Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

Celebrity corner in 2000.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is a television game show which offers a maximum cash prize of one million dollars for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The show has been hosted by Regis Philbin from 1999-2002, Meredith Vieira from 2002-2013, Cedric the Entertainer from 2013-2014, Terry Crews from 2014-2015, Chris Harrison from 2015-2019 and Jimmy Kimmel since 2020.

Appearances

• On November 14, 2000, Kermit the Frog appeared sitting with Alec Baldwin in the audience of the celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as a guest of Jon Stewart. Other celebrities on the episode included Drew Carey (host of Whose Line Is It Anyway?), Tyra Banks, Sean Combs, Joy Behar (host of The View), Norm MacDonald, Vivica A. Fox, Jon Lovitz and Charlie Sheen, who uses Michael J. Fox as his "phone a friend." After Stewart walked away with $125,000 for the Alzheimer's Association, Drew Carey took a question about The Muppet Movie (pictured). Kermit alluded to helping without actually giving Carey any information about the answer, which he got right. Kermit later helps Charlie Sheen with a question about amphibians and Jon Lovitz with a question about the soft drink Sprite.
• On February 16, 2010, Grover appeared to present contestant Rye Councilwoman Catherine Parker the celebrity question, worth $7,500, about what kind of animal Oscar's pet Slimey was with the choices being A: Worm, B: Spider, C: Cockroach and D: Rat. After using the Ask the Audience lifeline, she went for A and got it right.
• On May 24, 2010, Elmo also appeared to present a celebrity question, this time, about his pet Dorothy and what kind of animal she was. After using the Ask the Audience lifeline, contestant Samantha went for B: Goldfish and got the answer correct.

References

• Who Wants to be a Millionaire and other television game shows are spoofed in the book Elmo's Breakfast Bingo.
• "Who Wants to Hear a Million Jokes?" is one of several shows Fozzie Bear pitches to Scooter in the Muppets Now episode "Fever Pitch."

Mentions

• During the Comedy Edition of the show, celebrity contestant Kevin Nealon was asked for $200 to pick, among Mama Bear, Yogi Bear, Fozzie Bear and Beary White, which one was a character in "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." The correct answer was, obviously, Mama Bear.
• Jeff Bawksworthy was the correct answer to a $1,000 question on the August 11, 2009 10th anniversary primetime airing with Regis Philbin. The contestant faced with the question used his Phone a Friend lifeline call his wife, but ultimately rejected his wife's answer of "Howie Hendel."
• Sesame Street was mentioned again on a question on the August 18, 2009 primetime airing. This time, the question concerned the program's take on the story The Gift of the Magi. With the help of the Ask the Audience lifeline, the contestant was able to correctly answer that Ernie traded in his Rubber Duckie for a cigar box for Bert's paper clip collection in the special Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.
• The August 20, 2009 primetime episode featured a question as to what Sesame Street character has a doll that says "That good one" when tickled. The contestant used the Ask the Audience lifeline to get the correct answer of Cookie Monster.
• A question in a 2016 episode referencing Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear asks which other non-Muppet character is Frank Oz known for performing. The answer of course being Yoda.
• Another 2016 episode had a question asked about Sonia Manzano and which character on Sesame Street she played. The contestant did not know the answer, but he guessed Maria, which was correct.
• On September 11, 2017, a contestant asked for $5,000 the stage name of Juaquin Malphurs, which was inspired by his love for Fozzie Bear during his childhood. The correct answer was Waka Flocka Flame, which the contestant guessed right.