Chuck Barris
Legendary television show creator, producer and host
Exclusive Representation by Greater Talent Network
Perhaps no one else has had as much of an influence on modern television as Chuck Barris. Most famously the creator of The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and the mastermind and host of the wildly popular and utterly bizarre Gong Show, Barris created some of the most innovative and groundbreaking television of our time. What he brought to television was spontaneity using ordinary people, and the country tuned in to watch. Barris's use of spontaneity - no right or wrong answers - is generally accepted as the beginning of TV's "reality programming" as we know it today.
Although he is the most prolific creator of game shows in television history, Barris is best known for his work on The Gong Show. The program was a kitschy spoof of amateur talent revues. The show constantly pushed the limit of what was appropriate to show on television at that time. Barris, as the host, was what held the antics of the show together. The Gong Show made stars out of many of the program's performers including The Unknown Comic, Gene Gene the Dancing Machine and the infamous Popsicle Twins. Most of all it made Chuck Barris a household name. Irreverent, wacky and ahead of its time, the show is the inspiration for many of the TV programs on the air today.
Barris is back in the limelight as the subject of a new A&E Biography and a movie based on his best-selling autobiography, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, directed by George Clooney and starring Clooney, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore and Sam Rockwell playing Chuck Barris. Barris now brings to the podium the hilarious chronicle of his rise in Hollywood, his highly questionable exploits as a CIA assassin, his triumphs as a best-selling author, hit music writer and the real story of how he changed television forever.
An ex-TelePrompTer salesman, boxing promoter and NBC page, Barris rapidly rose through the TV industry until he was one of the most prosperous TV producers in Hollywood and Chairman and CEO of Barris Industries, a publicly traded company. At one point the company was putting 27 half-hour shows on network television every week. And though critics loved to hate Barris's shows, fascinated audiences couldn't help but watch.
Barris also changed the television industry behind the scenes, perhaps having an even greater impact than his onscreen successes. When the network dropped one of his shows before it ever aired, Barris bought back the pilot and sold the show to local stations one at a time'and first-run syndication was created. It is now a multibillion-dollar industry.
After selling his company in 1986, Barris moved to France and spent the next ten years writing in Saint Tropez. He and his wife Mary currently live in Manhattan, where Barris fought and won a battle with lung cancer. A one-time smoker, he encourages everyone to get a CT scan for early detection of this terrible disease.
Interested in booking Chuck Barris to speak at your next event?
Although he is the most prolific creator of game shows in television history, Barris is best known for his work on The Gong Show. The program was a kitschy spoof of amateur talent revues. The show constantly pushed the limit of what was appropriate to show on television at that time. Barris, as the host, was what held the antics of the show together. The Gong Show made stars out of many of the program's performers including The Unknown Comic, Gene Gene the Dancing Machine and the infamous Popsicle Twins. Most of all it made Chuck Barris a household name. Irreverent, wacky and ahead of its time, the show is the inspiration for many of the TV programs on the air today.
Barris is back in the limelight as the subject of a new A&E Biography and a movie based on his best-selling autobiography, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, directed by George Clooney and starring Clooney, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore and Sam Rockwell playing Chuck Barris. Barris now brings to the podium the hilarious chronicle of his rise in Hollywood, his highly questionable exploits as a CIA assassin, his triumphs as a best-selling author, hit music writer and the real story of how he changed television forever.
An ex-TelePrompTer salesman, boxing promoter and NBC page, Barris rapidly rose through the TV industry until he was one of the most prosperous TV producers in Hollywood and Chairman and CEO of Barris Industries, a publicly traded company. At one point the company was putting 27 half-hour shows on network television every week. And though critics loved to hate Barris's shows, fascinated audiences couldn't help but watch.
Barris also changed the television industry behind the scenes, perhaps having an even greater impact than his onscreen successes. When the network dropped one of his shows before it ever aired, Barris bought back the pilot and sold the show to local stations one at a time'and first-run syndication was created. It is now a multibillion-dollar industry.
After selling his company in 1986, Barris moved to France and spent the next ten years writing in Saint Tropez. He and his wife Mary currently live in Manhattan, where Barris fought and won a battle with lung cancer. A one-time smoker, he encourages everyone to get a CT scan for early detection of this terrible disease.
Interested in booking Chuck Barris to speak at your next event?
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