‘Gong Show’ host Chuck Barris dies at 87

Chuck Barris, host of the legendary wacky daytine game show “The Gong Show” has died. He was 87.

According to the hollywoodreporter.com, Barris died of natural causes at his New York home.

Barris’ other daytime game show hits included “The Dating Game” and “The Newlywed Game.”

“The Gong Show” featured a series of contestants boasting outrageous talents who were then judged by a rotating panel of three judges including Rex Reed, Rip Taylor, Jaye P. Morgan and Arte Johnson among others. If the act was truly awful, the judges would strike a large gong signaling the contestant’s exit. The show ran on NBC from 1976-78, followed by four years in syndication.

Barris’ autobiography, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” in which he claimed to have worked as an assassin for the CIA in the 1960s, was made into a film directed by George Clooney in 2002.

Last October ABC ordered a reboot of “The Gong Show” with Will Arnett producing.

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