The NBC Comedy Hour
Encyclopedia
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
.
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. A group of acting chimpanzees named The Marquee Chimps performed parodies of movies in 3 episodes.
The show was a critical and ratings failure: Variety
stated "A more poorly conceived, routined and paced outing would be difficult to imagine." It was cancelled in June, having already been pre-empted 4 times in 5 months. It was succeeded by The Steve Allen Show
, whose reputation became a marked contrast to that of The NBC Comedy Hour.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in the first half of 1956, intended to be a replacement for The Colgate Comedy Hour
The Colgate Comedy Hour
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show stars many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou...
.
Leo Durocher
Leo Durocher
Leo Ernest Durocher , nicknamed Leo the Lip, was an American infielder and manager in Major League Baseball. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,009 career victories, second only to John McGraw in National League history. Durocher still ranks tenth in career wins by...
hosted the show in January, and Gale Storm
Gale Storm
Gale Storm was an American actress and singer who starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show.-Early life:...
from February until April 8; from April 22 on, hosts were called in per episode. Comic Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Winters
-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
was a more frequent face than any of the hosts; he appeared in 17 of the 18 episodes. Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
was also a guest 6 times. A group of acting chimpanzees named The Marquee Chimps performed parodies of movies in 3 episodes.
The show was a critical and ratings failure: Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
stated "A more poorly conceived, routined and paced outing would be difficult to imagine." It was cancelled in June, having already been pre-empted 4 times in 5 months. It was succeeded by The Steve Allen Show
The Steve Allen Show
The Steve Allen Show is an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, from September 1961 to December 1961 on ABC, and in first-run syndication from 1962 to 1964....
, whose reputation became a marked contrast to that of The NBC Comedy Hour.