The First Hee Haw TV Show Aired - 1969
Friday, June 15, 2007
Hee Haw was a long-running television variety show hosted by musicians Buck Owens and Roy Clark and featuring country music and humor with rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop.
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.
"Where Oh Where Are You Tonight?", a nonsense duet which debuted on the opening show and is perhaps the most enduring image that most viewers have of the program. 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 sometimes 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 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.) Later, whole groups and even females would be part of the refrain, after Campbell's death in 1987. 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.
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.
Where Oh Where Are You Tonight?
(with guest star Johnny Cash
(with guest star Johnny Cash
"Where Oh Where Are You Tonight?", a nonsense duet which debuted on the opening show and is perhaps the most enduring image that most viewers have of the program. 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 sometimes 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 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.) Later, whole groups and even females would be part of the refrain, after Campbell's death in 1987. 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.
Labels: country music, hee haw, tv shows, usa
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Friday, June 15, 2007.
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