Talent shows Posted Wed Jul 26 06:17:09 BST 2000 by Mogwai

Following on from the "Victor Lewis Smith You Overpaid Tosser" (or whatever) thread which mutated into "Shit Talent Shows" instead:

Anyone remember 'The Gong Show'? Not its original 60's run, obviously, but I do recall someone - I *think* BBC2 - running some repeats of this bizarre series when I was a kid. Basic premise: act comes out onto stage with jury sitting in the background. Act performs. If the audience hate it and start heckling, booing etc a gong is sounded and the act has to vacate the stage. Needless to say the result is akin to bear-baiting (only with gongs and cabaret acts instead of crazed carnivores and rampant bloodletting, but you get the gist), but that's NOT the most disturbing aspect of the show. I distinctly remember that a few of the acts - and a couple of startled pundits commented on it at the time - were very obviously mentally handicapped (I haven't got the energy to dredge around for evasive euphemisms, I'm sorry) to some degree, and in a couple of cases had clearly been dressed up in a tu-tu or whatever and then wandered out onto the stage with no real idea of what they were doing - whether this was voluntary or not you couldn't tell. Needless to say they got treated like all the other freaks who tried their luck and were booed and pelted off the stage. It's the one show I can think of that out-Springers Springer.

Only comparable TV moment that springs to mind: the time that Barrymore interviewed - and roundly took the piss out of - a husband and wife who liked to dress as elves, who were quite obviously mentally subnormal (early 90's some time). To my knowledge this item has not been repeated.

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