Gloom...Despair...and Agony on Me!

My friend, Anita, was talking about how she felt like the Hee Haw guys.  Most people I know don't even know what "Hee Haw" is anymore but we had to watch it every week - at the time, I protested (somewhat) - my dad LOVED "Hee Haw" and he only watched 2 shows and let us have the TV the whole rest of the week - "Hee Haw" was one of the shows and "60 Minutes" was the other one.  Looking back, he didn't ask for much but we still rolled our eyes and thought we were treated unfair - (pretty dumb looking back at it now).

Now, I look back at "Hee Haw" with great fondness (still not a fan of "60 Minutes" though).  It was actually pretty funny - in a corny kind of way.

The hosts were Buck Owens and Roy Clark and they were both really good singers.  Buck Owens had a very cool and memorable guitar. Buck was "a-pickin" and Roy was "a-grinnin"

Buck Owens gave that guitar to Trace Adkins, and he proudly kept it in his family room.  However, it was sadly destroyed in a house fire around 2011.

What was not to love about Hee Haw?  They had a lot of memorable characters and sketches.  Remember The Culhanes of Cornfield County?

That is Junior Samples there with the yellow trucker hat.  People thought that he was really putting on an act but he wasn't - Junior lived close to us for a while, in Cumming, Georgia and he was really like that in real life - just a plain, simple guy with a quirky sense of humor.  One of his most popular sketches was as a used car salesman - where he would kick tires and tell people to call BR-549.

 

Of course who could forget cute Cathy Baker...she was America's sweetheart.

Wow - she was really pretty, wasn't she? I bet she is still just a pretty - I wonder what she is doing now?  She is only 67 - I hope she is living a great life and enjoying grand-kids.

I often wondered if she dated either of the Hagar Twins, even though they were a little bit older than her (about 6 years old). Even though they are identical twins, I thought John (below and on the right side of the photo) was cuter.  Sadly, Jim collapsed (I think it was a heart attack but not sure if the cause of death was ever released) and passed away in 2008.  In ill health and depressed after Jim's death, John followed him and died in his sleep just 8 months later.  So sad.

Hee Haw was so popular - they had a lot of merchandising, including lunch boxes, coloring books and even overalls.  I know because my cousins had a pair (this is NOT my cousin).  I take it from the photo they were reversible.  How cute!

Of course I remember the Gloom..Dispair...and Agony on me skit.  The one my friend, Anita mentioned that represented her life at the moment...They would lip sync the song (not very well mind you - which was part of the joke) and tell sad but funny stories - usually about their woman leaving them.  Here is the song but the stories were cut out of the video.

I also fondly recall the men-folk also laying about lazily and telling stories - also which was some kind of funny story.

Now, let's not forget the ladies of Hee Haw - often known as the Hee Haw Honeys.  I couldn't find the clip I wanted - the Cornfield Girls would sing this song and were usually hanging up laundry on the line when they sang it but all I could find was this clip of them singing the song with Mel Tillis.

Of course a Hee-Haw episode was never complete without asking....

HEY GRANDPA - WHAT'S FOR SUPPER?

I liked how he would stick his hands through the "glass part" of the window that he was cleaning when he'd say something like "Three fried rabbits brown as a nut, an' homemade light bread's just been cut, candied sweet potatoes and black-eyed peas, an' coffee, tea, or milk, whatever you please."

YUM - YUM !!!

Of course this blog post could go on forever, so I will just end it with a happy little diddy.