Longtime Jeopardy host Alex Trebek had surgery for blood clots on the brain, but assured fans he'd be back reading clues to contestants soon.

Trebek appeared in a video on the Jeopardy Facebook page Thursday to announce that he'd had the surgery during the show's holiday break.

Wearing a Jeopardy baseball cap and using the same tone he employs to explain difficult subjects on the show, Trebek says, "I had a slight medical problem, subdural hematoma, blood clots on the brain caused by a fall I endured about two months ago.

"Surgery was performed," he continues, "after two days in the hospital I came home and started recovery. The prognosis is excellent, and I expect to be back in the studio taping more Jeopardy programs very, very soon."

He gave no specific timetable for when he might return.

The 77-year-old Canadian has become an American institution in the decades since he started hosting Jeopardy in 1984, beloved for the way he calmly delivers tough trivia to the cognoscenti that make up the show's contestants.