"In the Butt, Bob" Revisited! Hey Lib! I got yer back!

Cafe Society
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A while ago, there was a thread about the “Newlywed Game” and the “that would be in the butt, Bob!” quote. The thread totally derailed and got away from the topic, to my thinking, and was about 3 pages too long when I found it, so I didn’t post there. Here’s what I have to say about the isssue:

I, like Lib claims, saw that film clip, not just once, but twice! The first time was some time ago, and I don’t remeber the specifics of channel or show (it was just a clip of the famous answer), but the second time was not so long ago, and I’m pretty sure it was again a clip of just the question and answer, played on Comedy Central’s “Man Show” as a segment coming out of a commercial break called “Great Moments in Game Show History” (sic)

It happened, and no one can convince me (or Lib, if i understood him in that other thread) that it is an Urban Legend.

But thats not the real reason for this post.

My wife and I were talking about the Comedy Central show “TV Funhouse” and why there aren’t any new episodes. We both figure some exec decided that the show had crossed the line once too often and shelved it permanently. She pointed out that one infamous skit only saw the light of day once and was subsequently edited on all re-broadcasts of that episode. This of course, was the “Porn for Kids” skit. We both saw it when it originally aired and were pretty shocked (it really was kinda tame when the smoke cleared), but when the re-runs came out, it became “Porn for Everyone”.

Just wondering if the “Porn for Kids” will go down the road like “In the butt, Bob”, and somehow become an Urban Legend “that never really happened”.

It did. I saw it. Did anybody else?

She told me that she loved me like a brother. Hot-Damn! She’s from the Ozarks!

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I forgot to add, re: “In the butt, Bob”-

I realize “The Man Show” is not exactly CNN and a reliable source of info, and I am willing to concede that the clip they showed could have been “doctered up”. If they did, they did a damn good job of editing, because it has Bob asking the question, and the contestant ripping the famous line, then shots of the other contestants, audience and Bob’s reaction. Could have been faked, sure.

But I still saw it once before, also!

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Even Robert Smeigel himself knows that one! He says he remembered being surprised when “Porn for Kids” became “Porn for Everyone” without his consent.

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As far as the “Porn For Kids” segment, I only saw it when it was “Porn For Everyone,” so I can’t substantiate your claim. I will say, though, that it was damned funny, no matter what you call it.

If all they had to do was change the name of the sketch then I don’t know what that accomplishes. The actual content of the sketch wasn’t offensive, unless you find the non-porn scenes of porn movies offensive. (And not the acting–the content.)

I could name ten other sketches TV Funhouse did that were far worse. Damn, they really pushed the envelope. But that’s an admirable thing to do.

With regards to the “in the butt, Bob” quote, I’ve heard about but never seen that clip from The Newlywed Game. But I have read a similar anecdote (from one of those friends–we all have at least one–that forwards everything funny he gets in his inbox to EVERYONE HE KNOWS) about a radio show contest where they call someone up, and if that person is married then they ask three questions. (“When did you last have sex, how long did it last, and where did you do it?” IIRC) Then they call up the person’s spouse and see if their answers match. The man’s answers were “This morning,” “Ten minutes,” and “In the bedroom.” They called his wife, who matched the first two answers. When asked the third question, though, the woman stalled for a while and sounded quite embarrassed, but finally said, “In the ass.” The station quickly went to commercial break, but when they came back it was announced that the couple had won their prize–a trip to Orlando.

It might be that this is an urban legend. Or it could be a coincidence. Who knows.

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gatopescado I have to address your statements about the “in the butt, Bob” topic. I don’t think this is exactly a hijack as you started the thread this way.

You, as have many posters, misunderstand the basic points of contention. Perhaps the threads did ramble on, and were entirely too long. But I will try to summerize the facts as I think students of the topic see it.

Sometime in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s people suggested that there was a Newlywed show in which a contestantant said either “up the ass, or up the butt” etc. Bob said that it never happened or words to that effect. But the rumor continued, and people started claiming that they actually saw the show in question, and heard the contestant say that phrase.

Now, most reasonable people who know anything about tv and censors in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s strongly suggested that these well-meaning people who think they witnessed the occurance were wrong. But these well-meaning people continued to claim that they saw it. Live. With nothing bleeped. That’s where you get the Urban Legend from. These well-meaning people thought they saw something that they didn’t.

Moving on to sometime in the 1990’s, we have a resurgence of the claims. Mainly because, IMHO, there were shown on tv clips of the incident with the word ass/butt bleeped. But people see/hear what they want to. So, now you have people saying again that they saw the clip and heard the word ass/butt. What year the word/s were actually shown without being bleeped is still open to honest debate. I, for one, am not convinced that the have ever been shown without some form of bleeping.

ONe thing that is perhaps not made prominent is that there is still, IMHO, no evidence that the original clip was ever broadcast as a segment of the show. It may have been nothing but an unused segment/out-take until the 1990’s. So far, I don’t think that anyone has provided evidence to the contrary.

In conclusion, no one is saying that people who claim that they saw the incident on tv sometime in the late 1980’s/1990’s are not truthful. They/you are. So is Lib. But what is still very open to verifying is the date at which the first clips of the show were shown on any tv program, whether network or cable or whatever. And what is still not proveable to me is whether the words “ass:” or “butt” have ever been used “unbleeped.”

If anyone has proof otherwise, let 'em bring it forth.

Hopefully, I haven’t made too many errors in my diatribe. And I apologize for taking so much time with what may not have been your primary theme.

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IIRC, the clip I saw on The Man Show said “In the ass.” Not “butt.” (temptation to make a corny pun resisted!) I, for one, doubt they edited it. Just my gut feeling.

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Qwerty What you just said is part of the problem.

You either heard the word “ass/butt” or you didn’t. But your memory isn’t clear now. Or am I misreading your meaning?

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Just to set the record straight, my raising the matter of the Up the Butt clip in Great Debates preceeded the resurrection of the In the Ass clip. At any rate, Eubanks’ denial was categorical (“Nothing of the kind ever happened”), and he owes somebody ten grand.

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Oh hell. I’m massively embarrased to admit that I watched this, but about a week ago, one of the networks ran a clip show of bloopers from various game shows. It was hosted by Bib Eubanks, Wink Martindale, Ben Stein and some others I can’t remember.

Throughout the program, they kept building up toward “the most shocking game show moment ever” and kept alluding to the “in the butt” incident. Eubanks maintained that no such thing ever happened and as such the whole bit was a rumor created by faulty memories.

So of course they showed it. Eubanks apologized for insisting over the years that it didn’t happen. And she did say “in the ass.” No question.

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Yea, fine, but that was Bib Eubanks, I wanna know what Bob has to say!
:wink: :stuck_out_tongue:

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Confound this keyboard! Damn it to hell!

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Lib said

While I am aware that you were the first to raise the whole matter on this board, you certainly were not the first person to bring up this matter in the great wide world. The clip was obviously shown on tv sometime before you brought it up here. Else, how would you have known about it.

Can anyone on this board provide a cite or link to Eubanks’ original denial or offer any exact quote with dates which would indicate his exact words/challenge. I have searched in vain.

Pork Rind When she said “in the ass,” was it in anyway bleeped? How’s your memory?

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The word “ass” was bleeped, but not well enough that you couldn’t hear the initial ‘a’ sound, plus you could see her lips well enough that there was no question even to a poor lip reader like me.

The clip show I saw, “The Most Outrageous Game Show Moments,” was on NBC a couple of Wednesdays ago, the 22nd.

Here’s a link to a description of the show…
http://www.hollywood.com/tv/story/t4/feature/1109177

Like I mentioned, there was a recurring bit where Bob Eubanks at first denied that such a clip existed and then later ‘threatened’ not to allow them to show it.

At the end, Bob apologized for so vehemently denying that the clip existed. He said that at the time he was asked, he truly believed that the incident didn’t happen.

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The clip is available in many places on the internet, its been floating around for at least a year. I’m not going to go find it again, but it probably wouldn’t take too much effort.

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There’s a clip of the segment at this Snopes page, near the bottom (no pun intended):

http://www.snopes2.com/radiotv/tv/newlywed.htm

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Whoops, that last post was me.

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Within the past two weeks there was a special on network television about game shows and their funniest moments (part of May sweeps).

One of the hosts was Bob Eubanks.

He addressed this very topic.

Then they showed the exact clip everyone, including Bob, had thought was a UL.

It wasn’t. It happened.

They bleeped it again this time around, too.

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Gad, my head is hurting like mad now…

Look, everyone, the clip is THERE. It’s not a manufactured memory. It’s not a false memory. It’s there, and it’s extremely obvious what she’s saying. The link is in this very thread. It’s real. Not a hoax. End of argument.

Now I got a question for all of you…why is this considered such a huge honking big deal?

Game show contestants are ordinary folks from all walks of life, many of whom are not used to performing in a pressure situation. They’re human beings, and they make mistakes. In retrospect, a lot of them look ridiculous, but they do happen.

Not everyone is a great speller. There was a memorable Scrabble match (which made it to TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes) where both contestants had the word, “mosquitos”, figured out. All they had to do was spell it. It took them a total of four tries to get all nine letters in. Four!

Not everyone understands the situation. On an episode of The One Million Dollar Chance Of a Lifetime (the first ever game show to offer that big a prize), one man solved the final puzzle and won $800…when his side was down $900, costing him the match. The correct thing to do, which anyone who analyzed the situation for ten seconds could’ve figured out, was to keep quiet when asked for the solution and build up the pot another $100 before even thinking of going for it.

Not everyone has a life. In particular, the All Star Blitz contestant who had to figure out a two word phrase when he had the complete first word, “People”, and the first three words of the second, “Mag”. For $10,000, his answer? “People Magnificent”. That’s right, this complete softball went to one of the five people in the couuntry who * never heard of a publication called People Magazine.*

Not everyone can take a damn hint. Never more obvious than in what was probably the most gut-wrenching Perfect Match match ever. This contestant had uncovered a picture of a can with a cherry on it. She thought the word was “cherry”, and put it in her answer when asked for it. Trouble was, the answer didn’t make any sense. Well, she made another match, and again tried to put “cherry” in the answer, getting it wrong again. As she continued making match after match (I’ve rarely seen such one-sided domination on this show), she kept stubbornly insisting that the word was “cherry”, this despite the fact that she hadn’t given a single coherent answer. Always “Cher hwee twah” or some other dumb equivalent. (At one point, Alex Trebek asked if she was speaking in Eskimo.) Finally, she fails to make a match, her opponent makes his one and only match of the round, and, in exasperation, gives the answer: “CAN we talk”.

$100,000 Pyramid. “Automatic” $50 answer to complete the pyramid, “Things in a barn”. Not even close.

Jeopardy. Final Jeopardy answer is “The number he slew at his death was greater than the number he slew in his life,” something anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Biblical lore should get easily. One guesses Satan (who never died); another guesses Jesus (who never slew anyone). The third, who had to nail a $1000 question at the buzzer just to avoid being mathematically eliminated, gets it right (Samson). He wins.

Given these an all the other incredible blunders that have happened on all kinds of game shows practically from their inception, is it really all that shocking that someone, somewhere (and almost certainly several someones) mistook location for orifice?

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Perhaps he’s one of the five that knows it by its official name, People Weekly. :slight_smile:

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As stated, DKW, the question doesn’t seem to be whether the event in question ever happened (though that used to be the questions, but it has been answered) but whether it was ever seen on television before the last couple of years.

I find it unlikely that it would have been shown on TV, even during the shaggilicious 70s, and far more likely that everybody on that crew immediately went and told everybody they knew about it and that it seeped into the popular consciousness that way.

If that is true, it is interesting because a true event still morphed and grew in the exact same way as an urban legend. If it did make it onto the air when originally broadcast then that is an entirely different story.