Will the real Dr. Robert Moog please stand up? Early 70s panelists on the game show “To Tell The Truth” were stumped by an imposter.
It’s just – gold. I have no idea how we’re only seeing this now. There’s so much here.
You can hear people continue to mispronounce Moog even after hearing it a few dozen times, including pronounced by the man itself.
The imposters look and sound straight out of central casting (even the attorney), and the ones who are not Robert Moog are surprisingly adept at ad libbing answers.
Dan Lavery from Dymo Industries, one of the fake Bobs, may have been in the label/embosser market — but clearly if he were alive today, would be running a Eurorack business in his spare time. The guy is so uncannily good at being Bob you half expect him to try to go work for Moog following this panel and not to return to his normal life! Watch him grin ear to ear at what he’s pulled off.
Probably Bob misses out just because of his mild-mannered humility when answering.
At the end, Bob demonstrates the Minimoog. Listen to whoops of delight when he moves that filter, coming from legendary actor Peggy Cass. (“It sounds like the ocean” is also perfectly apt for shaped white noise.) The magic worked then just as it does now.
I also like the notion from Bob that what defines the term synthesizer is putting together sound from component parts. (I am simultaneously comforted that like the rest of us, he stumbles on explaining what an oscillator is in lay terms. I mean, it’s the thing that makes this sound.)
So, this blog business – sometimes you get scooped. And Synthtopia wins this round.
Wait, no, edit – Matrixsynth got this one first. (The lot of us should have a scorecard.)
https://www.matrixsynth.com/2019/08/the-moog-synthesizer-to-tell-truth-bob.html
So that means Matrix takes home the fabulous new Whirlpool washing machine for acing the best YouTube share of the year, I settle for the tennis racket bag, and Synthtopia get the eight chocolate bars. (Hey, some of those prizes are awesome, BuzzFeed. 20 harmonicas? Killer.)
E-I-E-I-MOOOG.
Now, can we figure out a way to get Laurie Spiegel on Jeopardy?