Voting Station

Jack Paar

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TV Personality

The Resume

    (May 1, 1918-January 27, 2004)
    Died at 85 in Greenwich, Connecticut
    Quiz master on 'Up to Paar' (1952) and 'Bank on the Stars' (1953)
    Hosted 'The Jack Paar Show' (1957-62) and 'Jack Paar Program' (1962-65)
    Acted in 'Down Among the Sheltering Palms' (1953), 'Love Nest' (1951) and 'Walk Softly, Stranger' (1950)
    Wrote 'I Kid You Not'
    Owned a TV station in Poland Springs, Maine

Why he might be annoying:

    He dropped out of school at sixteen.
    He started a trend by showing home movies of his daughter Randy.
    He retired at 47 and rarely worked after that (June 25, 1965).
    He later attempted to compete against Johnny Carson, but failed.
    He was emotional and often cried on camera.
    Due to his emotional breakdowns, viewers enjoyed watching him.
    He smoked and drank.
    He feuded with newspaper columnists Dorothy Kilgallen and Walter Winchell.
    Before he was twenty-five, he divorced the same woman twice.

Why he might not be annoying:

    During the Bay of Pigs invasion, he offered Cuba tractors for the return of those Cubans captured.
    He was one of the first to take on censors. He walked off the show when a joke about a 'water closet' (toilet) was censored (February 1960).
    He returned several weeks later after NBC apologized saying the censor mistook the abbreviation W.C. to mean 'wayside chapel' instead of 'water closet.'
    He began his monologue with 'As I was saying, before I was interrupted . . .' (March 7, 1960).
    He probably showed the first U.S. clip of the Beatles, three months before they appeared on 'Ed Sullivan' (November 1963).
    He was so popular as host of the Tonight Show that it was quickly renamed 'The Jack Paar Show.'
    He is credited with opening his talk show with the monologue, which is a staple of just about every chat show that followed.
    He is credited with launching Woody Allen, Carol Burnett and Liza Minnelli's careers.
    His catch phrase was 'I kid you not,' which he named his memoirs.
    He told Associated Press: 'When I'm talking, I know that I do it well.' (1997)
    After John Kennedy was elected president, his father Joseph wrote to Paar: 'I don't know anybody who did more, indirectly, to have Jack elected than your own good self.'
    He believed that psychiatrists were useless (well at least for himself).
    As part of U.S. Army special services, he entertained troops in the South Pacific during World War II.
    He loved to travel.
    He made household names out of low level stars such as Genevieve, Cliff Arquette, Hans Conreid, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hermoine Gingold, Dody Goodman, Elsa Maxwell and Peter Ustinov.
    He was married to Miriam for over sixty years.

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 6 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 55 Votes: 49.09% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 68 Votes: 45.59% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 19 Votes: 36.84% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 222 Votes: 48.65% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 43 Votes: 37.21% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 37 Votes: 32.43% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 130 Votes: 47.69% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 164 Votes: 45.73% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 505 Votes: 41.98% Annoying
    In 2004, Out of 712 Votes: 43.54% Annoying