Chuck Barris, 'The Gong Show' host, dies
at 87
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[March 22, 2017]
By Bill Trott
(Reuters) - Chuck Barris, who tapped into
Americans’ hunger to be on television by creating game shows such as
“The Dating Game,” “The Newlywed Game” and his showcase for the acutely
untalented, “The Gong Show,” died on Tuesday, media outlets reported.
Barris died of natural causes at age 87 in Palisades, New York,
Variety.com said, citing his publicist.
Decades before television talent shows such as "American Idol" and
"America's Got Talent" came along, Barris was putting everyday people
before the cameras in what was more of a reverse talent show with
everyday people who did not mind exposing their vulnerabilities or
answering embarrassing questions.
His masterwork was "The Gong Show," which seemed to be the result of
let’s-put-on-a-show day at the asylum in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest.” The media mocked him as “the king of schlock” and accused him of
exploiting his contestants.
"Let me ask you something - which does the most harm, a 'Gong Show' or
the killings, pistol whippings and flying blood you see on evening
'drama?'" Barris said in a Los Angeles Times interview. "And the critics
blame me for cracking culture?"
Barris also wrote "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," called it an
autobiography and claimed to have carried out CIA assassination jobs
while hosting "The Gong Show." Barris never admitted it was a joke but
in 2007 told CBS: "Somebody checked (with) the head of the CIA and the
head of the CIA said that I must have been standing too close to the
gong." The book was made into a movie directed by George Clooney.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Mar/22/images/ads/current/graue_sda_2016.png)
Barris, who grew up in Philadelphia, started in entertainment as a page
at NBC headquarters in New York in the 1950s and eventually used forged
recommendations to get into the network’s management training program.
Later he would work for Dick Clark on his popular "American Bandstand"
show and write the 1962 hit song "Palisades Park" for Freddy "Boom Boom"
Cannon.
At the ABC network in the early 1960s, Barris was in charge of deciding
which game shows were put on the air but quit to form his own company.
He eventually would put more than 15 shows on the air during the 1960s
and '70s, starting by conceiving and producing "The Dating Game.”
That show played into the emerging “flower power” culture of the time
with a young woman or man asking flirtatious questions of unseen members
of the opposite sex and then choosing one for a blind date. The show’s
first run lasted nine years - including a prime-time slot - and it had a
series of revivals into the '90s.
"MAKING WHOOPEE"
Things grew a little more provocative with Barris' next show, "The
Newlywed Game," as couples tried to predict how their new spouses would
respond to a series of leading questions. The highlight of every episode
was when the couples were asked about "making whoopee" - the euphemism
the show used for sex to mollify censors.
Barris said there was no need to offer expensive prizes on "The Newlywed
Game" because couples were so excited about being on national television
that a new washer was all they needed.
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![](../images/032217pics/news_I19.jpg)
Chuck Barris is shown in this December, 2002 file photograph during
the premiere of "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" in Los Angeles.
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In 1976, Barris debuted "The Gong Show," which featured contestants
of varying degrees of earnestness being judged by a three-person
panel comprised of B-list actors and comedians. Once a judge found
an act intolerable, he would bang a big gong to send the performer
off in a cloud of mockery. Contestants who passed the test could win
$516.32, which was the union payscale minimum.
“When I started out I was trying to find good talent but all I found
was bad talent ... so I said let’s do a show with bad talent,"
Barris said in a 2009 interview with the NPR show "Wait Wait, Don't
Tell Me." "I always thought the people who did my shows, the
contestants, were having the time of their lives."
Barris hosted "The Gong Show" himself and his bumbling manner, odd
wardrobe and the irreverent party-like atmosphere he maintained were
a big part of the show's cock-eyed appeal. Some acts were so popular
they became regular attractions, such as Gene Gene the Dancing
Machine and the Unknown Comic, who told corny jokes while wearing a
paper bag over his head.
Television censors had to keep a close eye on the show. Panelist
Jaye P. Morgan was banned after flashing her breasts on air.
Other Barris-produced shows included "The $1.98 Beauty Show" and
"The Parent Game" but were not nearly as successful as "The Gong
Show," "The Dating Game" and "The Newlywed Game."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Mar/22/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png)
Barris was married three times, most recently to Mary Rudolph in
2000. His only child, Della, died of a drug overdose at age 36 in
1998.
(Writing and reporting by Bill Trott,; Additional reporting by
Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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