Front Burner - I’ll take “Icons” for 400, Alex

Episode Date: November 9, 2020

For 36 years, Alex Trebek hosted the trivia show ‘Jeopardy!’ with gravitas and wit. On Sunday morning, Trebek died of pancreatic cancer. He was 80 years old. Today, we discuss Trebek’s legacy and what he meant to his fans with Andy Saunders, a ‘Jeopardy!’ superfan and the operator of TheJeopardyFan.com.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. It is the end of an era on network television. Jeopardy host and Canadian icon Alex Trebek has died. He was 80 years old and had pancreatic cancer. Trebek grew up in northern Ontario and got a job with the CBC reading the news

before he even finished university. Good morning. Here is the CBC National News read by Alec Trebek. First, the main items. That's how he got tapped to host entertainment shows here on The Broadcaster. Let's have a real good welcome for Gord Lightfoot as he sings Jimmy Rogers' new up-and-comer, 210-682. Eventually, U.S. networks poached him, and he found a home at Jeopardy, one that would last decades. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of all of us, welcome to America's favorite answer-and-question game.

You know how we play it. We provide the categories and the answers. Whether contestants were surprising their girlfriends with a marriage proposal... You responded too quickly. I was about to say, we'll have the answer to that question right after this commercial break. That would be what is yes. Or trying to knock record-breaking contestant Ken Jennings off his feet. Ken, take a look at the audience. The audience is paying tribute to not only Nancy, but to you as well. Trebek was there.

He got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and even set a world record for the most game show episodes hosted by the same presenter. Even after a heart attack in 2012, Trebek was still the person people could count on when they turned on their televisions. We'll see you tomorrow. Join us then, won't you? Salam, everybody.

That all took a turn in March of last year. I wanted to be the one to pass along this information. Just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. For more than a year and a half, he became a beacon of hope in the face of insurmountable odds, even writing a memoir that he dedicated to, quote, those who are hoping to become survivors. Now, normally the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I'm going to fight this and I'm going to keep working. Keep working.

Yesterday, I spoke with Andy Saunders of TheJeopardyFan.com on the legacy Alex Trebek leaves behind. I'm Jamie Poisson, and this is Frontburner. Hi, Andy. Thank you so much for speaking with me today. Thank you so much, Jamie, for having me. Can I ask, how are you feeling right now? I am absolutely shocked and devastated by today's news. Alex has been part of my life watching Jeopardy

as long as I can remember. Can you tell me what was your introduction to him? So Jeopardy came back on the air when I was one year old. Now entering the studio are today's contestants. Pick up your signaling buttons, but do not ring in until the answer is fully exposed. If you're ready, then let us play Jeopardy. And my father watched it from the beginning. And so that's always been in my life. And I can probably even credit my own personal love of trivia to watching Jeopardy.

And what was it about Alex Trebek and the show that drew you in? Um, honestly, I just, it was so much different than anything else on television, really, because, you know, just the fast pace of 61 questions in 20 minutes of showtime, you don't get that jam-packed trivia anywhere else on television. World's largest lake nearly five times as big as Superior. Basketball defense or Serling's Twilight Area. Site where John Hancock signed his John Hancock. It was probably a liar, not a fiddle, if he played it while Rome burned. Lois? Who is Nero? Nero, right. Select. And what about Alex? What was it about him that drew you in? He's an institution. And it just seems to me that he was so important in so many homes across North America.

Just, you could count on him to be there five nights a week at 7 o'clock, 7.30, whenever Jeopardy aired where you lived, you could count on Alex Trebek to be there for you for that half an hour. And I know that was so comforting for a lot of people. And for so many people, especially people who were new to the United States, new to Canada even, there was a story from a contestant who was on the show even this week about how the contestant learned English through watching Alex Trebek on Jeopardy. My grandfather, who raised me, I'm going to get tears right now. I used to sit on his lap and watch it.

So it's a pretty special moment for me, man. Right. I saw that. It was such a touching moment. For people who might not have watched Jeopardy, could you describe Alex Trebek? news type people, it seemed like everybody, no matter how you felt politically, could look to Alex Trebek and say, this person is authoritative. He wrote a book saying government should end poverty. Jason? Who's Maximilian? No. Who is Napoleon III? Louis Napoleon. Back to you, Molly.

who is Napoleon III, Louis Napoleon. Back to you, Molly. He had that gravitas to him that no matter where you stood politically, you could look at Alex Trebek and think, okay, this person exudes truth. I imagine that must have been comforting to people, especially in recent years, when our relationship with the truth,

because of social media, because of the political environment, has kind of been thrown up in the air, hey? Right. And like Alex just seemed to, he just seemed to leave the politics out of it. And he just, you know, people trusted him as being, you know, that, I guess, almost an arbiter of truth, just reading out the clues, you know, judging on the responses from the contestants. What is ground diving? No. What is the Mayflower? It hurts, I know. as such a big fan of this show and the administrator of this fan site um i'm sure that

you have so many favorite moments from alex trebek's time hosting the show. And I wonder if you could tell me about some of them. Back in 2005, when the show did the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, and this showed up on the outtakes for the DVD set that was released by the show in 2005. So what happened was it was a closed set that day, so just the three contestants and the alternate. And the three contestants were joking, oh, why don't we play without pants? And then Alex, I guess, overhears this. They do the intro, and Alex walks onto the set without pants. No.

Now, can we get a camera behind to make sure that they have done the same as I? All right, here we go. And so I think that, you know, Alex, being able to introduce that little bit of levity into one of the more important episodes the show has ever put together, I think that right there is another favorite memory of mine of Alex's. It seemed like he knew how to take a joke.

This example that you just gave about him not wearing any pants, he was famously parodied by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live in recurring Celebrity Jeopardy bits. I hate my job. The answer was mustard. Mustard is made from mustard seeds. It's time for Final Jeopardy. And so this was the Final Jeopardy. There was a sketch based on him on SCTV. Well, that's what I meant.

Oh, you didn't say that. You have to say the answers to get points. We're not mind readers. No points on that. Next question. Do you remember those two? I do. My personal favorite is the SCTV sketches with Eugene Levy, not just because Canada, because also SCTV was, you know, kind of poking fun at a CBC

institution at that point. They were poking fun of Alex's hosting of Reach for the Top. In the 18th century, what country was England's principal non-domestic? Edward Reid, Monarch Park. Holland. Holland? No. We'll penalize you five points for interrupting the scramble.

Did I not just say don't buzz until I finish asking the question? Didn't I just say that? I thought you were finished. No, I'm not! I'm not finished. You haven't even heard the music yet. And Alex has always said that his own favorite parody was Eugene Levy on SCTV. He looked more the part, too. He had the dark hair and he had the black mustache.

And they were so stupid. And it was so funny. But yes, you're absolutely right, though. He absolutely can take a joke. Use this device to really get your point across. AJ? What is a megaphone? You are right.

No, you're not right. Public enemy. You go ooh and ah when I jump in my car. People treat me like this Hall of Fame L.A. Lakers center. I can tell you guys are big football fans. Let's look at the $1,000 clue just for the fun of it. It's people who identify as nerdy rapping about the things they love. Video games, science fiction, having a hard time meeting romantic partners, you know.

Losers, in other words. You know, I know that you've also met a lot of people, made a lot of friends through the site that you operate, right? And have they told you about what Alex Trebek meant to them? Yes. And I mean, that's another great thing about what Alex and the show has done. Because of the alumni community and others that have, you know, are close to and are really big fans of the show, there's so much camaraderie. And, you know, so many trivia lovers have been able to connect with like-minded people online because of the show. And I think it's even really been helpful for a lot of people to get through, you know, the lockdowns and everything that's happened because of COVID,

you know, the lockdowns and everything that's happened because of COVID, because people have had this online support group and camaraderie. What have these people told you about what Alex Trebek meant to them? The last three hours since the news broke, last three hours since the news broke, the outpouring of so many different, you know, things I've heard from people regarding Alex and I'm trying to, it's been really difficult for me the last few hours just to, you know, know that he's gone and how much he's meant to so many different people. Oh, boy. You sound like you feel like you've lost someone very close to you. And that's absolutely true. I absolutely have.

And the weekend before, I mean, the weekend before everyone went into lockdown back in March, there was a massive Geeks Who Drink, the pub quiz company in the United States, ran an event called Geek Bowl. drink, the pub quiz company in the United States, ran an event called Geek Bowl. And there was an event where there were probably 500 people in a bar all there, you know, to play trivia against each other, all of whom who'd met mostly online because of Jeopardy and because of what Alex meant to all these people. I'm going to quickly bring up one of the top trivia players in North America. Her name is Susanna Brooks. She's from Wisconsin, and she was the first woman to win a major North American quizzing event by the World Quizzing Association. She did this last year, back in February. And her words on Jeopardy,

she was on Jeopardy back in 2006. When people ask me about Jeopardy, I say two things. First, that Alex is pretty much exactly as he seems on television. And second, that the show has absolutely changed my life for the better in ways I'm still discovering 14 years later.

I spent literally all day yesterday nerding out with friends in a pop culture trivia tournament That's really nice. And, I mean, my own personal social media feeds, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Andy, I want to talk a little bit more about some of these incredible moments that took place in jeopardy over the years. I remember there was this crazy moment for me in the 2000s when IBM showcased its artificial intelligence program. Do you remember that? The best winning contestants faced off against the AI. Can you tell me about that? Yes, yes. That was actually Watson.

They named the computer Watson. And yes, when IBM developed Watson originally to answer Jeopardy clues as a way of demonstrating natural language processing. Even a broken one of these on your wall is right twice a day. Watson. What is clock? Clock is correct. Its largest airport is named for a World War II hero. And the response was, what is Toronto? With a lot of question marks. And I think that, you know, to add on top of that, because IBM was able to prove what Watson could do 10 years ago and what Watson's been able to do with healthcare since, I think that Alex Trebek and Jeopardy have had an outsized effect on making the world at

large a better place. I'll see you next time. Optimization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some startling numbers to share with you. Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo. 50%. That's because money is confusing.

In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. Did you ever get to meet him, Andy? I had one opportunity to meet him. Back in 2017, my most recent audition for the show was in Toronto a couple of days before Alex was awarded the Order of Canada. And so he was coming up to Ottawa and stopped in at the auditions in Toronto.

And I had the opportunity to meet Alex at that point. He did a Q&A session for the auditioners, took his picture with a bunch of us, and I am so grateful that I had that opportunity to meet him and ask a couple of questions. What was it like? I'll admit I was awestruck because it was somebody who,

obviously, I'd only seen on television and who was so important to my own life, finally in the flesh. And I think the nicest thing about it was, you know, I wasn't disappointed by meeting him either. So many times people have been disappointed over the years, you know, meeting some of their heroes. I wasn't disappointed meeting Alex Trebek. Put into terms what these fans mean to you, fans of the show.

They are the most important elements in my life outside of my family and friends. I can't help but be touched by what they have to say and by what I mean to them. When his cancer diagnosis was made public, there was such an enormous outpouring of love for him. And not just online, but also on the show. One candidate wrote in the answer, we love you, Alex. And it was this moment where he was clearly really touched by it.

What is we love you, Alex? That's very kind. Thank you. Cost you $19.95. You're left with five bucks. He seemed to handle his diagnosis with such resilience and grace. And what impression has his approach to being so publicly ill had on you? He wrote a memoir about it. I think that it gave everyone

an opportunity to tell Alex what he meant to them while he was still alive. And I really believe that him being, you know, him being so public with his diagnosis and him, you know, being able to receive the outpouring of love that he did, I honestly think that may have lifted his spirits enough that it may have brought him through an extra few months. So many people get cancer. I'm not alone out there and I want them to feel that they're not alone and I've gotten messages from people all across America all across Canada prayers advice I've had so many masses said on my behalf. Does it surprise you that there would be this kind of outreach?

It did to a certain extent, but there are a lot of really nice people out there, so it no longer surprises me. Andy, you know, to me it feels like Jeopardy has always been this constant, right? Like you said earlier, it's been a constant over the decades. And I know that you mentioned earlier that it would be hard for you to imagine a Jeopardy without Alex Trebek. Can you talk to me a little bit more about that? I mean, to me, you know, I associate, you know, Jeopardy with Alex because that's the only host I've known. I do want to say, though, that Alex obviously wasn't the first host of Jeopardy. Art Fleming hosted the show in the 60s and 70s. The contestants for the day, good morning, players.

Look at the board now as we all play Jeopardy. Thank you. So there is precedent for another host to replace an institution that so many people loved. Art Fleming was an institution back in the 60s and 70s. There were people who didn't like Alex when he was hosted in the mid-80s. You're going to see that happen again. You're going to see people miss Alex very dearly. That being said, I know Alex would want the fans to treat with respect

whomever replaces Alex's host. And how are you going to remember Alex Trebek? How are you going to remember Alex Trebek? I'm going to remember Alex as a very fair individual, as in he never treated one contestant differently over another. And, you know, he always strove to do the best job he could hosting. It's the best kind of job for somebody like me. I've been very lucky in my career, throughout my career, gone from one show to another show, even shows that didn't succeed helped me. And they all prepared me for the show that many

people feel I was destined to host and if that's the case hey good and as somebody who you know has been around game shows for for almost two decades like I have if I could be half as good as Alex Trebek, I'd be happy. Andy Saunders, thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. Before we go today, I want to share a few messages that people are sharing on Twitter to say goodbye to Alex Trebek. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote that he entertained and educated millions of people around the world. Astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote, farewell, patron saint of geeks. And Ken Jennings, who had Jeopardy's longest winning streak, wrote that he is thinking about Trebek's, quote,

family and his Jeopardy family, which in a way included millions of us. That's all for today. I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll talk to you tomorrow.