Show Notes Episode 402: Gene Gene the Dancing MACHINE
This week Host Dave Bledsoe plops a brown paper bag over his head and tries to pass himself off as the unknown drunkard. (The bartender gonged him out of the bar. Again.) On the show this week we are talking about one of the most influential TV shows of all time. (For certain Gen X podcast hosts anyway): The Gong Show.
Along the way we discover that Dave was not always the small, apathetic slacker he is now, he once had dreams. (Small, apathetic slacker dreams) Then we dive right into the creation of a talent show panel game show that broke barriers in the mid 1970’s. (Admittedly the barriers were to good taste and decency.) We follow the show’s inception as a fairly banal talent show into the pop culture phenomena that explains why large brass gongs are featured in every low rent talent show in America. (Talent shows are the largest single sales driver in the large brass gong market, after Nights in White Satin and Bohemian Rhapsody.) We talk about the secret ingredient that made the show click with TV audiences (raunchy humor) and why it eventually was kicked off daytime television. (raunchy humor and Jaye P Morgan’s lovely breasts.) Finally, we wrestle with the complicated legacy of the show today. Also, Gene Gene the Dancing Machine!
Our Sponsor this week is the St. Cyril & Methodius Roman Catholic Church of Boonton NJ annual Talent Night open audition call for the 36th largest Catholic talent show in northeastern New Jersey. We open with the trailer for the Gong Show Movie and close with the Gene, Gene the Dancing MACHINE!!!!
Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense
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Closing Music:https://youtu.be/EnBEmdxE_LA
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Citations Needed:
Major Bowes Amateur Hour
https://www.otrcat.com/p/major-bowes
Wikipedia: The Gong Show
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gong_Show
45 Years Ago: 'The Gong Show' Makes TV Crazy
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/gong-show/
The Inspired Insanity of The Gong Show
https://www.vulture.com/2012/03/the-inspired-insanity-of-the-gong-show.html
Jamie Farr discusses "The Gong Show"
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/jamie-farr
Uncited Additional Reading:
https://www.toomanythoughtsmedia.com/gong-show-oral-history/
http://www.tvparty.com/recgong.html
https://www.dannylockin.com/death.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Barris
https://www.metv.com/lists/11-gong-worthy-facts-about-the-gong-show
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