Sunday’s oddest sports program is plenty lively
Story and photograph by Thomas Crone
During a recent taping of The Fan Show—KPLR’s live weekly foray into the wild side of the wide world of sports—regular guest Mickey Carroll showed up late, wandered across the set and interrupted host Rich Gould’s lead-in by yelling his trademark “Dor-o-thee!” Carroll was too short to be seen on camera, but Gould still had to work to keep from breaking up.
That, in a nutshell, is The Fan Show. A Sunday night staple at 9:30 since last April, it mixes irreverent interviews, weird guest pairings (think straight-laced St. Louis Sports Commission president Frank Viverito and wacky wrestling promoter Larry Matysik) and on-set games that pit audience members against Gould’s bemused, volunteer co-hosts. In other words, it’s a very different animal from the sports magazine shows produced by other local affiliates.
Gould says the show was originally intended to be “loose, fast and unscripted,” and you sense that, watching from home, but being there at the Casino Queen’s Club Sevens, where the show is taped, is something else entirely: Audience members mingle with regulars like Carroll and the show’s vivacious guest presenters, while the bartender cracks wise with customers and crew members.
“It all starts with the crowd,” says Kurt LaBelle, the show’s director. “If they’re excitable and full of energy, Rich follows suit. The crowd’s that added extra.”
The looming worry? Because of the new Casino Queen’s opening, the Club Sevens space could be phased out as a venue. The show could be headed for a new home, though Channel 11’s relationship with the casino is still being determined. The Fan Show’s diehard fans are hoping that wherever the show’s future lies, it’s a long, continually wacky future.
