David Michael Letterman is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC and ending with the May 20, 2015, broadcast of Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,080 episodes of Late Night and Late Show, surpassing his friend and mentor Johnny Carson as the longest-serving late-night talk show host in American television history.
Carol Cleveland is a British-American actress and comedian, particularly known for her work with Monty Python.
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American comedian, actress, and singer. Her groundbreaking comedy-variety show The Carol Burnett Show, which originally aired on CBS, was one of the first to be hosted by a woman. She has performed on Broadway, on television, and in film of varying genres, including dramatic and comedic roles. She has received numerous accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a Grammy Award, and seven Golden Globe Awards. Burnett was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2015.
Monty Hall was a Canadian-American radio and television show host who moved to the United States in 1955 to pursue a career in broadcasting. After working as a radio newsreader and sportscaster, Hall returned to television in the U.S., this time in game shows. Starting in 1963, he was best known as the game show host and producer of Let's Make a Deal. He had a conundrum with game theory and psychology aspects named after him: the Monty Hall problem. Behind the scenes, Hall also carried on an active life of philanthropy.
Let's Make a Deal is a television game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created and produced by Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall, the latter serving as its host for nearly 30 years.
Ed is an American comedy-drama television series that was co-produced by David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated, NBC Productions and Viacom Productions that aired on NBC from October 8, 2000, to February 6, 2004. The hour-long comedy drama starred Tom Cavanagh as Ed Stevens, Julie Bowen as his love interest Carol Vessey, Josh Randall as his friend Dr. Mike Burton, Jana Marie Hupp as Mike's wife Nancy, Lesley Boone as their friend Molly Hudson, and Justin Long as awkward high-school student Warren Cheswick. Other supporting cast members included Michael Genadry and Ginnifer Goodwin as Warren's friends Mark and Diane, and Michael Ian Black, Mike Starr, Rachel Cronin, and (later) Daryl Mitchell as the employees of Ed's bowling alley. Long term guest stars included John Slattery as Dennis Martino and Sabrina Lloyd as Frankie Hector. The show was created by executive producers Jon Beckerman and Rob Burnett. David Letterman is also credited as one of the show's executive producers.
The David Letterman Show is an American morning talk show that was hosted by David Letterman on NBC. It originally aired from June 23 to October 24, 1980. Originally, the series lasted 90 minutes, then 60 minutes from August 4 onward.
Joanna Gleason is a Canadian-American actress and singer. She is a Tony Award–winning musical theatre actress and has also had a number of notable film and TV roles. She is known for originating the role of the Baker's Wife in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She is also known for her film work in Mike Nichols' Heartburn (1986), Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), and Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997). She has had television roles in shows such as Friends, The West Wing, The Good Wife and The Affair.
Vicki Lawrence, sometimes credited as Vicki Lawrence Schultz, is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She is best known for her character Mama. Lawrence originated multitudes of characters beyond Mama on CBS's The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 to 1978, the variety show's entire series run.
The 2nd Daytime Emmy Awards were held on Thursday, May 15, 1975, and broadcast on ABC to commemorate excellence in daytime programming from the previous year (1974). The event was hosted by Monty Hall and Stephanie Edwards. It was uniquely held on board the S.S. Dayliner in the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey. It had cast off from New York's Pier 81 with 600 invited guests being accommodated for a luncheon before the awards telecast between 1:30-3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The telecast preempted Let's Make a Deal, The $10,000 Pyramid and The Big Showdown.
Robert Wesley Hilton is an American television game show personality. He hosted The Guinness Game, a revival of Truth or Consequences, and the 1990 revival of Let's Make a Deal for one season and replaced by Monty Hall, and announced on several other shows.
Jay Stewart Fix, known professionally as Jay Stewart, was an American television and radio announcer known primarily for his work on game shows. He was probably best known as the announcer on the long running game show Let's Make a Deal, in which he appeared throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Other shows for which he announced regularly include the Reg Grundy productions Scrabble and Sale of the Century, as well as the Jack Barry-Dan Enright productions The Joker's Wild, Tic-Tac-Dough and Bullseye. Stewart died of suicide in 1989.
Thelma Harper, better known as Mama, is a fictional character played by American actress Vicki Lawrence. Mama is a purse-lipped, thickset senior citizen in her mid-to-late 60s. She has lived in an unspecified part of the Southern United States called "Raytown" for her entire life, evident from the southern drawl of her speech and customs. Mama is an exaggerated version of a prototypical middle twentieth century lower middle class grandmother in the United States South. The character was originally created for Carol Burnett, however, Burnett preferred to play Mama's daughter Eunice Harper Higgins, resulting in Mama as Lawrence's claim to fame.
Carla Gugino is an American actress. After appearing in Troop Beverly Hills (1989) and This Boy's Life (1993), she received recognition for her starring roles in the Spy Kids trilogy (2001–2003), Night at the Museum (2006), American Gangster (2007), Righteous Kill (2008), Race to Witch Mountain (2009), Sally Jupiter in Watchmen (2009), Sucker Punch (2011), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), San Andreas (2015), Gerald's Game (2017), and Gunpowder Milkshake (2021).
Kara Monaco is an American model. She was chosen as Playmate of the Month by Playboy magazine in June 2005. She appeared on the cover of the June 2006 issue of Playboy as the 2006 Playmate of the Year.
Trato Hecho is the Spanish-language version of the Hatos-Hall game show, Let's Make a Deal, and its title translates to "Done Deal". The show was produced in Spain and in Mexico; in addition, a version was recently produced in Los Angeles, California for the Univision television network.
The Monty Hall problem is a brain teaser, in the form of a probability puzzle, loosely based on the American television game show Let's Make a Deal and named after its original host, Monty Hall. The problem was originally posed in a letter by Steve Selvin to the American Statistician in 1975. It became famous as a question from reader Craig F. Whitaker's letter quoted in Marilyn vos Savant's "Ask Marilyn" column in Parade magazine in 1990:
Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?
Stefan Hatos-Monty Hall Productions is a television production company responsible for producing several American game shows in the 1970s and 1980s. The company is best known for its hit series Let's Make a Deal, which aired in several company-produced iterations off and on between 1963 and 1986.
It's Anybody's Guess is an American game show broadcast on NBC from June 13 to September 30, 1977. Monty Hall hosted the show while Jay Stewart was the announcer. Produced by Stefan Hatos-Monty Hall Productions, it was Hall's first time hosting a show other than Let's Make a Deal since 1962, when he hosted Video Village.
Merrill Gabriel Heatter was an American television producer and writer. He was best known for his collaboration with writer Bob Quigley for over 20 years and the formation of their production company Heatter-Quigley Productions in 1960. The company was responsible for the game shows Hollywood Squares and Gambit and the animated television series Wacky Races.
