Chuck Barris hosted a game show in the '70s called the Gong Show. It was an early version of America's Got Talent in which amateurs would compete and, if they were terrible, the celebrity judges would bang the gong and end their performance.

Sometimes the show was painful to watch. But then there were times, depending upon how many people were gonged on a particular show, in which the show would run a little short. Sometimes a repeat fill person was the unknown comic. A guy came out with a paper bag on his head and told jokes. But my favorite is when they brought out Gene Gene the Dancin' Machine. He was more commonly known as Eugene Patton. He was a stagehand for many early TV shows. Chuck Barris would bring him out to shuffle and dance his way through Count Basie's Jumpin at the Woodside.

Gene Gene passed away due to complications from diabetes this week. He's doing his dancing on the "big stage" now.

 

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