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It was a bad joke that led Barry Nolan to learn terrible news about a good friend — and to get an offer he couldn't refuse.
About two years ago, Nolan was getting ready to do what he had done many times during the past two decades: playing as a panelist on the public-radio game show "Says You!" He noticed that the show's emcee and creator, Richard Sher, was looking a little ashen.
"I said something wiseacre, like that he looked like he was in chemotherapy," Nolan recalled. "He just looked at me and ushered me into another room."
In private, Sher told Nolan something he had kept quiet: He had been diagnosed with cancer.
"Richard didn't want to tell anybody," Nolan said. "He didn't want all his last conversations to be just about that."
After dropping that bombshell, Sher followed up with a request: Would Nolan take over hosting duties if Sher could not carry on?
"I already felt like such a total jackass," Nolan, communications director for Congress' Joint Economic Committee, said over the phone from D.C. recently. "So, of course, I said, 'yes.' "
Sher died Feb. 9, 2015, at age 66. Nolan and his fellow panelists — all old friends Sher accumulated during a career in broadcasting in Boston — have continued with "Says You!," which will tape episodes before a Salt Lake City audience Friday.
The taping is set for 8 p.m. at the Salt Lake City Library's main branch, 210 E. 400 South. A reception is set for 7 p.m. Tickets are $45, or $40 for members of radio station KCPW (which airs the show Sundays at noon).
"Says You!," as the show's intro has described it since 1996, is "a simple game with words played by two teams." Nolan, like Sher before him, offers up questions that include trivia, arcane facts, wordplay and some of the most groan-inducing puns the mind can comprehend.
Nolan, 69, has experience behind the mic.
He was the anchor for the entertainment-news shows "Hard Copy" (1990-98) and "Extra!" (2000-03), and before that had a stint as a correspondent for a science-news program, "Beyond Tomorrow," on Fox. (Nolan noted that "Beyond Tomorrow" was short-lived — and the show Fox put in its Sunday time slot was "The Simpsons." "I lost my job to Homer Simpson," he said with a laugh.)
He has even played an anchorman in the movies: in this summer's horror thriller "The Purge: Election Year."
Filling Sher's place has been difficult.
"We still miss him so," Nolan said. "He was this curious combination of odd cornucopia of knowledge of sports and trivia and movies and American history and science. He had the curiosity of some of the great figures of the Renaissance."
With Sher gone, two people now write the show's scripts. Sher's wife, Laura, has taken on his producer's duties. And engineer Antonio Oliart now edits the show.
"We made fun of Richard, pretended like he really didn't do much," Nolan said. "It took about four people to do what he had done, and he made it look so effortless. I do the easiest job, and it's still harder than being on the panel."
Twitter: @moviecricket —
'Says You!' in Salt Lake City
The public-radio quiz show "Says You!" has a live taping in Salt Lake City, with Salt Lake Tribune cartoonist Pat Bagley as a guest panelist.
Where • Salt Lake City Library main branch, 210 E. 400 South
When • Friday, reception at 7 p.m., taping starts at 8 p.m.
Tickets • $45, or $40 for KCPW members; saysyou.net
Broadcast • The show airs Sundays at noon on KCPW, 88.3 or 105.5 FM