The Joker's Wild 1978-1986 closing theme music

[GCRams2]

Well, until next time good bye for The Joker's Wild. Parding contestents will recive, $100 in Toys "R" Us Geffery Dollars they are good as cash & can be used at any "R" Us location, & a supply of Ocy Clean just don't clean it Ocy Clean it today. Closed Captioning also paid by Mr.Clean to get you home spotless use Mr.Clean & Sponcer Consderation also paid by Star Kiss tuna teast the goodness of Star kiss tuna. This is Johnny Gilbert for The Joker's Wild A John Barry Production.

[oldertvshowswerebetr]

Far and away the best game show theme song of all time. It seems that this is quite unusual, a different closing theme than the opening theme. I cannot think of another game show where this was done. I have played this endlessly on my mp3 player on full blast in my earphones.

[operator35]

@oldertvshowswerebetr

Actually I can think of 2 other game shows that have used different opening and closing themes.

The Dating Game started using "Little Rosie" as the closing theme in late 1972 on the ABC version and used it on the late 70's syndicated version also while using the regular Dating Game theme as the opening theme.

The other is the The New Treasure Hunt from 1973 which used different opening and closing themes.

[gospelclassix]

@oldertvshowswerebetr Both the original Jeopardy! and the 1978 remake of it used different theme songs for the opening and closing. Also, Hot Potato (Barry & Enright's last show, of course), at the end, started out using the same theme as the opening, but went into a completely different tune that you didn't hear at the beginning. BTW, I always liked anything that Jack Barry & Dan Enright came out with -- too bad neither of 'em are around anymore. :-(

[32rodrick]

1977-1978 Metromedia Square

1978-1984 Archie Comics Studios

1984-1986 Hanna-Barbera Studios

all in Hollywood, CA

[parlet]

Love the Solid Gold dancer at 1:50

[tnawcwvictoria]

R.I.P. Mr. Barry, Uncle Bill, Jay Stewart, Johnny Jacobs and Charlie O'Donnell

You'll all be truly missed and plus, Thank You Mr. Barry & Mr. Enright for giving us not only The Joker's Wild, but also, Tic Tac Dough, Bullseye and Hot Potato as well as Bonus Games like Jokers and Devils, Face the Devil, Beat the Dragon (CBS & syn.), Bonus Island and the Big Bonus Round

Avoid the Devil, avoid The Dragon and don't get struck by Lightning

Joker debut w/Gambit and The NEW Price is Right on CBS

[spotmop31]

Bring back the Joker's Wild on t.v. please. I hated the 1990 version, no devil. You gotta have the devil.

[oldtimeteevee]

My ears tell me that this theme was probably written by the same person who did the Tic Tac Dough theme and sounders. Did Hidey compose the T T D stuff also ?

[operator35]

@oldtimeteevee

Yes, he did.

[tvtimetravel]

@operator35 As well as the Bullseye music, whose cues were different from TJW and TTD.

[tnawcwvictoria]

Well just so ya know when it comes to the syndicated Joker's Wild, I much prefer the Face the Devil Bonus Round over the Prize Round of course, me being a HUGE fan of Barry & Enright Games, I just LOVE the intensity and of course, if you get a Natural Triple you go to $1000 right away and in the Main Game, you get a Natural Triple, you get a Nice Prize.

[gshow1970]

great theme

[bdaddyn678]

This theme is definitely addicting. I only wish it was released on a CD or something. :)

[Dodgerfn5]

It is on CD. If you do a search under "Classic Game Show Themes CD" it is song # 8 right after "Tic Tac Dough."

[BestMusicExpert]

Actually the opening theme is what is on the cd, not this version, the closing version.

[Dodgerfn5]

Oops, thanks for clarifying that.

[Silverfox7771]

i always wondered who did the whisleing on this theme, they are pretty good.

[oldtimeteevee]

@Silverfox7771 By the late 70's, I'm betting this entire song is all electronic synthesizer. A dead giveaway for uptempo tunes is that they're "too good"; i.e. every beat and every note is perfecrt, way better than a group of humans could do. The whistle could easily be electronic.

[fredbird67]

@oldtimeteevee I would disagree. I think the whistle (and organ, of course) is probably electronic while the rest isn't. Besides, you have to keep in mind that this was composed in 1978, or at least that's when this first became the closing theme for TJW. Back in the late 70's, they didn't have synthesizers back then that could duplicate the sounds of musical instruments as well as they do today.

[pannoni1]

@fredbird67 When I was little I thought the whistle sound was the Joker itself lurking that could appear magically out the TV at any time.

[luvthoseclips]

Music needs to be fixed, too much "stop-action"

[operator35]

I just watched this video and it didn't stop once. Maybe you were experiencing congestion on You Tube when you watched it. I have had that experience before. Sometimes you have to let the whole video load first and then watch it.

[JerryG918]

@luvthoseclips Don't say "fixed" when you're talking about a B&E game ;) (inside joke)

[gladfan1989]

Of all the themes that GSN has failed to release on their 2 game show theme CD's, this is one of them. This should've been used on the 1st disc, IMHO.

[gshowguy]

"JOKER... JOKER... Famous Kings."

Definitely one the best shows of the 70s and 80s. And Jack Barry was a lot better than Pat Finn was in the 90s.

[richie19190]

You got that right brother!

[bwitz72]

Not just Flynn, but the hole game was completely gutted and turned into some sort of carnival side show. One of the worse reincarnations of a gameshow in modern history. You have to go back to the old carnival shell game of the early 1900s to find a worse setup.

[fredbird67]

@bwitz72 Hey, it coulda been worse -- there was, after all, the 1990 remake of Tic Tac Dough, which featured Patrick Wayne, the walking caffeine overdose. LOL

[bambam2124]

@fredbird67 Pat Finn's version of this show was just as bad.... IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT!!!

[bwitz72]

One of the best lines in the game.. when a contestant needs 3 jokers to have any chance of winning the game.. "Joker... JOKER... nope it's all over, thanks for playing" :) (well the thanks for playing is my addon :)

[apodino]

I didn't think Pat Finn was awful, he was just given a very bad show to host. The 90's revival had some very bad rules, and took away from all that made the original great. I did like the bonus game better though. Pat Finn was great on Shop til you Drop though.

[streetcarjay]

Famous Kings.......JOKER AND A TRIPLE!!!!

[johnissoevil]

As much as I liked Pat Finn's version, you are right. There's nothing like the original.

[luvthoseclips]

Don't forget....there was also "Eileen Jayson", who won $55,380....I think in a total of 16 games played! She defeated Frank Dillon in the tournament of champions, somewhere around the 1980 era.

[bwitz72]

RIP Mr. Barry. You were one of the legends in the game show world. There will never be another one like you!

[bhilcu1]

You're goddamned right!

[SuperGamer7]

*Synth* "Plaaaaay the Percentages........"

[terjer01]

Hal Hidey made some kick-ass game show music: besides The Joker's Wild, Bullseye, Tic Tac Dough, Hot Potato, Strike It Rich, and all its cues he earns a rightful place into the Game Show Hall of Fame, indeed!

[gshow1970]

i loved this game show /jack barry was a great mc the 1970s were a great time for game shows. i remember as a kid

[garmonbozia1]

Yeah...I was scared of the Devil on the show too...

[smittykins]

I used to have to leave the room during the Face The Devil round--that devil scared the daylights out of me.

What can I say,I was a big ol' scaredy-cat as a kid. :)

[Lottech96]

I think most of us were.

[SuperGamer7]

Now wait just a minute! Hal won $39,550 when it was all said and done. If he won 10 games then...

Let's see...10 X $500 on average for the main game= $5,000 (give or take because you could win a main game with more than $500)

He won two cars, and in 1978 that was about (again estimating) $4000-$5000 each. That would make his total winnings $15000-$16000.

That means that the rest came from the bonus game. at $3000-$4000 per win, Hal HAD to have won the bonus game at least half the time!

[juan833cheer]

Hal Shear was the Joe Dunn of 1978.

[conradsh]

"JOKER,JOKER . . .all those ologies"

[luvthoseclips]

If you remember "Hal Schierer", the man with the lucky suit, you may recall some very unlucky misfortune occur with him: he won 10 games, won 2 cars, & he NEVER beat the devil in the bonus game! Unfortunately, the contestant who knocked him out of contention, in his first try in the bonus game, "he beat the devil"!

[TVLubber]

Actually, it's "Shear", not "Schierer". Also, Hal DID beat the Devil once, on the Bonus Round after his big comeback.

[juan833blue]

With the Miracle three jokers of course, he was sure luck back in 1978.

[bruce64h]

i'd like for someone to post''joker's jive'',the closing theme from the latter years of the cbs run and the first year of the syndicated run.neat alan thicke theme.

[Lehnerd57]

It  was agreat show if jack barry had not died u think show may had lasted more are was the show about to die anyway

[juan833blue]

The Mean ol' Devil, bad news when he appeared in the Bonus game.

[jaydude28]

I remember being a 1 month old when the show was on and was exposed the whole 9 years of the syndicated run.

[krazyknight00]

nice job...damn I feel old now lol

[okiesteveus81]

ain't that the truth.

[ickeyjoey]

This is one of my earliest TV memories. I was 6 years old when I first saw this game show. Holy hole in a donught batman!!!!

I remember they had a kids version of this show. The 2 constestants were kids that were about 10 or 12 years old. Brilliant marketing strategy to lure myself and my 2nd grade buddies into watching the show. We loved it. We ate it up like a stack of butternut blueberry pancakes with a side of Aunt Jemima.

thanks for posting the video

love your work

[operator35]

The kids version was called Joker!, Joker!, Joker! and aired on Saturday mornings. I believe it was only on for one season though. Thanks for the compliment.

[operator35]

The spinning Jokers are great, thanks for creating them. I wasn't sure if they were going to spin when I saved it, but the amimation really spices up the video.

[SonicWhammy]

I see you found my "Spinning Jokers" animation from my website. Truth be told, it's one of the few times I've actually seen it in operation while the closing theme was playing. And I couldn't have asked for it to work better. Kudos and you're welcome.