Alex Trebek, beloved TV icon and host of the popular game show Jeopardy!, has passed away after a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 80 years old.
There have been a lot of unexpected celebrity deaths in 2020. Earlier in the year, basketball star Kobe Bryant and his daughter Vanessa were killed in a tragic helicopter accident; in the summer, the world mourned Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman after his silent battle with colon cancer.
Trebek’s passing was also sad, but it wasn’t unexpected. The man lived eight solid decades on this planet and spent over three of those decades providing entertainment to the masses through the nightly trivia game show Jeopardy!
On top of that, he was fighting one of the most aggressive and fatal forms of cancer. Despite that, Trebek remained in the public eye and continued to record episodes of Jeopardy! even during his treatment.
I recently listened to the audiobook version of The Answer is…Reflections on My Life, Alex Trebek’s memoir. Trebek’s life is a solid example of someone who left behind a legacy. It is what many people strive for, especially people in creative industries. How can writers take a page from the legacy left behind by Trebek and cultivate it for their own writing legacy? Read on:
Don’t Diversify; Do One Thing Really Well
By my own admission, I used to think becoming a game show host is the elephant graveyard of a person’s television career. Hollywood has seemingly bucked that trend in recent years, hiring celebrities like Ken Jeong and Terry Crews that are still capable of finding work in other show formats. But back in the day—with the exception of perhaps Family Feud—if you were part of one of the longstanding gameshows (The Price is Right, Wheel of Fortune), you were seemingly locked in for life, or at least for the long haul.
The wonderful thing about Trebek, however, is that he never appeared to coast through his role as a game show host. Trebek put 110% of himself in every single taping of the show.
As writers, we need to remind ourselves to not “coast” through our craft. We chose to pursue our passion, and so we must give all of ourselves to produce the very best of which we are capable.
We should also resist succumbing to the pressure to be a jack of all trades: if you like to write short stories, then write short stories! Just because a novel may sell better in traditional markets, that doesn’t mean you have to write one. Find what you do well and focus on that.
Stay Classy
Here’s a clip that’s been making the rounds on the Internet:
What makes this so funny is that it’s so obviously out-of-character for the revered game show host. By all accounts, Alex Trebek was a classy, intelligent professional, and presented himself as such for over 30 years. Why else would he be so well-respected today and in his home country of Canada?
According to his memoir, Trebek’s image as a straight-laced boy scout was so infamous, he actively tried to change his reputation by developing a swearing habit. This did not endear him to people, he quickly found out, and instead continued to be himself.
When Trebek passed, the tributes poured in from all sorts: celebrities, former contestants, and even politicians, like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:
Now that’s respect. Well-deserved respect. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could stomach the inane anecdotes of contestants after the first commercial break, but he always seemed genuinely interested in their tidbits.
In his memoir, Trebek recounts some of his favourite interactions with contestants. One example involved then-teenage Jeopardy! contestant Dana Venator and her affinity for secret bagpipe sessions in the woods.
Another was Ken Jennings, the contestant with the longest winning streak in Jeopardy! history. There is a rather poignant passage in the memoir where Trebek recalls his emotions upon realizing Jennings was finally defeated. But a comraderie grew, so much so that Jennings shares the narration duties within Trebek’s memoir.
With Trebek’s passing, Jennings has now fittingly assumed the role of host on Jeopardy!
How Trebek Will be Remembered
Contrast that with author J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter franchise, who was once a respected individual and revered for creating the YA genre; she is now reviled for her controversial, transphobic comments on Twitter.
The sad fact of the matter is that this cloud will likely hang over Rowling’s head for the rest of her life. It happened with Kobe Bryant; amidst the tributes were constant reminders of alleged transgressions that had happened earlier in his career. Negative press like that does not go away, especially in our connected, cancel culture society.
So keep that in mind as you build your brand and your work. You may not be big now, but should you become well-known, your actions and comments can and WILL come back to haunt you. So be mindful, and always, ALWAYS be classy.
Make a Difference in People’s Lives
Aside from gracing the television airwaves, Trebek was also a philanthropist, supporting such charities as World Vision and the National Geographic Education Foundation.
But best of all: he inspired a love of trivia and competition into millions of people the world over.
As a writer, it is important to keep in mind what difference you hope to make on the world. You can choose to write for yourself and for your own benefit, but if you are to share your words with the public, take the time to really think about what you hope to achieve. Do you want to inspire? Educate? Entertain? Have a working knowledge on what your impact to be, and it will help everyone in the long run.
Do you agree? Were you a Jeopardy fan? And who do you think will replace Trebek in the hosting duties (at first I thought Kenan Thompson, but I also feel like LeVar Burton is a strong contender). Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Purchase Alex Trebek’s memoir The Answer is…Reflections on My Life from Amazon or from Indigo Books & Music.
This post contains affiliate links