Memes on the Game Show front:
Please add entries in the following format:
The name of the show.
Meme name: description of meme and how it's used.
Source of meme and fandom it relates to in the form of a labelnote.
Further mutations and successor memes, if any.
Family Feud: Richard Karn wants you to know that because he feels like a meme, he's going to DOUBLE THE POINTS!!!!!!!! Explanation Karn's Large Ham explanation of the Double round, where the value of each survey answer is doubled. He did the same thing with "triple the points" in the Triple round.
But not before you've DRAWN FIRST BLOOD. Explanation Also from Karn; his way of saying which family will score the points first.
Good answer! Good answer! Explanation Usually said by the other members of the family, no matter how far off-base the answer is. Some families even seem to say it ironically because they know the answer can't possibly be up there.
Survey said... Explanation Catch Phrase heard in every version of Feud, when asking how many points an answer scored in the Fast Money Bonus Round. May be used in conversation when "revealing" the answer to a question.
NEKKID GRANDMA!! Explanation Shortly after Steve Harvey became host, the show's YouTube channel began posting clips. Among them was a man who gave this as a response to "Name something a burglar would not want to see when he breaks into a house" — it lit up as "Gun/Occupant" for 33 points. Now, nearly every video on Family Feud's channel has someone offering "nekkid grandma" as an answer in the comments.
IS IT UP THERE? Explanation What Louie Anderson would say after just about EVERY answer given in the main game.
But if you do, chances are you'll hear Patrick Wayne tell you that "YOUUUUUUUUUUUU WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!" If not, that's okay, "Just cause you're divorced doesn't mean you can't have fun, riiiiiiiiiiiight?" Explanation From the 1990 revival of Tic-Tac-Dough, a couple choice quotes from host Patrick Wayne, another Large Ham of a host whose name often crops up when bad game show hosts are mentioned. The latter is from the run's Divorced Couples Week.
Oh yeah, and Jim Caldwell wants to add that those red boxes are special categories, he'll be sure to explain them when we get to them. Explanation From the 1985-86 season of the same show; when Jim Caldwell took over from Wink Martindale as host, Caldwell became obsessed with the red box Bonus Spaces.
Stop at a Flokati Rug! Explanation Often considered the least desirable prize on the board, an opinion even mentioned within the show itself.
The title format of Whammy! The All New Press Your Luck became a meme in and of itself. Explanation Message board posters would come up with similar titles for hypothetical revivals, such as Dragon! The All New Tic-Tac-Dough.
Twenty One was RRRRRRRRRRRIGGED! Explanation Early meme dating from the newsgroup alt.tv.game-shows, referring to the quiz show scandals of the late 1950s. While Twenty One was a big offender, this also applied to Tic-Tac-Dough, The $64,000 Question, and the smoking gun itself — Dotto.
What? You didn't know any of this? I bet you didn't know that Woolery left Wheel.Explanation A popular way of saying that a piece of game show news is old. The reference is to former Wheel of Fortune host Chuck Woolery, who left on Christmas Day 1981.
A group of pill-pushers? Explanation A humorous missolve from 1999 that has shown up in countless blooper specials. The actual answer was A GROUP OF WELL-WISHERS.
I'd like to buy a vowel. Explanation Catch Phrase from contestants. Another is "I'd like to solve the puzzle."
"Top dollar value on the Wheel for the first round is $500. But look out for this black space, Bankrupt, because if you hit it, you lose all your cash, but not your merchandise, because once you buy a prize, it's yours to keep." Explanation Chuck Woolery's rundown of the show's rules from the earliest days. He even recited this in full on an April Fools' Day episode of Scrabble.
RSTLN E Explanation In the early days of the Bonus Round, contestants were asked for five consonants and a vowel to help solve the bonus puzzle. RSTLN are the most common consonants in the English language, and E is the most common vowel. This achieved Ascended Meme status so that contestants are now given those letters, in that order, and then asked for three more consonants and another vowel.
The ceramic dalmatian. Explanation An Undesirable Prize when the show still had contestants shop for prizes after each round. Very few contestants wanted it at first, but by March 1987 it became famous enough that some deliberately bought it. Although the shopping was removed in the late 1980s, it has been referenced in several game show parodies, and repeatedly by the show itself. His name is Sheldon, by the way.
Good internet game show forum etiquette: DON'T ask how Hot Potato was played. Explanation Refers to a troll on the newsgroup alt.tv.game-shows, who would make nonsensical posts asking how "hat putato" was played.
...or ask what game shows [dead celebrity]'s corpse will host. Explanation Another recurring troll post on the same newsgroup.
...or proclaim that a cancelled game show is NEW! NEW! NEW!Explanation Another troll meme that started with someone repeatedly saying this about Wheel 2000, and escalated from there. Often misspelled as "NU! NU! NU!" due to mutations with the aforementioned "hat putato" posts.
"Can I phone a friend?" Explanation One of the Lifelines available to contestants to aid in picking the right answer. This Lifeline was eliminated in some versions after too many Phone-A-Friends began Googling the answer.
That dating show from the 1990s is actually called FREAKIN' STUDS. Explanation In reference to a "50 Greatest Game Shows" poll conducted by GSN. This was one fan's reaction to the fact that Studs ended up on the aired list, as it wasn't a long-running or well-remembered series.
Who are three people that have never been in my kitchen? Explanation On an episode of Cheers ("What Is... Cliff Clavin?"), Know-Nothing Know-It-All postman Cliff Clavin appeared on Jeopardy! and had a runaway lead. He lost after wagering all of his winnings on the Final Jeopardy! clue and writing that as his response. Jeopardy! has made this episode into an Ascended Meme of sorts, as "pulling a Clavin" is now the term for an all-in Final Jeopardy! wager from a runaway lead.
What is Toronto? Explanation During a special set of episodes in February 2011, a computer named Watson competed against former contestants Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Despite amassing a runaway lead, Watson was stumped by Final Jeopardy! and guessed Toronto. Since then, this has become the successor to "never been in my kitchen" for contestants who are stumped in Final Jeopardy!
I'll take over-used memes for $800, Alex. Explanation Common method of requesting the next clue to be revealed.
Eleventy billion dollars! Explanation What "Keanu Reaves" bid in a Saturday Night Live SNLCelebrity Jeopardy! sketch. This "number" is often used among game show fans to spoof the trend towards very high payouts.
Liederkranz. Explanation Explanation:The answer to a notoriously difficult Final Jeopardy! asking about an obscure, no-longer-made type of cheese, often cited by Jeopardy! fans as being the hardest Final Jeopardy! the show has ever had. References to liederkranz are common, particularly in the context of any other clue's difficulty.
The "form of a question" format is so pervasive that contestants on non-Jeopardy! shows will unconsciously phrase answers "What is X?" (or similar), as if they were on Jeopardy!, usually to the amusement and/or annoyance of the other show's host. It was something of a Berserk Button on Win Ben Stein's Money, where offending contestants were forced to wear a Dunce Cap as penance.
Jack, I'll go off the board and take Baseball. Explanation A rarely used tactic; anyone with one or two Jokers showing could go "off the board" and ask for a category not shown on the slot machine.
YOU FOOL!Explanation From a 1999 episode where Gilbert Gottfried was the only star left on the board, but the contestants kept whiffing the increasingly easy questions and falling for Gottfried's obvious bluffs. Every time they whiffed, he would scream "YOU FOOL!"
Circle/X gets the square! Explanation Often said by the hosts when a contestant correctly agrees/disagrees with a celebrity. It is also often used in real life as a sarcastic retort to a blatantly obvious statement.
"The password is..." Explanation Whispered by The Announcer in most versions of the word-association game.
Deal Or No Deal? Explanation Title Dropping question asked by any host of the show, when asking if the contestant wants to take the Banker's deal or keep eliminating suitcases or boxes in hopes of finding one with the top money prize in it.
Is it bigger than a breadbox?Explanation In reference to the Panel Game where a celebrity panel would ask yes-or-no questions in attempt to determine a contestant's job. "Bigger than a breadbox" existed well before that, but the show helped popularize it thanks to Steve Allen.
"I'll take an E, Bob." Explanation Double Entendre letter request from the British version of Blockbusters, which involves a board full of letters — each answer begins with the letter selected. "P" of course refers to "taking a pee"; "U" as in "I'll have you" and "E" was a common slang for the drug Ecstasy.
In Ireland, "Stop the lights!" Explanation From the game show Quicksilver, and used as an expression of surprise; impressive as the show was cancelled decades ago.
"You are The Weakest Link... goodbye." Explanation Spoken by the host of the show in question, when the "weakest link" player has been voted off by the others.
Let's rotate the board! Explanation From a game show parody sketch on That Mitchell And Webb Look called "Numberwang", the premise being a complete Non Sequitur number-guessing game. References to Numberwang have bled over into the game show fandom, to the point that many consider it an overused meme.
"Dumb Dora was so dumb..." "HOW DUMB WAS SHE?" Explanation Although the "X was so Y..." "How Y was X?" construct originated with Johnny Carson, Match Game help popularize it whenever the show had a question about "Dumb Dora" or any other personality made up for the show's humorous fill-in-the-blank questions. The "How Y was X?" portion was usually asked by both the celebrity panel and audience, and host Gene Rayburn would typically rate their performance (e.g., "You blew it").
"Slide it, Earl!" Explanation Host Gene Rayburn's Catch Phrase when asking for the top answer to be revealed in the Audience Match portion of the Bonus Round, where a contestant has to try and pick the top answer given by an audience in response to a fill-in-the-blank question.
Old Man Periwinkle Explanation The name Match Game used whenever the sentence to complete involved an old person. Gene Rayburn would usually do an old man voice for him.
"...Through the SHRIIIIINE OF THE SILVEEEEEER MONKEEEEEY." Explanation Another recurring Large Ham statement from Olmec while describing the path through the temple.
"I can name that tune in five notes." "Four notes." "Three notes." "Name that tune." Explanation From the "Bid-a-Note" round of Name That Tune, where contestants bid on how many notes they need to identify the song.
"Not a match; the board goes back." Explanation Hugh Downs often said this on Concentration when a contestant's chosen numbers did not have the same prize behind them. David Letterman helped get this phrase here, as he says it occasionally when a joke falls flat.
"Oh, swell." Explanation Said by Downs early in games when two matched squares reveal blank spaces on the puzzle side.
...IS RIGHT!Explanation Hugh says this after a contestant correctly solves the puzzle.
"DO IT, ROCKAPELLA!"Explanation Explanation:Catch Phrase in reference to the a cappella group Rockapella, who provided the music for Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
Is it behind Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3? Explanation Reference to the three numbered doors on Let's Make a Deal, which may conceal a Zonk or a prize.
"Your starter for ten..." Explanation Phrase used on University Challenge to indicate the next question is a basic, ten-point one.
"For $10/$25/$50/$100,000...here is your first subject. Go!" Explanation Phrase used by Dick Clark to start the Winner's Circle round on various incarnations of Pyramid.
"Threefourfifty...$500!" Explanation Dick Clark adding up the amount of money won in a Pyramid Winner's Circle round. Or words to that effect.
"Lower/Higher than a...?" Explanation What the host of Card Sharks will usually say prior to turning over the next card.
"All of it, higher/lower!" Explanation What confident Card Sharks contestants will say when playing the Money Cards, the bonus game where you call high/low on the cards, but this time you bet money on each call. Aces or deuces, the little-to-no-fail cards in the deck, usually get the "all" bet.
"Will the real X please stand up?" Explanation What the host of To Tell the Truth says to find out who's telling the truth and who the imposters are.
"I would like to introduce you to ten of the most (alliterative two-word phrase, usually with negative meaning) that ever stood between an (occupation) and his/her money, and here...they...are!" Explanation Said by Whew! host Tom Kennedy to players before attempting the Gauntlet of Villains for $25,000.
LONGSHOT! (screeeeeeeeeeech...CRASH!) Explanation What a Charger on Whew would say when time was running out and s/he couldn't reach Level 6 in time. This forced a Sudden Death single-pick of three possible bloopers to decide the round.
TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME'S UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP! Explanation What the Gaunlet said to a Charger if their time ran out.
If you'd like to be a contestant on Hit Man, forget it! Explanation Rod Roddy's famous line in place of the contestant plug on said show's Grand Finale.
Bowling for X. Explanation A snowclone meme originating from the franchise Bowling For Dollars.
All Star Blitz, hobba hum hobba heeba humba. Explanation The only circulating version of that show's theme is a very surreal remix with a lot of scatting, which was apparently used for only one week. The sheer bizarreness of this remix is quite well known.
And because The Price Is Right is the granddaddy, it gets the most memes:
"[Name], come on down!" Explanation The call for a contestant who is picked out of the audience.
"It's a new car!" Explanation Intoned by The Announcer whenever a pricing game offers just that.
"Telephone pole screamers". Explanation Drew Carey chewed out the Fan Dumb on his personal blog in June 2009, and for at least the rest of that Summer, the sane fans used this term from the blog entry.
"$1, Bob/Drew!" Explanation Often said in the "One Bid" round, ostensibly when the fourth contestant thinks that the other three have overbid on the item up for bids. Most, however, seem to say "$1" just for the sake of saying it.
"$X+1, Bob/Drew!" Explanation Conversely, if they thought all three had underbid, they would bid $1 above the highest bid. If two players had, they'd bid $1 above the next-highest. Players absolutely hated being hit with this. Consider it [[Videogame Cruelty Potential game show cruelty potential.
"$420, Bob/Drew!" Explanation Some contestants think it's funny to repeatedly make this bid. Other similar-minded bids include various numbers containing "69", as well as outrageous bids like $2,000,000.
"Gentlemen/Ladies/O mighty sound effects lady..." Explanation Said in the pricing game One Away, when asking if at least one of the numbers in the price is correct. Bob used "Gentlemen" and later "Ladies", while Drew changed it to "O mighty sound effects lady..."
"Hold my hand. Say Alakazam!" Explanation Another Drew-ism, usually used on reveals in pricing games.
Samoans lifting Bob Barker and inflicting all sorts of damage on him. Explanation After a contestant from Samoa did just that, many more Samoan contestants followed suit.
Holly Hallstrom and her tendency to trip up. Explanation One of the show's early models, who was clearly the Cute Clumsy Girl of the bunch.
"Help control the pet population: Have your pets spayed or neutered!" Explanation Spoken by Bob, an animal rights activist, at the end of each show. Drew has carried on in this tradition as an homage.
Ezekiel Barker. Explanation Explanation:After Drew referred to Barker's Bargain Bar as being named for "Ezekiel Barker", many fans began referring to Bob Barker as Ezekiel. Shortly after the retirement of Barker's Bargain Bar and Make Your Mark, a few Golden Road.net users began making a Real Person Fic that showed the "history" of the Barker family.
Fansite golden-road.net has a lexicon that has attained meme status as well.
"Exacta"
"Wipeout"
"El Skunko"
"Can't Stop The Dob/Fool The Fingers", which declines to "Dobstopper/Fingerstopper" when a contestant is Genre Savvy (or lucky) enough to beat Roger Dobkowitz's or Kathy Greco's Nintendo Hard setups. Also applies in hindsight to "Can't Jive The Jay", for original producer Jay Wolpert's own hard setups (most notably, as seen on the DVD set, a $7,010 car used in Lucky Seven).
"WSD" Explanation a Showcase bid that is over by $250 or less; inversion of "DSW", shorthand for "Double Showcase Winner", someone who wins both Showcases of prizes because his or her bid was within $250 of the actual retail price without going over
"First Four Breakfast Club/Midday Revue" Explanation Any First Four contestants (the first four called down at the top of the show) who are still in Contestant's Row following the sixth One-Bid; Mimi Bobeck got her own wing when Drew became host).
"Garf Of The Century" Explanation Used for contestants who underbid on their Showcase by $10,000 or more. Alternatively, the term "Willy Of The Century" has been used for obvious Showcase overbids. The icons used on the forum are based on the Sale of the Century logo.)
"Friggin' Random Boat/Trailer/All-Trip Showcase", commonly shortened to "FRBS", "FRTS", and "FRATS" respectively.
Golden-Road.net's posters also have embarrassingly cutesy nicknames for the pricing games on show recaps.
The losing horns.Explanation Said Losing Horns are played whenever a contestant loses most pricing games, and when there's a Double Overbid in the Showcase. Many other works use them as a sign of Epic Fail.
Less commonly used are the Big Win Sirens. Explanation A series of loud bells and sirens that sound whenever someone wins the top prize in a high-stakes pricing game (Grand Game, Punch-A-Bunch, Triple Play), a cash bonus on the "Big Wheel", or both Showcases.
"...all this can be yours, if the price is right." Explanation The end of The Announcer's description of each Showcase, a set of prizes that the top two contestants get to bid on near the end of the game. The object is to bid as closely to the actual retail price as possible without going over. Also used after one-bid descriptions for the first few years. Was used on the original Bill Cullen version as well, along with the name of the manufacturer/distributor as its price authority.
"You bid on the merchandise we present. Go as high as you like, stop whenever you like...it goes to the one who bids highest to the actual retail price without going over, and the big winner comes back tomorrow/next week and takes on three new challengers." Explanation Bill Cullen's explanation of the game on the original series.
"FRIED CHICKEN!" Explanation In a pair of particularly off-kilter Showcases from Season 37, Rich Fields built up the prizes by asking Drew questions (i.e. "Do you know what makes fingers look great?" for a diamond ring), to which he would consistently respond "Fried chicken". Drew would go on to randomly shout this phrase for the remainder of that week, and this would get continuously referenced and mocked by game show fans.
"Once it's stopped, we can't start it again for 37 hours." Explanation In his later years, Bob Barker made this joke every time he explained the rules of Range Game, to emphasize that the contestants can only stop the range finder once. Drew Carey attempted this joke on his first playing, but butchered it; to be fair, this had become a Discredited Meme by this point anyway.
