Tough job, somebody had to do it.
Posted on 03/22/2017 1:43:17 PM PDT by Jim W N
Chuck Barris, “The Gong Show” creator and host who claimed — though never too seriously — that he doubled as a CIA assassin during the height of his game show popularity, has died at his home in Palisades, N.Y. He was 87.
The popular game show creator, producer and host died Monday of natural causes, a representative for his wife said.
The “Gong Show” was among a handful of Barris’ creations that dominated the TV game show landscape in the 1960s. He launched “The Dating Game” in 1965, which was an instant hit with numerous imitations. Barris followed with "The Newlywed Game," "The Game Game," “The $1.98 Beauty Show” and a Mama Cass special, among others.
"Those were the happiest days of my life," Barris said in a 2002 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "It was Camelot."
But his golden touch deserted him when he produced “The Gong Show Movie,” which had the sizable misfortune of being released the same weekend as “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Shining.” The film tanked.
So he walked away, selling off his holdings and moving to the south of France with his future second wife, Robin Altman.
“I figured I didn’t have my finger on the pulse of what’s going on anymore, so I took off,” he told The Times in 2002. He told friends he planned to write the great American novel while in France.
“So I know what my legacy will be. It's 'The Gong Show' and that's a shame. It's not the legacy I want to have,” he said. “It gave the impression of me being a clown, a court jester. None of that's true."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Getty image, sorry.
In before a particular picture is posted. Let’s see how long it takes...
Off to the big Gong in the Sky.
RIP Mr Barris.
Tough job, somebody had to do it.
His books are actually pretty good. Gonna miss him, the world already feels less weird.
Steve Martin plays the banjo on the Gong Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6O4cWNxgNo
The Gong Show didn't air until the mid-70s, and into the 80s. Someone at that newspaper should've caught that error.
This is a family-friendly site, I can't post the other one...
“I came up with a new game-show idea recently. It’s called the old game. You got three old guys with loaded guns onstage. They look back at their lives, see who they were, what they accomplished, how close they came to realizing their dreams. The winner is the one who doesn’t blow his brains out. He gets a refrigerator.”
Sure hope he got that refrigerator.
Bong!
Chuck Barris had been rather incognito in his latter years—not in the public eye much. Used to love The Gong Show.
Then it was probably that one, lol. But how bad can it be? It was on the Gong Show. A pic should be okay, just not a video, just in case.
His description of that in “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” is pretty great.
The dude also wrote “Palisades Park,” which is one of the more random things ever.
It’s a rough time to have a name that starts with “Chuck Barr-—”
There was a “Gong Show Movie” that they put out that was R-rated, so that’s probably where it’s from.
Oh I didn’t know about the movie... I only meant the most infamous Gong Show act on the regular TV show. Figured it would have been the first image posted on the thread.
Historians that folks are around here..
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