The Match Game 2023 Clip: It’s a Special, Crossover Episode with The Hollywood Squares, Featuring the Trials and Tribulations of Madonna Ciccone! (Video)

The Match Game (NBC) with Gene Rayburn (1917-1999) Tribute, Bert Kaempfert’s “A Swingin’ Safari” (The Match Game theme from 1962-1969)*



By Grand Rapids Anonymous
thursday, june 29, 2023 at 8:27:00 p.m. edt

Gene Rayburn: Okay, all our celebrities have finished writing down their answers to this question:

Madonna was rushed to emergency. After many tests, the doctor walked into Madonna’s room and told her, “We’ve made a diagnosis and you have—BLANK.”

Our contestant said, “The flu.” Let’s go to our celebrities. Paul Lynde, taking time off from The Hollywood Squares, what did you say?

Paul Lynde: GON-OH-REE-AH (laughs).

Brett Somers: Not the flu—hon—I said, syphilis.

Charles Nelson Reilly: I said, a black fetus—father unknown.

Elaine Joyce: Sickle cell?

Richard Dawson: Charles was on the right track (flips card)—a 20-year-old black—on welfare—living in her uterus (laughs).

Betty White: Oh, you copied my answer—except I said, a 30-year-old black—on welfare—living in her uterus.

Rayburn: Well, I don't know who copied whom, but both are fine responses. However, no matches for our contestant—and we’ve run out of time. Come back tomorrow for more MATCH Game 2023.

--GRA

*Stratman ‘78 writes: “This video collage that I made is from the game show, The Match Game that aired on NBC from December 31, 1962 to September 26, 1969. The host was Gene Rayburn. The theme song is called “A Swingin' Safari” by Bert Kaempfert. The first half of the collage is from The Match Game. The second is a tribute to Gene Rayburn. Enjoy. Only 11 episodes of The Match Game are reported to survive, the pilot episode (which was recorded) and ten kinescope recordings; the show was originally broadcast live from New York, and most episodes were not recorded for posterity. For most of its life, the original series of The Match Game was aired live from New York on NBC during the late afternoons, and was a solid if unspectacular hit for the network at the time.”