When Alex Trebek, the longtime host of the popular television show, Jeopardy, died late in 2020, I was reminded of my own brush with the television icon a few years earlier.

The encounter came when, as part of Harvard’s Speaker’s Bureau, I was asked by the Harvard Club of Ontario, Canada to speak to members on my views of the state of world politics.

Harvard Clubs are organized groups of former Harvard students who get together regularly to network and socialize and who, on occasion, ask current Harvard professors to speak to them.

So off to Canada I went.

After my speech and Q&A session at the well-attended event, the organizers offered a private dinner for a dozen members and me in a stately conference room at a downtown hotel.

As we were engaged in a deep conversation about the state of the world, a man and what looked like a couple bodyguards walked by the conference room’s open door and stopped to look in.

It became instantly clear that the man being ushered by the bodyguards was Ontario’s Alex Trebek.

Trabek, noticing that I was at the head of the table and seemingly was some sort of celebrity, interrupted our discussion and looking at me asked, “Who are you?”

Now I tell my students that if you aren’t funny – don’t use humor. But I didn’t take my own advice.

Instead, knowing that on Jeopardy, Trebek gave contestants statements and if they thought they knew the right answer, they were to give that answer in the form of a question.

So, attempting humor in answering Trebek’s inquiry, I responded, “Who is Harvard Professor Steve Jarding.”

Several in the room laughed, Alex Trebek wasn’t one of them.

In fact, not only did Trebek not think the response was funny, he seemed offended.

His response was to turn and walk out with his bodyguards pressing even closer behind.

I was somewhat embarrassed that I had seemed to offend Mr. Trebek – but to this day, I still think my response was funny even if Alex Trebek didn’t.