Confessions of a Dangerous Mind [Was Chuck Barris of TV's Gong Show also a CIA assassin???]

Publishers' Weekly, via Barnes & Noble ^ | Nov 2002 | Publishers Weekly Staff

[summer]

From The Critics:

Publishers Weekly

Originally published in 1982 but out-of-print for years, '70s television icon Barris's forgotten autobiography is being reissued to coincide with the December release of a major film adaptation. After two decades of relative obscurity, Barris's memoir may finally find an eager audience. Readers will probably best remember Barris as the creator and host of The Gong Show, but his resume also includes such classic shows as The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, as well as a hit song, "Palisades Park," and a New York Times bestselling book, You and Me Babe (1970).

What will shock readers, however, is Barris's claim that, throughout his successful TV career, he was leading a double life as a decorated CIA assassin. While supposedly "scouting locations" to send his winning game show contestants, Barris was actually traveling to exotic locales to knock off America's Cold War foes.

Or so he'd have readers believe. While far-fetched, the tension-filled scenes of Barris's supposed CIA activities provide an ingenious counterbalance to the story of his meandering personal life, the snarling critics who attacked Barris for dragging television into the gutter and hilarious recollections of how wholesome contestants would become inexplicably filthy once on the set of The Dating Game.

Even though Barris's reputation as a wacky TV show host doomed this literary venture when it was originally published, it is in fact a remarkably well-crafted and entertaining book, both unflinchingly personal and at times laugh-out-loud funny. Twenty years later, it reads like a classic. (Nov.)

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

[summer]

Well, I would really like to know what FR posters think of Chuck Barris' claim that in addition to hosting my favorite tv show of all time, The Gong Show, he was also a CIA assassin.

I hear he now lives in France, in St. Topez, with his wife.

I got into a big conversation about this book with someone over dinner. I believe Chuck Barris when he says he was a CIA assassin. But, what do you think about his claim?

I will check back tomorrow. Happy New Year!

[anniegetyourgun]

Truth is stranger than fiction, eh?

[PoorMuttly]

"Oh Chuckie, you slay me!"

I hope nobody posts anything good while I'm in the shower.
I'll check back next year.

[Coleus]

Anything is possible.

[LonePalm]

Julia Child was with the OSS in WW2. Why not Chuck?

'La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.' - Auguste Escoffier
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[muawiyah]

I think I know the guy who took his place.

[niteowl77]

Occasionally, it seemed as if Chuck and Juicy J. P. were crispy enough to believe they were working on Mars.

[BillyRubin]

No harder to believe than Glenn Ford being a special ops in Vietnam. Can't judge a book by it's cover ( pun intended )

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Well, I would really like to know what FR posters think of Chuck Barris' claim that in addition to hosting my favorite tv show of all time, The Gong Show, he was also a CIA assassin.

Rats rear!

[Billthedrill]

One rule of thumb in the intel biz - those who talk, don't know, and those who know, don't talk.

[anniegetyourgun]

ROFL!

Well, it's not next year here yet....but here we go: I think Barbara Woodhouse was actually undercover with the IRA back in the 70's.

[gubamyster]

If I buy a copy of his book, can I get it signed by Gene Gene the Dancing Machine?

I want to play my mood synthesizer......

[babaloo999]

I thought he died a couple of years ago, but apparently not.
http://members.tripod.com/wrcw/Short_Biography.htm

[Brett66]

Wouldn't there be some public record of CIA employee roles available to verify this?

[Mannaggia l'America]

Gene Gene the Dancing Machine?

That is exactly who I was thinking about!

Maybe Gene was his "handler"?

[hole_n_one]

Surely you can shed some light on this matter.

[dep]

no, his handler was charles nelson (now, thanks to the marvels of plastic and sex-change surgery, bill o') reilly.

dep

[Mannaggia l'America]

Gene, Gene the Dancing Machine

[dtel]

"Julia Child was with the OSS in WW2.'

For real?
What did she do, drool them to death?

[Clovis_Skeptic]

It's True!!!

The Gong Show was a MK Ultra plot! Mind Control in action.