Greg Irwin, of Emerson Avenue, will be on “You Bet Your Life with Jay Leno” at 5 p.m. Thursday at WSTR-Cincinnati, also known as Star 64.
“They contacted me ― I’m not really sure how they found out about me, but they contacted me ― and I flew out to LA in June,” Irwin said.
The show is a comedic game show, and Irwin described it as a show “with regular people, but people who have something a little whacky that they play off of.” The show’s contestants included a woman who had the inside of her lower lip tattooed on a dare, an egg inspector and a police officer who was mistaken for a stripper.
Irwin, who is a drummer, earned a music education degree from Miami University in Oxford, and part of the degree was passing a piano exam. As he prepared for the exam, he developed his finger dexterity (while working “at a boring summer job”) by isolating each finger. That training helped him pass the exam, and he continued to develop on the practice. He and his wife, Lorraine Irwin, co-authored a book and made a video called “Finger Fitness: The Art of Finger Control” in the late ‘80s.
“I consider myself an edu-tainer. I educate and entertain,” Irwin said, who is also developing a class for senior hands to keep their hands in shape. “It’s definitely a big part of my life, it’s what I’ve done for 35 years.”
Thursday’s spot on “You Bet Your Life with Jay Leno” will be his latest television appearance, first appearing on “The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson” in 1988. He appeared on the short-lived “The Chevy Chase Show” in 1994, and “The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno” in 1997
He said he’s also shared his hand and finger fitness techniques about 30 international television shows, including in Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan. He continues to speak live on the benefits of his Finger Fitness program from physical, occupational, and massage therapists, to senior citizens groups.
While he hasn’t done much television since his 1997 appearance with Jay Leno, and returns before a television audience with, coincidentally, Jay Leno.
“I said to him before the show, ‘You said you were going to have me back on,’” Irwin recalled. “And he said, ‘I told you I’d have you back on, I just didn’t tell you what show.’”
Irwin is restricted in what he can talk about what happened on the show, but said, “My personal goal was not to look stupid. I think I came off where I didn’t look stupid.”
This isn’t the first game show Irwin has been on, and admits he couldn’t say that about some other game shows he’s appeared on.
“When you’re on a game show, sometimes, you kind of blank,” he said. “Fortunately, I didn’t have any frozen moments. I felt like I came off pretty good.”
He hopes the appearance will help reintroduce his hand health concepts to a national audience, and his next project will be working on “a whole new concept of how to exercise your fingers,” which ties a person’s mentality and coordination, which will be released later this year.
“I’m always trying to make people aware of the importance of keeping your hands in good shape,” he said. “It’s important.”
HOW TO WATCH
Hamilton resident Greg Irwin will be on “You Bet Your Life with Jay Leno” at 5 p.m. Thursday on WSTR-Cincinnati, also known as Star 64.
For information on the show, visit youbetyourlife.com. For more on Greg Irwin, visit handhealth.com.
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