Is Snopes credible enough for you?
http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/newlywed.htm
That reference is a bit too general for my praise. While I trust Barbara, and admire her research, I’d like to see the exact words.
I’ll try to read her sources I truly don’t think I’ve ever seen Eubank’s quote about offering the money. Always second-hand references.
A slight hijack, to illustrate a relevant point.
Years ago, health food quack J.I. Rodale died while appearing as a guest on the Dick Cavett Show. That’s a fact. Anyone who denies it is wrong. HOWEVER… there are thousands of people (I’ve met several) who swear on a stack of Bibles that they saw it happen. And that is NOT possible! The show was never aired.
So, if Joe Schmeaux insists “I saw J.I. Rodale die on the Dick Cavett Show,” and Bill Skeptic retorts, “That’s just an urban legend, you couldn’t POSSIBLY have seen it,” both of them have a point- but both of them are wrong. It really did happen! But the people claiming to have seen it COULDN’T have seen it. I can only assume they heard/read about the story, and have convinced themselves that they actually saw it happen.
Up to now, people who’ve followed this debate have assumed that only ONE of the following statements could be true:
- Libertarian is delusional.
- David B is completely wrong, but too pompous and arrogant to admit it.
In this instance, I’d venture to say that BOTH statements are true.
The video evidence shows that something LIKE the “in the butt” incident DID happen. We all agree on that now. But it’s equally true that the actual details have been altered significantly over the years.
Now, until that Ben Stein game show retrospective, I’d never actually seen the incident in question, but I’d heard about it from every amateur comedian I know. Almost every time I’ve heard the story, the couple was described as black, and the male was always given an exaggerated, comically deep Barry White/Amos & Andy accent. That seems to be the account that most of us have heard for years. And it SEEMS to be the account that Libertarian gave. Having seen the clip, the couple appeared to be Middle Eastern (or, perhaps, Indian or Pakistani), and they did not speak or act in the stereotypical black manner we’ve always heard about.
So, there was a real incident, but over time and many re-tellings, the story changed into the version we’ve all heard. There was a solid kernel of truth, but it evolved so many erroneous layers of falsehood that even Bob Eubanks didn’t recognize the incident.
The discrepancies between Libertarian’s account and the real footage make me believe that he didn’t really see it the first time it happened. He just heard the oft-told story years ago, and now thinks he actually saw it. Lest you think I’m mocking him, I’ll confess, similar things have happened to me. I have many clear memories from my childhood that my Mom assures me couldn’t possibly have happened. I’m more inclined to believe I have false “memories” than that my Mom is lying. I think Libertarian really believes he saw things just the way they happened
So, I think Libertarian is sincere, but delusional.
As for David B’s pompous refusal to admit he’s wrong… well, what else is new?
astorian said:
You know, most of what you said is actually fairly correct, but then you said the above and I have to wonder: Did you actually bother to read my posts in here lately, or did you just decide to come in and squawk without a clue? Just wondering. Because if you had read my response to Bricker, I already addressed this in some detail.
Despite what I said about the Pit earlier, it’s posts like this that make me actually consider going there… So let’s save us the time and you can just consider yourself flamed to a crisp in the Pit.
Also, he forgot to mention that my roommate was delusion as well. In fact, we were co-delusional as we rolled around on the floor trying to catch our breaths.
Are you sure you don’t just have a delusion of having a roommate you rolled around on the floor with? 
Enjoy,
Steven
He actually paid his rent on time every time. He’s easy to remember. 
Lib. In all seriousness, I’m trying to give some context to your very original assertions. I believe you saw something on the tv. I don’t know what it was.
What might help the search for the truth of What did Lib see, and when did he see it? would be a year(s) timeframe about when you saw such. When did you live with this roomate? I may be misremembering, but I think I asked for some dates before, but don’t remember if you provided them. Any definite time frame?
I seriously would love to know the earliest date that the producers allowed outtake clips to be shown. It might help pin down when the urban legend portion of the story first occured.
astorian said
Joe Schmeaux, unless he had access to an outtake of the show or was in the audience for the taping, was indeed “wrong.”
Bill Skeptic, on the other hand, was correct as far as his imprecise statement went. He should have qualified it within the parameters that I suggested in the previous paragraph. But that’s not the way the real world works.
And part of the problem is throwing in a statement such as “It really did happen!” Of course it really did happen. While I can’t speak for all skeptics who have ever voiced an opinion on the “Newlywed” urban legend, I think that most of them would have been amenable to agreeing that such an outtake could have been on film, but most of them would staunchly suggest that such an outtake with the offending words actually spoken on the film was never shown on television.
WHEN such an outtake(but without the offending words) was first aired on tv is still open to debate. Perhaps Lib’s memory may aid that.
Heaven knows, I wish I did.
Damn, but it’s hard to get a date around here!
Let’s watch the personal insults in Great Debates, astorian.
I should butt (yeah, I know, I know) in here to say that I’ve passed this question on to a friend on the Snopes message board. (Re: Did “that clip” on the Newlywed Game ever air on broadcast TV?) I’m not sure if they’re debating it now, but she promised to bring it up. There may be a definitive answer to this after all…
If the clip had been broadcast on tv before its’ surfacing in the last 1-4 years, believe me, Barbara would have posted that fact in her article. It wasn’t.
I just happened to stumble on this because my brother and I were talking about this just the other night and I was trying to find the video out there in the internet. Was having trouble locating it and came across the video that you all are referring to in this thread of “OLGA” saying “in the a**”. I had to replya and say that THIS IS NOT THE CLIP MY BROTHER AND I SAW. The one LIB was talking about, WE SAW and have been saying this phrase for years “That would have to be in the butt, Bob” I AM TELLING YOU THAT THIS EXISTS!! and it did happen and it is NOT the one where the woman says “in the a**” The only other detail I know for a fact is that it was a MAN that answers. Can’t recall 100% the ethnicity of the contestant, but seem to think he was white/caucasion. I KNOW FOR A FACT I SAW THIS!!
No, I’m not going to make any comment about “In the brains, Bob” but just a general warning that this thread has not been active since 2003…
We no longer make it a practice to routinely close Zombie threads, but this thread is nearly ten years old, the prinicpal participants have not been active on this board for several years.
So, given those facts and the hostility displayed throughout this thread, I am closing it.
[ /Moderating ]