# Chuck Barris **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 7, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-barris/153463 "2003-02-07T14:59:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-barris/153463/41 "2003-02-16T03:03:04Z")
The main difference is that the Roswell story is particular enough that it can be investigated. Actually investigating the Barris story would require expenditures in six or seven digits. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-barris/153463/42 "2003-02-16T13:15:02Z")
\<\< Actually investigating the Barris story would require expenditures in six or seven digits. \>\> Cecil, or Staff, would happily accept such sums in advance to do a thorough investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-barris/153463/43 "2003-02-16T15:26:39Z")
Shifting the subject a little, I’ve heard somewhere that Barris got a top producer’s job at ABC by helping cover up American Bandstand’s payola. One element seems right (he was the man ABC had investigate American Bandstand in the late 1950’s), and one has a felling that he looked the other way quite a bit, considering his friendship with Dick Clark. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-barris/153463/44 "2003-02-17T21:57:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Heh. As you might suspect, I’m putting off doing something else. How do you _think_ this board got to three million posts? That’s what we’re all doing here! Seeing you say this, though, gives us hope. It won’t be long before you’re hopelessly ensnared, obligated by the monkey on your back to post a dozen times a day… Bwahahahaha! ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-barris/153463/45 "2003-02-21T08:29:49Z")
Thank you, Cecil. That response puts your column in a different perspective for me. As such, I pull back my previous comment. **alewbail** , you’re recollections of _The Gong Show_ are much clearer than mine. All I recall is a vague sense of there being a panel, and the gong, and of course the big hook used to pull people off the stage once they were gonged. ---
**Author:** ![duber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c5a1d2/32.png) [@duber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duber)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-barris/153463/46 "2003-03-11T02:18:48Z")
Was the identity of the unknown comic ever revealed? Just wondering if it’s someone famous… P.S. [www.gongshow.com](http://www.gongshow.com) and [www.thegongshow.com](http://www.thegongshow.com) aren’t taken yet - quick! Register them before Chuckie baby does! Also, love Gene Gene the Dancing Machine. I read a book about the Gong Show back in its heyday that said he was just a backstage crew member…loved it when they’d roll out a refrigerator while he danced…and still have that tune in my head. I also remember the audience clapping along with Chuck, and how he’d fake them out sometimes ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-barris/153463/47 "2003-03-11T10:14:03Z")
The Unknown Comic is [Murray Langston](http://www.theunknowncomic.com/). [Here’s a pic without the headgear](http://www.theunknowncomic.com/art/ML_e.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![duber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c5a1d2/32.png) [@duber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duber)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-barris/153463/48 "2003-03-11T23:50:49Z")
Thanks Dijon! 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chuck-barris/153463.md?page=2)