Match Game 9/11
Gene Rayburn held his absurdly long and thin microphone in one hand, the small card in the other. He read it quickly to himself before looking up to read it to the contestants, stars, and audience alike.
“Osama bin Laden is so screwed,” he began, and then paused for what inevitably must come next. The audience resoundingly provided the expected response to the host’s call: “How screwed is he!” The contestants listened, the stars braced, and Rayburn smiled as he doubled back to read the sentence in full.
“Osama bin Laden is so screwed,” he said, “that instead of dropping another skyscraper he’s dropping his blank.” On cue, the music struck, and the stars began to write.
Based on an unbidden thought in the days after 9/11, while watching episodes of Match Game on The Game Show Network.
