The modern iteration of the popular TV show “Candid Camera” is headquartered in the Monterey Bay Area, Pacific Grove to be exact.
Yes, the show’s crew travels all over the country to prank unsuspecting people in front of a hidden camera, just as it’s done for decades. But, admitted the show’s host Peter Funt, sometimes he and his staff like to stay closer to home.
“The Central Coast is the secret ingredient of ‘Candid Camera,’ said Funt. We’ve shot in all 50 states, but yes, we shoot disproportionately close to home.”
That means, that your chances of being caught in the “Candid Camera” are slightly higher than average if you live or work in or near Santa Cruz, Monterey or Salinas.
It makes sense then that “Candid Camera” comes out of hiding, at least for one night. On Saturday, Funt – the son of the show’s founder and icon Allen Funt – comes to the Rio Theatre for a special on-stage version of “Candid Camera.”
The night will be a mix of stand-up comedy, stories and insights from the show’s nearly 70-year history and some clips from its archives, including, said Funt, “four or five of the funniest sequences we ever shot in Santa Cruz.” That includes one in which musician Carnie Wilson goes undercover as a new and very nervous tattoo artist, and another in which young people are asked to decipher Internet shorthand abbreviations, like the famous “LOL,” that don’t in fact really exist.
Of course, no self-respecting baby boomer has to be clued in about “Candid Camera.” The show enjoyed a heyday in the 1960s as one of the country’s most popular shows. Airing on CBS as part of the Sunday night line-up that also featured “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “Candid Camera” was consistently a top-10 rated show from 1960 to ’67.
But the show was a lot older than that. It started in 1948 as a radio show, called “The Candid Microphone.” Two years later, it made the jump to television, making the rounds among all three networks before finding at home at CBS. The show made a star of Allen Funt, the avuncular host who always seemed to delight in good-naturedly fooling people.
“I remember seeing a Life magazine,” said Peter Funt. “And there was a piece in there called ‘The 10 Most Recognizable People of the 1960s.’ JFK was number one, I think, but right there on the next page was my dad. And then that very same week, he was working at a dry cleaners for the show and people came in and out all day and nobody recognized him.”
The show continued in syndication in the 1970s and ’80s. In 1970, the elder Funt released a movie “What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?” which was essentially an extended version of “Candid Camera” with nudity. That led to a line of more risque brand of the show called “Candid Candid Camera.”
Allen Funt died in 1999, but “Candid Camera” has remained alive with Peter Funt taking the helm and hosting the show along side a number of well-known co-hosts including Dina Eastwood, Suzanne Somers and Mayim Bialik. Funt said that “Candid Camera” is planning a new series for 2016, to begin in January.
Obviously, it’s a different world today than the one Allen Funt was pranking back in the ’60s. Is the more media savvy, reality-show-watching, iPhone-carrying public able to be fooled as easily?
“People are easier than ever to be fooled,” said Peter Funt. “It’s all about distractions. Back in my dad’s heyday, there wasn’t even a term for multi-tasking. He had to distract people and he was good at it. Today, with their devices and everything, people are distracting themselves, so that alone makes it easier.”
