Submitted and Written by Danielle G

Before there was American Idol, there was Star Search, hosted by Ed McMahon. Star Search showcased us such future stars as Dave Chappelle, Norm MacDonald, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Aaliyah, Destiny’s Child, Alanis Morissette, Tiffany, Christina Aguilera, Drew Carey, Brad Garrett, Carlos Mencia, Adam Sandler, Sharon Stone, and Rosie O’Donnell (among many others who also went on to be famous).

Just my opinion here, but I’m going to rank that list in order of talent: Dave Chappelle, Rosie O’Donnell, Destiny’s Child (Beyonce, really), Norm MacDonald, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Adam Sandler, Brad Garrett, Alanis Morisette, Drew Carey, Britney Spears, Tiffany, Sharon Stone, Carlos Mencia. Feel free to argue with that.

Submitted by S Painter

Since I was a little kid, I always wanted to do Assault and Joust against a gladiator. This is great: the Wikipedia list of American Gladiator events.

Anyway, nobody talk about NBC’s American Gladiators remake. Let’s just not go there at all.

Submitted by katsak

(It should be noted that the clip above is atypically exciting for Press Your Luck.)

I always had a sneaking suspicion that they either picked the most energetic people on Earth to be contestants, or gave them heavy doses of speed before the show. Or maybe they just get really into it.

I feel like I would just curse up and down on Press Your Luck:

C’MON, NO WHAMMIES. NO WHAMMIES. BIG BUCKS, PLEASE. NO WHAMMIES. NO NO NO WHAMMIES. I WANT BIG MONEY. YEAH. LET’S DO IT. NO ****ING WHAMMIES. **** WHAMMIES. WHAMMIES ARE ****ING ********. NO **********ING WHAMMIES IN THIS HOUSE. WOO! **** YEAH!

I love that he grabs a Sega Genesis in the video. That kid is an epic win too.

Submitted and Written by Courtney C

For your nostalgic pleasure, may I remind everyone of the Nickelodeon Super Toy Run. Nickelodeon held this contest throughout the 1990’s in conjunction with Toys ‘R Us. The winner of the contest was selected via postcard entry and would be awarded a 5 minute shopping spree in Toys ‘R Us. Every child who ever saw that commercial would spend countless hours daydreaming of not only what they would grab in that store, but actually strategize the store layout in order to maximize the amount of shopping cart stuffage. Mind you, this was before the days of the internet so the only way to enter was to quickly scribble down the mail-in address at the end of the commercial, then beg your parents to mail off as many 3×5 cards as possible with your name & info on it. Winning the lottery, the McDonald’s Monopoly game, inheritance from your grandparents… all paled in comparison with the possibility of winning the Super Toy Run at Toys ‘R Us.

You Don’t Know Jack was the ultimate catalyst for fighting with siblings and cousins. Since you had to share the keyboard to enter your answers, eventually the poor-sport of the group would start smacking hands, answering questions for you and generally making it difficult to get a good score. At the same time the comedian host of YDKJ would mock you when you got answers wrong, to questions that were complicated, silly or confusing, which only added to tension.

Don’t remember how frustrating it was? Play YDKJ Online and see if you can beat our top trivia player’s scrore of $15,113. Choose your answers wisely because the questions don’t change, so if you play a second time you already know all the answers.