No joke, and with Wayne Brady of all people, the corniest man on the planet. But first, a bit of background.

If you're of my generation then you remember what a huge hit the TV game show Let's Make A Deal was back in the day. It was first on NBC during most of the 1960's, then later moved over to ABC until the mid 1970's and during all that time was hosted by Monte Hall who was also the creator of the show (and no doubt a very very rich man today).

The show was so popular that it spun off a syndicated nighttime version which ran from the late 70's well into the 80's.

There were attempts to revive the show in the early 1990's and then again in 2003 with different hosts. But in 2009 CBS brought back the show, as part of the network's daytime programming, with Brady as host.

Now you would think, as I did,  that the era of TV game shows was long past, but evidently that is far from the case. 

Turns out the this new Brady version of Deal has been a smash hit for CBS, and just last week, the show got the biggest audience ever for the network, pulling in nearly 3 million viewers, reaching an all time high with women viewers in the coveted 25-54 year old demographic.

Just goes to show you that corniness does pay off.