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Pardon the Interruption

Pardon the Interruption (abbreviated PTI) is an American sports talk television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories of the day in "sports... and other stuff" (as Kornheiser put it in the show's original promo).

Pardon the Interruption

United States

3,000+(as of August 15, 2014)[1]

30 minutes
+ ≈3 minutes (SportsCenter segment)

October 22, 2001 (2001-10-22) â€“
present

Similar in format to Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert's At the Movies,[2][3] PTI is known for its playful banter between the cohosts, humorous and often loud tone, and a "rundown" graphic which lists the topics yet to be discussed on the right-hand side of the screen. The show's popularity has led to the creation of similar shows on ESPN and similar segments on other series, and the rundown graphic has since been implemented on the morning editions of SportsCenter, among many imitators.[4]

History[edit]

The show began in 2001,[5] and has emanated from Washington, D.C. since its debut, as both Kornheiser and Wilbon were writing for The Washington Post at the time;[6][7] In addition, both men appeared frequently on ESPN's Sunday-morning discussion program The Sports Reporters. The pair's frequent arguments during their time at the Post are often cited (including by Wilbon himself) as both the antecedent and inspiration for PTI.[6][8][9][10][11]


The founding production team behind PTI includes Mark Shapiro,[12] Erik Rydholm,[13] Todd Mason, James Cohen,[12] and Joseph Maar.[14] The original deal was for two years with an option for a third.[15] Originally, the show also aired Sunday evening, but this stint was short-lived.


Originally recorded at Atlantic Video's facilities in Washington, the show now occupies space at ABC News' Washington bureau. Voice actress Kat Cressida lends her voice to commercial bumpers for the series and has since its premiere. From the premiere of PTI until September 5, 2014, Tony Reali served as the show's statistician (earning him the nickname "Stat Boy") and eventually became a de facto co-host.[16] Reali became the host of Around the Horn in 2004, but remained on PTI until 2014, when he relocated to New York City to work on Good Morning America[12] while continuing as host of ATH.


Kornheiser began exclusively hosting from his home upon the show's return from its 2020 COVID-19 hiatus, though he made an in-studio appearance on December 5, 2023 but cautioned to viewers "Don't get used to it".[17]


The show won a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Studio Show in 2009, 2016, and 2019.[18][19]

In Canada, airs the show live at 5:30 p.m ET. In 2011, the SportsCentre edition following PTI now features the final segment, but previously TSN did not air it. Tony acknowledged this frequently at the end of the show, often signing off while waving a Canadian flag.

TSN

Since April 17, 2006, ESPN has also offered a free audio which cuts out commercials and includes all segments. The podcast is usually made available two to three hours after its original telecast on ESPN.

podcast

airs the show across the UK in a late night slot, usually at 11:30 p.m. unless pre-empted by live sports coverage. It is also repeated during the following day at 7:30am.

BT Sport ESPN

airs PTI in original language at 10:00 p.m. (Central Mexico Time) from Monday to Friday.[20] The show is not broadcast in any other part of Latin America.

ESPN 3 Mexico, Central America & Caribbean

Since May 7, 2018, PTI started to be aired on , the sports block of Philippine-based TV channel and ESPN affiliate The 5 Network, on a delayed telecast basis. It is aired weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Philippine Standard Time.

ESPN 5

Mail Time: the hosts read and respond to viewer that they take out of a talking mailbox. Early in PTI's run, an intern named Josh read the mail to the hosts. When the show changed over to the talking mailbox, Wilbon would express disgust at the mail voice, demanding it be omitted. The mail read on air is no longer written by viewers, but rather staff of the show itself.

e-mail

Toss Up: the two hosts choose between two sides of a topic announced by the producer, Erik Rydholm, over the loudspeaker, and Kornheiser always claims to be the winner.

What's The Word? Introduced in 2009. Reali (later Rydholm) read a partial sentence and the hosts each offer an adjective to fill the blank(s) in the sentence. The game often involves made up or hyphenated words, and usually ends with Kornheiser using an adjective to aggrandize himself or berate Wilbon, such as saying he won with a "Korn-ucopia" of words, or that Wilbon "got Wil-bombed."

Psychic Hotline sees the hosts answer questions read by staffers, presented as emanating from an on-set crystal ball. Kornheiser dons a stereotypical fortune-teller costume.

Running gags[edit]

The longevity and popularity of the show has led to numerous running jokes between Wilbon and Kornheiser that longtime viewers will recognize. Some of these include such gags as The Bald Brotherhood, Blowed Out, (He's) Ya Boy, Beatdown!, Strugg-a-ling, The Yanks and the Sawks!, Choking Dawgs!, The Penguin Dance, Kornheiser's I-95 Bias, The Wilbon Power Rankings, Let Me Axe You Something, Uranus, Playoffs? Playoffs?, Ya Gotta Get Low, Bulls Corner, Drew Breeees, Washington "Natinals" (purposely mispronounced as such), Good Night Canada, Ball/Puck Night!, The Lig, Tony's "Population Theory", and The Trampoline Bear.


In addition, for the first 3½ years of the show, Kornheiser only hosted a few shows away from the studio, with Wilbon during the week of Super Bowl XXXVI. Meanwhile, Wilbon has hosted many shows at the location of a sporting event he was attending. This has resulted in much teasing of Kornheiser by Wilbon, including Kornheiser's fear of flying. Finally, on March 27, 2006, Kornheiser for the first time hosted the show away from the studio while Wilbon remained back at the set, as Kornheiser was in Orlando, Florida, covering the NFL owners meetings. For the first time in November 2006, Kornheiser and Wilbon "chatted split-screen" from two different locations away from Washington, D.C.


Usually during Report Card, Tony Kornheiser's name is spelled as "Tiny" instead of "Tony". Another common gag is during games such as Report Card and Odds Makers, Dan Le Batard's name will often be Don, rather than Dan.

PTI in other media[edit]

The short-lived CBS show Listen Up was based on the life of Tony Kornheiser.[42][51] In it, the main characters Tony Kleinman (Jason Alexander) and Bernie Widmer (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) co-hosted an off-beat sports show titled "Listen Up!"[52] On the day Listen Up! debuted, Warner and Alexander appeared in character on PTI's intro.


Kornheiser and Wilbon appeared as themselves on PTI in the 2004 film Mr. 3000, including doing a Role Play segment with Kornheiser posing as Stan Ross (Bernie Mac) at one point.


On February 8, 2006, it was announced that Tony Kornheiser would join Mike Tirico and Joe Theismann in the broadcast booth during Monday Night Football beginning in the 2006 NFL season. Kornheiser continued to host PTI, and Wilbon joined him on the road as they broadcast PTI each Monday from the site of the MNF game, and there has also been an extra PTI segment inserted during halftime of ESPN's Monday night games (although in 2008, Wilbon stayed in the D.C. studios, on many Mondays).


PTI was featured in EA Sports video games due to the contract between ESPN and EA. The first game to have the feature is NBA Live 07 for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.[53]


Wilbon is a frequent guest on Kornheiser's eponymous podcast.


On October 8, 2010, South Park spoofed PTI in the Season 14 episode "Poor and Stupid". When Wilbon is on camera you can see the cut outs of their likeness in the background.


On October 30, 2010, SportsNation did their entire 1 hour show in the style of PTI. At the end of the show Tony Reali ripped the show in a 1-minute rant.


On February 18, 2012, Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil featured Wilbon and Kornheiser as the local policemen with a nod to their good cop/bad cop PTI segment.


From 2011 to 2012, The Onion had a parody of PTI, "Get Out Of My Face" (aka "GOOMF").


PTI was featured in the 2015 movie Creed.[54]

Guest hosts[edit]

Over the history of the series, more than 30 guest hosts have stepped in whenever Kornheiser or Wilbon (or both) was absent. The current regular guest hosts are Frank Isola ("Fill-in Frank"), replacing Kornheiser, and Pablo S. Torre, replacing Wilbon; Mina Kimes and Dominique Foxworth have also made appearances in 2022. All four are regulars on Around the Horn.


Dan Le Batard of The Miami Herald (who was always introduced by his co-host of the day, and marked his first appearance on camera with a trademark "BAM!!") co-hosted frequently before launching his own ESPN series from the same production team, Highly Questionable.,[55] and occasionally afterwards, until leaving ESPN in 2021.


Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe and Around the Horn was the show's first regular guest host. ATH panelists J. A. Adande, Kevin Blackistone, Tim Cowlishaw, Israel Gutierrez, Jay Mariotti, Jackie MacMullan, Bill Plaschke and Michael Smith have also all had stints as guest hosts.


Others appearing over the years include David Aldridge, Skip Bayless, Jay Bilas, Norman Chad, Mike Golic, Sally Jenkins, Max Kellerman, Tim Kurkjian, Patrick McEnroe, Rachel Nichols, Keith Olbermann, Rick Reilly, Bill Simmons, T.J. Simers, Dan Shaughnessy, Stephen A. Smith, Michele Tafoya, Mike Tirico, Bob Valvano, Ralph Wiley and Jason Whitlock.[56]


Kornheiser was absent more than usual during Summer 2006 for medical reasons. During a phone interview on the August 15, 2006 edition of The Dan Patrick Show, Kornheiser explained this absence in most of July by revealing that he was recovering from skin cancer surgery.[57]

Influence[edit]

Multiple commentators have credited PTI with inspiring and laying the groundwork for a number of successful TV sports debate shows, including Around the Horn and First Take.[6][7][58]

(2001–Present)

Tony Kornheiser

(2001–Present)

Michael Wilbon

(2001–2014)

Tony Reali

Other versions[edit]

Starting in the 2006 NFL season, Kornheiser and Wilbon began hosting PTI from the stadium that was hosting the Monday Night Football game. The following season, they began staging a live 3-topic, 3-minute version of the show during halftime of the game.


In 2004, Crackerjack Television started producing an Australian version of the show, which airs weekly on the Australian ESPN channel and features former Australian Rules footballer Sam Kekovich and radio and television broadcaster Russell Barwick. ESPN Australia also broadcasts the American version of PTI editions before SportsCenter.


In August 2010, ESPN's British channel (now BT Sport ESPN) debuted a British version of PTI. The show was hosted by Mark Chapman and Steve Bunce.[59]


The ESPN Deportes show Cronómetro (Spanish for "stopwatch") is modeled after PTI and Sports Reporters, in that it features personalities talking about sports subjects for a set amount of time.[60] Unlike PTI, there are four panelists instead of two, and segments such as Role Play are not used. Five Good Minutes is used as a discussion of one subject between the four analysts. ESPN Brasil also has a version of Cronómetro called É Rapidinho (rough translation from Portuguese: "It's Fast").

Bibliography[edit]

Rodesiler, Luke (2015). "A PTI-Inspired Pedagogy: Appropriating Sports-Talk Discussion Protocols to Facilitate Literature Study". In Eckard, Sandra (ed.). Yin and Yang in the English Classroom: Teaching with Popular Culture Texts. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 31–48. ISBN 978-1475806885.

Official Site

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by James Andrew Miller

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