It’s been 49 years since Sonny and Cher said goodbye to variety TV. The former couple ended their CBS variety series, The Sonny & Cher Show, on August 29, 1977—for the second time.
The series featured sketches, songs, and guest stars galore. A synopsis for the final episode teased a look back at the season with an awards show spoof in which Sonny Bono and his ex-wife Cher presented a variety of tongue-in-cheek awards.
The couple also performed “The Beat Goes On,” “All I Really Want To Do,” and “Laugh At Me,” ending the series with their signature duet, “I Got You Babe,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in August 1965.
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According to a recap on Cher Scholar, the couple performed their final medley of songs wearing 1960s-style bellbottoms, fur boots, and banged wigs, making it a truly full-circle moment. While singing “I Got You Babe,” Sonny made fun of his ex-wife’s hair flipping, and she told him he was “still a clown.”
It was the last time the exes would perform “I Got You Babe” on one of their own TV shows.
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The Sonny and Cher reboot came two years after The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour had a successful four-season run, from 1971 to 1974.
The original series ended due to the duo’s real-life divorce and attempts at two solo variety shows—The Sonny Comedy Revue (1974) and Cher (1975)—which failed. But the magic of the bickering duo wasn’t the same during the second go-around, which debuted in February 1976, a little more than six months after Cher wed Greg Allman. The Sonny & Cher revival ended after two seasons on that August 1977 night.
Decades later, Cher still looked back fondly at the old variety shows she did with her ex.
“I loved them,” she said in an interview, per The Television Academy. “I think they’re funny. I think people like times that were simpler, and things that are historic always seem simpler. But our stuff was just funny, and it took your mind off of everything, and the family could watch and everybody got something out of it.”
“There was something for everybody,” Cher continued. “Plus, we had the top stars on it every week — and more than one.”
The music legend also noted that “the funniest pieces” came when Sonny ad-libbed his lines.
Ten years after The Sonny & Cher Show series finale, the former couple thrilled fans when they spontaneously performed “I Got You Babe” on Late Night With David Letterman. The 1987 late-night show appearance marked their final public performance of the song together.
Sonny Bono died in 1998 at age 62.
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