Why is Pat Sajak so angry?

[Bucky]

full article ==> https://slate.com/culture/2023/06/pat-sajak-replacement-wheel-of-fortune-host-ryan-seacrest.html

I want to take a break from all the hair-pulling malicious attacks on vulnerable Americans and just have a good old fashioned laugh at the ridiculousness that is Pat Sajak.

When Pat Sajak announced he’d be retiring from Wheel of Fortune after the show’s 41st season, he included a perfectly diva-ish swipe in his farewell message. “It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months,” Sajak wrote. “If nothing else, it’ll keep the clickbait sites busy!”

Seriously? At 76 Pat Sajak thinks his vanilla face (sorry, vanilla) is clickbait? Duuuude.

And it kind of says it all that Sajak—who has spent decades directing people to spin a wheel and has recently been making a reported $15 million a year for the privilege—took the bittersweet moment of his retirement as an opportunity to air a bit of grievance. Over the years, that became his brand...

I guess that's true. And if you'll excuse the spoiler, the simple answer to why Pat Sajak is so angry, with his lotteryish 15 round a year for, you might wanna sit down for this, 48 days of work per year is because in the other 317 days per year he putters around his I'm guessing McMansion watching Fox News on every wide screen in the house.

Of course, Sajak is not beloved—or at least not in the way that men are supposed to become beloved after 40 years of screen time. The archetypical game show host is warm, convivial, and an advocate for the contestants, someone who has fully internalized the agony of a bad buzzer and the ecstasy of a savvy play. Sajak, meanwhile, consistently cut the silhouette of a man who stumbled into the easiest gig on television but never seemed to appreciate his good fortune.

It seems that Sajak... Wait, it doesn't feel right calling him only by his last name. It seems that Pat Sajak suffers from a lifelong comparison to Alex Trebek. He's Trebek minus testosterone. Also missing a sense of human warmth. But where Trebek dedicated his game show to the retention of academic knowledge and cultural literacy, Pat Sajak was the guy who made sure Americans could still recall the full alphabet.



The article goes on to explain that Pat Sajak is mad about being the only Republican in Hollywood. Which is, first off, pretty damn insulting to Kelsey Grammar (who might also be a tad cranky sometimes, but at least manages to have a sense of humor about it -- probably because he actually earned his living). Maybe crankiness is just being on brand as a conservative. Let's call it Scrooge syndrome. But also, can you imagine bumbling into a golden gig, anointed by Merv fucking Griffin no less, and not being pleased every day you wake up?

Sajak’s Twitter feed is a trove of your typical conservative death-cult stuff—most of the highlights are from around 2014 or so, and all of them provide an eerily prescient snapshot of where political discourse was headed. (A choice quote from the Sajak files: “I now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists knowingly misleading for their own ends.” Not quite sure what that means!) Sajak also flirted with some early anti-woke ideation, once remarking that the next big “cause du jour” will be “Plants Rights”

I'm just kidding. Being Pat Sajak means you don't have to wake up. I get why my neighbors here on Houston's east side might get angry. They struggle with house payments, kids' college costs, record breaking summer droughts for 15 of the last 20 years, inexplicable crime rates amid an elusive economic recovery, and inflation rates sucking all the fun out of that recovery. But anger doesn't seem to fit Pat Sajak, a guy who makes Dan Quayle look downright spicy. I can't help but get a chuckle out of how a guy who has every reason to live a life full of joy and gratitude would with an Elmer Fuddish stubbornness absolutely refuse to be happy.

Good Lord, son, take your victory lap and try not to kick the poodle when you round the corner.

[doc03]

1. He attempted a talkshow once, he thought he could take on Johnny Carson. It was a

total failure.

[jimfields33]

6. That was a bomb.

However, he’s not strong on the clickbate. This has been talked about everywhere for a week already. 41 years is along time. Jeopardy just went through the same thing.

[Johonny]

9. I think he had dreams about being a real entertainer

And ended up just being a game show host. He made millions, but he's bitter. He thinks he should have been so much more. Only he sucked.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

12. I remember that.

The format was kind of cool; the final segment of the talk show was him and all of the guests sitting in a round chatting away. That's where I learned that a long time ago, Patrick Stewart used to comb over his baldness. (The story of how he stopped doing that was hilarious).

But Sajak as a host was very wooden. An actual log in a chair would have had just as much personality and been less expensive to pay.

[jaxexpat]

21. AAAAnd.....an actual log would, despite a wooden temperament, never vote Republican.

[Rebl2]

24. I remember

that. Was it on fox?

[rdmtimp]

33. CBS

It was their last try at a late night talk show before David Letterman moved there in 1993.

[Rebl2]

34. Didn't realize it was that long ago

[underpants]

47. He had Rush Limbaugh as a guest host once and they had to clear the audience

42 minutes

[Javaman]

49. He looks like Peter Griffith lol nt

[Bucky]

54. But he has 10 times the stage presence as Sajak

He's hard to listen to, unlike the anodyne Sajak, but he has power behind his shtick.

[Hortensis]

57. Omg, thanks! They really did have to

clear the not-prescreened audience out. Poor Rush’s prospective career as host of a talk show on CBS wasn’t.
👍

[claudette]

2. I may be in the minority, but

I found that show to be SO boring after 5 minutes. Couldn't watch it.

[paleotn]

7. I'm in that same minority. It's awful. Just awful.

Then again, most game shows are created to appeal to the lowest common denominator, making them boring as hell. Jeopardy being the exception. Forget the money, we'll just answer the questions in the form of a question purely for fun.

There I go being an elitist again. I'm sure someone will call me out.

[claudette]

13. I like Jeopardy

I don’t think that’s elitist. It’s a challenge for sure more than some game shows which I guess are more for “fun” than knowledge. 😊

[beveeheart]

40. Family Feud comes to mind.

[moonscape]

14. If you are, then I'm right

there with you. Never understood the appeal. A whole show on guessing letters to make words? Really?

[Hieronymus Phact]

17. Glorified Hangman really -nt

[GopherGal]

31. I really enjoyed "Wheel of Fortune"

when I was in elementary school. As a fourth-grader with a decent vocabulary, I could play along with the contestants.

And I did learn about letter frequency in the English language, a skill I use to this day when playing Wordle.


So, yeah, Sajak is an entitled old white guy with a bad case of Trebek envy. He learned that money doesn't automatically buy respect. Rather than quietly laugh all the way to the bank with his huge paychecks, he's just chomping at the bit to be freed from his whole "nice-guy" persona, I guess.

[3catwoman3]

23. Here's one more for the minority.

Boring,boring, boring. And Sanjay and Vanna White have 2 of the least challenging “jobs” ever.

[PatSeg]

30. The only reason I ever watched Wheel of Fortune

or any other game show was if I happened to be in the room when someone else was watching it. I never really liked TV game shows and to me, Wheel of Fortune is like Hangman with a glitzy set, an overpaid host, an obnoxiously raucous audience, and of course prizes. I never got the appeal, but I find much of mainstream television boring and predictable.

[dem4decades]

3. Because he's an asshole.

[Effete Snob]

5. We have a winner! No more calls!

[mountain grammy]

46. That sums it up nicely!

[ProudMNDemocrat]

4. Pat Sajak was once a DJ for Armed Forces radio in Vietnam...

After Adrian Cronauer. According to Wikepedia...

He served in the U.S. Army as a disc jockey during the Vietnam War for American Forces Vietnam Network.[5] Sajak hosted the same Dawn Buster radio show that Adrian Cronauer had, and for 14 months followed Cronauer's tradition of signing on with "Good Morning Vietnam!"[6]

[2naSalit]

8. And that...

Was probably the best thing he ever did. It's all been a socially degrading path since. But he made millions so I think he doth complain too much.

[Docreed2003]

10. Sajak has always a jerk vibe, that was even before he publicized his politics

He always just comes across as fake, smug, and condescending to the contestants.

[dchill]

25. That's it in a nutshell.

Hmm. Nutshell is the perfect word for Pat Sajak.

[yonder]

51. Yep, jerk vibe. No warm fuzzys from him at all. Ever.

The way he comes across, it'd be tough being forced to spend much time around him.

[samplegirl]

11. Bye Pat

I won’t miss ya!

[Kid Berwyn]

15. Rueda Fortuna

Pat has devoted his career to continuing the uh custom Cervantes observed:

“There are two families in the world: the Haves and the Have-nots.”

Hillsdale.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217196629

[Shermann]

16. Vanna's gig is even better

She doesn't have to interact with the contestants or worry about misspeaking or even know the rules of the game. That's worth the lower salary in my opinion.

No way she returns without Sajak.

[badhair77]

18. Never was a fan but years ago he showed

his true self and now I can’t stand him. Entitled, obnoxious, dogmatic, and the list goes on. May he fade into oblivion.

[Botany]

19. He supports Hillsdale College .... one of the birth places of the "LGBT People are evil meme."

A few years ago they pushed a bullshit "study" that liberal doctors and social workers were forcing
young people into sexual reassignment surgery that they really don't need. Hillsdale is the home of
much of the anti Trans bullshit that the right is now pushing.

So it is "the Christian duty" of the believers to be meme to LGBT people.

Now Pat can just go away and never be heard from again until he dies at which point
he will get another 2 minutes of coverage in the media and on line.

[FakeNoose]

20. Maybe Sajak is practicing being angry for when he becomes a candidate for office?

I don't know, but it seems all the R's are angry about something or other.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

22. I remember him on local LA news when I was a kid.

Thought he was boring then. He followed the money into game shows and he’s mad now after decades of raking it in, what, he didn’t win an Oscar?

The only gameshow I liked was Hollywood Squares. Learned all sorts of interesting things as a kid through the double-entendres on that show. Paul Lynde, Don Rickles, “Madame”, Betty White were great teachers.

[MLAA]

28. Loved Paul Linde!

[Aristus]

41. "Paul, what is the most neglected and abused part of the human body?"

Lynde: "Mine might be abused, but it definitely isn't neglected!..."

[The Unmitigated Gall]

44. Yep, that's him!

I seem to remember Carol Burnette and Charo showing up also. It was great.

[Trenzalore]

26. In 2 years he won't have any relevance

I guess maybe like Baio and the dumb Baldwin he can do the occasional Fox News appearance on how he has been persecuted with a 15 million-dollar-a-year job where he doesn't have to work that hard.

I like the show actually. We play it at the bar. Of course, being at a bar there is no sound so that might be why I like it.

[Pototan]

27. Pat Sajak is a Right-Wing Asshole

[dchill]

29. Have we forgotten that he once ran for President for about 15 minutes?

Yeah. That's pretty forgettable.

[MontanaMama]

32. He's a republican.

They’re the angriest bunch on the planet.

[Warren_Pointe]

35. Is WOF a haven for conservative idiots?

i mean, chuck woollery is a nincompoop, too.
And you used to have to spend the money on overpriced crap.
They should go ahead and call it "Hangman."

[Aristus]

43. Haven't watched the show in decades.

But I remember that winning contestants could spend their prize money on the merch on display, put it "on account", or trade it for a Giorgio Armani gift certificate.

I remember most of them chose the gift certificate.

[Gore1FL]

36. I hope his retirement pension is a gift certificate for the Spiegel Catalog. nt

[MurrayDelph]

45. And a year's supply

of Turtle Wax

[prodigitalson]

37. I bet he doesn't like naggers

[SouthernDem4ever]

38. I never watched his show

Since he chose to be a right-wing whackadoodle.

[Jean Genie]

39. WOF

I lived in Thousand Oaks, California when Pat Sajak was a weatherman on one of our local stations. He was a drip way back then. Imagine my "delight" when I moved back east and discovered that he was now a national game show host (and still a drip!).
My son, a pre-teen at the time, used to make up role playing games, and Sajak was a character he named "Brig." His female counterpart (letter turner) was named "Netty Sketty." It was quite a game (far cleverer than Wheel of Fortune), and still lives in my family room. He sometimes plays it with friends when he comes home for a visit. No, my son never became a game designer, but today he designs radar devices for the military. Earns a good living, but not close to what the drip and his letter turner earn.

[peppertree]

42. If Sajak wants to be remembered, he should try going out like this:

[Wild blueberry]

48. I'll solve: he's a putz

Well, he'll have his bile for company in retirement.

[Blue Owl]

50. Doesn't he have Chuck Woolrey he can turn to in these tumultuous times?

[yonder]

52. You mean Ed Grimley had it wrong?

https://www.tiktok.com/@nbcsnl/video/7175311649686162734?lang=en

[MineralMan]

53. Oddly enough, your post is the first time I've given him a moment's thought.

Click bait, indeed...

[debm55]

55. He's a Trumper. For the heck of it, I watched a rally on RSBN (if I got that right) and he was being

interviewed by Trump's one time lawyer.

[Chainfire]

56. It is hard to imagine, how little I care about Sajak's past, present or future.

[Skittles]

58. I could never understand the popularity of that show

so fucking lame, both the host and game

[Jack-o-Lantern]

59. The show was as stupid as he is.