The Lawrence Welk Show: The Hair-larrious clip!

[KidsAndGroceries]

wunaful

[briangpratt]

It's a little scary to think that people actually liked this show.

[Pookatube]

@mohinderbauer the name of the tune is The Clarinet Polka. BTW, THos tune as the Candy Mountain Cave tune is Funny, there is even a flipbook version of this song that you have to watch it few times before you can pause it and see the drawings!

Thank God for the new found campiness of Lawrence Welk!

[maleficentdiva]

ITS UNBEWEAVEABLE! HA HA!

[carell5]

1. Why was she yelping? What was that noise she kept making?

2. They're using the Candy Mountain song from Charlie the Unicorn. "It's impossible to wear a frown in Candy Land so now, Charlie please will you go into the cave?"

[bluewingtip]

Bobby is such a dork.

[coolsweetgroovy]

This is so funny I grew up with the Welk show and I'm only 21 and I still watch

[FinallyunderstandU]

@coolsweetgroovy you are something else, d.. one in a million.. have a great weekend and thanks for the cute share

[coolsweetgroovy]

@FinallyunderstandU you're welcome CC

[mondoshrimpo]

LOLOLOL i remember when this was on tv when i was a kid and i was disappointed when my mom told me it was a joke ,,i just laughed and laughed my little head off LOLOL

[CatapultYourMom]

Lawrence was known to get freaky backstage.

[4awhitegirlprettyfly]

Yeah, I think every Grandma in the country watched this, and made the Grandkids watch too.

[jimmydcap]

@4awhitegirlprettyfly same here! great memories!!! I still watch the show from time to time on PBS tv.. Brings back my child hood..;)

[starbase247]

@4awhitegirlprettyfly My Mom watched this when we were little, during the time other really good things were on. I tried many things to ruin it, even building a kit transmitter.. which didn't quite work. In the end, a small electric motor with one of the power leads routed through a large wire antenna was able to do the job. 

[mohinderbauer]

What's the name of this song? I recognize it from Charlie the Unicorn.

[musicbuff9]

I wish someone would get the whole polka segment.

[apollo100]

I don't think it's a man. When the wig flies off, you can see longer strands of hair flying around her face, implying her hair is just pinned up, not cropped short. Plus her legs are way too slender to be a man's.

[zac613]

yes thats a man. haha they should have bobby pinned that wig to his head. haha

[patrick9648]

I remember when this originally aired when I was a kid. My grandmother made me watch it (didn't everyones grandmother?) I remember the next week them mentioning that the got lots of mail about it. She was obviously a plant, but they didn't own up to it until years later when they showed the clip on the PBS reruns. Its still funny.

[thatslavicguy]

man I would love to live back then....they were ALWAYS high lol

[phredyeats]

I actually saw this at the end of a regularly aired show back in the early 70's. I always remembered it. I had to watch the show with my Grandmother, much to my dismay at the time... this was so funny! I always loved his trying to put the wig back on her...Thanks for posting!

[splukey007]

I's a MAN baby !!!!!!!!!!!!

[mohinderbauer]

Now I know where the candy mountain song is from. charlie, we're on a bridge.

[cjam12]

SO FUNNY!!!

[msorensen54]

This . . . was my Woodstock!  :)

[nametroubles]

hilarious for a square.

[alexismaetaylor]

bahaha .

[hebneh]

I was suspicious at the beginning. And yeah, that certainly appears to be a man in drag, based not only on "her" short hair, but the size of "her" feet.

A better quality video copy, I admit, might show that this actually is a woman - but I remain dubious.

[DarkRider69]

Yes, because goodness knows, women are physically unable to have short hair.

[cjam12]

@hebneh Wigs were REALLY in back then. This is totally real!

[ataaah]

I guess she likes to lead.

[Bodie007]

Ralna wouldn't put up with that shit.

[hoffenpot]

This incident stands out in my memory of the Welk shows I watched. Yes, it seems staged. But still, to have ANYTHING resembling a blooper on his show was amazing. It has been said that the only things that weren't square on his show were the bubbles. Lawrence Welk was prim & proper so this remotely wild incident to occur on his show was definitely out of character.

[thermionic1234567]

My sister and I were forced to watch LW by our grandparents. This is why we are being punished by Obama, the Evil One. Yes, we are White; but we had nothing to do with it. But when the wig fell off, we were released, vindicated.

[Yesip621]

oh my goodness!!!!! you dont get tv like that anymore!!!!!

[strummin67]

I remember that episode too. (scary)

[bobriddle]

It's "The Clarinet Polka"

[beatlegirl8705]

It's the "Candy Mountain" polka from Charlie the Unicorn! Anybody know the actual name of the polka?

[musicbuff9]

This is very funny! I'd love to see the whole polka segment especially Bob Gerlic dancing the wild polka with Cissy King.

[eviboyd]

It makes me wonder if the girl is really a guy? This seems pretty wild for the usually tame Welk Show. I guess Lawrence had his moments. I think that devilish duo of Bobby and Cissy must have had something to do with it.

[eswick1]

This was not a staged event and Genise, the gal in the video who still comes to my Polka dances, is still embarrassed when anyone mentions this particular show.

[dupont94]

Now that was HILARIOUS!! I laughed so hard tears were rolling down my cheek!

[MichaelCrawfordsFan]

Hahaha! Awesome!

[Snookiebutt]

Of course that was staged..but funny.

[stlgtrace]

This worth watching for the ugly 70s fashions alone!

[astralislux]

Everyone is wearing a clown uniform.

[sigmaomeganuddm]

60's and early 70's fashion was AWESOME!!! shut yout mouth!!!

[alan1963]

Yep, it is sooo hilarious....it's just like "The Tonight Show" starring Johnny Carson.

[earthmother]

LMAO....now THAT is damn funny!

i grew up watching LW with my Gram...a lot of good memories there. i miss her and the LW show.

thanks for posting this!

~*~HAPPY NEW YEAR~*~

[pielacqua]

Oh yes Marge and I found this on Ebay. you can also go to Amity Island and swing like this.

[LisaLou111]

This is one of my all time favorite TV clips! I remember watching this in the 1980's. I have talked about it ever since! Thank you for posting it! Does anyone know where to purchase the original clip on DVD?

[tvcollector71]

This act was used at a Lake Tahoe performance and Lawrence decided to repeat this on one of his shows. It`s humorous for anyone that hasen`t seen this before which is why I decided to add this. This clip originally aired on a 1987 LW PBS special. Hopefully the entire show will air on PBS someday.

[beewardrobe]

was this planned or was it real?

[beezusq]

I'm with you. Seems too staged. . .and close-up at exact second she loses wig? And everyone rushing to help her? Still, funny.

[romeman01]

This was called "the wig bit." I saw it in a Welk appearance at Boston Garden. Two "random" audience members were chosen to dance on stage. The man's name was to be Gerlich, which Lawrence mistook for Garlic. The town one or both was from Billerica, a strange-sounding name to Lawrence. She threw the wig at a critical moment for all to see. Lawrence finally exposed this gag in one of his books (Uh-One Uh-Two, I think). Bobby comments on this in on a Larry King show (transcript on the net).