June 14, 1976: “The Gong Show” Premieres

June 14, 1976: The Gong Show premieres on NBC, created by Chuck Barris, who hosts the daytime version. It was years before I knew he had anything to do with it, since I only saw the evening version, hosted by legendary Los Angeles disc jockey (and Laugh-In announcer) Gary Owens until it went to syndication in 1978, when Barris took over full-time. It ran in syndication until 1980, with a brief 1988-89 revival.

Barris had been personal assistant to disc jockey and American Bandstand host Dick Clark. He wrote Freddy Cannon's hit song "Palisades Park." The Gong Show was the 3rd "trash TV show" he created, the 1st being The Dating Game, and the 2nd being, in a way, the next step: The Newlywed Game.

Chuck Barris

The show was a talent contest. Each performer was evaluated by a panel of three celebrity judges, who could strike a gong to end a performance they disliked, a trope borrowed from the old-time radio show Major Bowes Amateur Hour. The only requirement was that the judges had to wait at least 45 seconds before they hit the gong, to give the performer a fair chance.

Any act that performed its act to the end without being gonged was given a score by each of the judges, on a scale of 0 to 10, for a maximum possible score of 30. The contestant who achieved the highest combined score won the grand prize: A check for $516.32 -- a "highly unusual amount," in Barris' words, and reportedly the Screen Actors Guild's minimum pay for a day's work at the time (about $2,700 in 2022 money); and a "Golden Gong" trophy.

Among the more frequent panelists were Laugh-In performers Arte Johnson and Ruth Buzzi, comedienne Phyllis Diller, M*A*S*H actor Jamie Farr, and 1950s pop singer Jaye P. Morgan.  

The Gong Show became known for its absurdist humor, and often featured amateurish, racy or questionable performers interspersed with more legitimate acts. The actual competition was typically secondary to the outlandish acts, and the series is also known for its free-form style which featured various interruptions, digressions and running jokes.

Several legitimate performers received early exposure via The Gong Show. At the age of 12, Andrea McArdle appeared in 1976, shortly before she won the leading role in the hit Broadway musical Annie. The same year, Cheryl Lynn appeared on the show, and got a recording contract, leading to the hit song "Got To Be Real"; and Mare Winningham sang on the show, which led to her being signed to an acting contract. Paul Reubens appeared on the show, before adopting his character Pee-Wee Herman.

The best-known performers on the show were Murray Langston, a comedian who got tired of getting booed just by coming out onstage, so he put a bag with eyeholes over his head, and billed himself as "The Unknown Comic," getting such a great reception that Barris not only invited him back, but even made him a panelist, calling him "Un" for short; and Gene Patton, a stage hand who sometimes came out and danced, earning him the stage name "Gene Gene the Dancing Machine."

On September 20, 1977, two teenage girls, both clad in shorts, sat cross-legged on the stage floor, and, without saying a word, ate popsicles in, how shall I put this, a highly suggestive manner. They were not gonged, but Diller gave them the only zero score in the show's history. Farr gave them a 2. But Morgan gave them a 10, and said, "Do you know that's the way I started?" On July 30, 1979, Gene came out and danced, and, for reasons known only to her, Jaye P. Morgan started stripping, until she was bare-breasted. (At the age of 47, she still had the body for it.)

Other shows, such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (a fellow NBC show) and Match Game (on CBS) made fun of The Gong Show. In particular, Match Game host Gene Rayburn hated it, and so did regular panelist and Family Feud host Richard Dawson. Panelists who had been on Match Game and then appeared as panelists on The Gong Show, like Morgan, were generally not invited back. Diller was big enough of a star to be an exception. However, while his M*A*S*H castmates McLean Stevenson, Loretta Swit and Gary Burghoff were occasional Match Game panelists, Jamie Farr was never invited onto that show.

In 1984, Barris wrote Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, in which he claimed to have used his entertainment career as a cover for his role as an assassin for the CIA. In 2002, a film was made of it, starring Sam Rockwell as Barris. Rather than have actors playing them, Jaye P. Morgan, Murray Langston and Gene Patton appeared as themselves, as if being interviewed for a documentary about Barris. (Patton died in 2015. As of June 14, 2022, Barris, Morgan and Langston are still alive.)

Now, I ask you: If Chuck Barris was really a hitman for the CIA, do you think the people joking about The Gong Show would have lived as long as they did? And do you think the show would have been canceled? Alas, in those days, the only things that died on NBC were most of their shows... fortunately.

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June 14, 1976 was a Monday. These 7 Major League Baseball games were played:

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Ken Griffey Sr. singled Dave Concepción home with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning. The other Cincy runs had scored on home runs by Concepción and George Foster. Pete Rose went 0-for-4 with a walk. Johnny Bench went 2-for-3 with a walk. Gary Nolan pitched a complete game for the win.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. George Brett went 2-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros, 2-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Jerry Reuss outpitched J.R. Richard. Al Oliver hit a home run. Willie Stargell went 1-for-4. The next day, heavy rains flooded Houston, preventing the umpires (but not most of the players) from reaching the Astrodome, resulting in the only postponement due to rain in the stadium's history.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the California Angels, 8-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Frank Tanana struck out 10 batters and didn't walk any, but gave up 8 runs on 9 hits, and was outpitched by Jerry Augustine. Hank Aaron in his final season, hit his 748th career home run.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Rick Wise came within a 3rd-inning single by Jerry Terrell of pitching his 2nd career no-hitter. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4. Rod Carew went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Andy Messersmith outpitched Lynn McGlothen. Lou Brock did not play for the Cards.

* And the Montreal Expos beat the San Diego Padres, 3-0 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Don Stanhouse, known for his eccentricities as "Stan the Man Unusual," pitched a 3-hit shutout. Barry Foote hit a home run for the Expos. Willie McCovey went 0-for-4 the Padres, and Dave Winfield went 1-for-4.