GA Russell Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 (edited) I'm stunned to see that Ken Ober has died. There was one time on Remote Control that I remember well. Every day he would ask one impossible question that only an MIT professor could answer, and maybe not even him. Well one day, the question was, "What is the name of the scientific proposition that..." and from there it went on and on in scientific gibberish, and a kid buzzed before he was finished and said, "Khoulam's (sp?) Law." And he was right! That stopped the show for five minutes. No one could believe that a contestant on that show could answer one of those questions. Anyway, here's his LA Times obituary. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,6123710.story Ken Ober dies at 52; host of MTV's 'Remote Control' game show The comedian and actor was doing stand-up when he landed the job of guiding the 1980s game show, which featured raucous question-and-answer trivia contests about TV reruns. Ken Ober appeared on "Remote Control" from 1987 to 1989. He later turned to writing and producing TV shows. By Claire Noland November 17,2009 Ken Ober, a comedian and actor who as host of MTV's "Remote Control" in the 1980s guided the raucous question-and-answer trivia contests on the irreverent cable TV game show, was found dead Sunday at his home in Santa Monica. He was 52. Lee Kernis of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, who represented Ober, confirmed the death but said the cause was unknown. According to Kernis, friends said Ober had been feeling ill with a headache and flu-like symptoms Saturday and did not meet them later as planned. An autopsy is planned. Ober was a stand-up comic when he landed the job as host of in 1987. On a basement set featuring college-age contestants and audience members, Ober introduced categories spanning the universe of TV reruns -- beginning with the old black-and-white days of "Car 54, Where Are You?" and "Mr. Ed" but returning again and again to "The Brady Bunch." If the players, who were strapped into garish reclining lounge chairs, answered correctly, they got to choose the next category. Those eliminated were ridiculed, then pitched backward in their chairs through the wall of the set. Ober, who grew up transfixed by television, clearly had fun playing the host, even if it wasn't his ultimate goal. "I remember the first time it hit me," Ober said in a 1989 interview with the San Diego Union Tribune. "I was in a supermarket line reading 'TV Guide,' and it said 'Ken Ober, comma, TV game show host.' And I said, 'Oh, no, I'm a game show host.' " Born July 3, 1957, in Boston, Ober studied communications and education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He worked as a substitute teacher in Boston before performing in comedy clubs in New York. Ober left "Remote Control" in 1989 to audition for acting jobs, but reruns of the show featuring Ober and other series regulars Colin Quinn and Denis Leary continued to air. After acting in TV series such as "Parenthood," "Who's the Boss?" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Ober shifted his focus to writing and producing for the series "Mind of Mencia" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine." Edited November 17, 2009 by GA Russell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 Shit, that's sad news. I really liked that show when I was young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 I loved that show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalupa Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 That show was hilarious. My college sweetheart was a contestant on it and won. She then got 9 out of the 10 videos for the bonus round. The one she missed was a video by a band called "The Cutting Crew" - hadn't heard of them before that day or since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 1960 Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 He appears in a Blues Traveler video, the name of the song escapes me right now. I see it at the gym every now and then. Sad to come across this news. Too young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 Just heard about this on the radio this morning. Man, this is sad! Remote Control was as great as Match Game, AFAIC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazztrain Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 Presumably it was Coulomb's Law. I had to look it up since it's been a long time, but it says that the electrostatic force between two charged bodies varies in direction proportion to the product of their charges and in inverse proportion to the square of the distance between them. I'm stunned to see that Ken Ober has died. There was one time on Remote Control that I remember well. Every day he would ask one impossible question that only an MIT professor could answer, and maybe not even him. Well one day, the question was, "What is the name of the scientific proposition that..." and from there it went on and on in scientific gibberish, and a kid buzzed before he was finished and said, "Khoulam's (sp?) Law." And he was right! That stopped the show for five minutes. No one could believe that a contestant on that show could answer one of those questions. Anyway, here's his LA Times obituary. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,6123710.story Ken Ober dies at 52; host of MTV's 'Remote Control' game show The comedian and actor was doing stand-up when he landed the job of guiding the 1980s game show, which featured raucous question-and-answer trivia contests about TV reruns. Ken Ober appeared on "Remote Control" from 1987 to 1989. He later turned to writing and producing TV shows. By Claire Noland November 17,2009 Ken Ober, a comedian and actor who as host of MTV's "Remote Control" in the 1980s guided the raucous question-and-answer trivia contests on the irreverent cable TV game show, was found dead Sunday at his home in Santa Monica. He was 52. Lee Kernis of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, who represented Ober, confirmed the death but said the cause was unknown. According to Kernis, friends said Ober had been feeling ill with a headache and flu-like symptoms Saturday and did not meet them later as planned. An autopsy is planned. Ober was a stand-up comic when he landed the job as host of in 1987. On a basement set featuring college-age contestants and audience members, Ober introduced categories spanning the universe of TV reruns -- beginning with the old black-and-white days of "Car 54, Where Are You?" and "Mr. Ed" but returning again and again to "The Brady Bunch." If the players, who were strapped into garish reclining lounge chairs, answered correctly, they got to choose the next category. Those eliminated were ridiculed, then pitched backward in their chairs through the wall of the set. Ober, who grew up transfixed by television, clearly had fun playing the host, even if it wasn't his ultimate goal. "I remember the first time it hit me," Ober said in a 1989 interview with the San Diego Union Tribune. "I was in a supermarket line reading 'TV Guide,' and it said 'Ken Ober, comma, TV game show host.' And I said, 'Oh, no, I'm a game show host.' " Born July 3, 1957, in Boston, Ober studied communications and education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He worked as a substitute teacher in Boston before performing in comedy clubs in New York. Ober left "Remote Control" in 1989 to audition for acting jobs, but reruns of the show featuring Ober and other series regulars Colin Quinn and Denis Leary continued to air. After acting in TV series such as "Parenthood," "Who's the Boss?" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Ober shifted his focus to writing and producing for the series "Mind of Mencia" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted November 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 Thanks jazztrain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 That show was hilarious. My college sweetheart was a contestant on it and won. She then got 9 out of the 10 videos for the bonus round. The one she missed was a video by a band called "The Cutting Crew" - hadn't heard of them before that day or since. Great story! I wouldn't have minded meeting Kari Wuhrer either. The Cutting Crew sucked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 Man, I used to watch that show all the time! I always wondered why it disappeared. It seemed to me that I wasn't the only one watching it. A lot of us 20-somethings were watching it and talking about it at work... especially the babes who worked in the background. Look at that hair! RIP Ken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjluke68 Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 RIP Ken Ober - Remote Control was definitely one of my favourite game shows and one of the hippest. I didn't want to say it, but sadly now, Ken has become part of one of their famous game show categories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted November 18, 2009 Report Share Posted November 18, 2009 definetly loved that show!! great game show host of my generation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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