Hee Haw Explained

Show Name:Hee Haw
Genre:Comedy
Creator:Frank Peppiatt
John Aylesworth
Bernie Brillstein
Presenter:Buck Owens, Roy Clark
Starring:Archie Campbell, Gordie Tapp, Grandpa Jones, Junior Samples, Lulu Roman
Language:English
Location:Nashville, TN
Runtime:60 minutes
Network:CBS
syndicated
First Aired:June 15, 1969
Last Aired:July 13, 1971 (CBS)
Related:Hee Haw Honeys
Website:http://www.heehaw.com

For the EP by The Birthday Party, see Hee Haw (EP)

Hee Haw was a television variety show, initially co-hosted by musicians Buck Owens and Roy Clark and featuring country music and humor with fictional, rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop. It was taped at WLAC-TV (now WTVF) http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=5999571 and Opryland USA in Nashville http://www.heehaw.com/kornnews.html. The show was produced by Yongestreet Productions through the mid-1980s; it was later produced by Gaylord Entertainment, which distributed the show in syndication. The show's name was derived from the sound a mule makes when it brays.

The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being that Hee Haw was far less topical, and was centered around country music. The show was equally well-known for its voluptuous, scantily clad women in stereotypical farmer's daughter outfits, male stars Jim and Jon Hager and its cornpone humor. Hee Haw was a quintessentially American show; and its appeal was not limited to a rural audience. Indeed, it was widely watched in all large markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Other niche programs such as The Lawrence Welk Show (which targeted older audiences) and Soul Train (a black-oriented program) also rose to prominence in syndication during this era. Like Laugh-In, the show minimized production costs by taping all of the recurring sketches for a season in batches - setting up for the Cornfield one day, the Joke Fence another, etc. At the height of its popularity, an entire year's worth of shows would be taped in two separate weeklong sessions.

Creation and syndication

Much of Hee Haw's origin was Canadian. Two of the series' three creators, comedy writers Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth, were from Canada. Bernie Brillstein, the third, was from New York. From 1969 until the late 1980s, Hee Haw was produced by Yongestreet Productions, named after Yonge Street, a major thoroughfare in Toronto. The production company's name was a testament to Hee Haw's Canadian roots.

Hee Haw started on CBS as a summer 1969 replacement for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Though the show had respectable ratings, it was dropped in July, 1971 by CBS as part of the so-called Rural Purge in 1971, along with fellow country shows The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D. and Green Acres, owing to network executives' feeling that its viewers reflected the "wrong" demographics (e.g. rural, somewhat older, and less affluent). Undaunted, the producers put together a syndication deal for the show, which continued in roughly the same format for 20 more years (though Owens departed in 1986). In many markets, it competed in syndication (usually on early Saturday evenings) against The Lawrence Welk Show, which, for some of the same reasons, was also cancelled and resurrected in syndication in 1971. (In a few areas, Hee Haw and Welk were shown back-to-back.)

By 1991, a continued decline in its audience led to a dramatic change with more pop-oriented country music, in an ill-fated attempt to gain younger viewers. The new format (titled The Hee Haw Show, which had taken the cornfield out, and replaced it with a city street and a shopping mall) lasted a single season, during which the show alienated many of its longtime viewers. After its final 1992 season, the series went into it's repeat cycle. A decision was then made to end production on the series in the summer of 1992 and then a decision was made to bring the show back in syndication in the fall of 1993 and it would be renamed Hee Haw Silver which featured Clark hosting a mixture of classic clips and new footage, which ran during the 1993-1994 season to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Hee-Haw's debut in 1969. These episodes spotlighted a lot of the classic moments from the performers who had since passed away, including Stringbean, Archie Campbell, Junior Samples, and Kenny Price.

After the show's syndication run ended, reruns aired on The Nashville Network from 1994 until 1997. Its 21 years in TV syndication was the record for a U.S. program, until Soul Train surpassed it in 1993. Subsequently, Entertainment Tonight surpassed it in 2003 and Wheel of Fortune surpassed it in 2005. In 2006, Jeopardy! surpassed it also, making Hee Haw currently the fifth-longest-running off-network American TV program.

On July 17, 2006, CMT announced that it would begin rerunning the series starting July 29, and reruns began in late September. The channel hosted a marathon of episodes on January 1, 2007 but the show has only aired sporadically since, with only three episodes airing from that time (March 13, July 7 and July 8) to the present. The show is no longer broadcast by CMT.

In April 2007, the "TV Land" network recognized the long-running series with an award presented by k.d. lang. In attendance were Roy Clark, Gunilla Hutton, Barbi Benton, the Hager twins, Linda Thompson, Misty Rowe and others.

On August 12, 2008, RFD-TV announced that "Hee Haw" would return to a regular weekly TV slot premiering on RFD-TV Sept. 7, 2008. "Hee Haw" episodes anchor RFD-TV's Sunday night lineup, at 8PM Eastern; episodes repeat Monday at 10AM Eastern. RFD-TV airs "Hee Haw" episodes in the same order they were originally televised.

Cast members

Two rural-style comedians, already well known in their native Canada, gained their first major U.S. exposure—Gordie Tapp and Don Harron (whose KORN Radio character, newscaster Charlie Farquharson, had been a fixture of Canadian television since 1952 and later appeared on The Red Green Show).

Other cast members over the years included: Roy Acuff (the King of Country Music),Barbi Benton,Cathy Baker,Jennifer Bishop,Archie Campbell,Marianne Gordon, the Hager Twins (Jim and John),Gunilla Hutton (as "Nurse Goodbody"),Grandpa Jones,Susan Raye,The Buckaroos (Don Rich, Jim Shaw, Jerry Brightman, Jerry Wiggins, Doyle Singer, Ronnie Jackson, Terry Christoffersen, Doyle Holly), George Lindsey (reprising his "Goober" character from The Andy Griffith Show), Irlene Mandrell,Minnie Pearl,Linda Thompson,Kenny Price,Lulu Roman, Misty Rowe, Junior Samples,Jeff Smith, Rev. Grady Nutt,John Henry Faulk, Jonathan Winters,Slim Pickens,Gailard Sartain,Roni Stoneman,and the team of Jimmie Riddle and Jackie Phelps,among many others. Original cast member David "Stringbean" Akeman was murdered, along with his wife, in November 1973 during a robbery at his home.

Recurring skits and segments

Some of the most beloved sketches and segments on Hee Haw included, but were by no means limited to:

"Where, oh where, are you tonight?

Why did you leave me here all alone?

I searched the world over, and I thought I'd found true love,

Then you met another, and PFFT! You was gone!"

The "PFFT" would be done as a spitting "Bronx cheer", and occasionally, they would break up into laughter after the "PFFT", unable to finish the song (Who got spat upon during the "PFFT" would change each show.) Following Campbell's death, whole groups and even women would be part of the refrain, with future regular George Lindsay often singing the first verse. Occasionally, in the later years, Roni Stoneman (in her role as Ida Lee Nagger) would sometimes do the first verse. In some episodes, which had several major guest stars, the routine appeared several times in the show so that each guest would have the chance to be part of this tradition.

"Hee Haw" magazine (Vol. 1, No. 2, July 1970, A Charlton Publication) attributes this song to Susan Heather (a pseudonym used by Marian B. Yarneall),[1] (c) 1952, 1965 by Mamy Music Corp out of Paoli, Pa. Later references show copyrights held by Gaylord Program Services, Inc. out of Nashville, TN, but this may be because Gaylord holds the copyrights for "Hee Haw." It appears that this song Phfft! you were gone, with lyrics and arrangement by Ms. Heather, was originally composed as a Gospel tune. Bob Newman sang this song on his "The Kentucky Colonel" album in 1959. Mr. Newman is listed as a comedian, so it is probable that this version was the first parody of the original Gospel song. Later artists performing comical versions of this song included Archie Campbell on his "Have A Laugh On Me" album in 1966, and Buck Owens on his album "Too Old To Cut The Mustard" in 1972.

"Gloom, despair and agony on me-e!

Deep dark depression, excessive misery-y!

If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all!

Gloom, despair and agony on me-e-e!"

Each of the quartet would sing one line of the verse- a different one for each performance. (In later seasons the female cast got their own version of the song, first just lip-synching the male vocals, but later getting their own feminized version complete with female howls of mourning.)

"Now, we're not ones to go 'round spreadin' rumors,

Why, really we're just not the gossipy kind,

No, you'll never hear one of us repeating gossip,

So you'd better be sure and listen close the first time!"

The song featured a new verse every episode. In later years, the guys, in drag, would sometimes replace the girls in the skit, in return for the girls singing "Gloom, Despair..."

(In earlier seasons, the "Gossip Girls" and "Gloom, Despair.." sketches would both end with a repeat of the song's chorus, but in later years that practice was eliminated.)

While the meat of the segments were comedy-based, there were several serious, music-based segments, including:

At the end of the show hosts Clark and Owens, backed by the entire cast, sang the song:

"We loved the time we spent with you,

To share a song and a laugh or two,

May your pleasures be many, your troubles be few...

And ending with Owens and Clark saying "So long everybody! We'll see you next week on...HEE-HAW!!!" (The closing song would be replaced in the early 1980s)

"So long we sure had a good time! So long, gee, the company was fine! Singin' and a dancin', Laughin' and a prancin', Adios, farewell, goodbye, good luck, so long...HEE HAW!!"

Musical legacy

The show's additional legacy—probably its main one to most of the Southern and rural viewers in particular—was the hundreds of performances of country music, bluegrass, gospel music, and other traditional styles, that were featured on it during its run. During the 1970s and early 1980s, this show was probably the best-known showcase for popular country music on commercial television, aside from other half-hour performer-hosted syndicated shows (most notably The Porter Wagoner Show, which is perhaps the only other weekly country music show of this era to approach Hee-Haws longevity.) produced by packagers like Nashville's Show Biz, Inc.

In addition to the regular performances by the hosts and cast members, guest artists performing on the show appeared on a weekly basis. While mostly focused on the country genre, a wide range of artists were featured; these include—Alabama,Atlanta,Roy Acuff,Chet Atkins,Lynn Anderson,Suzy Bogguss, Randy Boone,Garth Brooks, Bellamy Brothers,The Buckaroos,Robert Byrd,Glen Campbell,Johnny Cash,Ray Charles, Jessi Colter,David L Cook,Sammy Davis, Jr.,Crystal Gayle,Lee Greenwood,Merle Haggard,Doyle Holly,Janis Ian,Alan Jackson,Wanda Jackson,Sonny James, Waylon Jennings,George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lyle Lovett, Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, Roger Miller,Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Ray Price, Charley Pride,Charlie Rich,Riders in the Sky, Eddie Rabbitt,Jerry Reed,Linda Ronstadt,Kenny Rogers,Roy Rogers,The Statler Brothers, Ray Stevens,George Strait,The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,B.J. Thomas,Mel Tillis,Pam Tillis,Randy Travis,Travis Tritt,Ernest Tubb, Conway Twitty,Eddie Van Halen,Dottie West, Boxcar Willie,Tammy Wynette,Don Williams,Hank Williams Jr., andFaron Young, among others. Elvis Presley was a big fan of Hee Haw and wanted to appear on the program in the 1970s. But his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, would not allow him to do so. A similar situation occurred when his friend Johnny Cash asked Elvis to appear on his show.

Hee Haw had a short lived spin-off series, Hee Haw Honeys, for the 1978-79 television season. The sitcom starred Kathie Lee Johnson (Gifford), Misty Rowe, Gailard Sartain, Lulu Roman, and Kenny Price.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Phfft! you were gone.. 2009-02-06. U.S. Copyright Office. 1997-12-03. Copyright Catalog (1978 to present). Library of Congress.