Name of old panel show

March 25, 2013 11:25 AM

I'm trying to find the name of an old panel-style game show that freaked me out as a kid. The show would have celebrity panelists, and at the end of the show they would squish the celebrities into discs so that could easily store them until they needed them again. This would have been mid-80s, most likely.
posted by a47danger to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

You aren't thinking of Remote Control, are you?
posted by Hanuman1960 at 12:40 PM on March 25, 2013

Response by poster: Don't think it was Remote Control. Felt older. Hosts in suits and such.
posted by a47danger at 12:52 PM on March 25, 2013

How, exactly, were the celebrities squished and into what kind of disc?
posted by michellenoel at 1:52 PM on March 25, 2013

Response by poster: They were put into a metallic cylindrical booth, and the host would slowly turn a crank that would squish them down. I believe they even stopped about half way through the compression to speak with the panelist.
posted by a47danger at 1:54 PM on March 25, 2013

I remember exactly the thing you're talking about -- but my recollection is that this was a bit from a magician's TV special in the 1980s, not a game show. Search has turned up nothing, but I'd wager it was Doug Henning or David Copperfield. I'll keep looking.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:44 PM on March 25, 2013

Best answer: A Google search for "Doug Henning Compress Illusion" yielded this video of Doug compressing Ann Jillian into a disc as Bruce Jenner(?) looks on. I remember him doing this trick all the time in the 80's. Is this what you remember?
posted by angeline at 4:22 PM on March 25, 2013

Response by poster: That's totally it! It's funny what the mind can add in there. I totally remember it as a game show.

I remember being terrified of this footage as a child. Because, if I was a disc, I'd miss all my friends.

Great work. Thanks for finding my nightmare fuel!
posted by a47danger at 9:49 PM on March 25, 2013