The Gong Show with Dave Attell

They could never possibility match the drug-fueled outrageousness of the original.

If the reruns ever come back, it's fun to watch the devolution of Chuck Barris' persona. He starts out mostly playing it straight, has that great middle period where he's completely fucked up (like wearing a Flyers jersey, cowboy hat and a holster with a rubber chicken in it), then the sad decline where he's self-conscious about the mess he created and clearly just wants out.

 

It's not the real Gong Show without this guy:

 

It's a dead-heat as to who was more of a coke fiend — Chuck Barris, Laraine Newman on the fifth season of SNL or the entire cast of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ...

 

With the millions of channels out there I can't believe there isn't a regular place to view the original Gong Show. It's one of the greatest oversights in programming.

 

Barris was supposedly working on a big DVD release a few years ago. The word was the more he watched the tapes, the more he was embarrassed by it all and abruptly dumped the project. He certainly doesn't need the money.

 

Either that, or he was too busy killing people for the CIA ...

 

I have no idea who Dave Attell is ... I do know he is not Chuck Barris.
No Chuck Barris = No Gong Show ... just a lame imitation.

 

What about the ones that Gary Owens hosted?

 

Nope.

 

Posts like this are not going to help stop the "spnited is old' jokes.

And Smoove is great. I hope he finds the perfect vehicle at some point, because he's a really good personality.

 

Reality Bites is twice or three times the show Last Comic Standing is, that's not saying much but seeing the comics unsuspectingly trying to seduce their parents and actually be embarrassed to the point of one guy bailing on the show, that's says something. I don't know what it is. The best line of the night was "and my mom's a Jehovah's Witness!"

 

Might be old, but he ain't wrong.

This time. Next time? We'll see ...