Uh, here is something I did not know: in the early 1980s, Pat Sajak was not always sober when he hosted Wheel of Fortune.
Turns out that, in the olden days, taping paused for very long dinner breaks. Sajak and Vanna White would leave the studio, head to a nearby Mexican restaurant, and order margaritas:
Vanna and I would go across [the street] and have two or three or six and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet. They’re really good tapes to get hold of.
Man, I bet they are. I bet they’re great tapes to get ahold of—right up there with that one video of Drunk Alex Trebek (NSFW!).
The full interview is very, very funny, by the way. I did know—because I have watched Pat Sajak’s old weatherman videos—that Sajak is naturally hilarious and really animated, so I wasn’t as surprised by this as I might’ve been.
As Sajak points out, Wheel was a really different show in the early 1980s, insofar as there were a lot of prizes onstage. Before Merv Griffin handpicked Sajak to host, Wheel of Fortune actually starred Chuck Woolery.
Sajak goes on to add that, at his advanced age (he’s already 65! Crazy), just sniffing a wine cork might cause him to “keel over. …Although I am hammered at this very moment.” Ha, ha! He might be kidding, but I doubt he is. Sajak is giving an interview drunk! Perfect.