The Gong Show

I used to watch this show religiously back when I was in High School. If only my family had owned a VCR way back then (did they make them in '76--I don't remember). I would have taped every single episode, and I'd still be watching them today. "Star Search"? "American Idol"? Those "reality" shows are crap! The Gong Show was the polar opposite of this kind of show--the REAL real deal, not a pre-fab parade of future showbiz hacks doing pale imitations of current showbiz hacks while former showbiz hacks pretend to "judge" them. The Gong show was an out of control coke-fueled madhouse that presented a mind-blowing array of street performers, lounge acts, amateurs, and just plain street psychos doing their things! In other words, nobodies copying nobody being judged by virtual nobodies. Format? Script? A plan, even? For Chuck Barris and his cronies, all these things were only concepts, to be used or thrown away at will. What happened, happened; the show was what it was. Never before and never since has there been such entertainment on Television! If they put the entire series on DVD, I'd save up my money and buy two copies!

In discussing how mean American Idol has gotten lately, a lot of people point back to the Gong Show as the initiator of public TV humiliation. Anybody who thinks that never saw this show.

The show basically had two kinds of acts: the really ridiculous, and the really good. People with genuine talent were usually given high marks and compliments by the judges, who were all show-biz veterans and who knew talent when they saw it (I recall after one such act, Arte Johnson exclaimed, "I'm gonna get you a job!").

The other acts were supposed to be either wildly bizarre or just plain dumb. This gave everyone a chance to enjoy it for a few moments, knowing that the gong was soon in the offing. When the gong sounded, everyone laughed, including the people in the act itself. And Chuck Barris would shake his head in mock indignation and say "Gee, I don't know why they did that..." and as he escorted the act offstage, he cooed "Be of good cheer."

It was all played for laughs. Nobody was told they were horrible, nobody was told they had no talent, nobody was told they were too fat.

Add to this the great music, the amazing creativity of the contestants, and the one-line jokes between acts, and you had a great half-hour of comedy.

The Gong Show was one of the best game shows to ever hit television. Chuck Barris was a genius in himself with several other hit game shows, such as The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game just to mention a few. People that appeared on The Gong Show had to be a little off to come on and perform some of the wild acts they did. The Panel, with the usuals such as Jaye P. Morgan, Arte Johnson and Jamie Farr were so unique in that anything went on the show, well anything that could get by the censors that is. This show still has a great following till this day, and is still one of the best there is.

People may not realize it, but you really DID have to audition to get on the show. No Talet Bums would be lined up around the block waiting for their chance to try to get on the show. An episode of Sanford and Son and Carol Burnett were framed around getting on the Gong Show. How can you not pee your pants laughing when every singe act sang "Feelings". The $516.32 was the union scale and everyone got it, regardless if they got gonged or not, and yes they still get residuals to this day! Gene Gene the Dancing Machine (Gene Patton) was a stage hand who was sent out one day to dance and it took off. The house band, Miton DeLugg and his Band with a Thug were real people. And of course, Chuck seemed the most surprised when a bad act got gonged while being booed by the audience, "I can't believe they did that, you were doing so good" was classy in a classless show. Its too bad they couldn't keep their drug use under control, it really could have gone on a lot longer than it did!

I have mixed reviews about the Gong Show. On the one hand, IT'S HILARIOUS. The bad acts, the silly panel (Jamie Farr and Jaye P. Morgan were a riot), and of course Chucky baby himself made each episode a laugh out loud riot. When you look at an episode of tha Gong Show, it looks more like New Year's Eve at Times Square than an actual game show. This was THE show where anything, and everything can happen, from the host being tied up by the panel, to an entire marching band marching out in the middle of an act. This show didn't spare itself or its viewers by going over the top, especially when "Gene Gene the dancing machine" came out and the ensuing chaos takes over, but the show's claim to fame also proved to be it's downfall. The latter part of the show's run more resembles a drawn out SNL sketch gone horribly wrong then an actual game show. Granted it was still funny, it was a little too much, especially when you have everyone being censored out all the time. All this, plus the fact that you can only pie Chuck Barris so many times, led to the cancelation of the Gong Show. All in all, the Gong Show was um... interesting to say the least. But it's always good if you want to laugh till you cry.