Talk:Ray Combs

I once saw a special

I once saw a special about Combs where he was interviewed. In the interview he told the camera about his obsessive compulsive disorder. He talked about his need to clean constantly. Kevin 00:42, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Are you sure you're not thinking of Marc Summers, the host of Double Dare? His OCD was ironic, since the show he emceed was inherently messy.Just1thing 16:45, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Ron De Guimera

The part f the article that states that Ray Combs was replaced by Richard Dawlson is incorrect, because Richard Dawlson was the host from 1977 to 1983, so how in the world can he replace combs in 1993? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.249.67.193 (talk) 06:53, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Richard came back for one season after Ray left the show. Check over at imdb.com about it.

Kona1611 (talk) 14:25, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Unsourced, moved from article to talk page

Biography

Early life and career

Combs was born in Hamilton, Ohio and ascended into the world of comedy after moving to Los Angeles in 1983. He began his career doing audience warm-ups for sitcoms. Johnny Carson noticed this and invited him to perform on The Tonight Show in October 1986; the audience gave him a standing ovation his first time on stage, the first time in the show's history a comedian was given such an honor on his or her first appearance. He was soon given warm-up duties for the audience of the sitcom Amen.

In 1987, he appeared as a celebrity panelist on the John Davidson version of Hollywood Squares, and had a small role as a cop at Elk Cove Hospital in the comedy film Overboard starring Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. His appearance on Hollywood Squares was memorable for him leading the audience in singing a terrible rendition of the theme to The Brady Bunch. In 1985, he appeared on an episode of The Facts of Life (episode "Doo-Wah") as a background character. Around this time he also had appeared as a guest star on an episode of The Golden Girls.

Combs was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called Mormons.

Host of Family Feud

In 1988, game show producers Mark Goodson and Howard Felsher selected Combs to host a new version of Family Feud, which aired concurrently on CBS beginning on July 4, and in syndication beginning on September 19. Audiences initially accepted Combs' performance on Family Feud despite the inevitable comparisons to longtime host Richard Dawson. According to Feud announcer Gene Wood, Combs would also tour extensively around the United States to promote the show, including guest appearances on CBS' Card Sharks starring Bob Eubanks and CBS' The Price Is Right starring Bob Barker.

Combs also made a couple of appearances for the World Wrestling Federation, appearing as a guest ring announcer at WrestleMania VIII, where he amused the capacity crowd at Indianapolis' Hoosier Dome by lashing into the team of the Nasty Boys, The Mountie, and Repo Man with various scathing insults before being ultimately chased out of the ring. He later served as a guest commentator alongside Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan at Survivor Series 1993. These two appearances were also met with various WWF/WBF celebrity editions of Family Feud; Heenan and Combs also struck up a friendship, which Heenan recounted in his autobiography, noting that he believed Combs felt demeaned by being a game show host. Combs also portrayed himself in episodes of In Living Color and 227 during Family Feud sketches.

On June 29, 1992, CBS expanded the daytime show from thirty minutes to one hour. The Bullseye round was added and the show was rechristened as Family Feud Challenge. Two and a half months later, on September 14, the Bullseye round was integrated into the syndicated run. This edition, however, remained thirty minutes in length, but was rechristened as The New Family Feud.

Final year as host

By 1993, however, ratings for the show slipped after the death of creator Mark Goodson. CBS canceled the daytime version on September 10, although the show had been in reruns since March 29, and the syndicated version was also in danger of cancellation. Jonathan Goodson, who became chairman of Mark Goodson Productions after his father's death a year earlier, then made the decision to replace Combs with Richard Dawson.

During the taping of his final episode, which aired in first-run syndication on May 27, 1994, instead of mingling with the two competing families at the end of the show, Combs walked off the set.

Later life and decline

Combs was severely injured in a July 1994 car accident which nearly paralyzed him. He went through financial problems after the closing of CaddyCombs, his Cincinnati, Ohio, comedy club, over a dispute with his business partner.

He had also separated from Debbie, his wife of 18 years, with whom he had six children. Several attempts to make it back into television – most notably as the host of the cable TV game show Family Challenge – all failed. About a week prior to his suicide, he appeared on television for the last time, live on a Memorial Day edition of The Home and Family Show with Cristina Ferrare and Chuck Woolery on May 27, 1996, where he talked about his experiences while hosting Family Challenge.

Death

Combs soon became disoriented. In the early morning hours of June 1, 1996, he made multiple frantic phone calls from his apartment to his wife, sobbing hysterically and taking pills. Debbie quickly called 911, and paramedics promptly responded. He was treated for an overdose of valium and released several hours later. As Debbie was driving him home from the hospital, he leapt from the car at a red light and disappeared behind some houses.

A few hours later, he was seen in front of Debbie's house, shouting and acting irrationally. She sent one of their children to lock the door, and Combs became hysterical and went into a rage when he discovered he was being kept out. He began banging his head against the wall of the house after trying to force his way in, and Debbie called the police. When they arrived, Combs claimed he had slipped in the Jacuzzi. Police had then determined that Combs had become suicidal.

Combs was eventually admitted to the psychiatric ward of Glendale Adventist Medical Center and placed on a 72-hour mental observation hold. At about 4:10 AM Pacific Daylight Time on Sunday, June 2, 1996, he committed suicide by removing the sheets from his bed and using them to hang himself in the closet of his hospital room. His family relied upon a $25,000 donation from Johnny Carson to pay for funeral expenses. Combs is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Hamilton, Ohio.

Alsace Avenue in Hamilton, Ohio, was renamed Ray Combs Avenue in his memory.

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Unsourced, moved from article to talk page. Per WP:BURDEN, do not add back to article, unless properly sourced. -- Cirt (talk) 13:40, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Paltry?

At current the article regards Johnny Carson's check for $25,000 as "paltry". First, that doesn't seem very encyclopedic, and second, I'm not sure anything over $1000 can be considered paltry. Yeah, Carson was rich, but $25,000 is quite a lot of money in today's society and would have bought more then. For me, Paltry starts at $50 and works down from there... — Preceding unsigned comment added by UnsanctionedStyle (talk • contribs) 21:51, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

For a widow with six kids and a house lost to foreclosure it is nada, zilch, etc, even in 1996 when Combs died (not "today's society" two decades later, in which that sum would be even more pitiful). Carson was a twisted, stingy (emotionally as well as financially) misanthrope (don't worry, I didn't include that part). Your own extremely modest economic pricepoints are impressive -- do you live in a monastery?Quis separabit? 14:52, 29 September 2015 (UTC)

• Came here from WP:ANI. I'd agree with removing "paltry" or "meager", and just stick to facts. --Floquenbeam (talk) 17:04, 29 September 2015 (UTC)

Why supposedly "shouldn't" we correct punctuation and remove redundancies in this article?

WP:DENY

Why are you, toddy, sro, and ebyabe (Toddy1, Sro23, and Ebyabe), treating the incorrect punctuation in this article as falsely "sacred" for some weird reason? What's supposedly "wrong," according to you but not really, with correcting the possessive forms to the way that is taught as the standard? And what's "wrong," according to you but not really, with removing hyphens that are completely unnecessary and cluttery, when that's the standard that is taught? And what's "wrong," according to you clique but not really, with removing a painfully obvious redundancy, so much that you feel it is your "life's responsibility, 'til death" to preserve these errors? 174.23.99.151 (talk) 20:18, 30 May 2016 (UTC), Memorial Day (USA) You are the same person as Special:Contributions/174.23.160.130, who was given a 72-hour block starting at 10:48, 30 May 2016 (UTC). I have marked your post with strikethrough, as you are not entitled to post anything on Wikipedia until your block has expired.-- Toddy1 (talk) 20:36, 30 May 2016 (UTC) I'm not on 24/7, but feel free to quietly ping me if this happens again. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 20:38, 30 May 2016 (UTC) The blockage is over, so let's discuss this now. --The user whose IP address is now 75.162.244.4 (talk) because of its being dynamic; NOT because of falsely supposed "intended IP-hopping." I see you are blocked again - but let us take your issues and start comment on them. Mr/Mrs/Miss IP editor please do not reply until your block has expired. The IP-editor raised the following issues:[1] Should words like "re-titled", "re-named" and "good-bye" have an hyphen in them. Which is better of the following: "Jonathan Goodson, who became chairman of Mark Goodson Productions after the death of his father, Mark Goodson, a year earlier, made the decision to replace Combs with original host Richard Dawson in the hopes of spiking ratings." "A year earlier, after production company chairman Mark Goodson died, his son Jonathan replaced him as chairman and made the decision to replace Combs with original host Richard Dawson in the hopes of spiking ratings." Should the article say that he "injured his spinal disc " or that "injured one of his spinal discs". Conceded Should the article make it clear that Glendale Adventist Medical Center was "in Glendale". Is the possessive of Combs, "Combs's" or "Combs'". I have signed my comments on each issue, so that other people can add their bit to each.-- Toddy1 (talk) 12:51, 5 June 2016 (UTC) With respect of (1), both forms are correct grammatical English. Changing from one way to the other way is rather like changing from one English variant to another. Wikipedia does not recommend making that kind of pointless annoying change without good reason.-- Toddy1 (talk) 12:51, 5 June 2016 (UTC) With respect of (2), both wordings are fine; but the first retains the temporal flow of the sentence.-- Toddy1 (talk) 12:51, 5 June 2016 (UTC) With respect of (3), we have kept the IP editor's change, so I have marked that "conceded".-- Toddy1 (talk) 12:51, 5 June 2016 (UTC) With respect of (4), saying "in Glendale" makes the sentence a lot clearer. It might not have been in Glendale; for example Redborne Upper School and Community College is 123 miles drive from Redbourne.-- Toddy1 (talk) 12:51, 5 June 2016 (UTC) With respect of (5), both are acceptable.-- Toddy1 (talk) 12:51, 5 June 2016 (UTC) Toddy1, I appreciate your input and effort you've put in examining every complaint. I totally agree that right now, there are no issues with the article. However, please don't encourage the IP to come back. They are actually User:Who R U? (spi here) who was blocked. They aren't allowed to edit Wikipedia, even using IP addresses anonymously. To 174.23.99.151/75.162.244.4/Who R U?, don't wait until your range block expires. Please stay away for good. You've been blocked indefinitely, that means you can never edit again. You lost the right to have your opinion heard when you edit warred, socked, and attacked other editors. Sro23 (talk) 02:24, 6 June 2016 (UTC) Okay, Toddy1, thanks for your input. Now here's my follow-up to your follow-up: 2. Will you please explain what you mean by "temporal flow"? There are two reasons I think there's a better way to word this: A. "Jonathan Goodson, who had become chairman of Mark Goodson Productions after the death of his father, Mark Goodson..." is redundant. It should be worded in a way that says that Mark Goodson is both Jonathan's father and the former head of the company in one "pop." B. "...after the death of his father, Mark Goodson, a year earlier, made the decision to replace Combs with original host...." makes it kind of unclear which thing happened a year earlier. Can you see this ambiguity? 4. The reason I wanted to eliminate the "Glendale _______ in Glendale" even despite the example you gave is that in this article there's already so much talk of the city by name that repeating it here just sounds ridiculous. But now that someone else took care of that, you were fine with it. Why could you not have been fine with it when I did the same thing, then? 5. If both are acceptable, then why not just smooth it out, and why would it be considered "annoying" to make the changes back, so much that they should be undone? 75.162.239.1 (talk) 06:08, 23 June 2016 (UTC)

Why not use the official name of the church?

WP:DENY

The official name of the church that Ray Combs was a member of and served his mission for is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Mormon" is only the nickname. The church prefers that this official name is used everywhere except in "Mormon Tabernacle Choir" and The Book of Mormon (and Words of Mormon inside it, and the name of Mormon the prophet himself, etc.), or for abbreviation, "LDS Church." And there's an article right here with that as the official name. The official name is even in his info. here. So why would it not be encyclopedic to use that same terminology when describing Combs' missionary service? 75.162.209.1 (talk) 06:34, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

Assumption in lede

In reviewing the sources cited within the article regarding Combs' death, it is an assumption to state that his reasoning for suicide was due to marital and financial beset. The articles that support the statements within the section Death do not even speculate at best and use terms accordingly. To state in the lede: "Beset with marital and financial problems, Combs hanged himself in the closet of the psychiatric ward ..." is misleading; as the section on death only states facts and does not clearly state: reason. In the similar case of celebrities such as Robin Williams the simple statement of death by suicide reads as such: "On August 11, 2014, Williams committed suicide by hanging at his home in Paradise Cay, California." Yes, the next sentence states: "His wife attributed his suicide to his struggle with Lewy body dementia." But WP does not place in its lede: "Suffering from Lewy body dementia, Robin Williams hanged himself at his home ..." It would be more fitting and a NPOV to merely state: "Combs committed suicide by hanging at the Glendale Adventist Medical Center where he was being held for observation in June 1996." The specific details at the times of his death are described in the Death section below; but WP cannot hint at motive for a person's reason to commit suicide. Any objections to this change? Maineartists (talk) 02:23, 19 November 2016 (UTC)