The Gong Show
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The Gong Show was a television variety show spoof that was broadcast on NBC and in first-run syndication in the United States from 1976 until 1980. The NBC incarnation and the later years of the syndicated version were emceed by Chuck Barris who also hosted.
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[edit] Show format
Each show presented a contest between amateur performers of often dubious talent, with a panel of 3 celebrity judges (among the most frequent of which were Jaye P. Morgan, Arte Johnson and Jamie Farr). If the judges considered an act to be particularly bad, they hit a gong to end it immediately. Originally, the panel had to wait 20 seconds before they could gong an act; this was changed to 30, and then 45. If the act survived without being gonged, they were given a score by the judges, on a scale of 0-10, with a maximum score of 30. On the NBC run, the contestant with the highest combined score earned a prize of $516.32 (Reportedly the Screen Actors Guild's minimum pay for a day's work). On the subsequent syndicated run, the prize was $712.05 when Gary Owens hosted; when Barris took over, it became $716.32. (These amounts being the minimum scale payment for a speaking television appearance.) In the event of a tie, three different tiebreakers were used in at various times during the show's run; at first, the studio audience decided the winner by their applause; later, the producers chose the winner; later still, the celebrities chose the winner.
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, although winners on the NBC version appeared on the syndicated version for a chance to earn that show's prize.
Chuck Barris, an established game show producer (The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game) but not a polished game show host, had a nervous habit of clapping his hands together and pointing to the camera while talking. This developed into a running gag during the show, as the audience members clapped their hands in unison with Barris whenever they saw him doing it. He also wore a variety of different hats, changing frequently during the show. A hat rack could be seen at stage right, next to the band (Milton DeLugg and His Band With a Thug).
The show had many recurring bits, and characters who appeared as regular performers, such as the Unknown Comic (Murray Langston) who told bad jokes while wearing a paper bag over his head. Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, a portly middle-aged black man with a green warm-up suit frequently came onstage to dance while members of the crew threw random objects at him. In reality, "Gene Gene" Patton was one of the Gong Show stage crew, as were many of the more extreme "performers", used to fill airtime before going to a commercial break. Gene Gene's arrival, however, was always treated as though it were a surprise to everyone on the show, especially Barris, who would then commence to ad lib on the set. At times, Gene Gene also acted as one of the mallet wielding judges. Writer Larry Spencer appeared as himself, and the audience was encouraged to hiss at him. Matt Idol was also a recurring act. His singing would always be drowned out by swooning women in the audience, and he would always be quickly ushered off stage since he couldn't be heard above the screaming in the audience. There was also the act Scarlett And Rhett, two people dressed as Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler (Scarlett was a man in drag). The entire act was Rhett saying bleeped out obscenities while Scarlett feigned horror. Like Matt Idol, this act was also always quickly ushered off stage. The show also had its own "dance craze", The Worm, which consisted of three men who wriggled on the stage. At the end of each of their performances, Barris would come out and say, "One - More - Time!"
The Gong Show is infamous for several especially salacious escapades. The most memorable was an act called "Have You Got a Nickel" (better known as "The Popsicle Twins"), which consisted of two women, made up to look like teenaged girls, sitting on stage and provocatively sucking Popsicles while the song "I'm in the Mood for Love" played. According to Barris in an interview years later, the censors would regularly nix acts that he thought were safe enough to air. So, he made it a point to submit acts to the censors that were totally over the line so that some of the questionable ones would slip through. The Popsicle Twins was, in Chuck's mind, totally over the line and he submitted it as a stalking horse. While legend has it the Popsicle Twins were only seen on the East Coast because the switchboards were flooded with complaints as soon as it aired, and edited out before broadcasts in other time zones - it was, in fact, seen on the West Coast. Jaye P. Morgan wouldn't allow either of the other 2 judges to hit the Gong & when the girls finished - she said "That's how I got started." The Gong Show Movie includes ten seconds of footage from this act.
Another watershed moment was when Jaye P. Morgan ripped off her top and exposed her breasts while Gene Gene was dancing. Supposedly, that act resulted in Ms. Morgan's firing from the show. Like the Popsicle Twins, this can also be seen in The Gong Show Movie.
The show celebrated many holidays such as Christmas, July 4th, and Thanksgiving, but invariably did so by singing the Irving Berlin standard, "Easter Parade." (When Easter was noted, of course, the cast and crew would sing "White Christmas.")
Among the many talents that appeared on the show was an unknown Paul Reubens, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo the musical theater group that would evolve into the new wave band Oingo Boingo, Joey D'Auria (Professor Flamo) (who would go on to be WGN's 2nd Bozo the Clown from 1984 to 2001), RuPaul, and Mare Winningham (under the pseudonym "Sharon Shamus"). The biggest Gong Show-related show biz success was singer Cheryl Lynn, who was signed to a record contract as a result of her appearance and recorded the top 20 disco hit "Got To Be Real."
[edit] Later incarnations
- In The Simpsons episode $pringfield, Homer mentions that his life long dream was to become a black jack dealer; Marge corrects him and says: "your life long dream was to be a contestant on the Gong Show and you did it back in 1977, remember??". Then a flashback comes with Homer and Barney both standing in the same pair of pants and playing an off-key rendition of "Oh Susana" on the harmonica as they're getting gonged and the audience booed them off the stage. After the flashback, Homer replies: "We got more gongs than the breakdancing robot that caught on fire" (which really happened on the original show).
- In 1980, The Gong Show Movie was produced; while many critics gave it scathing reviews, it is hailed as a cult classic by others.
- A syndicated revival of The Gong Show, hosted by Don Bleu, was produced from 1988 to 1990 and lasted only two seasons. Each winner was paid $701.
- The Gong Show was later revived on the Game Show Network as Extreme Gong, in which viewers could call in and vote on whether or not the act was bad. It was hosted by George Gray, best known as the host of the syndicated version of The Weakest Link.
- A later show, 30 Seconds To Fame, had many similarities to this show.
- Red Faces, a segment on the long running Australian variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday was also similar to The 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 all the more surprising as the station had recently been airing episodes of the original US series and enjoyed high audience ratings from them.
- 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 early 1990s The Gong Show was performed live at the West Hollywood night club, Rage. It was hosted by the Lovely Carol. Frequent contestants included comedian Steve More. Chris Aable, host of the cable TV show Hollywood Today, was one of the regular celebrity Judges.
- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a film directed by George Clooney and 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.
[edit] Appearances in other shows
On an episode of Sanford and Son, Fred Sanford got to go see the show, then decided to get on an episode to win the grand prize. He was supposed to do an act with Lamont, and his brother-in-law Rodney, but Rodney also needed to do an act to pay off a bookie he owed money to, so he also auditioned as Raymond C. Gordon to sing an opera song. When he found out he was going to be on the same show as Fred's act, he feigned an injury to get out of it, and Bubba took his place. Fred ended up winning the prize (after he ended up gonging Raymond/Rodney himself), but when Rodney fell ill for real, a large chunk of the prize money ended up going towards his medical bill, leaving Fred, Lamont, Donna, And Bubba with very little left.
[edit] Legacy
During its run, many critics excoriated The Gong Show as one of the worst shows in TV history. Today, The Gong Show is seen as an inspiration for much of the modern-day genre of reality television. Although many televised talent shows came first, The Gong Show's sardonic outlook continues to influence many talent and celebreality shows including American Idol, America's Got Talent, and especially Pants-Off Dance-Off, where the often out-of shape ecdysiast contestants are frequent objects of derision.
[edit] Modern vernacular usage
The term 'gong show' has also now been popularized in Canadian English and American English vernacular, meaning that an event or an evening out was a disaster, often in a way that is fun or memorable. For example - "Last night, we all went drinking, and the whole thing turned into a total gong show."
It has also been used by NASCAR writers and broadcasters as a way of describing Roush Racing's auditions for future drivers, which became the Discovery Channel reality series "Roush Racing: Driver X".
A 'Gong Show' is also used by hockey officials to describe a game that has numerous penalties or other unusual situations.
