I’ve seen him with the beaming tourists who sit in his studio audiences and the awe-struck, bookish kids for whom he was the host of the National Geographic Bee for 25 years.
He knows how much he means to people, and I hope it gives him comfort that so many people are pulling for him now.
But two generations of youngsters have now grown up on his clipped syllables.
He takes it seriously, being the face of “Jeopardy!,” the voice of facts in a post-fact world.