Editing The Gong Show (section)

===="Popsicle Twins" incident====
During ''The'' ''Gong Show'''s run, Barris became well known for his clashes with the network censors, intentionally bringing in risque acts as a diversion to allow some of the less racy acts to slip by. In 1977, one of these bait acts, called "Have You Got a Nickel?", made it onto the show. The act consisted of two teenage girls, both wearing shorts, sitting cross-legged on the stage floor and silently eating [[ice pop|popsicles]] in a manner that suggested they were performing [[fellatio]] on the frozen treats. The nature of their act led to the two girls being referred to as the "Popsicle Twins".

While the girls were able to complete their act without being gonged, they were given low scores by two of the judges. [[Phyllis Diller]] gave them a zero, while [[Jamie Farr]] followed with a marginally better 2. [[Jaye P. Morgan]] awarded them a 10, quipping, "Do you know that's the way I started (in show business)?" and proceeded to eat one of the girls' popsicles.<ref name="Inde770921">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104764429/a-popsicle-act-gets-gong-show-in-trouble/|date=September 21, 1977|page=33|agency=Chicago Sun-Times|title=A popsicle act gets Gong Show in trouble|newspaper=The Independent-Record|location=Helena, Montana|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=July 1, 2022}}</ref>

The girls' act was approved by the NBC censors, who apparently did not see anything wrong with it during the rehearsals. However, after the episode was shown in the Eastern Time Zone, NBC cut the act from the later tape delay broadcast for western time zones.<ref name=have-you-got-a-nickel-1>{{cite web|last=Kaufman|first=King|title=Chuck Barris|url=http://www.salon.com/2001/03/06/chuck_barris/|work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]]|date=March 6, 2001}}</ref> [[KNBC]], alerted to the content, was able to preempt it.{{r|Inde770921}} The act was not cut from all the tapes, and the "Popsicle Twins" incident has been seen in reruns and retrospectives. Barris said in a 2001 interview with [[Salon (website)|''Salon'']] that this particular act began making him reconsider his career.<ref name=have-you-got-a-nickel-1/>