What were the odds? TV wild man Chuck Barris turns 79
06/03/08 11:12 AM
By ED BARK
Somehow still standing, legendary game show creator and host Chuck Barris turns 79 on Tuesday, June 3rd.
Best known for presiding over The Gong Show, Barris also made hits of The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. In 2003, George Clooney directed an adaptation of Barris' autobiography, Confessions of a Dangerous Man, in which he claimed to be a CIA operative.
Here's a clip from his last episode of The Gong Show, which NBC canceled on July 21, 1978 after recurring battles with the host over the show's less than rarefied content. Barris appears as the climactic contestant, singing Johnny Paycheck's "Take This Job and Shove It" with the so-called Hollywood Cowboys.
Was he gonged? What do you think?