A-Z GUIDE TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS PARODIED BY MAD, CRACKED, CRAZY, ETC. UP TO 1996. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. SPOILERS AND OTHER NON-SEQUITURS, TOO. SOMETIMES THESE THINGS HAVE WORDS OR SITUATIONS WE DON'T USE ANYMORE. YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE THEY'RE OLD.
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Wednesday, November 24, 2021
THE GONK SHOW
THE GONG SHOW
1976-1980 Syndicated
THE GONK SHOW
Crazy #29, September 1977
w: Jim Maxner
a: David Wenzel
Game show that could have only existed in the seventies. Talent show where contestants competed, many were purposely bizarre, and the worst ones were gonged.
The host was Chuck Barris, a game-show producer appearing in camera for the first time. One of the judges was Jaye P. Morgan, a pop singer in the 50s and 60s.
Jamie Farr was another frequent judge. As far as I know, he didn't dress in drag on this show, but it was a trait of his character Klinger on M*A*S*H. Rex Reed, a movie critic and actor known for his effeminate persona, was another judge. Milton DeLugg (and his Band with a Thug) was bandleader on the show, but I have no idea why some of its members are The Beatles.
I don't know what Andy Warhol is doing in the second panel either. Is it because both he and Rex Reed were gay? John Denver is a contestant.
Other judges on the show were Arte Johnson, Phyllis Diller, Anson Williams. Rip Taylor was another judge who eventually hosted a spinoff called The $1.98 Beauty Show.
The Gong Show was successful enough to be a movie in 1980. It was as good as other movies that are based on fly-by-night TV and music fads.
UPDATE:
THE BONG SHOW
Bananas Looks at TV, probably reprinted from earlier issue
a: Bob Taylor
UPDATE 2:
THE GONK SHOW
Trash #1, March 1978
a: Walter Brogan
Hold on while I seventies-splain all the references.
Jaye P. Morgan, Jamie Farr, and Rex Reed were judges in this too. This doesn't quite look like Farrah Fawcett, who did commercials for Wella Balsam shampoo. The bionic husband joke is a reference to how her husband was Lee Majors.
Anita Bryant was a singer did commercials for orange juice, but was famous in the seventies for being an anti-gay activist. She was never gonged but someone once threw a pie in her face. In the last panel, Billy Graham looks as much like Warren Beatty.
Sometimes The Gong Show had recurring characters posing as contestants. The Unknown Comic (Murray Langston) was one, he performed a stand-up routine with a bag over his head and for a long time he actually was unknown. In this he's really Richard Nixon. Judge Sirica was the judge for the Watergate hearings. David Frost was a talk show host whose interviews were the first to reveal the true Nixon.
The Osmonds and the Carters were best known for their teeth and To Tell the Truth was a famous game show.
Ralph Nader, before running for President in 2000, was well-known as a consumer advocate pointing out the danger in products. The Gong Show might have been a copy of Ted Mack and Major Bowes, but if you want to get technical, you could say the same thing about American Idol or America's Got Talent or any show that may exist in the future.
In the Trash parody, I can spot a couple Drucker swipes. Brogan may not have had any photo reference for Anita Bryant; instead, he swiped Drucker's Natalie Wood from the Mad story "The Flying Ace". And for Billy Graham, it looks like he was trying to copy a small caricature from the end of "The White House Follies of 1972".
In the Trash parody, I can spot a couple Drucker swipes. Brogan may not have had any photo reference for Anita Bryant; instead, he swiped Drucker's Natalie Wood from the Mad story "The Flying Ace". And for Billy Graham, it looks like he was trying to copy a small caricature from the end of "The White House Follies of 1972".
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