Today, we look at how the entire internet seemed to make the same incorrect joke about Bob Barker’s passing.
Knowledge Waits is a feature where I just share some bit of pop culture history that interests me that doesn’t quite fit into the other features.
Bob Barker, the iconic game show host of Truth and Consequences and The Price is Right, has passed away at age 99.
One of the regular parts of the gameplay on The Price is Right, where contestants have to guess how much items cost, is that you have to come as close as you can to the exact price of the item WITHOUT going over.
Well, Barker has passed away at 99, the closest you can get to a “dollar” in life without actually hitting triple digits, and the internet has all discovered the same joke at once.
I cannot believe Bob Barker lived as close to 100 as possible without going over.
— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) August 26, 2023
The fact that Bob Barker dying at 99 means he got as close to 100 without going over gives me comfort. pic.twitter.com/g13VjGRePh
— Matthew Rettenmund (@mattrett) August 26, 2023
Bob Barker getting as close to 100 as possible without going over is somehow fitting. https://t.co/NeTZZyJyj9
— Alan Saunders (@ASaunders_PGH) August 26, 2023
Bob Barker made it to 99, which is as close as you can get to a dollar without going over. #RIPBobBarker pic.twitter.com/U4nqfki6eG
— Terry McGurrin (@standupmonkey) August 26, 2023
Bob Barker got as close as he could to 100 without going over https://t.co/RoH2uhg38U
— Bryan Passifiume (@BryanPassifiume) August 26, 2023
The thing is, on the show, you WANT to hit the number. Yes, you don’t want to go OVER it, but you WANT to hit the number, so in the context of this joke, Barker would have WANTED to hit 100 before passing away. It’s odd how everyone is making the same joke (and yes, obviously many people are copying the initial joke, but that’s why I only went with people who made the joke at around the same time, not the ones who made it hours later), and yet miss that aspect of the joke.
In any event, RIP, Bob Barker, you were a heck of a game show host!
If anyone has any pop culture bit that you’d like me to discuss, drop me a line at brian@poprefs.com
I said that I had guessed he’d live to a 100, but I lost because I went over.
One could argue that if he hit 100 + 1 day he would technically be over. Remember we start at zero.
As was actually focused more on the fact that Bob Barker died on National Dog Day.
Nope, the internet is right and you are wrong. They see the humor, you are trying to nitpick a joke that makes perfect sense, which is why everyone is saying the same thing. Except you. Nobody would get the joke if you told it, because the punchline would be a dud. Score one for the internet.
I had figured someone would make a cartoon joke of St. Peter saying, “Bob Barker, come on up”.
well no, if the number is 100 and you bid 99 and someone else bids 101 you’d win.
Betty White beat him. January 17th, 1922 – December 31st, 2021 is 36,508 days (99 years, 11 months, and 14 days.)
Bob Barker – December 23rd, 1923 and Saturday, August 26th, 2023 – 36,406 days (99 years, 8 months, and 3 days.)
On the show, they frequently round prices to the nearest dollar. He was 100 rounded to the nearest year.
Also, 100 years and 10 days some people would consider to be “going over 100”.