Cheryl Lynn (1976, daytime), won the top prize on her episode, before scoring her one and only big Disco hit with 1978's "Got to be Real".
Rhonda Shear (1979), 12 years before she began hosting USA Network's USA Up All Night on Fridays. A year prior, she was a contestant on another Chuck Barris game; The $1.98 Beauty Show with Rip Taylor, and was crowned the "$1.98 Beauty of The Week".
Gabriel Iglesias (Extreme, 1998), two years before he joined All That. While he was not gonged, he did not win the night.
On a more depressing note, notorious gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams performed a bodybuilding routine on the show in 1977, just a few years before he was convicted of murder (and ultimately executed).
Specific trivia:
Actor-Inspired Element: Jamie Farr was the one who suggested that the show adopt a glamorous look (e.g. the host and judges all dressed in black tie) to create a humorous visual contrast with the decidedly low-brow acts that came on.
Descended Creator: Chuck Barris was forced to host the show after original host John Barbour departed over creative differences. Barris's discomfort in front of the camera was clear but he ended up sticking around for the rest of the original run.
The Gong Show Movie had never been released on any home video format, and only appeared occasionally on cable TV, before a Blu-Ray was released on March 29, 2016. This can at least be partially blamed on the movie being released by Universal, while the show, along with the rest of the Barris library, had come under the ownership of Sony Pictures.
Many episodes of the 1976-80 era, including the concurrent nighttime version (especially the Owens year), weren't shown on Game Show Network, due to issues with music clearances.
Only two episodes of Extreme Gong seems to exist anywhere online. One is Gabriel Iglesias's episode, albeit with poor audio. Other episodes exist on the trading circuit.
The Pete Best: John Barbour, replaced after taping five shows of the daytime version by Chuck Barris. This was because he didn't seem to realize the show was intended as a parody and consoled Gonged contestants.
Referenced by...: A Fantastic Four story where the Thing was fighting an out-of-control robotic duplicate of himself saw the two crashing into the studio while the show was being recorded. Naturally, they were confused for another act (but lost to a singing appendix scar), and Ben wound up using the Gong to behead his robo-counterpart, Captain America style.
What Could Have Been: There have been a few (non-Extreme) attempts to revive the series. This thread on the Game Show Forum revealed that Sony was planning a relaunch as early as 1995, and taped a pilot for it hosted by comedian Chuck Booms. It was slated to be paired with Planet Hollywood Squares (yes, really), but Sony delayed both shows until 1997 to see how their revival block of The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game panned out. Wink Martindale uploaded on his Youtube page a pitchfilm for a syndicated revival from 2001. Tom Arnold would've hosted, the format was classic Gong, and was intended to air late nights. Sony tried again in 2003; this was pitched to The WB with Jeffery Ross as host.
"Weird Al" Yankovic auditioned and nearly made his debut on this show, but didn't make the cut. He did, however, later appear as a celebrity judge on the 1988-89 revival.
on the Game Show Forum revealed that Sony was planning a relaunch as early as 1995, and taped a pilot for it hosted by comedian Chuck Booms. It was slated to be paired with Planet Hollywood Squares (yes, really), but Sony delayed both shows until 1997 to see how their revival block of The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game panned out. Wink Martindale uploaded on his Youtube page a pitchfilm