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Ken Ober, Host of Classic MTV Game Show Remote Control Dies
MTV ^ | 11/16/2009

Posted on 11/16/2009 4:04:45 PM PST by My Favorite Headache

Remembering Ken Ober, The Voice Of 'Remote Control'

Posted 41 minutes ago by Kyle Anderson in Music, Television

This was a sad day at MTV, as we had a death in the family. Ken Ober, the longtime comedian, television producer and host of early MTV game show "Remote Control," passed away at age 52.

Arguably, Ober's most indelible legacy is "Remote Control," which premiered in 1987 and was one of MTV's first attempts at crafting an original television series. The premise was delightfully low-fi: Ober posited that he hosted a media-obsessed game show out of the basement of his parents' house, and he was joined by a cast of characters who wandered through the set (including fellow comedian and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Colin Quinn, who acted as the Andy Richter to Ober's Conan O'Brien). The show featured three contestants getting asked a barrage of pop culture questions about movies, music, television shows, sports and, of course, music videos. Along the way, the show was interrupted by comedy skits, guest appearances, projectiles thrown at the contestants and plenty of Ober's trademark wit.

It can't be understated how important Ober was to the show. His jokes were always acerbic and steeped in irony, but his love for junk culture gave him a warmth that made him lovable. He kept the MTV audience connected to the world of comedy and also provided exposure for a ton of videos and pop culture touchstones that were hard to access at the time. In the age before the Internet, DVD and video on demand, it was sometimes difficult to find a place where lines from "Jaws" could be mentioned alongside David Bowie lyrics. Ober brought the geeks and the cool kids together to hang out in his basement, and that melding of two worlds helped make MTV the definitive television destination for youth across the country.

But mostly, "Remote Control" was just supremely weird, and made MTV a place where you could find subversive comedy (most of it Ober's). For example, take the clip below: It features a college student playing for a series of prizes by being spun around on a wheel, Colin Quinn as the "Evil Dwarf," a random model and a ton of confetti. It was loose, it was loud and it was incredibly fun to watch.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: hollywood; kenober; mtv; obituary; remotecontrol
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To: My Favorite Headache

Not only did I work the first season on Remote Control as a question writer, I actually helped hire Ken. He did a great audition. FYI...Ben Stiller auditioned and was horrible.

So sorry to hear this. He was a nice guy.


21 posted on 11/16/2009 5:09:06 PM PST by Hildy
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To: Fester Chugabrew

“but I find it refreshing to see a 35-year-old haunting FR.”

Haunting :-) ... there’s a lot of us on here :-)! I don’t think I could function without this site :-)!

50+ isn’t old fogie either ... My dad just turned 69 and I am trying to convince him that he’s not going to die “soon”.

Knowing myself, I am going to look at that sentence I just wrote, hopefully, in 20 years and wonder what the hell was I thinking :-).


22 posted on 11/16/2009 5:14:31 PM PST by edh (I need a better tagline)
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To: My Favorite Headache
I can’t believe 1989 was 20 years ago.

Yep. Its amazing that Ken was at that time one year younger than I am now! It seems like just yesterday that the Berlin Wall was falling, Eddie Murphy was still funny, and cell phones looked like bricks.

23 posted on 11/16/2009 5:29:49 PM PST by Clemenza (Remember our Korean War Veterans)
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To: P.O.E.

Not guilty! I’d still hit it.

Then I’d be a Martha Fu... never mind.


24 posted on 11/16/2009 5:46:08 PM PST by Two Kids' Dad (((( Hey 0bama, Kenya show us the long-form BC? ))))
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To: Hildy

Hunh. An unknown side of you is exposed.


25 posted on 11/16/2009 6:34:35 PM PST by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: P.O.E.

Not bad. I still have “Stuffin’ Martha’s Muffin” by Mojo Nixon on my jogging playlist.


26 posted on 11/16/2009 6:35:48 PM PST by Defiant (The absence of bias appears to be bias to those who are biased.)
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To: My Favorite Headache

Sounds like Wayne’s World was a ripoff of this show.


27 posted on 11/16/2009 6:37:50 PM PST by Defiant (The absence of bias appears to be bias to those who are biased.)
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To: BibChr

It was a lifetime ago. Are you a Seinfeld fan?


28 posted on 11/16/2009 6:42:53 PM PST by Hildy
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To: Hildy

I’ve seen a few eps and know some of the memes, but probably not a fan.

Why?


29 posted on 11/16/2009 6:46:50 PM PST by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: BibChr

Do you remember the ongoing character, Joe Davola? Crazy Joe Davola?


30 posted on 11/16/2009 6:48:33 PM PST by Hildy
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To: Hildy

I’ve seen scenes on YouTube. He’s, well... crazy!


31 posted on 11/16/2009 7:13:59 PM PST by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: qam1; ItsOurTimeNow; PresbyRev; Fraulein; StoneColdGOP; Clemenza; m18436572; InShanghai; xrp; ...
Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.  


32 posted on 11/16/2009 8:18:16 PM PST by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: My Favorite Headache

RIP. That’s too young to go.


33 posted on 11/16/2009 9:22:45 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: Clemenza; Impy; Perdogg; Clintonfatigued

I wasn’t a big MTV fan, but I watched this one (OK, maybe because Kari was on it — I was a fan of her later, ahem, “late night movie” work — she was on General Hospital a few years ago and you could tell her, um, “athletic” prowess during the love scenes. I think even the male actors had to tell her to take it down a notch, since it ain’t Showtime).


34 posted on 11/16/2009 9:26:26 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: My Favorite Headache

I remember when this show was on MTV during my early teen years. That was back when they actually had music. This show was one of the few things that wasn’t music. I always changed the channel or turned off the TV when it came on. lol


35 posted on 11/16/2009 9:41:12 PM PST by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: My Favorite Headache
source

Mr. Ober, who lived in Santa Monica, Calif., was 52. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Lee Kernis, a manager at Brillstein Entertainment Partners who represented Mr. Ober for more than 20 years, said that Mr. Ober was found dead on Sunday. He said that Mr. Ober was last heard from on Saturday night, when he spoke to a friend and complained of a headache and flu-like symptoms. Mr. Ober told the friend that he was going to take something and would see a doctor as soon as possible.

36 posted on 11/16/2009 10:31:18 PM PST by lainie (The US congress is full to the brim of absolutely disgusting thieves who deserve humiliating ouster.)
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To: BibChr

Joe Davola was the Producer of Remote Control and he was freaking nuts. he was sexually harrassing me. So when the whole thing went down with Anita Hill, I knew she was lying. When you’re truly being sexually harrassed in the workplace, you don’t want to be anywhere near that person. He became the head of comedy development at one of the networks and that’s how Seinfeld met him. That character was based on him. Crazy Joe Davola.

At the time, I was dating a guy and I would complain about Davola to him. He finally said, what do you want me to do, beat him up? I knew I had to take care of it. I was probably about 28 years old. The last time he harrassed me I whipped around and I said, “I don’t appreciate these comments you continually say to me and I want you to stop...you will stop.”

That was that, he never bothered me again...but then again...I wasn’t invited back for the next season. No big loss.


37 posted on 11/16/2009 11:05:41 PM PST by Hildy
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To: Clemenza

I worked on the first season...wrote questions. Originally, that show was supposed to be a sitcom...a game show within a sitcom. The plot was this loser who is obsessed with game shows who lives in his mom’s basement. It was really very clever..but when push came to shove, the suits went with the safe choice. Too bad...it would have been an instant classic.


38 posted on 11/16/2009 11:07:39 PM PST by Hildy
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To: Hildy

Wow. (A) Yikes, sorry for what happened to you. Creep. Got himself a Hildy-slapdown. (B) They used an actual guy’s name for an insane character, and didn’t get sued?


39 posted on 11/17/2009 5:54:00 AM PST by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: Defiant
"Not bad. I still have “Stuffin’ Martha’s Muffin” by Mojo Nixon on my jogging playlist."

LOL! I was talking about Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper just yesterday!

40 posted on 11/17/2009 5:57:56 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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