When Laugh-In became a big hit for NBC, the producers of CBS decided they needed something similar. At the time, there were a wide variety of country themed shows running on the network, including Gunsmoke, Mayberry RFD and The Beverly Hillbillies. Since these shows were popular, the idea of a show similar to Laugh-In, only with a country theme was conceived. Out of that conception, Hee Haw was born. It had plenty of hay and straw stacks, denim overalls, dancing pigs, sketch comedy and hilarious jokes, along with gags and corn patch scenes.
Country stars Roy Clark and Buck Owens were the hosts of Hee Haw. Clark is able to strum both a guitar and a banjo superbly and enjoys entertaining his audience by appearing in drag on occasion. Owens is more reserved and pretty much sticks to tossing jokes back and forth with Clark while they pick and sing.
The corn patch has many similarities to the joke wall that was so popular with Laugh-In. Performers are teamed together to suddenly stand up and crack a couple of jokes, then bend their knees and disappear between the stalks of corn. A wise scarecrow, played by Stringbean, is king of the corn patch and is accompanied by his friend, a cawing puppet crow.
The jokes told in the corn patch are so bad that they’re good. They mostly all have a down country slant and many of them are spouted off by cast members dozing with their head on a sack of cotton, their moonshine jug within easy reach.
Gordie Tapp and Archie Campbell perform their regular routine, “Where o’ where are you tonight," several times during the show. They are two of Hee Haw’s stronger characters and deliver the skit in a deadpan fashion that makes each skit new and innovative.
Other performers that delight the audience are Lulu Roman, Grandpa Jones and Junior Samples, who is a perfect example of a stereotypical hillbilly farmer. He gets many of his lines wrong, seems unable to read cure cards and draws a fine line between horror for his own incompetence and humor. However, he’s extremely likeable and is well loved by the audience that laughs along with him at every blunder.
A favorite skit of fans is the Culhanes of Kornfield Kounty. It’s a parody that features Lulu Roman, Junior Samples, Grandpa Jones and Gordie Tapp as a family who seems unable to summon any energy even when their farm is swept away by floods or plagued by locusts.
Another favorite skit of fans features Archie Campbell. He plays a barber who tells his customers complicated stories that leave them in the throes of confusion.
Other guests include Loretta Lynn, Charlie Pride and Minnie Pearl, who stars as a school marm. She is an old time favorite who gives the audience more than a few laughs.
The DVD comes in a collector case and it seems there are two different versions. One features a photo of Roy Clark and Buck Owens, while the other features the Hee Haw donkey and the company logo.
Hee Haw was filmed in Nashville, Tennessee. An original corn patch prop can be seen at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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