HEE HAW

:''For the EP from the musical band "Birthday Party", see Hee Haw (EP). For the noise that a donkey makes, see donkey.''
'''Hee Haw''' was a long-running television variety show co-hosted by musicians Buck Owens and Roy Clark and featuring country music and humor with rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop. It was taped at WLAC-TV (now WTVF) and Opryland USA in Nashville. The show was produced by Yongestreet Productions through the mid-1980s; it was later produced by Gaylord Entertainment, who 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 Southern farmer's daughter outfits and its cornpone humor. ''Hee Haw'' was a quintessentially American show; and although its appeal was not only limited to a rural audience (indeed, it was seen in all large markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago), it is virtually unknown outside North America.
Its success in the 1970s alerted local stations to the wisdom of scheduling niche programs, those appealing to older or ethnic audiences, in less-prominent time slots.

Contents

Creation and Syndication

Cast Members

Recurring Skits & Segments

Musical legacy

Did You Know...

References

External links

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, the major thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario. 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 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'', due 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 basically 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, the remaining part of which was aging, led to a dramatic change in setting, to a more urban feel combined with more pop-oriented country music, in an ill-fated attempt to gain younger viewers. The new format lasted a single season, during which the show alienated many of its longtime viewers. In its final 1992 season, the now renamed '''Hee Haw Silver''' featured Clark hosting a mixture of classic clips and new footage.
After the show's syndication run ended, reruns aired on The Nashville Network until 1997. Its 21 years in TV syndication was the record for a U.S. program, until ''Soul Train'' surpassed it in 1993. ''Wheel of Fortune'' surpassed it in 2005. In 2006, ''Jeopardy!'' (''Wheel's'' sister program, coincidentally) surpassed it also, making ''Hee Haw'' the fourth-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.
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, Guinilla Hutton, Barbi Benton, the Hager twins, Linda Thompson, Misty Rowe and others.

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 character, newscaster Charlie Farquharson, 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,
Archie Campbell,
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''),
Minnie Pearl,
Linda Thompson,
Kenny Price,
Lulu Roman,
Misty Rowe,
Junior Samples,
Rev. Grady Nutt,
John Henry Faulk,
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 & Segments

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


★ '"PFFFT! You Were Gone!"', a funny duet featured on the premiere episode and holds firm as one of the series' most endearing sketches. In early seasons, the song was performed by Campbell and Tapp ''(both with solemn looks on their faces)'', in the vein of folk songs like "Oh! Susanna" and "Old Dan Tucker." In later seasons, Tapp would be increasingly replaced by that episode's guest singer, or another surprise celebrity. Tapp (or whoever it was) would often stand with their back to the viewer while Campbell sang the new, humorous verse solo, holding a scythe. At the end of the verse, Campbell would elbow Tapp or the guest (as a comedic visual cue), who would then spin around ''(Tapp would react as if awoken by the elbow)'' to join him on the chorus:
::''"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 PFFFT! You was gone!"''

The "PFFFT" would be done as a spitting "Bronx cheer", and occasionally, they would break up into laughter after the "PFFFT", unable to finish the song ''(Who got spat upon during the "PFFFT" would change each show.)'' Following Campbell's death, whole groups and even females would be part of the refrain, with future regular George Lindsay often singing 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.

★ 'Pickin' and Grinnin'' with Owens (on guitar) and Clark (on banjo) and the entire cast. ''(Owens: "I'm a-Pickin!" Clark: "And I'm a-Grinnin'!")'', with the duo (and sometimes a guest star sitting between Buck & Roy) 'dueling' by playing guitar and banjo, telling jokes and reciting one-liners. The sketch always ended with Roy's banjo solo, each time ending a different comical way.

★ 'Samples Sales', in which Junior Samples, as a used car salesman, would try to pawn off a major 'clunker' and then hold up a sign to remind viewers that his phone number was "BR-549." (''Hee Haw'' tapes were later sold using the "800" number 1-800-BR54949; also, the country music group BR5-49 adopted the number as the name of their band.)

★ '"Gloom, Despair and Agony On Me"', Another beloved sketch usually performed by four male cast members sitting around in hilbilly garb surrounded by moonshine jugs and looking overtly miserable. They song began with the chorus, which all of them sang with each one alternating (in lip-synch) a mournful howl after each of the first three lines. The chorus went:
::''"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 woman-ized version complete with female howls of mourning.)''

★ 'The Gossip Girls', featuring various female members of the cast surrounding a washtub and clothes wringer singing:
::''"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.)''

★ '"Hee Haw Salutes..."'. Two or three times in each episode, Hee Haw would salute a selected town (or a guest star's hometown) and announce its population, which was sometimes altered for levity, at which point the entire cast would then 'pop up' from the cornfield, shouting "SAA-LUTE!!" ''(sometimes after the salute, Archie Campbell would pronounce the saluted town spelled backwards.)''

★ 'The Fence', Two or three times during each show a cast member, standing in front of a high wooden fence, would tell a one liner joke. ''(''Example'': "I crossed an elephant with a gopher." Everybody in unison: "What'ja get?" "Some awfully big holes in the backyard.")'' After the punchline, a portion of the fence would swing up and hit the joketeller on the rear end-- regardless of their gender.

★ 'Archie's Barber Shop', with Archie Campbell, regular customer Roy Clark, and two or three other regulars sitting in the "waiting chairs" ''(on lesser occasions Junior Samples would be the one going into the barber's chair)''. Campbell would share comic dialogue with Clark ''(Campbell's legendary "That's Good, That's Bad" routine immediately comes to mind)'' or tell one of his "backwards fairy tales" such as "Rindercella".

★ '"Hey Grandpa! What's for supper?"' Grandpa Jones is cleaning a window pane ''(with no glass in it)'' and recites a dinner menu in poetic verse. Often, he would describe a delicious, country-style meal ''(e.g., chicken and biscuits smothered in rich gravy, and collard greens)'', and the audience would reply approvingly, "yum-m yum-m!"; although sometimes he would serve a less-than spectacular meal ''(thawed out TV dinners)'', to which the cast would reply, "yuck!" One notable run-through of the routine had Grandpa saying "Ah ain't got nuthin!", which would be the only time he ever got booed during this routine.

★ 'The Cornfield,' patterned after ''Laugh-In's'' "Joke Wall," with cast members and guest stars 'popping up' to tell jokes and one-liners. Until his death, "Stringbean" played the field's 'scarecrow,' delivering one-liners before being shouted down by the 'crow' on his shoulder; after his 1973 murder, he was not replaced, and the 'scarecrow' simply was seen in the field as a memorial. On occasion, personalities from TV stations that carried ''Hee Haw'' would appear in this segment with Owens or Clark.

★ 'The Naggers', with Gordie Tapp and Roni Stoneman as LaVern & Ida Mae, a backwoods bickering couple, inspired in part by the radio comedy ''The Bickersons''. Kenny Price made occasional appearances ''(starting in 1974)'' as their son Elrod.

★ 'The Hee Haw Gospel Quartet': This was one of the few serious segments of the show, and always featured near the show's end. Clark, Owens, Grandpa Jones and Kenny Price would sing a gospel hymn. Several of their performances were released as recordings.

★ 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)''

★ And after the closing credits, cast member Cathy Baker would say, "THAT'S all!" (preceded from the mid-1980s to 1992 by "This has been a Gaylord Production from Opryland Studios!"

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, the show was probably the best-known showcase for country on commercial television, aside from other half-hour performer-hosted syndicated shows 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 include—but are hardly limited to—Alabama,
Atlanta,
Roy Acuff,
Chet Atkins,
Lynn Anderson,
Suzy Bogguss,
Garth Brooks,
Bellamy Brothers,
Glen Campbell,
Johnny Cash,
Ray Charles,
Robert Byrd,
Jessi Colter,
David L Cook,
Crystal Gayle,
Lee Greenwood,
Merle Haggard,
Janis Ian,
Alan Jackson,
Wanda Jackson,
Sonny James,
Waylon Jennings,
George Jones,
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,
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,
The Buckaroos,
Doyle Holly,
Hank Williams Jr., and
Faron Young, among others. Elvis Presley was a big fan of Hee Haw and wanted to appear on the program in the '70s. But his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, wouldn't allow it. A similar situation occurred when his friend Johnny Cash asked Elvis to appear on his show.

Did You Know...

★ ''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.

★ At Wishard Memorial Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, there are signs throughout the hospital cautioning against the use of cell phones. These signs have an image of a cell phone on them, the display of which shows the cell phone "number" BR549. This is a telephone number regularly used in a Junior Samples sketch on the television show ''Hee Haw.''

★ Bowery Poetry Club in New York City hosts a regular "Urban Hee Haw" event. This tribute to the original show plays with the hick image of the characters by resetting them with foibles of city dwellers.

★ In one episode of ''Futurama'', the opening caption says "It's like Hee Haw with lasers".

★ It was parodied in ''The Critic'' as ''"Hee Haw: The Next Generation"''

★ ''The Simpsons'' had their own parody in an episode, called "Ya Hoo!"

★ It is referenced twice in the ''Family Guy'' episode, "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey".

★ In the movie ''Doc Hollywood'', Michael J. Fox says, "What is this? Some kind of Hee Haw hell?"

★ Like ''Laugh-In'', the show minimized production costs by filming all the recurring sketches for a season in batches - setting up for the Cornfield one day, the Joke Fence another, etc..

★ The video for "Rise Up with Fists" by Jenny Lewis and the Watson twins is a parody of Hee Haw, complete with cornfield, barnyard, and canned laughter. It also features Sarah Silverman. Youtube Link

References

External links

★ Official website

★ ''Hee Haw'' on CMT

★ Hee Haw Photo Galleries

★

★ Risa's Hee Haw Tribute Page

★ Buck Owens Radio Interview With Chris & Ron in 1997