There is something interesting that most of us realize about human nature, and that’s the fact that we don’t all operate the same under pressure. Many of us feel as if we can keep our cool when we are under the gun but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we will always act the same. Nobody knows this better than Richard Dawson, one of the most noted game show hosts of all time. He was the host of Family Feud for many years, prior to the time that the new hosts took over. Although most people know Steve Harvey as the host of the game show, it was actually Richard Dawson that got things started.
During the game show, it was not out of the ordinary to see one of the contestants lose it. In fact, they were encouraged to be themselves and perhaps to even be over the top when it came to the things that they said and did. At the same time, however, Richard Dawson had the job of keeping his cool. Admittedly, there were times when he just couldn’t take certain answers but at the same time, he needed to keep things going and to keep the contestants calm enough that the show would actually make it on the air. That included some of the craziest answers to questions that were designed to bring the worst out of people.
In this episode from 1985, Richard Dawson is standing at the front with a contestant on each side. When he asked the question, he gets an answer that doesn’t seem to out of the ordinary but once you think about it, it was really a crazy response. Suddenly, Richard Dawson is on the floor laughing and he has a very difficult time regaining his composure again.
Although he was able to keep it together for the most part, there were times when things didn’t quite go his way. Richard Dawson may have been a man with a lot of composure on a game show that was typically over the top but in this case, it just got the best of him. You can see it for yourself in the following video:
