In the summer of 1976, America’s television landscape got a whole lot weirder — and a whole lot funnier. On June 14, The Gong Show hit NBC’s daytime lineup, and nothing quite like it had ever been seen before.
Created and produced by Chuck Barris — the mastermind behind The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game — the show was part talent contest, part comedy experiment, and part glorious train wreck. Barris never planned to host, but when the original emcee, John Barbour, objected to the show’s quirky, satirical format and tried to turn it into a traditional variety program, Barris stepped in at the last minute. And television history was made.
Each episode featured amateur performers — some talented, some truly terrible — facing a panel of three celebrity judges. If the judges thought an act was bad enough, they could smack a giant gong to end the performance early. Acts had to make it through a minimum time on stage before being gonged, and if they survived, they were scored from 0 to 10 by each judge.
The top-scoring act took home a check for $516.32 (the Screen Actors Guild’s minimum daily rate at the time) and a Golden Gong trophy. When the show went into syndication, the prize increased to $716.32. And if every act got gonged? No prize at all — which happened at least twice.
Runners-up didn’t go home empty-handed… but they didn’t exactly get rich either. One second-place finisher reported winning a clothes iron worth $33.95.
While The Gong Show was known for its bizarre, absurdist acts (and many were!), some real talent did shine through. Twelve-year-old Andrea McArdle appeared in 1976, just before landing the lead in Broadway’s Annie. Cheryl Lynn’s appearance led to a recording contract and her disco hit Got to Be Real.
Other future stars who graced the stage included Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee-wee Herman), Steve Martin, and an up-and-coming band called The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo — later known simply as Oingo Boingo. Even “Weird Al” Yankovic auditioned, though he didn’t make the cut. Only about 10% of hopefuls ever did.
And then there was Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, a beloved stagehand whose goofy, infectious dancing during commercial breaks earned him a recurring spot on the show.
Despite good ratings for a midday program, NBC pulled the plug in 1978. In the show’s final episode, Barris himself took the stage to sing Johnny Paycheck’s Take This Job and Shove It — and was promptly gonged by judge Jamie Farr.
But The Gong Show wouldn’t stay gone for long. It saw multiple revivals, most recently in 2017, produced by Will Arnett and hosted (in disguise) by Mike Myers. That version lasted two seasons.