This Is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast, More What You
Here Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive. You've seen him in so many things.
Tom Cavanaugh most noted for NBC's Ed, which he's got Golden Globe nominations for
his performance. Also nominated for a Daytime Mmy Emmy on Showtimes critically acclaimed Bang
Bang, You're Dead. Also NBC Scrubs Love Monkey. He is also going
to be hosting a new show that is out now on Game Show Network called
Hey Yahoo. Tom Cavanaugh, Welcome, Hi, How are you good?
To have you along? Now? Tell us about Hey Yahoo. It's well,
it's a game game show, and it's a plethora of fun, enjoyment,
trivia and sometimes PG hijinks. So what's not to like? Well,
you get guests who complete, who compete for trying to guess what millions of
people are searching on Yahoo for. And I thought, basically it came down
to two things. Anything in a bikini or a recipe? Is that is
that? Was that your takeaway? That seems to be what everybody is searching
for on Yahoo? Yes, that's so funny. Yeah, that's the kind
of the genius of the show. Um, Um, it's uh, it's
inclusive, you know. Uh and uh, you know we everybody I guess
to lead the Wrestla putting us. Everybody searches for stuff, right, and
so we we, for lack of a better word, have found a way
to monetize that or at least or at least for our contestants to monetize the
search thing. So the better they do, um, you know, like
they you know, the more money they stand, the stand to win,
and it's always a fun time. Hey, Yahoo is the show. It's
on Game show Network, Tom Kavanaugh as the host and he's joined us now
to talk about it. Yeah. It's also it's also indicative of where our
pop culture has gone. Yeah, I agree, because if I say to
you search engine and I said that, you you know, I don't know
at the time, during the days of the Price of Right, you'd be
like what Now everyone goes like, oh, game show based on a search
engine? Got it? You know? Um, it's it's and that's kind
of like the stroke of genius. When we're pitching different ideas to Jay and
Shelley over a game show Network, they you know, they they came up
with the idea to pair with the search. Um, you know what I
mean. And and that was I think the thing that got us off and
running because there's a commonality, like I say, everybody searches. So if
I say to you, why does my dog blank, You're already going to
think like, well, somebody may have searched a bark or bite, you
know. Um, And so already you're you've got an answer, ready to
ready to go. And you know, so does your your We play three
people versus three people, and so you're not up there in Jeopardy style on
an island all by yourself. You've got help and so you know, and
and it's not it's not our cane and difficult trivia. Clearly, as we
progress along the half hour of the game show, things get much more difficult.
And then we add a timed round to add pressure to you know,
to the to the game. But everything is eminently gettable. Hey Yahoo is
what we're talking about. New game show on Game Show Network, Tom Kavanaugh's
the host. Contestants are given the first half of the search and then they
have to fill in the blank with what they think America is searching for on
Yahoo. And we're talking about ten thousand dollars in winnings on Hey Yahoo,
the game show with Tom Kavanaugh. Now this is different than acting for you.
I mean a game show is fast paced and you really have to hit
your timing marks. Was this a stretch for you? No, I mean
absolutely, I think I think it's actually absolutely not different from acting because essentially
what I'm doing Lee is I'm I'm playing the role of game show host.
For lack of a less obvious thing to say, because really it is.
I mean, actors all day, you know, we have our lines,
we hit our marks. And then part of the thing if you come from
like I did a decade of theater before ever advancing into like I shouldn't even
use the word advancing, but like ever doing any kind of television or film
and theater, you have to be you have to be prepared for a shift
in mood, a different tack, you know, an understudy, somebody being
sick that you just have to be ready, ready to go. And so,
you know, the live studio audience thing has a certain theatrical bent to
it, which I very much a joy. And then if you're doing like
a sitcom, for example, something like Curb your Enthusiasm, you know,
You're just given a you know, a framework, and then within a framework
you're improvising. And so you know, the hitting the mark, they're saying,
the lines, the live theater audience, the improvising all of that or
these are all like basically you know, like basic actor tools. So I'm
essentially using those, you know, and um, and I find it like
a challenge in a great way, you know, because it's in a nice
way. It's it's my performance is there to ameliorate, but it largely it's
straw that stirs the drinks so other people can have, you know, a
satisfying sip, you know, at the well it's for it's really for the
contestants who come on and for the viewers. And I think my job is
to kind of keep things going. And I've kind of enjoyed like, oh,
look, it's so that's not you know, it's not really me up
there. That's not kind of my person, it's not who I am.
But it's also like, yeah, this is a fun role to play into
try and get right. And you have six times a day to try and
get it right. And I enjoy that very much. Well, and you're
thinking on your feet too, like you don't know what they're going to say.
That's part of the things that you can't like. That's one of the
lovely things I found about this job is like you really have to be present.
You can't say if we're doing six shows a day, you can't say,
like, you know, I'm going to mail in show three, Like
it's just impossible, you know, you this is everybody's, you know,
a big moment in terms of the six contestants who are on stage, and
you have to be you have to be there for them, and so like
that. That's that's something that I enjoy. Like, I know the your
listeners might be like six shows a day, but that's largely the format board
game shows. And I have to tell you, you know, because you're
present, it just flies by in a very in a great way. Golden
Gold nominated actor and director Tom Kavanaugh his new game show is Hey Yahoo on
the Game Show Network. And you're still working in theater and still doing a
lot of projects. What are we going to see you? What else are
we going to see you in other than Hey Yahoo? We're producing this musical
hopefully it's a Broadway musical. Right now, I don't know if you remember
the movie pass, you know, for ninety nine you can give this little
red card that allowed you to see as many movies in a month as you
wanted at the movie theater. So clearly just an an awful business model.
They went bankrupt and then doubled down and made a movie studio, and that
movie studio produced one the total at one grand one total, the grand total
of one movie, which was gaudy starring John Travolta. And so clearly that
whole thing lends itself to musical. So that's one thing for stage. And
then in um on the television side of things, we're bandying about the idea
of a reverse Flash spinoff like flashes sort of in the news these days,
and I play on television the reverse Slash for Warner Brothers, which is the
arch enemy of the Flash, and it feels like maybe now is the time
to get that antihero story told. So we'll keep you posted and we'll watch
all of that, hey, Yahoo, including the on the Game Show Network,
which stars Tom Kavanaugh as the host. Thank you for joining us,
Thanks for having me the all of that you, Thanks for listening to Later
with Lee Matthews the Lee Matthews Podcast and remember to listen to The Drive Live
weekday afternoons from five to seven and I Hearts Media presentation