As a child in the 'burbs of LA, this show was like something from another planet, and it seemed like they were exaggerating something that was real, but I wasn’t entirely sure what that was. I didn’t “get” Roy Clark, but many years later, after I had decided to drop out of HS and practice guitar all day long, I saw Roy Clark on Johnny Carson. I think he played “Ghost Riders In The Sky.” It.Absolutely.Shredded.
This “Hee Haw” dude could play like a muthuh! Mad props!
That number is BR5-49…
Appropriately corny? Yes.
Waking nightmare? Hell no! TV archives are full of much worse. I find the opening credits of many old shows embarrassing to watch, even when I’m alone in the house with the windows closed and the volume turned down.
Search YT for the opening credits of your favorite old TV shows. The odds are good they haven’t aged well.
OMG!
When I saw the freeze-frame picture of the two guys I wondered if it would be the “beab, beap, hebita-habita, slap, slap guys.”
(That’s what my sibs and I called them)
(Fortunately, that was only part of the password I may or may not have used)
Buck and Roy were name-brand musicians. I liked this show, and don’t see evidence of anything objectionable without manufacturing it. Will Rowan and Martin be marched to the scaffold next? Heaven’s sakes folks, this was decades ago!
Wonder Showzen was amazing and still is. Hee Haw on the other hand…
For me, nightmare fuel was watching The Little Drummer Boy each Christmas. Rankin Bass’ creepiest darkest attempt to educate us on Christian doctrine, with mustache-twirling villains, animal abuse, sketchy storyline, and the most annoying theme song/soundtrack in the world. Unbearable.
As soon as I moved out of my parents’ house, I put that shit in the rubbish.
I watch other RB shows (with critique; I’m looking at YOU, asshole Santa), but TLDB is too dreary to rewatch.
Minnie Pearl was awesome enough to make it into a dead milkmen song…
Mad Monster Party is their best work…
Minnie Pearl!
She even gets a shoutout in the Dead Milkmen song “Punk Rock Girl”.
I haven’t bothered looking to see if it’s the same author, but this isn’t the first time Boing Boing has had some issue with the show. I grew up watching reruns in the 80s/90s on PBS without realizing they were reruns (story of my largely non-cable youth) and was generally amused. I can see why a modern audience wouldn’t be in on the joke, let alone the general idea of 70s and 80s variety shows, but what the reason is to trash Hee Haw specifically on here, I’ll never know.
My Dad sold the in-show commercial breaks for ads for 12+ years. The entire packaged show got sold to affiliate TV stations. He got to meet Buck & Roy and others. Profits enabled me to go to college without a loan. Fond memories.
“Waking nightmare”…
Please. I grew up with Zum blauen Bock. After that, nothing scares you.
Oof. Boing Boing is generally devoid of takes this stale. Hee Haw may not be to everyone’s taste, but it is certainly authentic 20th Century American culture with some excellent musical performances. Not all of the values and people in rural America are trash. Maybe try waking up from your waking nightmare, practice a little empathy, and try to find something worth denigrating so harshly.
Some folk are very keen to throw out the baby with a very shallow understanding of the bathwater here.
Roy playing Malagueña on a steel string guitar is a brutal thing. Lucky he didn’t shed blood on a song meant to played on a classical guitar. Even using a flat pick.
You know, wasn’t Malagueña featured in the John Wayne movie, Rio Bravo? The “Cutthroat Song”? It was referenced as what Santa Ana played outside The Alamo.
I totally agree…as someone who used to play classical guitar, the fact that he played classical pieces like that on a steel string just blows my mind.
I like how Walter Brennan picks up the theme on his harmonica in that movie.
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