Win Ben Stein's Money

Win Ben Stein's Money was a novel concept for a game show: contestants compete with each other and the host in a trivia contest to win some or all of the host's $5000. The show will always be memorable for me as the only game show I can stand to watch. Most game shows are too serious to be enjoyable, and those that aim to be more entertaining are usually too obvious and cheesy.

Putting Ben Stein and Jimmy Kimmel together made this show different. Ben, aside from being very smart, is a very funny man. His boring monotone turned him into an icon through roles in Ferris Bueler's Day Off and The Wonder Years. He has the perfect voice for the crude humour of Win Ben Stein's Money. You can't help but laugh when this intelligent, dignified, expressionless and utterly uncool-looking old man swears at the judges, flips Jimmy the bird or knocks over a safe.

Jimmy Kimmel was clearly chosen to create an "Odd Couple" contrast to Ben. He has raised the bar for shockingly inappropriate comments from a game show host.

The questions are interesting, the topics are hilarious, and it's great fun to see a host actually compete with the contestants. You have to watch the end to see if Ben wins or loses. Giving Ben a vested interest in the outcome of the game adds great entertainment value because the competition brings out the best and worst in him. Truly a delightful game show experience.

Forget all that I Wanna Be a Millionaire junk, this is a real game show. The only thing those other shows got going for them is that they are giving away large amounts of money. If they had the same show but only with a smaller amount of money no one would watch. On Win Ben Stein's Money it's a lot more fun. They have cool names for all the categories and it's fun to see Ben Stein pretending to be annoyed when someone takes his money. Plus how often on a gameshow do you get to compete against the host.

I was once,many many many many moons ago,a "Jeopardy!" enthusiast. I could name off practically all the Tournament of Champions winners,watched the shows religiously and even tried out for the show,twice,both for the College Tournaments. Alas,no success. But I think what turned me off on that show was the fact that,among other reasons,the producers were far TOO willing to muck the formula of this show,adding in hokey,pointless Celebrity shows,gussying up the prize budget to make it look like something more like "The Price is Right" or "Wheel of Fortune" and worse still,making the returning champion format become indefinite (DAng You,Ken Jennings!!!). In short,to me,that show had traded in the integrity of being a sharp,intelligent quiz show in favor of ratings.

So around 1998,I found myself tuning in with much more enthusiasm to this Comedy Central offering. Going with the brash and bold premise of having the host,Ben Stein,put HIS money up for the prize,with he becoming one of the contestants after the first player is eliminated.Flanked by an irrepressible wiseacre(in seasons 1 thru 3,future talk show host and faux-misogynist Jimmy Kimmel,seasons 4 and 5 sexy little sprite Nancy Pimental,season 6,Jimmy's heavier,sardonic cousin SAl Iacanno),the show moved at a straight,quiz-to-question format and featured some seriously difficult questions,ranging in dollar amounts of $50(relatively easy;to me,QUITE easy) to $500(gnerally VERY tough),and the winner of the front-game had to have one more,ten question quiz format(reminiscent of quiz shows of yore like "21" or "The $64,000" Question,minus the scandal of course)head-to-head with Ben for all five grand.

Between the humor incorporated into naming the categories(which only went one question deep;one favorite was "The Wedding was so awful,at the reception they served Pacelbel") to the afore-mentioned wise-ass of Jimmy,Nancy,Sal or even Ben himself,I found this show both challenging and delightful. Half-hours flew by and even though the contestants rarely won a whole lot of dash,you'd better believe they earned every dollar of it. I'm not sure why the network decided to not keep this show running,but I'm glad that GSN has it and hope they keep it for a long,long time. Worth a look-see,whether familiar with it(As I was) or unfamiliar. Feel free to play along,too!

This had to have been one of the funniest game shows of it's era. Ben Stein has to be one of the sharpest and funniest individuals to host a game show and during the era when Jimmy Kimmel was his co-host it was a classic. Unfortunately, after Kimmel departed the show the show went downhill from there. Nancy Pimental and Sal Iaconno didn't have the chemistry that Stein and Kimmel had and what a shame because this show was definitely the best thing that Comedy Central had on it's schedule.

Win Ben Stein's Money is a game show that requires some brains (unlike Wheel of Fortune) but is funny and doesn't take itself as seriously as Jeopardy. The show is hosted by Ben Stein, who is probably most famous for his appearances as a teacher in "The Wonder Years" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", along with Jimmy Kimmel as the smart-ass side-kick.

There is a lot of shtick, and good interplay between Stein and Kimmel that gives the show both humor and likeability. Kimmel is funny and rude, but occasionally crosses the line to gross or mean. Special theme episodes are occasionally shown, such as a recent cross-dressing episode. Another fun bit, is that if a contestant answers in the form of question, ala Jeopardy, they are forced to wear a dunce cap.

The premise of the show is that Stein has put up $5,000, which he will try to keep the contestants from winning. The exact financial details might vary somewhat - fine print at the end of the show hints at this. Stein competes against the contestants, usually successfully.

The show starts with 3 contestants, who choose from five categories, with various joke/scatological titles. Questions are assigned a dollar value for correct answers, and in the first round have a $50 follow-up. At the end of the first round, the contestant with the lowest winnings is dropped, and replaced by Ben Stein. At the end of the second round, the contestant with the highest winnings is selected to go on to the "Best of Ten Test of Knowledge", a one-on-one contest directly against Stein. The constestant and Stein are locked in isolation booths (one of the jokes is that the contestant's booth has a bare lightbulb, steel stool, and cracked plaster, while Stein sits in a booth with paneling, and an overstuffed chair). The contestant and Stein are given the same ten questions, and if the contestant beats Stein is given all $5000 dollars put up by Stein.

The show airs on Comedy Central, Monday-Friday, twice in the evening.