Friday Flashback: A Famous Face on 'Wild Chicago'

By Prescott Carlson in Miscellaneous on May 15, 2009 9:30PM

WTTW's Wild Chicago aired between 1988 and 2003 (with a short seven part revival in 2006) and took a look at various wacky and unusual places, people, and events around the city. The show went through a number of different hosts and correspondents over the years, and while they all had their certain charm, we have a special affinity for original host Ben Hollis (sorry Will, while we love nerds you just didn't connect with us). Part of Hollis' charm was his complete lack of pretense running around town in a khaki outfit and pith helmet. Watching clips of the old shows lead to a lot of "Oh, I remember that place" moments, and once in a while a "Before they were stars" sighting, such as in the video below from 1990. Hollis was in Lincoln Park asking people a dumb question as part of the regular -- what else -- "Dumb Question" segment, and one of the participants happens to be a familiar face. Familiar now, anyway. We would tell you who it is, but as you're sitting at work on this dreary Friday counting down the minutes until 5:00, we don't want to spoil a chance for you to kill some time so we'll let you try and spot him/her for yourself.