So I'm watching "Match Game" on GSN ...

... and Clifton Davis, shown below, is slow providing his answer to a fill-in-the-blank query.

Host Gene Rayborn says: "Hurry up or we'll put you in the back of the bus." A chorus of laughter ensues.

I turned to my wife and asked if I'd heard that correctly. Yep. We're still in shock.

Just passing that along.

 

Did Clifton laugh?

And not to defend it, but it was 30 years ago. Things were VERY different back then. Just 10 years since the Civil Rights movement. Again, not defending it. Just saying times were different.

 

Even more shocking:

To Charles Nelson Reilly:

"Hurry up or we'll pound you in the backside."

;D

 

All In The Family. 'Nuff said.

"Sammy, I know you were born black -- you could do nothing about that -- but my God, how could you have gone Jew?"

 

The Match Game and the Hollywood Squares (with Paul Lynne as the center square) are near or at the top of the list for 70s TV shows with great masked (or unmasked) comments about sexual inuendo or racism.

 

Now that made me laugh! I could be wrong, but aren't Chuckles and Burt Reynolds good friends? That's a very strange pairing.

 

I didn't mean that to be a shot at Rayborn. Just pointing how different things are now.

Davis later made some joke about watermelons and how that was obvious because of his racial background. He was having a good time with it, and the five white panelists were savoring it with him ...

 

One of the great all-time gags in the 1970s was Scoey Mitchell doing his "repressed black" routine on Match Game, or Demond Wilson getting "angry" and walking out of his square on Hollywood Squares if Peter asked a question about watermelon or something that could be race-related.

I thought it was hilarious, and I still do, and I'm not racist. The problem, as someone pointed out, is people being so goddamn hyper-sensitive about everything these days. Lighten up, everyone! Laugh! It's good for ya!

 

Speaking of the '70s, how could we forget this classic skit?

Interviewer: Alright, Mr. Wilson, you've done just fine on the Rorshact.. your papers are in good order.. your file's fine.. no difficulties with your motor skills.. And I think you're probably ready for this job. We've got one more psychological test we always do here. It's just a Word Association. I'll throw you out a few words - anything that comes to your mind, just throw back at me, okay? It's kind of an arbitrary thing. Like, if I say "dog", you'd say..?

Mr. Wilson: "Tree".

Interviewer: "Tree". [ nods head, prepares the test papers ] "Dog".

Mr. Wilson: "Tree".

Interviewer: "Fast".

Mr. Wilson: "Slow".

Interviewer: "Rain".

Mr. Wilson: "Snow".

Interviewer: "White".

Mr. Wilson: "Black".

Interviewer: "Bean".

Mr. Wilson: "Pod".

Interviewer: [ casually ] "Negro".

Mr. Wilson: "Whitey".

Interviewer: "Tarbaby".

Mr. Wilson: [ silent, sure he didn't hear what he thinks he heard ] What'd you say?

Interviewer: [ repeating ] "Tarbaby".

Mr. Wilson: "Ofay".

Interviewer: "Colored".

Mr. Wilson: "Redneck".

Interviewer: "Junglebunny".

Mr. Wilson: [ starting to get angry ] "Peckerwood!"

Interviewer: "Burrhead".

Mr. Wilson: [ defensive ] "Cracker!"

Interviewer: [ aggressive ] "Spearchucker".

Mr. Wilson: "White trash!"

Interviewer: "Jungle Bunny!"

Mr. Wilson: [ upset ] "Honky!"

Interviewer: "Spade!

Mr. Wilson: [ really upset ] "Honky Honky!"

Interviewer: [ relentless ] "Nigger!"

Mr. Wilson: [ immediate ] "Dead honky!" [ face starts to flinch ]

 

And "panelists" smoking on the air.

 

One of the networks ran a bizarre return of Match Game with Ricki Lake hosting last week. Betty White was the only original panelist who came back. Lance Bass played against Kathy Najimy. Quite strange.

Anyway, Betty had a great line: "People said we drank during the show. That's not true. We showed up drunk."

 

Oddly enough, I saw myself on the GSN last weekend. Was visiting my parents, and they had it on for a new version of "To Tell the Truth." (which, coincidentally, has an all-gay panel including Billy Beane). Anyway, contestant is Theo Nelson, who hit a half-court shot for $1 million during halftime of a college hoops game. They show the highlight, with him running around the arena and tackling a mascot... and there I am sitting three seats away.