For the love of Branson: Hillbilly Vaudeville

When I first got married, I desperately needed a job. So I went over to where my mom had previously worked at McFarlain’s restaurant inside the IMAX and applied to be a server. It was a good job that brought me through a time of transition, but the best thing that happened to me there was meeting my buddy, Josh Watson!

Josh and I would talk for hours about my Song of Hope movement to keep the music alive in Branson and he had an idea of his own. He pitched the concept of having standup comedy shows in any theatre or venue that would allow it!

Therefore, Josh and I founded the Branson Comedy Collective with him leading it as the president and the mission to revitalize the standup scene in our town.

However, we did so with one principle in mind. That we would also honor the incredible history of stage comedy that literally put Branson on the map. You see, Josh knew that history well. His dad was a performer at Silver Dollar City and was great friends with Branson comedy legend, Terry Wayne Sanders. So the next step was Josh joined the board of the Song of Hope Historical Society, and we started chronicling the history of what we affectionately call, Hillbilly Vaudeville!

In one of my recent articles, we talked about the uniqueness of a Branson show and everything it contains. Always a gospel number, always a patriotic segment, and it is always interrupted by the hillbilly comedian. Now, I don’t want to take away from some of the more rat pack style comedians like Branson’s only Emmy Award Winner and my dad’s dear friend, Philip Wellford. However, for the most part the icons of Branson were names like Droopy Drawers, Hargus Marcel, and Harley Worthit! In an eclectic documentary released a decade or so ago, one of the Lennon brothers gave this quote that “we always lie to strangers.” Essentially that harkens back to what Gary Presley AKA Herkimer always says when he’s out of character that when a Branson tourist comes to the town, they always want to see a hillbilly, no matter how intelligent or sophisticated that performer is in their home life.

There are way too many Branson comedy legends to name, and we will honor them all at our Song of Hope Museum. But Josh and I decided when Jerl Adams AKA Hargus Marcel retired from the Baldknobbers that we would start a new award called the Branson Comedy Collective Lifetime Achievement Award. We honored Hargus Marcel with it and then at a standup comedy show that we organized, honored his longtime collaborator Tim Mabe AKA Droopy Drawers Jr with that same recognition. As we sit now we definitely have plans to honor more of Branson’s comedy legends.

And that isn’t to take away from the great comedy scouts of Branson’s history. Ozarks Legend Shad Heller practically discovered Terry Wayne Sanders after all and brought him into his iconic Toby Show. Furthermore, an article about the history of Branson comedy wouldn’t be complete without talking about people like my grandpa Mel Tillis, or the indelible Jim Stafford, the showstopper Ray Stevens and of course perhaps the G.O.A.T of Branson comedy, Yakov Smirnoff! For when the Branson Boom happened in the 1990s, the entertainers who came to Branson either hired hilarious comedy performers to be in their show or handled the comedy on their own like my grandpa!

Yes, this article is another retelling of the story but the formula remains the same. Branson audiences want variety, Hillbilly Vaudeville if you will and that is provided by the interruption of these iconic performers three or four times per show. And just like anything in Branson, it is a family affair! Herkimer is the father of Cecil at the Presley’s Country Jubilee and they even had Eric Presley (who plays Cecil) introduce his son Ben as a third generation comedian literally bringing up the rear! One of the founders of the Baldknobbers, Jim Mabe, played Droopy Drawers for years and had his son Tim reprise the character years later calling him Droop Jr! For in the same way that I stood on the side of the stage and watched my grandpa for years, these iconic performers followed in their dad’s footsteps and my good buddy Josh was inspired by his dad to keep all of the hilarious history alive!