The Gong Show

The Gong Show is an amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976 through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976–1980 and 1988-1989. The show was produced by Chuck Barris, who also served as host for the NBC run and from 1977-1980 in syndication. The show is best remembered for its absurdist humor and style, often awarding participants ridiculous prizes.

Johnny Jacobs was the main announcer from 1976-1980; due to an extended illness, Jack Clark substituted from October 3, 1977 through December 23, 1977. Charlie O'Donnell served as announcer for the late-1980s revival.

Format

Each show presented a contest between amateur performers of often dubious talent, with a panel of three celebrity judges. The program's frequent judges included Jaye P. Morgan, Jamie Farr, Arte Johnson, Rip Taylor, Phyllis Diller, and Anson Williams. Rex Reed was notorious for being the harshest critic, often giving acts a nine when they received perfect tens from the other judges. If any judge considered an act to be particularly bad, he or she could strike a large gong, thus forcing the performer to stop, a trope adapted from the durable radio show the Major Bowes Amateur Hour. Most of the performers took the gong with sheepish good grace, but there were exceptions.

Originally, panelists had to wait 20 seconds before they could gong an act; this was extended to 30 seconds and then to 45. Knowing this, some contestants deliberately stopped performing just before the 45-second rule kicked in, but Barris would overrule this gambit and disqualify them. On other occasions, an act would be gonged before its minimum time was up; Barris would overrule the gong, and the hapless act would be obliged to continue with the full knowledge that their fate was already sealed.

When an act was on the verge of being gonged, the laughter and anticipation built as the judges patiently waited to deliver the coup de grace: They would stand up slowly and heft their mallets deliberately, letting everyone know what was coming. Sometimes, pantomimed disputes would erupt between judges, as one celebrity would attempt to physically obstruct another from gonging the act. The camera would cut back and forth between the performers onstage, and the mock struggle over their fate. Sometimes an act was "Gang-Gonged", meaning it was so bad that it was gonged by two or even all three judges at once. Barris would then ask the judge(s) in question why they gonged the act.

If the act survived without being gonged, they were given a score by each of the three judges on a scale of zero to ten, for a maximum possible score of 30. On the NBC series, the contestant who achieved the highest combined score won the grand prize of what Chuck Barris referred to as the "highly unusual amount of" $516.32 (reportedly the Screen Actors Guild's minimum pay for a day's work) and a "Golden Gong" trophy. The syndicated series' top prize was originally $712.05 and later increased to $716.32. In the event of a tie, three different tiebreakers were used at various times during the show's run. Originally the studio audience determined the winner by applause, but this was later changed to a decision by the producers and (later still) the celebrity judges.

When Barris announced the final score, a midget in formal wear (former Munchkin Jerry Maren) would run onstage, throwing confetti while balloons dropped from overhead. On rare occasions, two acts would each receive the check and trophy. No trophy was awarded if all of the acts on a particular episode were gonged.

The daily Gong Show also gave out a "Worst Act Of The Week" Award (later changed to the "Most Outrageous Act Of The Week" Award), where the producers and that week's judges decided which of the show's bad acts for the week stood out the most. The winner of this award was announced following the trophy presentation on the Friday show, and the performer(s) was given a dirty tube sock and a check for $516.32.

Originally, the show was advertised as having each day's winning contestants come back after a few weeks (this is also mentioned in the pilot episode) to compete in a "tournament of champions", with the winner being given the chance to appear in an unspecified nightclub act. However, only one of these tournaments was ever held. The winners on the NBC version became eligible to appear on the syndicated version for a chance to earn that show's prize.

Hostesses

Hostesses included Siv Åberg (a Swedish-born model who appeared on Barris' syndicated New Treasure Hunt), actress Marlena Clark, porn actress Carol Connors, and Barris' then-teenage daughter Della.

In 1976, Carol Burnett (who did a skit on The Carol Burnett Show where her character Eunice Higgins, of the recurring The Family sketch, performed – and got gonged – on the show) introduced Barris with this quote, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce a man with the charm of Cary Grant, good looks of Robert Redford, and the acting skills of Sir Laurence Olivier. I'd like to meet that man, but until then, I'm stuck with Chuck Barris." That same year, actor Dick Van Dyke also introduced Barris; later in that episode, Barris promoted Van Dyke's short-lived NBC series Van Dyke and Co.

Holidays

The show celebrated many holidays such as Christmas, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving, but invariably did so by singing the Irving Berlin standard, "Easter Parade". (When Easter was feted, the cast and crew would sing Berlin's "White Christmas".) The annual Christmas episode also featured a major rule change – in honor of the holiday spirit, judges were not permitted to gong contestants. Predictably, Christmas shows were heavily loaded with the most unappealing acts available.

Judges

Among the people who acted as "celebrity judges" were the following:

Patty Andrews

Pearl Bailey

Adrienne Barbeau

Bill Bixby

Dr. Joyce Brothers

Joyce Bulifant

Ruth Buzzi

Freddy Cannon

Harry Wayne Casey

Scatman Crothers

Clifton Davis

Richard Dawson

Gary Mule Deer

Phyllis Diller

Jamie Farr

Fannie Flagg

Wayland Flowers

Eva Gabor

Steve Garvey

Gloria Gaynor

Susan George

Shecky Greene

Buddy Hackett

Pat Harrington

Linda Hopkins

Harry James

Arte Johnson

Milt Kamen

Mabel King

Abbe Lane

Peter Lawford

Michele Lee

David Letterman

Shari Lewis

June Lockhart

Allen Ludden

Ed Marinaro

Steve Martin

Pat McCormick

Barbara McNair

Scoey Mitchell

Jaye P. Morgan

Louis Nye

LaWanda Page

Pat Paulsen

Johnny Paycheck

Mae Questel

Tony Randall

Charlotte Rae

Rex Reed

Della Reese

Joan Rivers

Nipsey Russell

Mort Sahl

Soupy Sales

Ronnie Schell

Elke Sommer

The Unknown Comic

Bobby Van

Mamie Van Doren

Dionne Warwick

Paul Williams

Chuck Woolery

Jo Anne Worley

Milton Delugg

Milton Delugg, a popular musician and bandleader during the 1940s, got the Gong Show job by default. As musical director for the network, he was responsible for any NBC project that required special music (like the annual telecasts of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade). Barris initially regarded Milton Delugg as "an anachronism", but he soon found that Delugg was very much attuned to the crazy tone of the show; his band, which Barris introduced as "Milton Delugg and the Band With a Thug," included top jazz players like Bob Findley, Joe Howard and Lanny Morgan, kept the show's energy level high. The band even led into station breaks, with Barris's enthusiastic "Take me into the commercial, Milt!". Delugg remained associated with Barris for many years after Gong ended.

Recurring bits

The show had many running gags and characters who appeared as regular performers.

The Unknown Comic (Murray Langston, formerly of the Sonny and Cher TV stock company) was a stand-up comedian who told intentionally-corny jokes while wearing a paper bag over his head. On one occasion the Unknown Comic brought a dog on stage – with a paper bag over its head. "You've heard of a boxer?", asked Langston. "This is a bagger!" Eventually, Langston would beckon to "Chuckie" and tell insulting jokes at his expense ("Have you ever made love to your wife in the shower?" "No." "Well, you should, she loves it!"). Barris would then feign anger and eject Langston from the show. Langston later made appearances as a judge on the show.

Gene Gene the Dancing Machine (Gene Patton) was a heavy-set, middle-aged black man wearing a warm-up suit and flat hat. Gene-Gene's arrival would always be treated as though it were a glorious surprise to everyone on the show, especially Barris. Upon hearing the opening notes to his theme music (an arrangement of "Jumpin' at the Woodside," a popular Count Basie song), Barris' face would light up and he would stop the show, yielding the stage to Gene-Gene. Members of the crew would toss random objects from the wings, littering the stage while Gene-Gene danced on, seemingly unaware of the activity around him. Barris and the panelists would enthusiastically mimic Gene-Gene's dance moves, which consisted primarily of a slow-footed chug-chug motion, punctuated by an occasional, exultant fist pointed skyward. Typically, the dance break would be interrupted by a commercial or by the show's promotional announcements. In reality, Patton was an NBC stagehand whose backstage dancing caught the attention of Barris, who moved him out in front of the curtain when time ran short during an episode. He added membership in AFTRA to his existing IATSE membership. Occasionally, Gene-Gene filled in as one of the three mallet-wielding judges. Patton's popularity was such that his retirement from NBC made the national news wires in 1997, unique attention for a stagehand. In what is an ironic coda to Patton's story, in the early 2000's, The Dancing Machine had to have both legs amputated due to complications from diabetes.

Scarlett and Rhett were Chuck's dresser Jefferson Beeker and Costume Designer Peter Mins dressed as Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind. Their act always began with Rhett bellowing, "I don't give a damn!" and the shocked Scarlett gasping, "You can't say that on television!" Rhett would respond by asking, "Well, can I say this, Scarlett?" and launch into a vulgar riddle along the lines of "Why are pool tables green?" Scarlett would answer, "Why, Rhett?" "Because if someone was--" and the off-color punchline would invariably be bleeped out. After two or three jokes, and the same number of shocked reactions, Barris would stop the act and close the curtain.

Larry Spencer, played by the show's writer of the same name, wore an old-fashioned black cape and top hat; the audience was encouraged to hiss at him as if he were a villain from 19th century melodrama.

"Larry And His Magic _____", an alleged musician (also portrayed by Spencer) whose various appearances featured a series of different instruments. His call-and-response act featured him proclaiming, "I'm gonna play my (trumpet, fiddle, xylophone, kettle drum, accordion, etc.)" and the audience shouting back, "Whatcha gonna do?" This exchange would be repeated twice, after which he would announce, "I'm gonna play my (instrument) nowwww!" Instead of playing, though, he would merely repeat his audience-punctuated declaration. After a few verses of this, the skit would inevitably end with Spencer failing to play his instrument. Either time would run out, the instrument would malfunction or be booby-trapped, or he would manage to produce a few inept notes before being permanently interrupted by Barris.

Chuckie's Fables, featuring "The Mighty Gong Show Players", an alleged acting troupe (in actuality, members of the production and stage crews). Barris would flop into a rocking chair and read a narrative from an oversized storybook, while the Players, in whimsical costumes by Peter Mins, would pantomime the action behind him. These stories always ended with a convoluted moral. The name was a takeoff on the "Mighty Carson Art Players" from the Tonight Show, which in turn was a copy of Fred Allen's "Mighty Allen Art Players".

The Worm, a supposed "dance craze" consisting of three men who flung themselves to the floor and wriggled on the ground. At the end of each of their performances, Barris would come out and say "One – More – Time!" The Worm would often be performed four or five times in succession before the commercial break interrupted the men's performance.

The show's air of spontaneity was abetted by various comic appearances by supporting staff, technical/stage crew and house band members.

Legitimate talent

The two biggest Gong Show-related show-biz successes were Andrea McArdle and Cheryl Lynn. Twelve-year-old McArdle appeared on an early show in 1976, shortly before winning the lead role in the hit Broadway musical Annie. Lynn was signed to a recording contract as a result of her performance, and recorded the Top 40 disco hit "Got To Be Real."

Among the other true talents that appeared on the show were singer Boxcar Willie; comics and actors Paul Reubens and John Paragon(best known as Pee Wee Herman and Jambi the Genie); Joey D'Auria ("Professor Flamo", later WGN's second Bozo the Clown); character actress Edith Massey; impressionist/comic Michael Winslow; novelty rock band Green Jelly , and a band called The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo which evolved into Oingo Boingo, led by future film and television score composer Danny Elfman. Crip founder Stanley Tookie Williams appeared on the show in 1979. In 1976, Academy Award nominated actress Mare Winningham sang the Beatles song "Here, There, and Everywhere." Future Super Bowl XXXV winning head coach Brian Billick also made an appearance, performing a routine known as the "spider monkey." Dancer Danny Lockin, who had played Barnaby in the film Hello Dolly!, was murdered hours after winning the show taped August 21, 1977.

Broadcast History

NBC

NBC decided to take the chance on Chris Bearde's talent show to fix a scheduling problem at 12:30 PM (11:30 AM, Central). This was NBC's least important time slot, as whatever program that ran in the slot at the time had to share the half hour with a five-minute newscast anchored by Edwin Newman. As a result, the first six-plus months of Gong featured approximately twenty minutes of program content in a twenty-five minute episode.

Many NBC affiliates in larger Eastern Time Zone markets opted not to run network programming during the Noon hour at all, preferring to broadcast local news and talk shows instead. Thus Gong made its debut mainly on medium-market and smaller stations or on large-market rival stations that picked up the program from the NBC affiliate that had rejected it, such as in Boston, where then-affiliate WBZ did not run the series.

Gong's timeslot was given to a new soap opera, Lovers and Friends, on January 3, 1977. NBC moved the series to 4:00 PM, replacing the canceled Another World spinoff Somerset. The timeslot change allowed Gong to expand to a half-hour. However, Gong moved from one problem timeslot to another as the 4:00 PM network slot was often preempted by affiliates, leaving the show unable to gain a ratings advantage over CBS' hit game show Tattletales and ABC's struggling but still popular soap opera The Edge of Night. By early December the network decided to return Gong to 12:30/11:30, but this time the show was able to run for a half hour as NBC ended the five-minute newscast at 12:55.

NBC aired a one-hour primetime special on April 26, 1977, featuring in-studio special guests Tony Randall, Alice Cooper, and Harry James and his Orchestra. The winning act on this primetime special was The Bait Brothers. The panelists for the special were Jaye P. Morgan, Jamie Farr and Arte Johnson.

Barris as Emcee

An established game show producer (The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game), after years of writing and producing hit popular records, Barris was originally the show's co-producer but not its host. He was an emergency replacement host for John Barbour. Barbour, who later hosted Real People for NBC, objected to the show's satirical concept and tried to steer it towards a traditional amateur-hour format. He taped five episodes that were never aired (the very earliest episodes had the celebrity judges earnestly giving helpful advice to the amateur performers). An NBC executive who had watched Barris rehearse the show suggested that Barris replace Barbour. Barris accepted but resisted the requirement that he wear a tuxedo; he only caved in when the executive threatened not to take the show at all - and then usually ended an episode with undone bowtie and disheveled tails. (In time, mandatory tuxedos gave way to more casual attire. Also, Barris began wearing a variety of silly-looking hats on stage, which were seen on a rack at stage right. He would frequently change hats during a show.)

Barris was actually the show's third host; Gary Owens had hosted the original pilot episode, which included four celebrity judges (Jo Anne Worley, Adrienne Barbeau, Richard Dawson, and Arte Johnson). Owens also hosted the first syndicated season.

Barris was ill at ease before the camera; he had a nervous habit of clapping his hands together and pointing to the camera while talking. He did this so often that, by the show's second year, it had become a running gag. Audience members began clapping their hands in unison with Barris whenever they saw him doing it. Barris caught on, and would sometimes pretend to clap, deliberately stopping short to fool the audience.

Producer Chris Bearde, formerly of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, clashed with Barris over the show's content, favoring scripted comedy over chaotic nonsense. (Bearde's "new talent" segments on Laugh-In had featured oddball performers, the most famous being Tiny Tim.) Bearde eventually withdrew from The Gong Show, leaving Barris in full charge of the show. Before long, Barris was working so loosely that some viewers assumed he was drunk – or worse. He would pull his hat down over his eyes, totally obscuring them. His monologues, never exactly crisp or slick, occasionally rambled. Barris later recounted in an interview that he was never drunk, and that he would not allow drugs in his production company.

If Barris enjoyed an act, it was obvious – he would stand there beaming, clapping his hands, or even dancing. For the losers, no matter how bad, Barris was unfailingly positive about their performances, often consoling them afterward with allegedly-comforting words of encouragement like "I don't know why they did that! I loved your act. But then again, I love cramps." The celebrity who had gonged the performer was typically asked "Why'd you do that?" and was expected to provide an explanation, joke, or further insult. Typically, Barris would lead into commercial breaks with the cryptic promise "We'll be right back, with mor-re stuff – right after this message!"

Popsicle Twins incident

Barris was well known for his run-ins with the censors, bringing in risque acts as bait to allow some of the less risque acts to slip by. In 1978, one of these bait acts, two teenage girls known simply as "Have You Got A Nickel", made their way onto the show after being cleared by the censors, who saw nothing objectionable at the time about their act. The two girls, after walking out onto the stage barefoot wearing shorts and t-shirts, sat down and proceeded to consume their popsicles in a sexually-suggestive manner. While they were able to complete their act without being gonged, two of the judges gave them low marks (Phyllis Diller gave them a zero, while Jamie Farr awarded them a marginally better 2). The third judge, Jaye P. Morgan, would award them a 10, quipping "That's how I got my start" (she was rewarded with a popsicle from one of the girls before they left the stage). The "Popsicle Twins" skit aired in Eastern time zone markets, but NBC pulled the act from the Central, Mountain, and Pacific airings of the day's episode immediately after it ended; the act was not cut from all the tapes, however, as the Popsicle Twins incident has aired in reruns.

Cancellation

Despite fairly respectable ratings for a non-soap-opera midday show, NBC cancelled Gong, with its final episode to air on July 21, 1978. Much speculation occurred as to the network's true motivations for dumping the show. Barris himself has commented that the official reason he heard was that NBC acted in response to both "lower than expected ratings" and a desire by the network to "re-tailor the morning shows to fit the standard morning demographics" (the move coincided with the arrival of new NBC president Fred Silverman, who was well-known for such programming overhauls). America Alive, a magazine-style variety program hosted by Art Linkletter's son Jack, replaced Gong.

Following the cancellation, many critics and industry analysts – including Gene Shalit and Rona Barrett – reported having heard comments from within NBC's programming department from "sources preferring anonymity" that the true reason behind the cancellation was Barris' refusal to tone down the racy nature of the show. According to the sources, after the "Popsicle Twins" incident (see above) The show's format was similar to the original, but its scoring was based on a scale of 0 to 500, and winning acts received $600. The $600 was shown as paid in cash on the spot, rather than being paid by check as in earlier versions, but in reality (because of contestant eligibility regulations by Sony) was paid as a check from Sony Pictures. In place of a typical trophy, winners were awarded a belt in the style of boxing championship belts.

A live stage version of The Gong Show occurred at B.B. Kings Blues Club in Times Square, NYC on August 12, 2010. It was produced by The Radio Chick.

Film

In 1980, The Gong Show Movie was released by Universal Pictures to scathing reviews and was quickly withdrawn from theatrical release. It is considered a minor cult classic by some. Advertising proclaimed it as "The Gong Show that Got Gonged by the Censor". It is seen periodically on cable TV but has never been officially released on DVD.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a film directed by George Clooney and written by Charlie Kaufman, was based on the autobiography of Chuck Barris. Part of the film chronicles the making of The Gong Show, and features several clips from the original series.

Following the success of the print and screen versions of Confessions, GSN produced a documentary called The Chuck Barris Story: My Life on the Edge, which included rare footage from the Gary Owens pilot.

Foreign versions

'Sabse Badhkar Gong ("The Gong's The Boss") ran in India on Sony TV in the mid-1990s as an officially-licensed format. Since its acquisition of the Chuck Barris game show library in 1989, Sony has owned the Gong Show format and has licensed it to India and Indonesia.

Red Faces, a segment on the long running Australian variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday was also similar to The Gong Show.

Trans TV in Indonesia and Sony Pictures Television commissioned an Indonesian version called Gong Show.

A one-off British version of The Gong Show aired on Channel 4 at Christmas 1985. The compere was Frankie Howerd. The show was deemed a failure and a series was not commissioned; this was considered surprising, as the station had recently been airing episodes of the original American series and had been getting high audience ratings from them. In 2006, BBC Television aired Let Me Entertain You, a talent show with a similar format to The Gong Show.

The Spanish language program Sábado gigante regularly airs a similar segment, El chacal de la trompeta ("The Jackal of the Trumpet"). During this contest, six contestants are given the chance to sing a song, with the bad performers being eliminated mid-song by el chacal, a ghostlike character who blows an old trumpet to end such acts. Unlike The Gong Show, el chacal does not have to wait a specific amount of time before eliminating someone (on many occasions, players have been eliminated almost immediately after beginning). The "surviving" performers are voted on by the audience, with the one receiving the most applause winning a prize or some cash.

In the world of NASCAR, Roush Racing's auditions for future drivers are called "The Gong Show". The process was aired as the Discovery Channel reality series .

Spinoffs

At the height of the show's popularity, NBC gave Barris a prime-time variety hour, The Chuck Barris Rah Rah Show. This was played somewhat more seriously than the zany Gong Show, with Jaye P. Morgan singing straight pop songs as in her nightclub and recording days, and bygone headliners like Slim Gaillard reprising their old hits for an enthusiastic studio audience. Spinoffs include The $1.98 Beauty Show hosted by Rip Taylor and The Gong Show Movie (see Film. above).

Episode status

All runs of The Gong Show are presumed to exist and have been seen on GSN, with the exception of the Gary Owens version. GSN also aired the first episode of John Barbour's week, and the premiere of the syndicated series is known to circulate among collectors.

Before GSN, repeats aired on Los Angeles TV stations KTTV Channel 11 (September 20, 1976 to September 14, 1979), KNBC Channel 4 (September 17, 1979 to January 1980), and KHJ-TV Channel 9 (September 26, 1983 to June 28, 1985). The show also reran on USA Network from October 1, 1984 to October 9, 1987.

See also

America's Got Talent

Major Bowes Amateur Hour

Notes

External links

Interview with Jaye P. Morgan on Mouse Clubhouse

Category:American game shows Category:NBC network shows Category:First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Category:1970s American television series Category:1976 television series debuts Category:1980 television series endings Category:1980s American television series Category:1988 television series debuts Category:1989 television series endings Category:Television series by Sony Pictures Television Category:Television series by Barris Industries