Patrick Leonard Sajak (/ˈseɪdʒæk/ SAY-jak; né Sajdak,[3] born October 26, 1946) is an American game show host, television personality, and creative consultant.

[8] Sajak won a contest on WLS radio's Dick Biondi Show to be a guest teen deejay.

While at Columbia College Chicago, his broadcasting instructor Al Parker told him that a local radio station (WEDC) was looking for a newsman.

On the Military Channel's program, An Officer and a Movie, Sajak admitted to botching President Richard Nixon's 1969 Christmas broadcast to the troops; he accidentally cut the feed off prematurely.

The radio station's television sister, WSM-TV (now WSMV), brought Sajak on screen, first as a voiceover artist making station identifications and anchoring the five-minute newscasts during NBC's Today Show, then as a weekend and substitute weatherman, where he became acquainted with anchor Dan Miller.

In 1981, Merv Griffin asked Sajak if he would be interested in taking over the duties as host on Wheel of Fortune from Chuck Woolery.

[10] The issue became moot when Silverman was dismissed due to repeated programming failures and replaced by Brandon Tartikoff.

[11][12] Sajak had a small role as a Buffalo, New York newscaster in the 1982 comedy film Airplane II: The Sequel.

When his late-night talk show on CBS premiered in January 1989, Sajak left the daytime version of Wheel and was replaced by former San Diego Chargers place-kicker Rolf Benirschke (who was later replaced by Bob Goen when the daytime show moved to CBS in July of that year).

Other game shows on which he appeared as a celebrity guest were Dream House, Just Men!, and Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour.

[21] In 1997, Sajak pulled an April Fool's Day prank on fans when he and Vanna White were contestants on an episode of Wheel hosted by Alex Trebek.

The winnings of both Sajak and White were donated to charity (in this case, the American Cancer Society and the Boy Scouts of America).

Sajak also appeared at the beginning of a 2010 April Fool's episode, along with Jeff Probst and Neil Patrick Harris.

This prompted songwriter Ben Peters to write "Daytime Friends", which became a number one hit for Kenny Rogers in 1977.

[42] Sajak was parodied in a 1980s Sesame Street sketch, with a Muppet named Pat Playjacks hosting "Squeal of Fortune".

[43] During the 1980s, comedian Martin Short frequently portrayed a fictional character he called Ed Grimley, a hyperactive manchild who is obsessed with banal popular culture – Sajak in particular – on the sketch comedy television shows SCTV and Saturday Night Live.

[45] In the fourth-season episode of The A-Team called "Wheel of Fortune", Sajak makes a cameo along with co-star Vanna White.

In the episode, Murdock wins big at Wheel of Fortune due to Face's system of guessing the letters correctly.

[46] In the fourth episode of season three of Comedy Central's Brickleberry, "That Brother's My Father", Sajak gets kidnapped and becomes a hostage to the wheel of fortune.

In the episode, the character of Connie, a strong and very large but typically kindhearted state park ranger, takes an unhealthy obsession with Sajak and his famous game show, ultimately tying him to a makeshift replica of the wheel itself and attempting a faux-game of Wheel of Fortune with him while behaving erratically.

[50] Sajak is featured as a narrator in a brief film shown at the visitor center at Mount Vernon, the residence of George Washington, where he explains to tourists the attractions of the site.