that resulted in your support of animal rights? BB: No. I began promoting spay- ing and neutering of pets when I learned that one of the most tragic problems in our country, so far as animals are concerned, is overpopulation. There are just too many cats and dogs born for all of them to have homes. Bob Barker, who ends every one of There are people and organizations his shows with an appeal to viewers to Barker has won 17 Emmy Awards—more spay or neuter their pets, was among devoting time, energy and money than any other performer. Thirteen were the fi rst to purchase a Neuter or Spay for Outstanding Game Show Host. to finding homes for these cats and commemorative postage stamp. dogs, but they are doomed to fail- ure because the homes don’t exist. The only answer is to spay and neuter your animals. Without that, they are going to continue to prolif- erate, and there will just be more and more of them running loose on the streets.

W: What pets do you have? BB: I have a dog, Jesse, that I got at a shelter. She’s part chow and part golden retriever. I also have two rabbits, Mr. Rabbit and his Honey Bunny. I did not set out to have rabbits. My house- keeper found a baby rabbit shivering in the cold near my home and brought it to me. I thought I would keep it long enough to find it a home. But we bonded. I love him. And I went to a rescue group and got his Honey Bunny, and they have lived Barker and contestant playing one of the host’s favorite games—Hole in One. happily ever after.

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