LeVar Burton on guest-hosting Jeopardy!: "The experience itself was alternately exhilarating and frightening and fulfilling and frustrating"

Entertainment Weekly

With Burton's one-week stint wrapping up on Friday, the actor spoke to EW to delve into what it was like filling Alex Trebek's shoes. "Overwhelming on so many levels," says Burton. "The actual view from behind the host's lectern is surprisingly arresting, in that it's not a point of view that the audience has ever seen. Standing there, it was clear that this was a space that I felt really familiar with, but I was blown away by the point of view that I was able to enjoy. It was really out of body. The experience itself was alternately exhilarating and frightening and fulfilling and frustrating. Like all of the guest hosts, I had one day of rehearsal, and the following day I shot five episodes of Jeopardy!. So it's really a matter of how you pick yourself up after getting your wings singed. (Laughs) To their credit, the producers and crew are awesome human beings, and are aware more than anyone else of how difficult that job is and how easy Alex made it look. And I want to shout them out for being so gracious and so supportive to me, as I'm sure they were to all of the guest hosts. It was really great to feel their support and encouragement." Burton also says the one day of taping was like his wedding day -- "a blur." "It all happened so fast," he says. "There are snapshots that I have throughout the course of the day, moments that I remember. But it all went down flash-bang."