Ray Combs
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Image:Raycombs.jpg Raymond Neil Combs, Jr. (April 3, 1956 – June 2, 1996) was an American television game show host and stand-up comedian.
Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Combs ascended into the world of comedy after moving to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s and doing audience warmups for sitcoms. Johnny Carson noticed this and invited him to perform on The Tonight Show in 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.
Combs was best known for hosting the game show Family Feud. In 1988 veteran game show producer Mark Goodson and Executive Producer Howard Felsher selected Combs to host a new version of Feud, which was to air concurrently on CBS that began in July 1988 and in syndication that began in September 1988. CBS heavily promoted Combs and the new Feud in the summer of 1988, with Combs making guest appearances on two other CBS game shows (Card Sharks and The Price is Right) to promote the show. From 1988-1990, Ray uses his clip on body microphone. In 1990, Ray began using his handheld cordless microphone until he left the show in 1994.
Audiences initially accepted Combs' performance on Family Feud despite the inevitable comparisons to longtime host Richard Dawson. By 1993, however, the show's ratings were declining. CBS canceled the daytime version that year, 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 the man he replaced, Richard Dawson. A very unhappy Combs walked out of the CBS studios before the end of his last episode in 1994, when the winning family got only 77 points in Fast Money.
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 celebrity editions of Family Feud.
Combs' dismissal from Feud was one of many events that ultimately led to his suicide in 1996. An automobile accident in 1994 nearly paralyzed him, while Combs went through financial problems after Go Bananas, a comedy club he owned in Cincinnati, Ohio, went out of business. He had also separated from his longtime wife, Debbie, 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 in 1995—all failed.
Combs checked into the psychiatric ward of a Glendale, California, hospital, and hanged himself in the closet with bedsheets on June 3, 1996—his wife's 40th birthday. Combs was 40 years old. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Ray's body was flown back to Ohio for burial after his death.
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