69-04-10 David Frost interviews Jack Benny 

Here’s something that nobody else will write: I am 31 years old, and I love Jack Benny. But I sure as hell wish that more people would say it!

There must have been a time on earth when everything was good and perfect. And God was pleased and gave us Jack Benny.

Gee! Don’t know how the algorithms got this magic to me but thank you, thank you, thank you! Of course I love Jack Benny, but goodness, I certainly forgot how great David Frost was as an interviewer. A match made in heaven!!

Im a big fan of Jack Benny and i listen to his old radio shows almost every day.

Jack could do more with a pause and a "look" than 99% of modern comedians can do with hours of prepared material.

I am 66 years old and Jack Benny is my fave comedian. Big respect.

I've only watched 45 minutes of this and I can't wait to see the rest it is really incredible seeing Jack Benny so relaxed and telling these great stories. It's really wonderful to see him on for the entire show with no other guests than just he and David Frost talking that's really nice but he is the only guest it's beautiful.

Jack Benny is my serotonin. Thank you so much for this.

I love Jack Benny, and I loved the autobiography. I'm glad his daughter published it, it's not a bad book at all but very good indeed.

Jack is still the greatest! Thanks for posting, I'm glad another generation can see how funny he was in any setting.

I worked in the Mayo Clinic system and got to know a widow who moved here (Rochester, Minnesota) to be close to the medical facilities here. Her husband worked with Jack Benny on the advertising side and would meet with Jack on the Tuesday before his Sunday shows. Anyway, this friend of mine and her husband attended a few dinner parties at Jack's house and she said Jack was the epitome of a classy gentlemen. Kind, polite etc. She said Jack's wife Mary was very nice but extremely shy. She was showing me pictures of one of the gatherings and my eyes nearly popped out when I saw Groucho Marx in the background of one of the pictures so I asked her about him. She said "I'd rather not talk about THAT man" and I knew from her tone not to ask any further. I would have given my left arm to be able to dig a little and find out why she didnt like Groucho, but I knew it was a sore subject and moved on.

Jack has always been one of my favorite comedians, especially when he did those amazing skits with Rochester, Frank Nelson, Benny Ruben etc did during the 50's. There is a hilarious vid of Jack on the game show "Password". It is 1:27 long and worth watching.

As good and perhaps even better than watching his show - on the show, it is his writers’ material, here it is the man himself. And he is truly funny. I have watched almost every episode of his show that is available on RU-vid or on DVD, I have read the book his daughter published later, and I have seen about a dozen movies of his from the 30s and 40s, including The Horn Blows at Midnight ! Indeed a remarkable man!

Im 41 and at night i listen to jack bennys old radio show especially from the 40s. His whole act was gold

That was a great audience, they loved Jack and laughed at everything, and the best of them was David Frost! He was like a little kid admiring his hero, so delighted he was giggling, but still did the best job as interviewer. Knew Jack Benny history inside out, asked good questions and guided the conversation along while letting his guest do most of the talking. And Jack is the great raconteur and ultimate professional here, knowing his medium perfectly, timing his stories with punch lines that lead right into the commercial break.

What a treat! Thank you so much for posting! I love Jack and his performances and to get a chance to hear him do such a fun interview is a privilege. Thank you again.

Interesting and different sort of interview. You could tell Benny was a little self conscious, but once he had the violin, he was golden. This is quite a find.

I'm 61 and I have many of his radio show recordings from the 30s, 40s, 50s on TV. His crew were the BEST! The BEST!

Just in awe of this interview for the simple reason that in all other interviews I've seen (Carson, Cavett, Griffin), Benny never seemed more relaxed and open. I think it had to do with having 90 minutes, uninterrupted, as sole guest. I heard more about his life, career, jokes, etc... than on anywhere else and I always thought the Dick Cavett interviews were the best.

I soooo enjoyed this, thank you

It's very likely that I saw this when it aired at age 15 in 1970. While I was a big fan of Benny from his NBC specials and appearances - he was unlike any of the young comics of that era. I experienced his career 'backwards', catching many of the weekly TV shows in syndication in the 70s and 80s, and finally hearing the radio shows when they became available later on. As with Bob Hope et al, the older shows were sharper than the later ones, although Benny's writing team that he brought in during WWII was sharper than those in the Jello years. It is great to re-watch this interview with the larger perspective. I only wish he'd stayed for 2 more hours and talked about all his cast, and the radio experiences, and the technology changes, and the difference of making TV, etc etc. Better yet, I wish he'd been around for the TV Foundation interviews - I think he would have loved to go on at length. A lot of these guys didn't think anyone was interested in this minutiae, but a few of us are.

Thank you! What a treat!

jack was and is a gem.wonderful to hear fulsome praise of his visit to ireland and commenting on the visit being one of the thrills of his life.as an eight year boy i grew up with him and my father loved him.he was the only american comedian that made my father laugh. i have researched details of his life and where for many of his wealthy friends money brought with it the spectre of affairs and divorce he was often asked by them why he remained married to "one" lady." but i love mary" was his answer. he was especially kind to his coterie of stars who fell on hard times he did enormous volumes of charity work and he helped out failing orchestras as he appreci`ted the vagaries of running such large toupes of musicians and the pitfalls of touring in large numbers. by a country mile he was and still is my favorite all time comedian as it is very evident that he was as a private man a very decent and upright human being. they were simpler times for sure but jack epitomised the very best of that american era of the fifties and sixties with the advent of the age of television.i salute this man as a giant amongst entertainers. primum inter pares . . .first amongst equals

This is a treasure!!

thank you for this, it is pricelessly good!

Enjoyed listening to Jack Benny, as ever. But now I know where John Candy got his Johnny LaRue character when he was on Second City TV. The fake laugh is spot on.

Jack Benny was my late father's favourite comedian, the only one who could make him laugh out loud. Dad was severely hearing impaired. Whenever Benny came on the TV , he would pull right up in front of the screen and cup his ears to block out the distractions and take it all in.from the speakers.

There's a fantastic spoof of this interview in a 1970 episode of the BBC radio comedy I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, with John Cleese as Frost and Bill Oddie as Benny.

There's nothing mean or surly in the world of jack benny. Amazing personality.

Jack Benny and my mother.... Both born on St. Valentine's Day. Both long gone. Nothing but Love for them both.

A wonderful interview by David Frost.of one of the giants of American post war entertainment Long before the internet Frost was the first chat show host who achieved megarstardom on both sides of the pond covering both light hearted and ultra serious issues with equal aplomb ( and the only person outside the group who ever managed to coax the Beatles from their self imposed exile from live performance). Whenever I watch chat shows from the 1960s and 1970s I'm always struck by how much audience habits have changed:. In those days they applauded while today they whoop and shout .... at anyone.

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you, Laura !!

Jack's daughter Joan DID write a bio of her father called Sunday Nights at 7 [which was the time of his hit radio show] and then Jack wrote notes that she included in her book! go to your library and of they don't have it, they will borrow it for you from another library!

This is great, thank u

Thank you for this gem! "Maybe you're too close to me. "So he stepped back a little..."

David Frost hardly had to work at all here. Occasionally, he would remind Jack of the original question, but Jack would just go and go and go. Priceless!

He had such a gentle humor, always a delight to listen to.

Jack Benny's autobiography did come out in 1990. His daughter Joan retrieved his unpublished manuscript and edited it and added some stories. It is called, Sunday Nights At Seven: The Jack Benny Story.

My god, that set behind David Frost is an op art lover's wet dream!

Surprised to see that Hal Gurnee, David Lettermen’s director, directed this show. I thought he was with NBC for most of his career, before Late Night.

The opening music for Frost’s show sounds like Happy Kyne and the Mirth Makers from Fernwood Tonight.

Jack's radio show was hands down the funniest program ever.

Do you know is there any possibility to watch Frost interviewing Grouco Marx?

The greatest comedian who ever lived.

In New York, it was seen on WNEW-TV at 8:30pm.

What a nice way to end the week!

I remember this interview when it originally aired. I see this was posted by THE INTERNATIONAL JACK BENNY FAN CLUB. Do you know where I could find the David Frost Interview with JOHNNY CARSON? Is there an International Johnny Carson Fan Club? Always like David Frost interviews

THIS is how you interview a guest: ask an insightful question and let him answer. Pay attention loudmouth Sean Hannity!

I loved him too!

Lovely to hear the Fred Allen story ... and it isn't Albert Hall, it is the Royal Albert Hall ...

Jack Benny was only 39 at the recording of this interview 🤷‍♂️

What a wonderful thing...he loved his wife.

Many thanks for sharing! Please, do you know where to find David Frost Show 1971? I've been looking everywhere for this, for ages, I would gladly buy if it were available.

EXCELLENT...

I'm old enough to have watched the Jack Benny show, Ed Sullivan and few other well-known entertainers. If it were possible to turn the clock back and only meet two entertainers from that time period, Jack Benny would be one, the other would be Vincent Price. Two great entertainers whose standing has only improved with the passage of time.

Notice Jack's old Chicago accent when he says word Canada with err sound at the end instead of a. Artie Lange would talk about how old school Chicago would say pizzerr. Is that pronunciation still around among this generation?

Is that the wonderful piano genius Dr Billy Taylor at the piano at the beginning of the show?!

Why did I know as soon as he came out on stage there was a violin in that case?

Great video, the audio is ...

"Mary" was born Sadya Marcowitz and "Jack" was born Benjamin Kubelsky. Do you think they called each other their stage names or his sister?

KTTV Fox 11. 5746 Sunset Boulevard. Where the station was at the time.

He always has some kind of coin or something to fidget with in his hands.

They don’t make them like him anymore,pity.

I've always thought that Jack Benny and Don Rickles were the best comedians of all time. Totally different styles, but both did it their way best.

Lovely!

I think Jack Benny is great.

Has any one seen the other shows David Frost is talking about

did he get his biography done?

Does anyone see the resemmplance of David Frost to Prince William?

When you consider Frost as against Johnny Carson - you would wonder how the latter was any kind of sucess

When you watch some of these comedians from the old days...a lot of them haven't really aged well and don't hold up well. A lot of times they are just plain cringeworthy. I don't find that with Benny. I think he's just as funny now. I think it's because there is a real genuine quality to him. Btw, as a young boy I once met Jack Benny. Great memory.

Hero

69 days in April?

David Frost is such an annoying git. Is he always so obsequious and transparent?

What a vacuous and aimless interview

he never lets the interviewer talk...too controlling