The Great Video And Game Show Tour!
January, 1996 - October, 2002
When I first joined Kramer International (the agency that represented my show),
they did not have a game show tour available. I happened to know a little about video
production, so I accepted their offer to be Road Manager of a "Fun Flicks" tour
for my first year. Although I prefer doing a game show, it was a great experience to manage a
video tour for the first year. The videos and pictures below begin with that
first year of 1996 with samples of people making their own "Fun Flicks."
It's disappointing now that I did not get more of the game shows on video.
This was before smart phones and inexpensive compact video cameras.
Also, at the time it was a job - a job that required us to pack up and drive
to another town for the next show almost every day.
We rarely had time to think about getting the show video recorded!
The few shows we did have recorded are presented below,
along with some of the more interesting pictures from life on the road.
This was the most interesting gig of my life,
but I learned that life on the road is definitely not for the timid.
In just under seven years I performed shows in forty-three states,
putting an average of 70,000 miles on my Ford van every year.
Hope you enjoy this nostalgic voyage in videos and pictures from my seven year road trip!
Note: If you see a message that your browser does not support the video tag,
or if you'd like to keep a copy of any video on your own hard drive,
simply click the "Download" link to save the video.
Life on the road begins with
Fun Flicks Video Production Tour
January-December, 1996
University of Northern Alabama, Florence - "Cheerleaders"This is it - winner of "Best Video Of The Tour" award, if we had such an award. I wish we could have given these five girls some kind of little trophy or ribbon. They obviously put a great deal of effort into preparing this very cute and damn sexy routine to a classic '80s song. Download:
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How Is This Done?
Fun Flicks was a portable green screen video studio, technically known as chromakey.
Participants could perform in their own videos with cool effects and back-drops,
and crowds were attracted to watch how the process was done.
Tours like this made Kramer Entertainment a multi-million dollar giant
in the college and mall entertainment industry.
Left and right photos show the whole huge set-up at Univ. Of Northern Alabama
as we were shooting the "Cheerleaders" video above.
Very Cool Mall Set-up
This Fun Flicks show was at Twin Rivers Mall in New Bern, NC,
one of the nicest venues of the entire 1996 tour.
Left Photo: Notice the small monitor in the foreground. See how it works?
All the green behind me is replaced by the video of the background dancers.
Presto! It looks as if I'm Robert Palmer doing "Addicted To Love."
Right Photo shows me at the video control center.
University of Northern Alabama, Florence - "Copacabana Comedy"This was at the same show as the "Cheerleaders" video above. Kudos to the UNA students for coming up with some really entertaining videos! Download:
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Touring, Touring
Doing a road show for Kramer Entertainment allowed me to travel every state and locale of the great USA,
something I had always wanted to do.
Left photo was taken at the hotel where we stayed in Fort Kent, Maine - February, 1996.
Yep, that's a dog sled team! From that hotel I literally could have thrown a stone across St. John River into Canada.
French speaking people could be heard in every restaurant.
Right photo is from NYC, where we did a show just two weeks after being in northern Maine.
Left Photo: Even in the heavily populated eastern states, there are still plenty of places
that are way, way off the Interstate system. This is a sign we encountered near Whitesville, NC.
Right Photo: Anyone who has ever driven the famous East Coast Interstate 95 has encountered this amazing place.
It's an enormous travel stop called "South Of The Border" half way between New York City and Miami.
Professional Puppeteer In FloridaAt a show we did in Orlando, Florida, this guy showed up with a very elaborate, large puppet from the Disney movie "Aladdin." Since we were in Orlando, perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised the guy was a professional puppeteer who worked at Disney World! Download:
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From Four Star To No Star
Left Photo: Johnson and Wales University in North Miami, Florida, is a culinary arts and hospitality school.
Students do hands-on training at the school's own four star resort hotel, and that luxury hotel is where we got to stay
when we were booked at the school. The resort is mostly out of sight under the palm trees in this photo,
but in the foreground is the hotel's yacht.
On board the yacht is where we big shot guests enjoyed the nicest complimentary hotel breakfast I've ever seen.
Right photo: I'm game to try many adventurous things, but no, I did not sample the pickled pig lips
from this food store in South Carolina, even if they were world famous!
Midwestern Dance Class Girls Will SurviveThis small midwestern school may have been surrounded by pig farms and corn fields, but it had a modern dance class. The instructor and five of her girls did a foxy routine to a disco classic. Download:
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Dazzling Dancer In FloridaOkay, the girls in the previous video were cute, and they had some clever moves, but this fantastic free-style dancer in Florida could have seriously gone professional. Download:
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Loading In, Loading Out
Left Photo: The next video below - "Tiny Macarena Girl" - was shot at South Side Mall in Kentucky.
This photo on the left shows the set-up for that mall show. See the two old codgers sitting off to the left?
Apparently, that is their sittin' spot, and they stayed put right there the entire time we were
setting up all around them.
Right photo: Anyone who knows me knows I am a believer in organization.
Some even call me anal, but take a look at this photo.
I figured out how to organize loading in and out so well I only needed a two person crew.
All four other Fun Flicks tours had three person crews. Ha!
Being "anal" saved me the cost of one crew person for the entire tour!
Tiny Macarena GirlPrize for "Most Adorable Video Of The Tour" easily goes to this little cutey.
She may not have had any idea what all the fuss was about, but,
with some occasional prompting from Mom from off camera,
she pulled off the popular Latino dance craze of 1996. Download:
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Marathon RunnerWe had a pretty good crowd for this show. When this fun guy selected the "Marathon Runner" video, we had no idea he'd have the whole crowd howling with laughter when he pretended to light up a smoke while appearing to be on a long distance run. Download:
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Road Show Touring - Not For The Faint Of Heart!
Left Photo: If I had a show booked, I did everything I could to make it to the gig,
even when I had to drive thought a blizzard like this!
Right photo: As I was driving through Kentucky one spring,
a radio announcer said the rain that day had broken a ten year old record,
and it was still coming down hard. An hour or so later the day's rain was
the most since the turn of the last century. After a couple more hours
the radio gal finally announced the ultimate: Most rain in one day, ever.
Things Got A Little Weird At NC School Of ArtsWe were told to expect students at this performing arts school to be "creative" types,
and we were not disappointed. Watch this and you will understand it is not politically incorrect
to describe this as the gayest video of the tour. Download:
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Priest On A HogAt a strict Jesuit School in Northern Vermont, where most of the students who made videos
were so painfully shy and withdrawn they could be described as repressed, this priest decided to show
the kids how to get loose and have fun! It was a little strange, actually. Download:
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The Things One Sees When Traveling
Left Photo: Incredibly, this open farm land is on Long Island about three hours east of NYC.
It may look like central Missouri, but this modern art seems to be a reminder
that the big city is not far away!
Right photo: In central Illinois, the farm comes to the city.
This gigantic tractor towing an enormous combine took up two lanes of traffic
as it drove right through the center of town in Peru, Illinois.
"Keepers" MontageHere's a collection of "Keeper" videos from the 1996 Fun Flicks Tour. Some of the above videos are included; others are clips we copied to a VHS tape for saving. The last few clips of this video montage reveal what the tour was really like most of the time. It would have been wonderful to make clever videos as those above at every show, but, alas, that was not how things usually went. Download:
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Creating clever videos was fun, but I signed on with
Kramer Entertainment to be a Game Show Host! Let's
get going with the zany show I performed in 43 states:
Blizzard Of Bucks Game Show Tour,
January, 1997 - October, 2002
Hostesses, Hostesses
What's a game show without a gorgeous hostess? I so wish I had taken more pictures
of the many lovely girls who were part of my show over six years of touring.
Remember, this was before smart phones - before phones had cameras at all, in fact -
and at most shows things happened so fast I didn't have time to find someone to take pictures.
Left photo: Certainly the most glamorous hostess who graced my show was Erika Queen.
She's gorgeous, as you can see, and she has the poise and presence of royalty.
Kind of amazing that her last name is Queen, right? Erika's style and grace made me think
I should be wearing a tuxedo to host the show! Elegant, lovely, but she also was not afraid to work,
and that made her truly a class act.
Right photo: Hostess Martina was also gorgeous, but, where Erika was glamorous,
Martina was spunky. Every show with Martina was a laugh riot for us,
and the fun we were having was contagious to the audience, of course.
We Made The News!WLUC TV - Escanaba, Michigan
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Blizzard Of Bucks Game Show
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Wagner College - Staten Island, NY
Left Photo: Wagner College is now a liberal arts school (and they do mean liberal.)
What a switch from when my game show was booked to perform, when it was still a strict Lutheran college.
My performance contract included a lengthy rider forbidding me from doing anything remotely suggestive or provocative in the show.
So it was something of a surprise to arrive and see lots of girls dressed like the one walking past my van in this photo!
Right photo: Wagner College may have insisted I agree to some prudish policies,
but the venue for our show was really cool. Is that not an amazing view of New York harbor?
They Knew It Was A Game Show, Right?
Left Photo: Wagner College (above) wasn't the only strict, prudish school where my show was booked. We went to many Catholic schools,
including some with actual convents, such as Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.
(Note "Convent That Way" sign).
Right photo: Is this place imposing or what? I didn't know such schools still existed.
This is Emma Willard Boarding School For Girls in Troy, NY. When I walked out on stage to start the show,
the sound of an auditorium full of screaming girls made my teeth vibrate. My hostess, Theresa,
observed I was the only person in the entire building who could grow a beard!
Blizzard Of Bucks Game Show
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Blizzard Of Bucks Game Show
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Blizzard Of Bucks Game Show
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My Ford Van Hits 400,000 miles!And I got it on video!
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Forest Fire By The Interstate
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