I saw a video of a vintage April Fools edition of Jeopardy, where Pat Sajak was the guest host. He did a great job.
Yeah, double his salary to $20 million a year, and promote it as the “Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy Hour, Starring Pat Sajak” (sorry, Vanna). Pat is looking to retire, but a huge paycheck, in exchange for an increased workload, might make him reconsider. Pat’s only worth $70 million or so; he could double that and then hang it up.
BTW, I remember the late Mark Goodson say (about 40 years ago), that it was getting difficult to find capable game show hosts. Most of the legends we remember (Bill Cullen, Gene Rayburn, Dennis James, etc) came out of network radio, or the days of live TV which required hosts who could think on their feet, keep the game moving along, focus attention on the contestants and handle anything that came up.
Many of the actors/hosts being trotted out these days can’t do anything without a script or teleprompter, and couldn’t ad lib a fart after a baked bean dinner. Richards was the best of the guest hosts. Good luck finding someone better, though hosting skill is probably a secondary consideration. Looks like the affirmative action crowd is pushing LeVar Burton, despite the fact he was one of the worst guest hosts (IMO).