“Jack is a force of nature, and you never really know what he’s going to say,” Neger said. Part of the attraction, said Patty Neger, who produced that first GMA show in Columbus and many other Hanna appearances, was the unpredictability of both the animals and Hanna himself. Soon, he was a regular on Letterman and "Good Morning America", but other shows were clamoring for Hanna, as well: "ABC World News Tonight", "Inside Edition", "Access Hollywood", "Larry King", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", and many others. “He and Dave had something very special together, they respected each other.” “Jack was ratings gold - anytime we could get him in town, we would,” said Brian Teta, a former booker and producer for Letterman’s shows. Hanna and Letterman jousted often, with Hanna playing the naïve, “aw-shucks” role and Letterman peppering him with his trademark verbal jabs. That was the beginning of a chemistry that blossomed into a friendship over the next 30 years. Hanna told Letterman, “They hate women, by the way,” and when Letterman asked what they would do if they were around a woman, Hanna answered, “probably pull their hair out.” The first animals Hanna brought out were two capuchin monkeys. Laurie Lennard was the Letterman producer who saw the GMA segment and contacted Hanna, and he made his first appearance on that show on Feb. That helped lead to his own local show, “Hanna’s Ark” in 1981.īut it was the baby gorillas, the first set of twin gorillas born alive in a United States zoo, that brought the national attention here. 13, 1980, he appeared on a WBNS-TV (Channel 10) show, called “Front Page, Saturday Night.”
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"Jack being on all those shows played a huge part in that." A bush baby jumps onto Jack Hanna as he records a TV segment with the help of animal programs specialist Katie Stevens and CBS video crew members Jimmy Kimmons, left, and Justin Hall beside the Africa exhibit at the the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium on May 29, 2018. "Jack Hanna put the Columbus Zoo on the map, but the national exposure took it to the next level," said Suzi Rapp, a zoo employee since 1979 and now its vice president of animal programs. Today, the grounds sprawl 588 acres, and 2.3 million visit annually. The publicity has been a game-changer to a zoo that, when Hanna arrived in Columbus in 1978, covered about 90 acres and attracted 358,000 visitors. Zoo officials estimate that in 2016 alone, his national TV appearances were worth more than $25 million in advertising value. Hanna has appeared on national TV likely more than a thousand times, including 102 appearances on Letterman’s shows. “I can’t stand it when the newspapers say 'celebrity.' I’ve begged them to say 'animal ambassador’ instead of 'celebrity.’ I would tell them I don't care about my name, I just want the Columbus Zoo mentioned every single time, and they mentioned the zoo every single time.” “Good Morning America and David Letterman made us a national zoo,” Hanna said. One invitation led to another, and over the next 35 years, Hanna’s folksy charm and the often-chaotic menagerie of animals he brought made him a national celebrity and helped the zoo mushroom into a world-renowned institution.
31, 1983, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium director emeritus Jack Hanna could not have predicted where that would lead.Ī producer for David Letterman's show saw the GMA segment and contacted Hanna a few months later. When he cradled twin baby gorillas in his arms on ABC’s "Good Morning America" show on Oct.
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