Hee Haw: Return to the Kornfield

Hee Haw: Return to the Kornfield is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop. The series is loosely based on the classic series Hee Haw. The original series aired on CBS from 1969–1971 followed by a 21-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being that Hee Haw was far less topical, and was centered on country music and rural culture. Hosted by country artists Buck Owens and Roy Clark for most of the series' run, the show was equally well known for its voluptuous, scantily clad women in stereotypical farmer's daughter outfits and country-style minidresses (a group that came to be known as the "Hee Haw Honeys"), and its corn pone humor.

Hee Haw's appeal, however, was not limited to a rural audience. It was successful in all of the major markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago. Other niche programs such as The Lawrence Welk Show (which targeted older audiences) and Soul Train (which targeted black audiences) also rose to prominence in syndication during the era. Like Laugh-In, the show minimized production costs by taping all of the recurring sketches for a season in batches, setting up for the Cornfield one day, the Joke Fence on another day, etc. At the height of its popularity, an entire season's worth of shows would be taped in two separate week-long sessions, then individual shows were assembled from edited sections. Only musical performances were taped with a live audience; a laugh track was added to all other segments.

In early 2016, Adelphia Communications launched Tam (Tennessee-Alabama-Mississippi) Productions. The first move Tam Productions made was the announcement of their plan of bringing back Hee Haw. To make sure there's no confusion between the new series and the classic series, Tam Productions named the series Hee Haw: Return to the Kornfield. The new series took the same idea that the original series and minimized production cost by taping all of the recurring sketches for a season in batches. The entire season of Hee Haw: Return to the Kornfield is taped in a two-week session back in June and another two-week session in October. Using a laugh track for the sketches, the only thing that is taped before a live audience is the musical performances. The hosts are Bill Engvall and Ray Stevens, with original host Roy Clark being the consultant of the new series.

Recurring Sketches and Segments
Hee Haw: Return to the Kornfield brought back some of Hee Haw 's classic sketches and segments with a new cast. Including:

"PFFT! You Was Gone!"—A comedic duet. A cast member and a guest star would sing on the chorus, and the guest star's name would be mentioned somewhere in the song's verse prior to the chorus. On episodes that featured more than one major guest star, the sketch would be repeated so that all the guest stars would have an opportunity to participate. The guest star would often stand with his or her back to the viewer holding a pitchfork while the cast member, holding a scythe, sang the verse. At the end of the verse, the cast member would nudge the guest star with his or her elbow, as a form of slapstick timing, whereby the guest star would then spin around to the camera (reacting as if awakened by the elbow nudge) to join him or her on the chorus:

"Where, oh where, are you tonight?Why did you leave me here all alone? I searched the world over, and I thought I'd found true love, You met another, and PFFT! You was gone!"

The "PFFT" would be done as "blowing a raspberry," and occasionally, the duo would break up into laughter after the "PFFT," unable to finish the song; who got spat upon during the "PFFT" would change each show.

Hee Haw Players—Cast members take on some of the Shakespeare classics, with some unexpected twists.

Hee Haw Amateur Minute—A showcase of some of the worst talent of all. A cast member would play some yokel who would have some kind of bad talent, which would almost always end up with the audience booing it; throwing vegetables and the hook operator yanking said act forcibly off the stage. After the sketch, five animated cartoon animals (a duck, a sheep, a pig, a chicken, and a goat) would appear onscreen booing as well.

The Haystack—A male cast member and (usually) one of the Hee Haw Honeys talk about love issues while sitting at the haystack (the sketches began with just the top of the haystack on camera and then panned down to reveal the couple).

Pickin' and Grinnin—Musical interludes "dueling" by playing guitar and banjo the instrumental to "Cripple Creek," telling jokes and reciting one-liners. The sketch always ended with Clark's banjo solo, each time ending a different comical way. This sketch would always open the second half of the show.

"Gloom, Despair, and Agony On Me"—Another popular sketch usually performed by four male cast members sitting around in hillbilly garb surrounded by moonshine jugs and looking overtly miserable. The song began with the chorus, which all of them sang with each one alternating (in lip-synch) a mournful howl after each of the first three lines. The chorus went:

"Gloom, despair, and agony on me-e! Deep dark depression, excessive misery-y! If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all! Gloom, despair, and agony on me-e-e!"

The quartet began by singing the chorus together, followed by each quartet member reciting some humorous reason for his misery in spoken form, then the quartet would reprise the chorus and end with all four sobbing in typical overstated manner. Sometimes, in later seasons, a male guest star would participate in the sketch as the fourth member tearfully reciting the reason for his misery.

Also, the female cast members did their own version of the sketch, first just lip-synching the male vocals in the song, but later getting their own feminized version complete with female howls of mourning.

The Gossip Girls—This sketch is the female counterpart of "Gloom, Despair," which featured four female cast members surrounding a washtub and clothes wringer singing the chorus:

"Now, we're not ones to go 'round spreadin' rumors, Why, really we're just not the gossipy kind, No, you'll never hear one of us repeating gossip, So you'd better be sure and listen close the first time!"

Two of the four girls then sang the verse. Also, male cast members, in drag, would sometimes replace the girls in the sketch, in retaliation for the girls singing "Gloom, Despair." Also the four female cast members sang the song on the Cornfield set, with a male guest star standing in the center, between the four girls.

"Hee Haw Salutes..."—Two or three times in each episode, Hee Haw would salute a selected town (or a guest star's hometown) and announce its population, which was sometimes altered for levity, at which point the entire cast would then "pop up" from the cornfield, shouting "SAA-LUTE!!

The Cornfield—Vignettes patterned after Laugh-In's "Joke Wall," with cast members and guest stars "popping up" to tell jokes and one-liners. Guest stars often participated in this sketch as well; and on occasion, personalities from TV stations that carry the show

Animated Critters—Interspersed within the show, besides the above-mentioned chicken, were various applauding or laughing animated farm animals; a kickline composed of pigs during an instrumental performance; a pack of dogs that would chase an extremely bad joke teller; three sultry pigs that twirled their necklaces during an instrumental performance; a square dancing female pig and a male donkey to an instrumental performance; a pair of chickens dancing, with one of them falling flat on its face; the ubiquitous Hee Haw Donkey, who would say quips such as, "Wouldn't that dunk your hat in the creek," and a pig (from the kickline) that would sneak up on a musical guest (or a cast member) and kiss him on the cheek after his performance. Sometimes, certain animals would carry appropriate signs with some kind of quip (e.g. Hee Haw Donkey holding a sign that would say, "I'm looking for a "She-Haw!" or "Let us Bray!" Also, a pig from the kickline holding a sign which would say, "Oink," "Down with Ham and Eggs," or "Please DON'T Bring Home the Bacon!" A skunk would take his nose off and dribble it like a basketball before putting it back on while holding a sign which reads "Welcome to Smell-a-vision," a duck with a sign which usually reads "Eat Quacker Oats," or a cow coming into the scene and opening a sign that would say something like "Stop Beefing!" or "I married a Bum Steer"). The animation was produced by Format Films.

Stations airing Hee Haw: Return to the Kornfield
If your station wishes to air Hee Haw: Return to the Kornfield, feel free to add your station on the list. Take note, however that the list is in alphabetical order.