Hearing about Ray's downward spiral really got me emotional. I can't even begin to imagine what those closest to him were feeling seeing him so depressed. Also TBH, I think that Ray's remark about wanting the Bullseye board to land on him might have been a warning sign about how he was feeling, and might have even been a small cry for help.

I met Ray Combs at a event in Cincinnati the Webn fireworks/River fest he had just became host of family feud.he was a kind sweet funny man.i got to talk to him for 5-10 minutes he was guest hosting for the t.v broadcast for the fireworks.. I asked him for his autograph which he was so kind to give me.r.ip Mr Combs...

Also... In Memory of Louie Anderson (1953-2022) He was the third host of "Family Feud."

Ray Combs was my favorite host growing up. Seeing just how fucked over he was nearly brought me to tears. Can't wait for the rest of this series, hope you make more videos in general.

Really sad what happened to Ray Combs

I loved both hosts. I know we're "supposed" to choose sides, but I think Richard and Ray brought something unique to the show.

Ray Combs is seriously underrated as a game show host. God bless you, Ray. I hope you're resting in peace.

If Ray hung in just a little bit longer, maybe he could’ve picked up another game show gig. I always wondered what if he’d hosted the night time version of the Price Is Right? I think he would’ve done a marvelous job.

Ray Combs was an extraordinary game show host - one of the ten best ever. A severely underrated talent.

39:29 Gene Wood’s voice starts to crack a little bit. It’s obvious he cared for him a great deal. RIP Ray Combs. My personal favorite host. A victim of bad timing and upper management (Jonathan has expressed that one of his biggest regrets is firing Ray.)

I grew up with both Richard Dawson and Ray Combs on Family Feud. I remember when Ray used to bring his children on stage at the end of the show. I really felt bad for him when word got out he was being fired from his job. Network TV is a brutal business. Just look at how Richard Dawson was treated by Match Game when they brought the wheel on. He was pissed off and left the show. When Match game was canceled that sent Gene Rayburn into depression. Ray I know you are in a much better place but the world could use your comedy. RIP both Ray and Richard

Ray's mental health spiral reminds me of my own, one i was very lucky to escape from. Please if you are in that same situation, you are not alone, there are pepole who love and care for you, there are pepole who can help you, dont give into despair no matter how dark things are, they will get better. Take care of yourselves.

I remember when he showed up on the stand-up scene in the early 80's at the Improv and the Store. He was a very nice guy, and didn't struggle trying to find his stage persona like others because he kept his act extremely simple and likeable. We were jealous of him because we were trying to be real and organic, bringing our "baggage" on-stage and trying and make it funny, and he rose to the top with what we considered "fluff." Ironically, his turmoil as a person was even worse than the so-called "agnst" we brought on-stage. Watching his life in this episode it is very sad and tragic. Rest in Peace Ray.

Combs was a great host, and he really, REALLY loved his work, hosting Feud, and enjoyed being with people. I remember the show Family Challenge on the Family Channel he did for 1 season before his suicide. Tragic, tragic, tragic. :(

When Ray hung himself in 96. There was a student in high school that did the same thing on the same day, because his girlfriend broke up with him. His name was Jamie . Rest easy Ray and Jamie. 🙏🏾🙏🏾💐💐

This is the version of Family Feud i grew up with and i had no idea it wasn't this gigantic hit. I never knew it struggled so much during it's run.

38:48 Gene Wood's tribute to Ray was touching and so very kind.

He was the host when I was old enough to remember Family Feud, I was so sad when I heard he passed. He seemed like a really sweet Midwestern guy

So sad to hear what happened to Ray.

Ray Combs 1956-1996

So sad it breaks my heart what the people at family feud did to him

Ray Combs was the second best host of Family Feud. During his run the design of the set looked very good. Sadly the show always kind of struggled when it was on between 88-94. Towards the end of it's run they added bulls eye and some other stuff that took away from the show. I feel so bad for Ray Combs and he is remembered by many people in a positive way.

If Ray made it to the mid 2000s I'm confident he would've had a gameshow on NBC during the big Gameshow revival. Unfortunate.

Ray was the host when I first started watching Family Feud. I was young and not even aware of Richard Dawson's hosting time. When Richard took over again, I was confused and wondered why "this old guy" was on the show now.

I can remember both Dawson and Ray hosting the show. When Dawson was on I could take it or leave it but I never missed a Ray Combs episode when on summer vacation or Christmas break. I thought he was great and very funny and enjoyable to watch. I’ve been where Ray was at that point in his life and it’s not easy and I myself wanted out. I hit rock bottom hard. But I didn’t give up and bounced back thanks to my Dad. I so wish I could have been the one watching Ray on that terrible morning. I’m not saying that he wouldn’t have killed him self but he wouldn’t have done it that morning. I work in a hospital and suicide watch and prevention is one of my responsibilities. I would have loved to talk to him and hopefully help in anyway possible. He deserved so much better.

Richard Dawson was the Greatest Family Feud Host of All Time! He was also brilliant on The Match Game. Ray Combs was Great too. Lost interest in the show after Ray. So sad how things ended for Him. I wish He was still with us,Ray was a Tremendous entertainer.

Rays childhood home is close to my fiancee's work. Gonna go there along to his graveside before winter hits

This is so sad on so many levels. Combs being blamed because the show did not live up to its original incarnation, amid endless tinkering with the game's format. And Dawson returning to failure as well; looking so ill, like a shadow of his former self. And Combs, another comedian and genial on-air host, whose life ended in depression and suicide. You just never know what another person is going through.

That is so adorable the reason Dawson didn't do the kissing women for his comeback...his little girl insisted those kisses belong only to her and mommy :)

I loved Ray Combs on Family Feud when I was a kid. I missed him when he was fired from Family Feud although I didn't know he was fired at the time. For a long time I wondered what had happened to him. Never liked Dawson so I didn't watch Family Feud for much longer. Last year I made the mistake of looking up Ray Combs on wiki to see what happened to him. Sad story. He deserved better. I wish Family Feud with Ray Combs had better ratings or he had got a good Late Night Show. Marc Summers on Nickelodeon's kid game shows and Ray Combs were my favorite hosts as a kid.

I have to say your videos are very well done, informative and entertaining! I never really bothered to watch the Family Feud Challenge pilot until I saw your video which triggered my curiosity. I immediately checked it out after watching this. The second half of the show really emanated the vibes of the Japanese adaptation of Family Feud (Called “We Asked 100 People” which did very well-ran continuously from 1979-1992). The main game in Japan worked the same way for points out of 100. The winning family would get the points which would go into a bank at ¥500/point, with the last (5th) question being worth double points. Later in the run, the amount was increased to ¥700, then ¥1000. There wasn’t a Fast Money, instead they played something similar to the “second Bullseye” the FFC Pilot had. It was called “Travel Chance” and each family member was asked a different question and they had to get the most popular answers hidden inside Solari-flap panels-lo and behold on a drop-down prop covering the main game board. The scores they accrued amounted to how many people of the family would get a trip to Hawaii. If they collectively 120 points or more, then all 5 members win the trip. (100 points for 4 people, 80 points for 3, 70 points for 2, 60 points for 1, and 59 points or lower meant a bust). Interesting enough, the only Japanese influence that eventually made it (briefly) into the actual Combs version were the handheld “strike paddles” around ‘92. The Japanese version had used them to show visually to the audience that the family member didn’t give an answer on the survey. Luckily, that didn’t last very long here.

Another exceptional video. Fascinating stuff, I had no idea the show was doing so poorly during these years. The late 80's through 90's was definitely all about the talk show though. Everyone had a talk show at some point. Once you had Hard Copy and Entertainment Tonight packaged together and Jeopardy and Wheel appearing together in many markets, it didn't leave much room in the 7 - 8 slots. I think a show definitely had to work harder. Being a big fan of soaps from the 60's - 90's I think they were seen as far more important to the Daytime execs as well (until they weren't) and game shows were dwindling in daytime through the 80's and 90's as well. Anyway, thanks again, also you have a great voice for this too. Can't wait for the next part.

It's clear the effort you put into these, great mix of narration, clips and text explainations - makes it very pleasant to watch! Looking forward to part 3!

This was the version of Family Feud I remember watching when I was a kid and the first time I watched it Ray Combs was my favorite host those were the good old days of my youth.

Well, well done; narration was paced, perfectly. R.I.P., Messrs. Dawson, Combs, Anderson.

I loved Ray Combs. Born in 82’ so he was the host of my generation. He was also a big wrestling fan. He worked two WWF PPV’s and I wish he would’ve worked with them after the Feud. Depression is a tough beast that takes many greats. Ray was one of them.

If you ask me, I think Mark Goodson’s death was the beginning of the end of Ray Combs as he began to feel the strong resentment among the show’s staff and was fired within the next year.

Ray was like Tom Kennedy, a host that lived up to his famous predecessor. Combs and Dawson will always be tied for first with me for Feud Hosts. BIG drop off when you get to the 1999-date version. And of course, the classic hosts didn't need penis questions as crutches.

By watching the first revival of Family Feud as a kid when the show ended in 1994, I got to feel sorry for Ray Combs. I didn’t know that after this he fell on hard times after the studio would go on a different direction, but not the case with Richard Dawson because the guy is just not in his prime anymore. I’m a huge Ray Combs fan and he was a very good and underrated host of the first revival of the Feud. And seeing the guy took his own life is very sad. He could’ve been so much more, but his heart just couldn’t handle the pressure. He will be dearly missed.

Genuinely, Ray Combs is my favorite Family Feud host. I think Family Feud is the show with probably the best run of hosts (at least, when you look at shows that had as many host changes), but whenever GSN would run a streak of random Family Feud episodes from the pre-Harvey era his always stood out to me. The perfect mix of humor, heart, and kinda cracked out energy.

RIP Ray Combs. 😢 I watched Family Feud a lot in the 2000’s.

The first video I saw of yours was the Sajak video; stumbled upon this one vía Facebook. You do an excellent job and your voice is perfectly suited for this type of project. Once again, very well done.

I didn't know about the "I wish it would land on me now" comment :-(

Ray Combs was a talented comic whose circumstances were beyond his control.

Thank you for the Family Feud Ray Combs era video :) You should do a video of The Story of the Nighttime Price is Right the Dennis James era from 1972-77 in the future. FYI: You should mention in the video about the Cliff Hangers Incident from 1976 when Dennis said "There Goes Fritz!" after the Contestant lost the game and Dennis failed to realized that it was the name of Janice's husband whose name was also Fritz who had disappeared back in 1975 which resulted in sending Janice backstage crying for rest of the episode.

I love your videos so much! I get extremely excited every time one comes out. This one was such a sad one at the end, I appreciate you telling stories like this. Thank you.

Yeah, Ray Combs was my favorite FF host by far. The internet wasn’t around, so I really had no idea the show was struggling, or at least, not pulling the same weight as it did 15 years prior with less competition. I just watched it every day I could, and so did pretty much everyone I know. Of course, I’m also originally from Ohio, and you just don’t see his type of midwestern humor much in mainstream entertainment media. Such a sad story. I wish there were more classic Combs-era episodes more widely available; seems like it’s always either Dawson or Harvey.

I love the Dawson era of Family Feud but my favorite is still the Ray Combs era.

So at the end of the day, Jonathan Goodson was the reason for Ray Combs' downfall. Your father would be so proud of you Johnny boy. Your legacy will be forever known as "The Man thought ended Ray Combs"

Rest In Peace ray combs

As always, this video is phenomenal ~ easy to follow, full of interesting information, and tastefully executed on the sensitive topics. Well done! I am looking forward to Part 3!

This was such an informative video about what was happening behind the scenes at Family Feud. Thank you got bringing this to us!

Dude, I have no idea how your videos appeared on my feed (perhaps my being a huge game show fan did it) but you are batting 1.000. Job well done, just masterful work. Subscribed.

Incredible video, Connor. I love the detail and research you put into these videos and I hope you do more about other game shows in the future.

I hated hearing how Ray lost his life. I remember. 😢

Woah Ray and Richard died on the same day, 16 years apart

These 2 videos on family feud are the best family feud documentary I ever seen! Looking forward to the 3rd one

Awesome job putting this all together - you really did your research! Now I personally didn't remember Ray Combs as the host when that version of the Feud was on - in fact, the first version of the Feud I remember watching was Richard Dawson's short-lived hour-long syndication revival. However as you pointed out, the end of Ray's life was very tragic. With all this talk about mental health nowadays, I really wish he got the help and support he needed then before taking his own life. Oh well, I hope he's now having a better time up there along with Dawson, Mark Goodson, and everyone else you acknowledged at the end. (BTW Louie Anderson also passed away three months after this video was published and nearly a couple years prior to this writing, but save him for the next part!)

Once again, great video! Looking forward to the next episode!

It turns out that the Ray Combs version of Family Feud was my very first exposure to the format. I was only born in the early 80's.

It’s sad to see what happened to Ray Combs. If he hung in there and got the right kind of help, he could have resurrected his career and got back on his feet.

Ray Combs was so funny when I was watching Game Show clips 2 years ago and he never failed to make me laugh 😆 like he was amazing. I feel bad for him at this point but his legacy would be a good one.

Dude, I hope in future videos you will talk about the new Price is Right 1994 with Doug Davidson because that show was also a victim of being canceled too quickly because of the OJ Simpson trial. Not only that but it's also one of my favorite versions of the nighttime Price is Right.

I remember that first championship family on the Ray Combs. Every member was WELL over six feet tall (even the women/woman). Poor 5’7” Ray looked like a child next to them.

I always loved Ray Combs.

I'm 86 baby ...so Ray is my favorite host ! He was fun ,& cute.

RIP...we still think of you

As a young child, I used to love watching Ray Combs’s Family Feud at my grandparents house. When Richard Dawson came back, I had no idea he’d hosted the show before (I was only 6) and I thought Ray Combs wasn’t hosting because he was recovering from his car accident! When Ray died, my parents made sure not to tell me that it was suicide so I assumed that he was in another car accident and didn’t make it this time. I didn’t learn the truth until I was much older and saw his episode of E True Hollywood stories!

Just getting on the Connor Higgins train. You are incredibly talented and I love the content!

I used to love it when they had a giant sized contestant on the show and Ray would make size jokes, I recall there was a man named Tom in 1991 who was the head of his family who stood over 7 feet tall and was big. Ray would stand next to him and say something like: "The truth is I am 6'6" and Tom is 9' tall." Ray looked quite tiny next to Tom. It was the size jokes that made his version of Family Feud memorable.

This was wonderful to watch! When is part 3 coming out?

Actually from the E True Hollywood story, the producers wanted Joe Nameth to be host around 1981 when Richard Dawson was still host because Dawson contract was up for negotiations also the show was still a massive hit and Dawson was at the top of his game and was holding off on signing it and then at the last minute he did.

Jonathan Goodson ain't *$#!%,* man... His firing Ray was, *essentially,* the reason why he committed suicide. I mean, sure, there were other, extremely unfortunate events in Ray's life that culminated in his death, but Jonathan *totally* set the wheels in motion when you think about it. The way I see it, that piece of $#!%'s got blood on his hands; real talk. 😡 #RIPRayCombs

I am old enough to remember both Dawson and Combs. The latter years of Dawson became insufferable. He'd blather on with the families for so long and waste so much time. Then he'd rush the families along in the last rounds to get to fast money in time. His ego was bloated and the show suffered for it. Ray was a breath of fresh air. As a kid, I never was aware how it was doing in the ratings. As far as I knew, it was a smash success. I always found Ray much more personable and made watching Family Feud fun again.

Another thing that was absent during the Combs tenure was that "three buzzer" sound when the hoist was about to ask the team "on defense" a chance to steal.

I loved Ray Combs. He was a great host. I did really enjoy Richard Dawson during the original run. When he came back, it was not the same. The other versions since then really never worked for me.

That weatherman tie story was amazing. I had no idea.

Ray did the best job that he could it wasn't his fault the show ended

Your work is incredible

Man, this was sad. Poor Ray. 😔

After Ray committed suicide, Johnny Carson sent his widow $25,000 to help her and the family out.

Us kids in HIGH SCHOOL were teary eyed hearing what happened to that poor man. I remember my friend jen being like *sniff sniff* the man from fsmily feud killed himself....suicide was a big topic of debate in our school. We had kids going to psych units, taking prozac(when it was the only psych med out there )cutting and then someone we watched at night while we did homework or ate dinner just offd themselves.

OT: I was saddened by Ray’s death. I enjoyed him as the host of FF. Richard Dawson will always be my favorite. I’m surprised a movie or docu-series about Ray Combs’ life hasn’t been done. A made-for-tv movie was made of the late Freddie Prinze shortly after his death.

The Price is Right is still going strong

Next story: The Story of Family Feud: The Louie Anderson Revival. R.I.P., Louie.

UPN and Wheel Of Fortune Guy?! I knew you’d come back after a month

Awesome video connor

Connor, I asked you this on the Dawson Video: Could you possibly make a video about Craig Ferguson for “Celebrity Name Game”? That was a great game show and I think it needs more recognition now than ever before.

Another great job. 👍

I remember Ray was a guest of WLW-AM's midday show, hosted by Mike McConnell, in Cincinnati. He was talking about FF's plans for a tournament of champions -- in the nighttime version. Indeed, the daytime show would have monthly ToCs -- with the winners of the championship game taking home as much as $35,000. The tournament jackpot started at $25,000 plus $5000 for each Fast Money win. In the semis, if two members of the winning family scored at least 200 points, $5000 would be added to the pot. (Score of 199 or less meant bupkis was added to the pot.) As for the (proposed) nighttime ToC, the jackpot would start at $50,000; each success in Fast Money added $10,000 to the pot. As Ray put it, the jackpot building in Fast Money could go as high as $110K -- meaning the ToC would have four quarterfinal games, two semifinals, and, supposedly, one "winners take all" game (or maybe two out of three to make it a nearly possible two-week sweeps period event?; I honestly don't remember a nighttime version of a ToC during the Combs years). Ray also hosted a special localized FF on WLWT-TV pitting members of the TV station's news team against McConnell and four of his radio colleagues. They weren't necessarily playing for charity -- just "the bragging rights to Cincinnati" as Ray pointed out throughout the show. Gene Wood and other FF staffers came to Cincinnati for this TV versus radio feud. I don't remember much of the set used for the show. (I was watching on an old black-and-white TV; WLWT was the *one* Cincinnati station that wasn't on the cable dial when I lived in Dayton.) It certainly wasn't the Opryland traveling set we'd later see with glass bricks and Richard Dawson. IIRC, WLWT-TV's "head of the family" was Jerry Springer. Yes, that Jerry Springer. He was a political reporter, who also worked the nightside, for WLWT-TV. He was later promoted to main 6pm and 11pm anchor and commentator.

Your videos are very well-done. As someone who has been obsessed with TV since childhood (esp. game shows and soap operas), I usually already know most or all of the behind-the-scenes stories told in videos like this - not true for your videos. You have obviously have done extensive research, so kudos to you for an excellent product. I prefer the Dawson version to the Combs version, though the kissing creeped me out and I got tired of Richard trying to promote his sons' band on the show. Combs' standup schtick was obvious and overdone, though his sad end was so horribly tragic result of one bad break after another.

Great video! Heartbreaking though.

This is a great video!

Yeah, Connor Higgins.....thanks to the transition that started with Oprah's rise, plus the O.J. Simpson trial, the mid-1990s was a weird time for syndicated TV. To me, it's like everything from Sept. 1995-around June 1998 was a really murky period for that, as the overall formatting that TV had in the 1980s was being slowly retired/phased out. I do view that part of the world of entertainment as a bit hazy, even now, long past the point where that happened. In terms of the people involved, no, Ray did NOT deserve to be treated like shit by Jonathan Goodson, and Jonathan should have known better than he did. His tweaks to Feud at that time, outside of host, probably hindered the show too. The only thing that should have happened then was increasing the jackpot to $20,000 in 1992 for a Fast Money win. Also, Feud should have built their seasons toward a true Tournament of Champions in the last 3 weeks of the season. 16 best families, statistically, battle it out in 4 rounds of single-elimination competition, with the finals happening on the last Friday of the season, with the winners taking home a $150,000 bonus. All 5-time champs get in automatically. I enjoyed Ray's time as host of the show when I watched on ASN(now CTV2 Atlantic) in Atlantic Canada, and was SPOILED to get to, in 1992, watch Ray's Feud as part of a game-show block they had on, which was from 6-8PM AT. The block was Supermarket Sweep Canada at 6, Ray's Feud at 6:30, Wheel of Fortune at 7, and Jeopardy! at 7:30. Honestly, Feud in that time in the U.S. could've benefited from being on alongside Wheel and Jeopardy! as one hell of a lead in. And yeah, Ray was good to a fault, and there was nothing wrong with him being willing to help out his fellow man. He gave of his soul, and those who trash him for that have no right to even talk to me. At all. In terms of Richard's return, that was way too hamfisted of an idea for Jonathan to even consider. If you want a true break into a new Feud era, you go with someone who never hosted the show before. You don't do re-hashes, and especially not with the much-older Dawson at the helm. And I don't think Richard even wanted any further cracks at Feud anymore anyway. He was likely living a very comfortable life out of the spotlight, which I think that, given how he was on TV so much from 1973-1985 on both Match Game and Feud, that he did his time, and should have told Jonathan a flat-out 'No.'. That way, Ray could've fully acknowledged at the end of the last show of the syndicated version that Feud was done. To be honest to the viewers at home and in that audience that day. So he could go out with his head a little higher than just walking out of the building and driving off the lot with no goodbyes to his co-workers, who Jonathan also ripped off. My take on this era of the show? ALWAYS. ACKNOWLEDGE. RAY! Never ignore him. Never speak ill of him. And stay off his ass. Watch his era of the show, and do be entertained. Pay Ray that ultimate compliment. Always. P.S. It's also sad that all those who built Feud from 1976-1995, the true Masters of the Feud, are all gone now. The mortal coil is a cold, brutal mistress. P.P.S. Sorry if this looked like a rant....just wanted to get it all out of me here. Any thoughts from you on what I've written? o.o

thank you !

When the show came back in 1988, I think my mother's opinion probably was the same as most people, "I don't like it without Richard Dawson." To have someone so highly identifed with a show not being there was a big obstacle they never really overcame. The changes to the show in 1994 when Dawson finally returned, were just too much. The changing TV landscape that you document very well was certainly a huge factor in it as well. I was working overnights in 1990 and in my city the syndicated Feud was on at something like three am. My supervisor during my TV programming internship at the time told me this was also a defensive move. They'd take a show like that and bury it to keep otehr stations from being able to carry it. Then if it showed momentum elsewhere, they could move it to a better time slot.

Yessssssssssssss, another Connor Higgins upload! 🥳🥳🥳

They should all make a biopic of this whole family feud thing , with both dawson , and combs...

Months after WNBC dropped the show in 1989, they picked it back up. From that point, it had been back and forth between the 7:30 slot and late at night. The show moved to WWOR channel 9 in February 92, where it remained until the end of Dawson's return season.

Dude Conner you are like my favorite KZfaqr of all time