Monday, August 21, 2023

Celebrity Rock: Suave & Debonair (The Gong Show, 1979)

 While The Gong Show ended its NBC run in 1978, Chuck Barris and his parody of talent shows soldiered on in syndication for 2 more seasons, ending in 1980.

This 1979 offering leads off with the act Suave & Debonair, performing the song of the same name. Paul Reubens & John Paragon ended up in a tie for first with a perfect score of 30, but lost via tiebreaker. Series regular Jaye P. Morgan, or, as Barris would put it, "Jaye P. Mor-goan"), is joined by Wayland Flowers & Madame (The Hollywood Squares) and Carl Ballantine (ex-McHale's Navy).


In all, Reubens, playing various characters, appeared 15 times on Gong. Amazingly, Barris never returned the favor by appearing on Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

It's clear Flowers went to the Edgar Bergen school of ventriloquism, as you can see him mouthing Madame's lines.

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