I remember hearing about that/seeing clips of it. I also remember the Gong Show (yeah, it was that bad, but when you're a kid, it's fun.)

But we also had Real People, That's Incredible!, and Those Amazing Animals, as well as things like The Smith and Smith Comedy Hour, and well, Bizarre and Super Dave.

And lest we forget The Smothers Brothers and Wayne and Shuster (though I don't remember the latter all that well, and mostly only saw the Smothers on other shows.)

And SCTV, and SNL back when Eddie Murphy was still funny.