When I was a kid, Saturday nights were pretty sacred, TV-wise.
First, it was Lawrence Welk — well, I didn’t enjoy it; my parents did — followed by Hee Haw. Then it was the Muppet Show, followed by The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.
An hour of boring music, two hours of solid comedy, and then a bunch of kissing, and finally some drama. When you’re ten years old, you’re mostly interested in comedy, not so much the kissing part. Definitely not the boring music.
Hee Haw was one of those shows I enjoyed, because it was pretty funny: a few comedy sketches, bad jokes, humorous songs, and then once in a while, they would interrupt the good stuff with someone singing country music. I’d roll my eyes through the music before they got back to the funny stuff.
Grandpa, Minnie Pearl, Junior Samples, Gordie Tapp, Lulu Roman, Archie Campbell, Marianne Gordon, and of course, Roy Clark and Buck Owens. (I had a crush on Marianne Gordon.)
When I got older and went to college, Hee Haw just sort of fell out of my Saturday night rotation because I was doing college things, until I completely forgot about it.
But my ears perked up when Breakthrough Theatre launched their show, “Hee Haw 2: Still Pickin’ and a Grinnin’,” the sequel to last season’s salute to the eponymous TV show.
While I missed last year’s show, I was able to attend this year’s show and was instantly sent back to 1977 Muncie, Indiana, sitting on the floor, watching the good people of Kornfield Kounty sing, tell jokes, share the news, and salute one small town after another.
Sitting in the small theater, I felt the years slip away as I was transported back to Kornfield Kounty one more time. There they all were: Junior, Gordie, Archie, Lulu, and of course, Minnie Pearl (Felicia Melcher).
They reprised the variety show format by performing several of the old favorites: Gloom, Despair, and Agony On Me; The Moonshiners; PFFT! You Was Gone; The Gossip Girls; and Archie the Barber.
And they sang a lot of the songs that I had heard back then and thought were boring.
To be honest, I was a little bored with the songs because — once again — they interrupted the comedy. But to be even more honest, I knew them! I remembered them! I hummed along with them. I had to refrain from singing along with a lot of them.
(Seriously, though, I loved the songs at the show. I realized what I had missed out on all those years ago by looking down on the music.)
In the cast, there were 10 women and five men, and each cast member got a chance to do a solo of one of the songs, including:
- Charlie Pride, Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’
- Jessi Colter, I’m Not Lisa
- Holly Dunn, Daddy’s Hands
- Roy Clark & Buck Owens, May the Bird of Paradise, She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain, and Love’s Gonna Live Here Again
- Patty Page, Tennessee Waltz
- The Highway Men, So Help Me Jesus, Ring of Fire, Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys
and, of course, Ray Stevens’ The Streak.
I discovered I knew a lot more songs than I had realized. And that I had heard many of these songs for the first time on Hee Haw before hearing them on regular radio. In fact, a lot of famous singers showed up in Kornfield Kounty, including Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, Charlie Pride, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, and Freddie Fender. Even Garth Brooks made a few appearances early in his career.
Breakthrough’s singers did the songs justice, and they were certainly pleasurable to listen to. The comedy was just as corny — excuse me, Korny — as I remember it, and I still laughed at the old jokes and songs. PFFT! You Were Gone, and Doom, Despair, and Agony On Me were my favorites.
This may have been one of my favorite shows at Breakthrough Theatre, because I was baptized in the river of nostalgia once more, reliving a fond childhood memory that I hadn’t thought about for more than 35 years.
The cast and crew of Hee Haw 2 took me back to my small house in Muncie, Indiana, sitting on the ugly green carpet, as my parents, sister, and I watched the TV with the broken channel dial that you had to change with pliers.
I got to hear some of the same songs, laugh at the same jokes, and sing along to Doom, Despair, and Agony On Me once again.
Hee Haw 2 runs through Monday, June 22 (no show on Sunday for Father’s Day). Tickets are $21, or $19 if you watched the early shows as a little kid (i.e., if you’re 60 and over). Also, Monday’s show is $15.
There’s still time to get your ticket to give to Dad on Father’s Day.
Photo credit: Breakthrough Theatre Company