Bob Barker and announcer Rich pose during taping of a final primetime special of “The Price Is Right” at CBS Television City on April 17, 2007 in Los Angeles.
(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)If you haven't heard the podcast about classic TV game shows that Rich Fields and I do, check out "Come On Down" in our podcasts section. As a kid, I idolized Wink Martindale. I never missed an episode of Tic Tac Dough. But as I became a teenager, I wanted to be a pro wrestler and then in high school, radio became my thing. But Rich got to live that childhood dream I had about being on a TV game show. So doing the podcast has been a blast. By pressing him with questions about how it all happened, I vicariously have been able to experience his journey of eventually becoming the announcer for The Price Is Right.
In one of our first few episodes, we talked about as a teenager, Rich's dad actually snuck the two of them backstage on the day of a taping. When they were busted, somehow they managed to get invited to stay and watch the taping. Before the show "goes live," the announcer, Johnny Olson, comes out and warms the crowd up to get them in a frenzy. That way when Bob Barker takes the stage, you see the crowd super excited. Rich, being a big fan of Johnny Olson, realized that the voice introducing Johnny... WAS Johnny! And I thought that was so weird. Couldn't they just find a stagehand to do it? It seemed tacky to introduce yourself... especially on a show as enormously popular as The Price is Right!
Jump ahead to about 19 minutes and 30 seconds:
That's when Rich 'fessed up - over the years nothing changed. Rich ALSO had to introduce himself. As time went on, he actually let someone on the crew introduce him. But initially, he did the same thing Johnny Olson did! Sure enough, one of our podcast listeners somehow FOUND VIDEO OF IT! Watch Rich point to himself when he says his own name... priceless. No pun intended. Ok sort of intended.
