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Eight lucky couples will be front and center for an evening of laughter, fun and prizes, as legendary game show host Bob Eubanks hosts his “Not So Newlywed Game,” a live replica of the television game show, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Community Arts Center, 220 W. Fourth St.
“The Newlywed Game” premiered on ABC in 1966, going off and coming back on the air several times over the next three decades from 1966-75, 1976-81, 1985-89 and 1996-98. In the mid-1970s it was the number one syndicated television show in the nation, and remained a syndicated hit throughout the ’80s and ’90s. TV Guide voted Eubanks one of the top five game show hosts of all time.
In its time, “The Newlywed Game” was a microcosm of society, where a person could see all kinds of things by just watching the show. While hosting “The Newlywed Game,” Eubanks was known for using the catchphrase “makin’ whoopee,” in reference to making love. It was Eubanks who coined the term from the song of the same name, in an attempt to keep parents with young children from the need to explain the facts of life because of a television show.
“It was the first reality show if you will, and it was the first time we looked into people’s bedrooms,” Eubanks said in an interview with the Sun-Gazette. “I recall at the time, they wanted me to say ‘make love.’ And I wouldn’t say it, because I didn’t think you should have to explain that to your children until you are ready to do so. So we agreed on ‘whoopee.’ And that’s how ‘whoopee’ came about.”
When Eubanks first started “The Newlywed Game,” he would make a mistake now and then and have to stop. But he soon figured out that people liked for him to make a mistake, so he started making mistakes on purpose.
“The way to make people talk is the moment you take yourself out of the equation they’ll just talk up a storm,” Eubanks said. “I figured out that people don’t want to know about you, they want you to know about them. And that’s how I was able to make these people talk; and they did.”
“Chuck Barris, who designed the show, figured out very early that the funniest people in the world are ‘John and Mary Jones,’ ” he said. “That’s why we never used celebrities on the show.”
When Eubanks got the job as host of “The Newlywed Game,” he was told there would be four couples who had never been on television. All he had to do then was go out and manufacture a half-hour of comedy. By the way, his competition on television that evening were the very popular shows “Gunsmoke,” “Andy Williams,” “Jackie Gleason,” “Laugh In” and “Flipper.”
“If I went out there and could manufacture a half-hour comedy, I felt very creative,” he said. “‘The Newlywed Game’ was a comedy show that had a game whereas ‘Wheel of Fortune’ is a format-driven game show. I enjoyed ‘The Newlywed Game’ because I learned how to make people talk. I learned a great deal by watching Johnny Carson. Johnny could say a million words with an expression.”
“I just had fun, and I’m still having fun,” he said. “You have success because you have to keep reinventing yourself. You have to take what you know how to do and apply it somewhere else. I have contemporaries that sit at home waiting for the phone to ring, and it’s not going to ring. So here I am, out playing the ‘Not So Newlywed Game,’ and having more fun than you’re supposed to have.”
Having fun is just what Eubanks has continued to do, involving himself in various recent projects; which keep his body and mind active.
“If you rest, you rust,” he said. “I do the ‘Not So Newlywed Game,’ and I do a very funny one-hour keynote for corporations called ‘It’s All About People.’ I also have a new show out now called ‘Backstage with the Beatles,’ in which I tell stories that lead up to Beatles music, and I show never before seen photos and videos. It’s really, really cool.”
“I will be introduced, and then I’ll show some very, very funny clips from past ‘Newlywed Game’ shows,” Eubanks said. “We’ll pick four couples out of the audience, and then we’ll play ‘The Not So Newlywed Game.’ The only qualification is you have to be married.”
The winning couple will then be selected from those four and will receive a prize. Eubanks will then pick out four more couples and will do it all over again. “I go right into the audience and pick the couples and it’s usually based on enthusiasm,” he said. “Whether you get up on the stage or not, you’re going to have so much fun because I do!”
When it comes to reality television today, Eubanks believes shows such as “The Voice,” “American Idol,” and “America’s Got Talent” are well done, but he finds most of them not so much fun.
“They’re playing ‘The Newlywed Game’ on the Game Show Network with another host, and that’s OK,” he said. “But we had a metaphor when we were doing the show. And the metaphor is ‘you never take the teddy off the girl.’ In other words, you never get dirty. And they’ve taken the teddy off the girl. And if you do that you only have one other place to go, and that’s to get dirtier. And so our show wasn’t dirty. Did we push the envelope? Heck yeah. But we never took the teddy off the girl, and for that I’m very grateful.”
No matter your age or whether you’re married or single, Eubanks promises you will be entertained.
“It’s time to laugh,” he said. “You’ve got to be very careful, because you can’t take any of this too seriously. I promise you, whoever is there, they’re going to walk out going, ‘Oh that crazy Bob, he’s so funny.’ “
For more information, visit www.caclive.com.