Richard Bey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard Bey (born July 22, 1951) of Turkish descent, was popular in the 1990s as the host of "The Richard Bey Show", a day-time talk show that was arguably "groundbreaking" in its use of fights and gags of dubious taste for entertainment, a premise used by talk and reality shows today. Prior to this he hosted 'People Are Talking' in both New York City and Philadelphia and 'Two on the Town' for WCBS-TV. He grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens and graduated from both the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Yale School of Drama.
His show, which began in 1990 and was produced from WWOR-TV in the New York City area, featured such events as Miss Big Butt and Mr. Puniverse Contest, Dysfunctional Family Feud and Blacks who think OJ is guilty vs. Whites who think he is innocent. Also frequent were women with such large breast enlargements that they were so top heavy they could barely stand up. The show was a precursor to reality television, featuring a variety of games relating to the guest's stories, most notoriously "The Wheel of Torture," in which a guest would be strapped to a spinning wheel while someone else, usually another guest, poured slime on them as punishment for a misdeed. Another show featured large women who dipped their rear-ends in a big vat of paint, then made imprints on a white wall with their rear ends. He would frequently play a clip of "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac whenever a guest would say something absurdly false or "You Talk Too Much" by Run DMC (the "Shut Up" excerpt from the song). He also played Carole King's I Feel the Earth Move whenever an obese guest walked or ran across the set accompanied by sound effects of elephants trumpeting. Another famous soundbite frequently used was "Well, duh!" when someone stated something that was blatantly obvious, incredibly stupid, or both. One that the audience usually participated in was repeating "Whoomp! (There it Is)!" (the title of a song made famous by hip hip group Tag Team) at various points throughout the show.
Also, Richard would frequently make fun of Jerry Springer in his show, stating when he lost his contact lenses and was forced to wear eyeglasses: "Don't worry, you're not watching Jerry Springer" and showing Jerry under the "Bad Neighbors" segment, a reference to how Springer's show would usually air on many networks across America either before or after the Richard Bey show in the 1990s. He also accused Jerry more than once of stealing his show's ideas. Despite that Bey was frequently being the first tabloid talk show host, Geraldo Rivera was actually the first tabloid talk show host in 1987.
After his show was cancelled in 1996, he worked as a host on New York's WABC radio until 2003. According to the New York Post, at the time he was one of only two commercial talk hosts on New York radio to take a stand against the Iraq War, contesting the WMD evidence. He has since hosted for Sirius Left satellite radio and for the syndicated Wall Street Journal: This Morning.
Currently hosting for a week on FREE FM 92.3 from 2/5/07 to 2/9/07 from 10:00 PM to midnight
