The NBC Comedy Hour

The NBC Comedy Hour was a comedy show that ran on NBC in the first half of 1956, intended to be a replacement for The Colgate Comedy Hour.[2]

The NBC Comedy Hour
Jonathan Winters, a host of
The NBC Comedy Hour (1956)
GenreTelevision comedy
Directed byHerbert Kenwith[1]
Presented byLeo Durocher; Gale Storm; various
StarringJonathan Winters
Country of originUSA
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1[2]
No. of episodes18[2]
Production
Running time60 minutes
Production companyNBC[1]
Release
Original networkNBC
Picture formatNTSC Black-and-white
Audio formatMonaural[1]
Original releaseJanuary 8 (1956-01-08)[2] 
June 10, 1956 (1956-06-10)[2]
Chronology
Preceded byThe Colgate Comedy Hour[2]
Followed byThe Steve Allen Show[2]

Leo Durocher hosted the show in January, and Gale Storm from February until April 8; from April 22 on, hosts were called in per episode. Comic Jonathan Winters was a more frequent face than any of the hosts; he appeared in 17 of the 18 episodes. Stan Freberg was also a guest 6 times. Topical comedian Mort Sahl's network debut was on the Comedy Hour. A group of acting chimpanzees named The Marquis Chimps performed parodies of movies in 3 episodes.[2]

The show was a critical and ratings failure:[2] Variety stated "A more poorly conceived, routined and paced outing would be difficult to imagine."[3] It was cancelled in June, having already been pre-empted 4 times in 5 months.[2][3] It was succeeded by The Steve Allen Show, whose reputation became a marked contrast to that of The NBC Comedy Hour.[2]

References

  1. The NBC Comedy Hour at IMDb. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
  2. The NBC Comedy Hour at TV.com. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
  3. "The NBC Comedy Hour". Classic TV Info. Jim Davidson. 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
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