American television personality
Marc Summers
(born
Marc Berkowitz
; November 11, 1951)
[1]
is an American television personality, comedian, game show host, producer, and talk show host. He is best known for hosting
Double Dare
for
Nickelodeon
, and
Unwrapped
for
Food Network
; he was the executive producer for both
Dinner: Impossible
and
Restaurant: Impossible
also for Food Network.
Since 2023 he has hosted the podcast
Marc Summers Unwraps
. He currently stars in a one-man show about his life titled
The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers
at
New World Stages
in Manhattan.
Early life and career
[
edit
]
Summers was born Marc Berkowitz in
Indianapolis
,
Indiana
, to a Jewish family.
[1]
[2]
[3]
He attended Westlane Middle School and
North Central High School
in Indianapolis and
Grahm Junior College
in
Boston
.
After consulting with Rabbi Weitzman of
Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation
about whether to pursue a career as a rabbi or as an entertainer, Rabbi Weitzman told Summers, "As a rabbi, you can help a small congregation a lot, but as a performer you can help a lot of people a little."
[3]
Summers decided he preferred to help a lot of people, which set his path to becoming a performer.
He moved out to Los Angeles in 1972, taking a job as a page at
CBS Television City
. There, he got to do a variety of tasks on different shows, including filling in as announcer on
The Joker's Wild
, assisting with the audience warm-up on
The Carol Burnett Show
and helping with production on
The New Price is Right
.
In the beginning of his career he was a
radio DJ
and a
stand-up comedian
; although he held various television production jobs before a career boost in 1986, when he worked as the co-announcer with
Gene Wood
on ABC's short lived game show
Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak
.
Double Dare
[
edit
]
Summers' work on
Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak
garnered the attention from
Nickelodeon
, which hired him as the host of
Double Dare
from 1986?1993.
According to Summers, a ventriloquist friend was called for an interview to Double Dare, but having never heard of Nickelodeon, sent Summers for the interview in his place.
[3]
Summers was the first to interview for the job and was hired as both the host and producer.
Double Dare
was
syndicated
within two years and had a brief broadcast network run in
prime time
as
Fox Family Double Dare
in 1988.
Later career
[
edit
]
In 1989, he auditioned to host the CBS daytime version of
Wheel of Fortune
; however,
Bob Goen
was hired instead.
[4]
Double Dare's popularity led Summers to other hosting jobs including the syndicated
Couch Potatoes
in 1989, and Nickelodeon's
What Would You Do?
in 1991.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Summers appeared on television talk shows, including a stint on
ABC television's
Home Show
.
Summers also had a rare dramatic performance in the Nickelodeon-produced
Halloween
program
Mystery Magical Special
, which also highlighted his skills as a stage
magician
.
Summers also made celebrity guest rounds on other game shows including
Scrabble
,
Super Password
,
Talk About
,
Lingo
,
To Tell the Truth
,
Win, Lose or Draw
, and
Hollywood Squares
.
After
Double Dare's
cancellation in 1993, Summers co-hosted
Our Home
, a daily talk show aimed at homemakers, on
Lifetime
. Summers left
Our Home
after a couple of seasons to co-host another Lifetime talk show,
Biggers & Summers
.
In 1993, Summers hosted a special episode of
Nova
, called "The NOVA Quiz", celebrating the show's 20th anniversary season on PBS. Contestants answered science questions and participated in science experiments, for a chance to go on a science expedition.
Summers made a memorable appearance on the
Tonight Show with Jay Leno
on October 17, 1994, where he sat next to
Burt Reynolds
. The two traded jabs, before Reynolds dumped water from his mug onto Summers' lap; the two ended up
pieing
each other. Regarding the experience, Summers later recalled: "Burt Reynolds was going through a bad divorce with
Loni Anderson
. This was not planned, it was all real. Jay called me afterward and asked, 'What's going on between you and Burt?' It was like survival of the fittest. I was a comic. You wait your entire life to get on the
Tonight Show
, I wasn't going to let this guy fuck it up for me."
[5]
During the 1990s, Summers continued work on television shows, each with varying success. He created and hosted the short-lived children's game show
Pick Your Brain
, co-hosted
Great Day America
on the
PAX Network
, produced
I Can't Believe You Said That
, and hosted
It's a Surprise
on
Food Network
Summers returned to Nickelodeon in 2000 as the executive consultant for
Double Dare 2000
, an updated version of his original show. Two years later, he was the executive producer for another Nickelodeon resurrection,
Wild and Crazy Kids
.
GSN
chose Summers to host its original program
WinTuition
in 2002.
On March 28, 2008, the Communication and Journalism Club of
Coastal Carolina University
presented Summers with the first annual Peach Cobbler Award, an honor modeled after
Harvard
's
Hasty Pudding Award
. The Peach Cobbler Award recognizes an individual and their accomplishments in the communication field. The Communication and Journalism Club also declared that same day as "Marc Summers Day". After the ceremony, Summers hosted a mock version of
Double Dare
on the university's campus.
He returned to television as the host of more shows, including
History IQ
with his old announcer
Harvey
on the
History Channel
; the
Food Network
series
Unwrapped
; the
Unwrapped
spin-off
game show,
Trivia Unwrapped
; and the
Game Show Network
series
WinTuition
. In 2005, Summers became the host of Food Network's reality series
The Next Food Network Star
. Summers joined Chef
Guy Fieri
as co-host of Food Network's
Ultimate Recipe Showdown
in 2008. In late 2006,
Sony Pictures Television
and
KingWorld
planned a new game show called
Combination Lock
, with Summers hosting the first pilot. It was to be paired with a revival of the classic game show,
The Joker's Wild
.
[6]
However, a deal couldn't be reached by
KingWorld
and station groups.
[7]
Off the screen, Summers has been involved as an executive producer on the Food Network's
Dinner: Impossible
and
Restaurant: Impossible
. Summers currently splits his time between homes in Los Angeles and Philadelphia where his company Marc Summers Productions has a branch.
Summers has hosted
stage versions of
The Price Is Right
and credits
Bob Barker
and
The Price Is Right
for helping him pursue a game-show career. Summers was a young page at
CBS
when
The Price Is Right
premiered with
The Joker's Wild
and
Gambit
in 1972, and he often asked advice of Barker,
Jack Barry
and
Wink Martindale
?the shows' respective hosts?about a hosting career. He claims it's the best possible education and training in the game show field, and it was during this time that Summers got his first on-air experience, as a fill-in announcer on
The Joker's Wild
.
Summers served as host of "Drunk Double Dare" during Drunk Day, an annual episode of the Philadelphia-based
Preston & Steve
radio show on
WMMR
, held directly before the
Fourth of July
weekend. The show reunited Summers with his
Double Dare
cohorts
Harvey
and Robin Marrella. He has also hosted "Dunkel Dare" during the annual Beer Week in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Summers appears in the
Good Charlotte
music video for their song "
Last Night
", which uses
Family Double Dare
as the motif for the video. He has also played himself on
The Cleveland Show
,
Robot Chicken
,
Workaholics
, and
Sanjay & Craig
, and appeared in special segments on ABC's
The Chew
.
He is the subject and executive producer of
On Your Marc
, a documentary that chronicles his life and development of
his one-man theater show
, featuring interviews with
Neil Patrick Harris
,
Ryan Seacrest
,
Guy Fieri
and
Seth Green
, and was directed by
Mathew Klickstein
.
[8]
He hosted a number of early preview screenings and live events as part of a nationwide promotional tour of the film in October 2017.
[9]
[10]
[11]
Summers returned to host a 30th Anniversary of
Double Dare
at the 2016
San Diego Comic-Con International
. Summers also appeared in a commemorative half-hour special in honor of the show's 30th anniversary that aired on Nickelodeon on November 23, 2016.
[12]
In 2018, Summers provided color commentary along with his vast knowledge of the game on the revival of
Double Dare
with
Liza Koshy
, produced by RTL Group / FremantleMedia, and served as executive producer.
[13]
In 2019, Summers hosted
Double Dare Live
, a non-broadcast, national touring version of the show.
[14]
Summers began hosting the
Marc Summers Unwraps
podcast in 2023.
[15]
His one-man show
The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers
began playing off-Broadway at
New World Stages
in February 2024.
[16]
Health
[
edit
]
During an interview with Dr. Eric Hollander on
Biggers & Summers
, Summers revealed that he has
obsessive?compulsive disorder
. Summers went public about his condition on various television shows, including
The Oprah Winfrey Show
and
Today
. In 1999, Summers produced a VHS video box set with Hollander about his experience, called
Everything in Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
. Summers also participated in a series of VHS videos for Freedom from Fear, a non-profit organization with the goal of addressing anxiety disorders and other related behavioral disorders.
[17]
Despite his OCD, he was able to interact fully with his fans and contestants on
Double Dare
to the point of even allowing himself to get slimed, as well as shaking hands with contestants. Going public with his OCD cost Summers a job as host of a
Hollywood Squares
revival, and he was replaced by
Tom Bergeron
.
[18]
In August 2012, Summers suffered severe head injuries in an accident in a Philadelphia taxicab equipped with a partition.
[19]
In a 2015 interview on the Philadelphia-based
Preston & Steve
radio show on
WMMR
, Summers revealed that six years before, in 2009, he had "stomach problems" and had been in a lot of pain. Exploratory surgery revealed that he had chronic
lymphatic leukemia
. The initial doctor recommended
chemotherapy
, but fearing the pain and illness involved, Summers sought the opinion of another oncologist in
Chicago
. The oncologist promptly misdiagnosed him with
mantle cell lymphoma
and told him that he only had six months to live. Summers went back to his initial doctor in a panic; ultimately the original diagnosis of chronic lymphatic leukemia was confirmed. Chemotherapy would go on for the next two years, which he described as "brutal". Summers has had PET scans ever since his chemo finished, and as of 2016
[update]
is in remission.
[20]
On April 10, 2018, Summers was again a guest on
Preston & Steve
, and discussed flying to the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center from his home in Santa Barbara for further treatment.
In late 2019, in an in-person interview on
KTLA
's morning show, Summers revealed that he is again battling cancer. He did not volunteer which type of cancer he had, only saying that he was taking medication, and added, "I feel good, it's all going to be fantastic".
[21]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Marc Summers Biography (1951?)"
. FilmReference.com
. Retrieved
November 27,
2009
.
- ^
Warren, Steve (2004).
Radio: The Book
(4 ed.). Burlington and San Diego: Elsevier Focal Press. pp. 18?19.
ISBN
0240806964
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Marc Summers Reflects on 30 Years in TV, Double Dare, Unwrapped"
.
Jewish Exponent
. October 27, 2016
. Retrieved
November 25,
2022
.
- ^
Baber, David. Television Game Show Hosts: Biographies of 32 Stars. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2008, page 92.
- ^
Miller, Matt (September 7, 2018).
"Remembering the Time Burt Reynolds and Marc Summers Got in a Fight on Jay Leno's Tonight Show"
.
Esquire
.
- ^
Two Games in the Works
,
Broadcasting & Cable
, July 28, 2006
- ^
Roger King Sounds Off
,
Broadcasting & Cable
, January 12, 2007
- ^
On Your Marc
- ^
Corriston, Michele (October 11, 2017).
"What's Nickelodeon Slime Really Made Of? TV Veteran Marc Summers Answers That and More for New Documentary"
.
People
.
- ^
"
'Double Dare's' Marc Summers to bring 'On Your Marc' documentary, physical challenges to Philly"
.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
. October 12, 2017.
- ^
Reed, Christopher Llewellyn (October 26, 2017).
"A Conversation with Mathew Klickstein (On Your Marc)"
.
Hammer to Nail
.
- ^
"After facing some big challenges, Marc Summers is back for the 30th anniversary of 'Double Dare'
"
.
Los Angeles Times
. November 21, 2016.
- ^
Nordyke, Kimberly (May 22, 2018).
"
'Double Dare' Reboot Taps YouTube Star Liza Koshy as Host"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
June 22,
2018
.
- ^
"Double Dare Live"
. Viacom International Inc
. Retrieved
October 11,
2019
.
- ^
"
"Double Dare," Food Network Star Marc Summers Talks with Entertainment Heavy Hitters in Revealing New Podcast"
.
Podnews
. February 13, 2023
. Retrieved
February 25,
2024
.
- ^
Hall, Margaret (December 6, 2023).
"Alex Brightman's The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers to Play Off-Broadway"
.
Playbill
. Retrieved
January 26,
2024
.
- ^
"VHS Video Library ? Anxiety"
. Freedomfromfear.org. Archived from
the original
on October 9, 2008
. Retrieved
March 15,
2011
.
- ^
"Whitney Houston's Sister-In-Law Pat Houston & Model Niki Taylor."
Oprah: Where Are They Now?
Exec. Prod. Julie Simpson, Jill Van Lokeren, and Veronica Votypka. CEO/Chief Crea. Off. Oprah Winfrey. Oprah Winfrey Network. November 16, 2014.
- ^
"Marc Summers ? I Broke My Face in Nasty Car Accident"
.
TMZ
. August 16, 2012.
- ^
"Marc Summers Reveals He Had Cancer"
.
Preston & Steve
. February 9, 2015.
WMMR
.
- ^
"Nickelodeon Host Marc Summers Says Farewell to "Double Dare" With Live Tour"
.
KTLA 5
Morning News. October 15, 2019.
External links
[
edit
]