Hee Haw

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Hee Haw was a long-running U.S. television variety show 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's name was derived from the sound a donkey makes when it brays.

Created by Canadian comedy writers Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth, the show 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 in 1971, along with fellow country shows The Beverly Hillbillies 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.)

The show was well-known for its beautiful, 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 (despite the fact that it was seen in all large markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago), it is virtually unknown outside of the United States. Despite being one of the most successful syndicated television shows in American history, many urbanites and those living in the suburbs of large cities were unfamiliar with the show, while virtually all rural Americans who had television were familiar with Hee Haw--usually they were the show's strongest fans. 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.

However, 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 22 years in TV syndication was the record for a U.S. program, until "Wheel of Fortune" surpassed it in 2005. At the close of the 2005-2006 season, "Jeopardy" ("Wheel's" sister program, coincidentally) will surpass it also, making "Hee Haw" the third-longest-running off-network American TV program.

On July 17, 2006 CMT announced that it will begin rerunning the series, starting July 29.

Contents

1 Cast Members
2 Recurring skits and segments
3 Musical legacy
4 Trivia
5 External links

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: Barbi Benton, Cathy Baker, Archie Campbell, the Hager Twins (Jim and Jon), Gunilla Hutton (as Nurse Goodbody), Grandpa Jones, Susan Raye, George Lindsey (reprising his "Goober" character from The Andy Griffith Show), Minnie Pearl, 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 in 1973.

Recurring skits and segments

The old philosopher (portrayed by Gordie Tapp) getting hit on the head with a rubber chicken.
Crossing 2 objects (Example: "I crossed an elephant with a gopher." Everybody in unison: "What'ja get?" "Some awfully big holes in the backyard.") The one giving the answer got smacked on the bottom by a huge fenceboard, and even the women were victims of the board.
Campbell was featured in three regular sketches. He played a barber, usually sharing comic dialogue with customer Roy Clark; he was the doctor, who handled various 'ill/injured' cast members with the assistance of the lovely "Nurse Goodbody" (Hutton); and, he was "Justus O'Peace," the local judge, whacking away at the various accused parties (as in the legendary "Here Come De Judge" routine of Pigmeat Markham).
"Where Oh Where Are You Tonight?", the nonsense duet with the chorus, "Where, oh where, are you tonight?/Why did you leave me here all alone?/I searched the world over, and thought I'd found true love;/You met another, and--pffft! you were gone!" The "pffft" would be done as a spitting "Bronx cheer", and occasionally, they would stop singing after the "pffft".

In early seasons, this was performed by Campbell and Tapp, in the vein of folk songs like "Oh! Susanna" and "Old Dan Tucker." In later seasons, Tapp would be replaced by that episode's guest singer, or other surprise celebrities. The guest/celebrity would stand with their back to the viewer while Campbell sang the verse solo, and then spin around to join him on the chorus. (Who got spat upon during the "pffft" would change each show.)

"Hey Grandpa! What's for supper?" (Grandpa Jones is cleaning a window pane with no glass in it and recites a dinner menu in 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 yum!"); although sometimes he would serve a less-than spectacular meal (thawed out TV dinners), to which the cast would reply, "yuck!"
"Stringbean" would read a "letter from Mama" to his friends (similar in style to the routine of American comedian "Charley Weaver"). When asked about the latest letter, "Stringbean" would reach for it, stating that he carried it right next to "his Heart" (his upper overalls pocket). Not finding it there, he would proceed to quickly check all his other pockets, saying "Heart" on each check until he found the letter, usually in his hip pocket. The friends would chant "Heart" along with him.
Minnie Pearl's schoolhouse. The beloved Grand Ole Opry comedienne would try in vain to gain order in the classroom, while her students were in the mood for one-liners.
"The Culhanes of Kornfield County (Gordie Tapp, Grandpa Jones, Junior Samples, and Lulu Roman)." A soap-opera satire, the foursome was seated side by side on a couch, resembling an old-time family portrait. With help from an off-screen announcer, they would discuss some family crisis while maintaining a dead-pan monotone look and not moving.
The "Empty Arms Hotel," in which Roy Clark would pop up from behind the front desk to deal with its clients' complaints.
"Lulu's (Lulu Roman) Truck Stop," which featured some tough-to-eat items.
"Archie's Angels," a parody on "Charlie's Angels," but unlike the unseen Charlie, Campbell was seen with his three lovely beauties in their detective agency office.
"Junior's (Junior Samples) Used Car Sales," in which Samples would try to palm 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 future country music group BR5-49 adopted this as its name.)
The "Gloom/Despair song (with the chorus "Gloom, despair and agony on me!/Deep dark depression, excessive misery!/If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all!/Gloom, despair and agony on me!)" Performed by a variable quartet who sat around looking sad, each of the quartet would sing one line of the verse (a new one for each performance). They would join on the chorus, with each one alternating lip-synching a mournful howl between each phrase in it.
"The Cornfield," a version of the Laugh-In "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.

The "Hee Haw Salutes" feature, in which that night's guest, or other celebrities and cast members, would mention his or her hometown and its population; the entire cast would then 'pop up' from the cornfield, shouting "SAA-LUTE!!"
"Pickin' and Grinnin'" with Owens and Clark (Owens: "I'm a-Pickin!" Clark: "And I'm a-Grinnin'!"), with the duo and the cast 'dueling' by playing guitar and banjo, telling jokes and reciting one-liners.
Riddle and Phelps, longtime members of Roy Acuff's Smoky Mountain Boys, would perform a comic poem, and then break into their eefing rhythm routine. Riddle would make a noise, "eeph," while Phelps would slap his hand against his leg in a percussion pattern called "Hamboning." Occasionally, the duo would break into their routine while joking with another cast member, and then get chased away.
Various male cast members would be seen sitting around and listening to comic stories by either the Rev. Grady Nutt, a Baptist pastor and humorist, or former American radio commentator John Henry Faulk. Nutt, who had successful LP comedy album releases on Word Records, had his promising career on Hee Haw cut short by his death in an airplane crash in November 1982.
KORN-AM radio, featuring humorous news reports by "Charlie Farquharson" (Don Harron).
Grandpa and Minnie's Kitchen ("How-dee! Welcome to Grandpa and Minnie's Kitchen!")
The Hee Haw Gospel Quartet, always the last segment of many shows in later years, and featuring Clark, Owens, Grandpa Jones and Kenny Price singing a gospel song. This was one of the few serious segments of the show, and a beloved one to many viewers. Several of their performances were released as recordings.
Various female members of the cast surrounding a clothesline singing "We're not ones to go 'round spreadin' rumors/Well, really we're just not the gossipy kind;/No, you'll never hear one of us repeatin' gossip,/So you better be sure and listen close the first time!", featuring a new verse every episode.
Gordie Tapp and Roni Stoneman as "The Naggers," a bickering couple, similar in style to the radio classic The Bickersons.
During the American Bicentennial year (1976), CBS News produced a daily television historical feature called "The Bicentenial Minute." Hee Haw's take on that was Grandpa Jones' "200 And Some Odd Years Ago" sketches, with Grandpa delivering 'facts' such as, "My great-great-great grandmother attended the 'Boston Tea Party.' She was the first old bag thrown overboard."
Hee Haw's All-Jugs Band, featuring a humorous song performed by all the female members of the cast, who blew air across the open mouths of various-sized 'moonshine' jugs to sound different notes. (The title of the routine was a play on both the jugs used to sound the notes, and the vulgar slang for the female breast.) Minnie Pearl announced the segment, stating "We're gonna play now;" at the conclusion, she proclaimed, "We're through playin' now!"

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 (band), Roy Acuff, Bellamy Brothers, Johnny Cash, Jessi Colter, Crystal Gayle, Lee Greenwood, Merle Haggard, Janis Ian, Alan Jackson, Wanda Jackson, Sonny James, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Ray Price, Charley Pride, Charlie Rich, Riders in the Sky, Eddie Rabbitt, 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, Boxcar Willie, Tammy Wynette, Don Williams, Hank Williams Jr., and Faron Young, among others.

Trivia

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.

External links

[Official website]
[Hee Haw on CMT]
[Hee Haw Photo Galleries]
[Hee Haw History], from The Tennessean
[Risa's Hee Haw Tribute Page]

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