If someone asks what it was like to grow up watching TV in the 1970s, send them these clips from The Gong Show. Chuck Barris and Gene Gene the Dancing Machine were about the only unexpected thing on daytime TV.
I would lose my mind when Chuck Barris would be interrupted by his smokin' live band belting out "Jumpin' at the Woodside," because that meant stagehand Gene Patton would come out and be pelted by inflatable toys and props as the whole soundstage broke into pandemonium. RIP Gene!