The fun doesn't actually begin until the portly man in the silver-sequined sportscoat takes the mike and asks the inevitable question: "Are you ready?"
The audience members yell, they giggle, they wave their hands to and fro. yes, the fun has begun on Stage 33 at CBS Television City in Hollywood.A silver-haired man in a smart blue suit stands patiently among a jeans-clad crew, somewhere between the big gold wheel and the annoying little putting green.
Of course, he stands center stage. This man prefers to part the set when making the entrance into HIS world.
"The Price Is Right" is the formal name of the program, but this is clearly Bob Barker's show. His presence alone evokes a genuine look of awe among the middle-Americans invited to "come on down" to contestants row.
"They are so pro-Bob," said game show assistant Linda Riegert, who has the auspicious task of gearing up the audience for Barker's comings and goings on stage.
"I think his personality is every charming, very honest," she said. "He carries himself with style."
Announcer Rod Roddy - the warm-up guy and silver-sequin king - prefers to cut to the chase.
"They're crazy about him," Roddy said of Barker's fans. "He's a major sex object. He's a father figure, like the guy on `Dynasty.' He's a handsome, stately, older man."
This, of course, is not the reputation Barker is seeking these days. He would much prefer to be thought of as game-show guru, animal lover, karate enthusiast, even a real snugglepuss with his cats and dog.
That's because the 70-year-old television veteran said he has spent far too much time defending himself against accusations made by Dian Parkinson, who modeled on the show for 18 years and recently filed suit charging Barker with sexual harassment, employment discrimination and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Barker held two news conferences - choking up with emotion at the session where pastries and drinks were served to reporters - so he's not interested in more questions about what he maintains was a consensual sexual relationship with Parkinson. Any question remotely connected to Parkinson is met with frustration. Save it for the trial, he said.
If only he could read his beauties like he can his contestants.
"Over the years, I've gotten to where I can see by the look in their eyes if they're dangerous," Barker said in a recent interview, speaking of the contestants who may pinch his arms or grab him after winning the chance to play for big prizes on "The Price Is Right."
"I sometimes have them take an oath down in contestants row that they won't do me bodily harm if they get on the stage," he said.
Joking aside, the scandal with Parkinson has clearly knocked Barker for a loop.
"Like any star, he gives a lot of his time to his public and to his fans because he's on TV every single day," said Roger Neal, one of three publicists who look after Barker.
"But there's a part of his life that is private and should remain private," said Neal, who has worked for Barker since 1987. "One's laundry shouldn't have to be hung out for the world to see, but sometimes you're put in a position, as he was, where you're forced to talk about things that should remain very private."
Parkinson has refused to talk about her lawsuit, and her attorneys said that Barker's pre-emptive strike of scheduling press conferences has been as upsetting as his behavior that prompted the lawsuit.
Stress prevented her from filing any earlier, said attorney Laurence Labovitz.
"She was thinking about what happened if she came forward against the most powerful man in Hollywood," said Labovitz. "Will she ever work again?"
Save for the frank descriptions of his relationship with Parkinson - he said it was sexual rather than emotional and that he never took her out in public - Barker maintains a level of privacy when talking about his personal life. He'll talk only briefly of Dorothy Jo, his wife of 37 years, who died of cancer on Oct. 19, 1981.
How did he make the marriage to his high school sweetheart work? This is one moment where he can reflect without revealing too much.
"Dorothy Jo summed it up very nicely," said Barker, who wears on his left ring finger a diamond that belonged to his late wife's grandmother.
"A writer asked her how our marriage lasted so long - in Hollywood, particularly. She said it was all based on love. She said, `I love Barker, and Barker loves Barker.'"
That makes him laugh, but he turns stonefaced when talking about his future.
"Dorothy Jo was the love of my life," Barker said in the dressing room interview. "I never seriously considered marrying again. That was my marriage."
And that's the end of that. Barker refuses to share any more personal thoughts about his late wife.
He will say, though, that Dorothy Jo was the one who convinced Barker there was more to life than working at a radio station while attending Drury College in Missouri. She believed that national audience participation shows were his true calling.
After a brief radio stint in Florida, Barker moved to Los Angeles and hosted his own radio program called "The Bob Barker Show." Next came the venerable "Truth or Consequences," which netted him the title of the "Most Durable Performer" in the Guinness Book of World Records. He began hosting "The Price Is Right" in 1972, which quickly found a permanent place as one of the top five shows on daytime today.
Unlike the syndicated "Jeopardy!" or "Wheel of Fortune" shows, "The Price Is Right" is the only game show on a network. And it's a gold mine - mroe than 7 million people tune into the show each day, said Barbara Hunter, director of daytime programming for CBS.
"I think that people hung on to `The Price Is Right' because it's so different every day," she said. "There's a real play-along factor, and there's this general excitement that's unbelievable, more so than anything else. It's all spontaneous. These people don't know who is going to be called down until the last minute. They all think they are part of the show."
Barker has had many other distinctions - seven-time Emmy winner, longtime Rose Parade commentator, best-dressed man by the Custom Tailors Guild of America, pupil of martial-arts expert Chuck Norris.
Yes, Barker knows Tang Soo Do. Norris, a contestant once on "Truth or Consequences," began teaching Barker on the side. Now the game-show host starts every morning with a few kicks - exercises he swears help keep him healthy.
He does not, however, see this as a form of self-defense. "I could probably take care of any 60- to 70-year-old woman," he quipped.
Barker also has "the cause" to keep him busy.
Ever since a rabbi convinced him 12 years ago of the importance of animal rights, Barker's passion for animals has become a way of life. He refused to host the 1987 Miss USA Pageant unless the contestants wore fake furs, and he resigned from the contest the following year because producers refused to remove the coats from the prize packages. He has marched, protested and waved placards.
And he abhors the thought of professional breeders. There are enough animals in the world roaming the streets; that's where he got his.
Felines Amigo and Dulce were plucked from his Hollywood neighborhood, while Frederico the dog was found protecting a little buddy along some street.
Barker and a friend discovered Frederico after pulling over to check on a dead dog on the side of the road. Barker thought to take Frederico home, but the mutt refused to enter his car - that is, until Barker and his friend picked up the dead dog and put it in the back seat.
"Frederico jumped in the car and put his head on this little dog's body," said Barker. "So I told him if he had that much love and devotion and loyalty, he deserved a break. And his life has been a pretty rosy affair ever since."
What's more, Barker's a tried-and-true vegetarian - he would find it hypocritical to eat T-bones after making the daily pitch at the end of his show: "This is Bob Barker reminding you to have your pets spayed or neutered, goodbye everybody!" And he won't do product endorsements for companies that have a history of animal cruelty.
"Unlike many celebrities who have become ivolved with a project, Barker is well-informed," said Nancy Burnet, founder of the United Activists for Animal Rights of Riverside, in which Barker is active. "No one has to prepare him. He does his own research. He does it because he cares."
She didn't always have such a high opinion of him. When she first met him in 1983, Burnet figured Barker to be a no-good fool who was about to lose his longtime gig on "The Price Is Right." She got her information, via her mother, from the tabloids.
"I thought I was meeting a person on his last leg," Burnet said. "I actually felt kind of sorry for him."
This, of course, wasn't the case. Barker was at an animal shelter in Downey trying to encourage animal sterilization; Burnet was there trying to get him to make a plug on TV about not buying chicks and ducks at Eastertime.
The two became fast friends - and full-time activists. In 1987, Burnet formed United Activists and Barker became her largest contributor. Burnet, Barker and United Activists were among the defendants named in a 1989 defamation suit filed by the American Humane Association, accused by Barker of failing to protect animals used in the production of motion pictures. That suit was settled this spring.
Barker and Burnet also dated, but the romantic relationship - unlike their devotion to the cause - is long over.