New TV show ‘Boom!’ will slime quiz show contestants
Our beloved America just isn’t juvenile enough, so this summer, comic/actor Tom Papa will begin hosting a primetime game show that slimes adults the way Nickelodeon slimes kids.
The Fox-TV show is called “Boom!” (yes with an exclamation mark, of course), said Papa, who headlines the Suncoast Friday and Saturday.
“It’s kind of like ‘Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.’ But as you’re answering questions, you have a giant fake bomb in front of you, filled with slime,” he told me.
“If you answer the wrong question, and cut the wrong wire, it blows up in your face.”
Holy cow. Why would people toy around with a “Slime Bomb” in front of the whole world?
Oh right. They can win half-a-million dollars.
“Even though it’s a fake Wile E. Coyote bomb, they have a chance to win real money,” Papa said.
“There’s something really intense about it. This money could change people’s lives. And they’re cutting this wire. It’s very real.”
What a funny career Papa has. He hosted “The Marriage Ref” on NBC. He was in Steven Soderbergh’s/Matt Damon’s films “The Informant!” and “Behind the Candelabra.” Papa has a podcast/radio show, “Come To Papa.” And he will be in more upcoming episodes of Soderbergh’s TV show “The Knick.”
And yet, show business is so unpredictable, Papa said his legacy could end up being that he slimes people on Fox.
“I’ve spent all this time doing stand up and writing scripts, but I know this will be the thing that runs for 10 years,” Papa joked/hoped.
By the way, his radio show/podcast is great. Sometimes, he interviews a friend like Jerry Seinfeld. But for other episodes, he stages huge productions akin to public radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”
“I was always a fan of Garrison Keillor (of ‘A Prarie Home Companion’). I was, like, ‘What would that show be like in the hands of comedians?’”
And yet, Papa still regards stand-up as the best thing he does.
“Even when I go see my (comedian) friends, no other form of entertainment will have you laughing every 30 seconds for over an hour,” he said.
Contact Doug Elfman at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman. Find him on Twitter: @VegasAnonymous
