This is our tribute to Richard Dawson, who was a regular panelist from 1973 to 1978 and died last weekend.

The Match Game aired from 1962-1969 on NBC, but is not the version that everyone remembers due to its much bawdier remake that aired through the 70s and into the 80s on CBS. Gene Rayburn both the original Match Game and all of Match Game 7x (The x represents every year from 1973 to 1979 name of the show changed every year. Once 1980 came around the show dropped the year.)

Match Game had six celebrity panelists and two contestants. The winner would be the contestant who matched the most celebrities in two rounds. That person would go on to the Super Match for the chance to win up to 5,000 dollars (10,000 dollars in the nighttime version.). The permanent panelists for most of the show’s run were Richard Dawson, Brett Somers, and Charles Nelson Reilly. Other frequent panelists include: Betty White, her husband and Password host Allen Ludden, writer Fanny Flag, Gary Burghoff, and Nipsey Russell.

The questions were purposely set up for double entendres. For example, a question would be along the lines of “Dumb Donald is so dumb. He got his (blank) stuck in the refrigerator.” Since the first answer that comes to mind couldn’t be said on television at the time, the answer that would be most likely to match the celebrities is “nose.” However, for some reason, “boobs” and “g-string” were acceptable answers and the former was said frequently.

There have been multiple remakes of Match Game since the 1970s version went off the air. However, most of these don’t get past the pilot stage. Two remakes were made in the 1990s, but neither one lasted more than a year. This was probably due to the fact that in the 70s the humor of the show was derived from suggestive answers and double entendres, whereas both 90s versions took advantage of relaxed censorship to the point that they were downright filthy.

Here is the classic School Riot clip: