Highly Questionable

Highly Questionable
Starring	Gonzalo Le Batard Dan Le Batard Bomani Jones
Country of origin	United States
Production
Location(s)	Miami Beach, Florida
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	ESPN2 (2011–15) ESPN (2015–)
Picture format	480i (SDTV) HDTV 720p
Original release	September 12, 2011 (2011-09-12) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Pardon the Interruption

Highly Questionable (abbreviated HQ) is a daily sports talk television program that airs on weekdays on ESPN at 4:30 PM Eastern and then repeats later at 5:30 on ESPN2. Created as a vehicle for Miami Herald sportswriter and ESPN contributor Dan Le Batard, who also hosts his own radio show for the network, the show premiered on September 12, 2011. From its premiere until May 2013, the show bore Le Batard's name and was called Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable (DLHQ), and from its premiere until March 23, 2015 the show aired on ESPN2 at 4:00 PM Eastern. The program is based in Le Batard's hometown of Miami, Florida and was created by the same people behind Pardon the Interruption (PTI), which Le Batard has appeared on multiple times as a substitute host.

Since May 13, 2013, the show is hosted by Le Batard, his father Gonzalo "Papi" Le Batard, and his colleague Bomani Jones, who hosts The Right Time on ESPN Radio and was formerly based in North Carolina.^[1] Pablo S. Torre, who like Jones is a panelist on Around the Horn, is the show's designated substitute host.^[2]

Since September 2014, Highly Questionable is recorded on location at The Clevelander Hotel in South Beach, Miami Beach. Le Batard's radio show and Jones' Around the Horn segments are also broadcast from here. Previously it was recorded on a studio set designed to resemble a stereotypical Miami kitchen.^[3][4] As a nod to the previous set, a bowl filled with plastic fruit is placed on the table all three men sit at to do the show. The show is produced out of Washington, D.C..^[5][6]

History

The show was announced in August 19, 2011, as a creative project between Dan Le Batard and the producers of Pardon the Interruption. The show, and the introduction of Le Batard's father Gonzalo to the project, was part of an effort by ESPN to attract more Latino viewers.^{[7][8][9][10]} DLHQ premiered on Monday September 12, 2011.^[7][11][12]

Beginning in 2012, other ESPN personalities including Bomani Jones, Michael Wilbon, and Bill Simmons appeared as contributors to the show.^[8][13][14] On May 13, 2013, Jones became a regular co-host, with the show renamed Highly Questionable.^[1][15] On March 23, 2015, Highly Questionable was moved from ESPN2 to ESPN weekdays at 4:30 PM Eastern, leading into sister shows Around the Horn and PTI.^[16][17]

The set

The original set for the show was located in Hialeah, Florida just outside of Miami.^[10] The set was designed to resemble a 1950s-era Miami/Cuban kitchen, in the spirit of a television sitcom. The set also featured old Le Batard family photos.^{[3][4][5][6][8]}

In late summer, 2014, the show moved to a new set on the second floor of the Clevelander Hotel in Miami's South Beach. The new studio is designed as a more conventional set, while retaining Miami-themed colors, and featuring a window looking out to South Beach. The new set premiered on September 8, 2014.^[3][4][18] As a nod to the previous set, a bowl filled with plastic fruit is placed on the table all three men sit at to do the show. The Clevelander studios are also used for Le Batard and Jones' radio shows, and the appearances of Jones, Israel Gutierrez, and other Miami-based panelists on Around the Horn.^[3][4]

Segments

The show is broken into 4 segments.^[5][7][15] Each segment utilizes a question-answer format, with questions for the non-guest segments coming from fans. Each show begins with Le Batard introducing the panel, Jones offering a pithy commentary on one of the discussion topics, and Le Batard telling his father "vamos, Papi," (or "dale, Papi") which kicks off the show.

Opening questions

A series of viewer submitted questions begin the proceedings. Papi reads each of them from an Apple iPad in front of him, and Le Batard and Jones each take turns addressing the audience with their takes while Papi chimes in with a random non sequitur. Occasionally, Dan and Papi sometimes find questions humorous or ignorant enough in nature to the point where they are not worth answering, and just simply laugh instead.^[15][19] Once in awhile, Papi will say something completely ridiculous and potentially damaging; when he does this, a technical difficulty bumper will play for several seconds and Le Batard will prompt Papi to apologize.

On certain Mondays, particularly during the National Football League regular season, the "Questions" segment will continue into the second segment.

Guest interview

During the second segment, a pretaped interview with a guest airs. The questions are usually related to a current issue or event in sports, and Dan and Bomani often ask about the guest's life outside of sports. Papi asks the final question, usually about topics unrelated to sports.^[15]

On days when no guest is available, one of several things will happen. One of "Papi's famous interview medleys", with highlights from past interviews shown, might play or a second set of questions might be asked. "Do You Question" (see below) may also serve as the second segment, in which case a replay of a previous interview will serve as the third.

During the commercial break, there is often a brief interlude where Papi recites lyrics to a rap or hip-hop song.

"Do You Question"

The third segment is essentially a repeat of the first segment, and is introduced by Jones by saying, "you give us topics and events, we question 'em." The only difference is that they begin with "Do you question..." and often feature humorous video clips that do not necessarily have anything to do with sports.^[15]

"¿Sí o No?"

The final segment of the show relates to television programming. The three hosts are given the name of a program airing that evening and offer their opinions on whether or not they are intrigued. Each responds with "Sí" or "No" while holding up a placard with his response. Most of the programs are sports related but at least one is a general interest program such as a documentary or reality program.^[15] Papi has the on-show reputation for responding "Sí" to just about everything and often comes up with odd reasons for doing so, such as a team with a "Latino player" (sometimes an actual Latino player, but other times one with a Spanish-sounding name or even one he completely makes up, like "Miguel Verde" or "Bernardo Bishopo") who is going to have a "helluva game" or who will be a "name you'll never forget" (which he promptly forgets), or humorous misunderstandings of the shows in question. Sometimes Papi will feel strong enough about a game that he will imitate a ringing telephone and pick the banana out of the plastic fruit bowl and hold it to his ear, pretending his bookie "Juanito" is on the other end and telling him to "put everything" on the team he thinks will win. A running gag, which carries over to other segments, is that Juanito takes bets on virtually any sporting event known to man, from the America's Cup to middle school basketball. Papi is also known to thank Juanito for a tip he allegedly gave him or implying that he had a role in a certain event's outcome, including horses crashing at the finish line of a race, or other bloopers.

End of the show

After "Sí o No", the show comes to an end with Papi thanking the viewers for watching. Le Batard follows with his own goodbye, reminding the viewers when to catch the show again and occasionally promoting either his or Jones' radio show. Jones has the last word, saying "Gracias, see ya mañana" or "see ya el lunes" depending on the day of the week (lunes being Spanish for Monday; this is usually said to close the Friday show). After this, there is a brief interlude where something from the previous segment or from earlier in the show is revisited humorously before the show cuts out.

On-set guests

Occasionally during the commercial interlude, a special guest would appear on the set. During the use of the kitchen-themed set, the guest could be seen utilizing the kitchen, supposedly without Dan or Gonzalo noticing. On the Clevelander set, the guests have appeared in studio, sometimes joining the panel for the "¿Sí o No?" segment.^[20] Special guests have included Lil Wayne,^[20] Pat Riley, Jason Taylor, Kimbo Slice, Sebastian the Ibis, Isiah Thomas, Ron Magill, Steven Bauer, Pedro Martínez, Micky Arison, Mike Lowell, Lil Dicky, Robert Smith, and Pat Sajak among others.

"Papi Awards"

In 2014, Highly Questionable presented as its end of year program the first ever "Papi Awards", which consisted of a series of awards based on video clips that were usually visited in Do You Question. Papi dressed in a tuxedo while Le Batard and Jones served as his co-hosts, and each category had a winner and two runners-up. Each "winner" received the "Golden Banana", a trophy made for the occasion. The running joke was that each winner could not be present to accept their award, so the trophy was simply used for the next award. The special returned in 2015 for the second annual "Papi Awards."^[21]

References