THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 15, 1994 TAG: 9407140041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
IMAGINE 700 people cheering as you kneel onstage and gooey butter is poured on your head.
``Thaaat's Entertainment.''
You're standing before a large crowd. The heat is totally unbearable, yet you are a happy as someone pours thick, yucky slime all over your body.
``Thaaat's Entertainment.''
Eggs are splattering on your torso. The yolk's on you. People are laughing.
Are you embarrassed? Humiliated?
Nope - you're a contestant on ``Wild & Crazy Kids,'' the No. 1 show on the Nickelodeon network.
On the tube, it's re-run city; on the road, it is touring the country. Recently, it stopped at Kings Dominion for eight slimy, messy one-hour shows.
Since the show went on the air in 1990, the hosts have been Donnie Jeffcoat and Phil Moore. Donnie, 19, is a freshman at the University of California in Irvine majoring in - are you ready for this? - child psychology.
His road show co-host, 34-year-old Phil, is known to his TV fans as host of ``Nick Arcade.'' On the road, he does the 100-yard dash into the audience to randomly pick contestants. He encourages everyone to shout and wave their hands as they pray to play.
Fifteen are chosen for each game - 15 from approximately 700 who attend each show.
After the initial looks of gloom - ``Why wasn't I chosen?'' Sniff, sniff. - the audience bounces back to cheer their favorite team - Green, Purple or Red.
Team members are involved in truth or dare type games. The messier, the better; the sloppier, the more laughs; the more bizarre, the more entertaining.
``It was craziest when they poured the slime,'' said Ashley Storer of Virginia Beach, who was at Kings Dominion with her 10-year-old sister, Eryn. ``If they poured it over me I'd take some off and put it on my mom.''
Slime, a Nickelodeon trademark, was particularly prevalent during ``My Cup Runneth Over,'' which had players competing to fill leaky cups on their heads with oozy substances.
``Slimy Crossword Puzzle'' involved contestants' digging into a vat of slime, enough for a re-make of ``The Blob.'' Letters were pulled from the oozing vat, then the participants dashed to a game board to construct puzzle-solving words.
That was as intellectual as it got.
``Wild & Crazy Kids'' did not pretend to travel the ``Jeopardy'' path. Educational TV it wasn't.
It was just good, dirty fun utilizing such time-honored ingredients as the slime, eggs, and the ever popular pies-in-the-face, a laugh getter since silent movie days.
Even the adults in the audience got into it. What an opportunity to divorce themselves, momentarily, from their often staid workaday worlds. Even the bald could let their hair down.
The audience for the show was quite diverse. ``Me and and my sister, Meredith, (9) watch every show,'' said 7-year-old Griffin Powell Franklin. ``We're couch potatoes.''
Those selected to participate at the Kings Dominion gigs knew their sportsmanship rules and regulations: It's not whether you win or lose but how you play the messy game.
The contestants had to transport eggs from on side of the stage to the other while wearing boxing gloves and traveling on skateboards.
That was only semi-messy. In another game contestants were transformed into boxes of popcorn, complete with salt and, of course, gooey butter dripping over their eager heads.
And, there was a beer-drinking event. It was root beer, this time.
Contestants swigged some, put on shorts and boots, then ran over to get smacked in the face with a pie. If that had been done at a party, they would have had the urge to smack the guilty party back.
But the human psyche was at work telling them, ``Hey, this is all in fun.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
FRANK ROBERTS
A lucky young contestant gets butter poured over his head while
participating in a game on Nickelodeon's popular ``Wild and Crazy
Kids.''
by CNB