Tom Kennedy died last week. He was 93.
I have Bob Barker at the top of my game show host list, but most days I’ll put Tom Kennedy in the runner-up position. The younger brother of longtime game show host Jack Narz, I saw Kennedy a bunch as I obsessively watched game shows in my childhood and adolescence. He had an appealing balance about him. He knew when he should ham a bit, but it never seemed overdone.
Kennedy hosted well over a dozen different shows over the course of his prolific career. Though he is probably most closely identified with Name That Tune, my favorite Kennedy-hosted show was easily Whew!
Whew! was complicated, and it took heavy-duty game show host chops to pull it off. Once you figured the show out, it was ridiculously entertaining, and a perfect match for Kennedy’s formidable talents.
CHARGE!
Godspeed, sir. Thank you. RIP.
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