The Great Game Show Fiasco
Audiences were invited to participate in their favorite game shows in the fall of 2010. Mike and I once again used their audience participation skills to create this hilarious look at game shows.
Guy Smiley and his assistant Lana Black hosted us through such game show favorites as "The Mating Game", "Name that Song" "The Cost is Correct", "Chance It", and "The $25,000 Triangle"
Each audience member who participated and won, was eligible for the grand finale. In our case, the grand prize as a gift certificate to return to the theatre. Participants were pre-chosen by the hostess by seeking enthusiasts who wanted to participate. As with any audience participation production we do, participation is completely voluntary.
Billed as a "game show on a budget", the Great Game Show Fiasco used minimal lights, sounds, etc. However, given the venue, it could easily become more of a upscale game show.
The audience was first exposed to Rick,
the "wanna be host" producer who walked them through The Mating Game, always picking the male audience member as his date. Rick hid behind a screen and asked silly questions of the contestants, finally sneaking out and choosing the male participant. Most of this was ad-libbed.
Once Rick warmed everyone up, we moved on to "The Cost is Correct", wherein three audience members were called on stage to participate in the initial bid. The fourth contestant was Orville, our plant. Orville is your typical game show contestant - overly enthusiastic to the point of annoying. The first item to bid on was a shoe. Not any shoe mind you, but Guy Smiley's very own used tennis shoe!
The closest to the price of the shoe remained on stage to participate in the next bidding process, which was to bid on three items - KY Jelly, condoms, and a vibrator. The audience member was given a script to read from and, surprisingly, each item was bid accurately. The contestant then won a brand new car. . . toy car, but it is a game show on a budget and we never said there were big prizes. Dependent on your target audience, the bid items could be changed up. Our participants found quite a bit of humor in the items we used.
The show continued with "Chance It" where one audience member had to compete in a trivia contest against Burgundy O'Mara and Robert DeFaro, two over the top contestants that seem to know nothing except how to be annoying. This contestant won a cash prize . . . of Monopoly money. We picked very simple trivia questions, including what city are you in which, on one evening, resulted in an "umm" from our contestant.
In the final portion, an audience member is in a clue giving game with a local celebrity. The clues for the celebrity include extremely easy words to give clues for, such as a shoe. The audience member isn't as lucky and must figure out how to describe something such as an echocardiogram. Lucky for him or her, the celebrity knows all the answers or they wouldn't have received their prize. . . a rubber duck.
In the finale, the winning contestants were asked to perform a talent. They were presented with a large box containing different props from hats to puppets. The contestant with the largest applause at the end won. We had everything from jugglers to singers and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
This production worked quite well for our small stage. While we did have light up applause and on air signs, everything else was very minimalistic. We utilized 1F and 3M. A very fun show for all ages.
AUDIENCE REACTION:
The audiences really seemed to enjoy the opportunity to participate in a game show without having to travel outside the comfort of their own community. Additionally, with the "limited budget" concept, they found humor in the creative way we presented the game shows without all of the pomp and circumstance that involves the full productions.
Much of this production was ad-libbed, as is the case with most audience participation productions. You never know what the audience is going to throw at you so you have to be prepared for anything.
