Billy Kimball produced and hosted this game show
for the HA! cable network in 1990. HA! was Viacom's attempt to
compete with HBO's Comedy Channel, which was started in 1989. The
two channels merged into Comedy Central in 1991.
The show was intended to be a "post-modern" game
show, self-concious of the genre's traditions and in some way "edgy".
Contestants were picked from groups that were in some conceptual
way competitors (e.g. insurance agents versus people who have lots
of accidents, or bosses versus office wise guys).
I don't have much personal experience of game shows,
beyond having watched one of my friends on Jeopardy, and so my
theme music could not convey any "self-consciousness" in
that regard. Instead I used a Carl Stalling approach to pastiche
(placing clashing musical genres in opposition) while still having
a distinctive musical theme.
Show
Info
Produced and Hosted by Billy Kimball
Composed and Performed by Carter Burwell
Designed by Tibor Kalman
Presented on HA! (now Comedy Central) Cable Channel,
1990
