By 1996, he faced painful health problems, debilitating debt, and had recently separated from his wife. In the following years, Ray Combs struggled to revive his career, including gigs hosting a short-lived competition show and a failed talk show pilot.

At the request of then-producer Jonathan Goodson, Combs was let go in 1994 and was replaced by original host Richard Dawson for the rest of that year, in the hopes of boosting ratings. In 1988, CBS gave Ray Combs a seven-year contract to host its revival of Family Feud, though it was cut short due to diminishing ratings, despite the host's winning personality. The successful comedian and actor seemed to have just the right spirit and vigor to be the next great game show frontman, but things turned out to be much different for him behind the scenes. Probably the darkest story in Family Feud’s history is that of its second host, Ray Combs. Most recently, he starred as Maya Ishii-Peters’ father on Hulu’s PEN15. But he clearly wanted to make the gig work and showed great enthusiasm for the game by trying to keep the guest families entertained between questions.Īfter leaving Family Feud in 2006, Richard Karn would return to the game show hosting life in 2008 by replacing Patrick Duffy for Game Show Network’s short-lived Bingo America.

Replacing an established comedian with a former sitcom actor proved to be lackluster decision in the humor department, though, as Karn struggled through most of his attempts to drive a joke home. Richard Karn took over as host of Family Feud when Louie Anderson was let go in 2002. Well, technically, you could say that Al finally got to be the host of something. If you are a fan of Tim Allen’s long running sitcom Home Improvement, you probably felt bad for Richard Karn's Al Borland, feeling that he deserved to be the real host of Tool Time instead of just the assistant.

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