If I live to be a hundred, I’ll never understand why Jack never did a take on “A Christmas Carol”! He would have been a magnificently hilarious Scrooge with Fred Allen as a scolding Marley.
Mike did a TREMENDOUS job with this. I am a drummer/singer/broadcaster who has done many productions myself. In fact I just recently did a short podcast tribute to Jack. I really love the way that Mike set up every segment here. You can tell that he is a thorough, keenly precise historian. His excellent setups here really added to the enjoyment of the various durations of the laughs! Superb job by Mike.
"That WAS great!"...thanks for laughs . Jack Benny always said in interviews that the "most famous laugh" was "I'm thinking it over" , which he said got all over the world by the next day. And Jack would also say the "biggest laugh" was Mary's 'oh shut up". And now we have the longest laughs which to me was what I believed came from Mel Blanc saying "How do you do?". I really thought that was the longest. it certainly was an explosion of laughter. I always liked Phil Harris and his messed up lines like "maybe Jack will take us to the Big Derby for dinner...or make it the Brown Derby...make it the Big Brown Derby" . And Bea Benaderet going around just before the show started, taking bets on who would mess up their lines first. Great laughs from the people who became family every Sunday night!
"Oh, shut up!" Just a perfect example of how Jack and his writers could play on his stage persona to create one of the funniest moments in radio history. (And Mary's delivery of the line was impeccable.)
Thanks to all involved. This is fascinating and of course tremendous fun. Mary Livingstone was so underrated as a comedienne; the perfect deflator of any Jack Benny pompousness.
I love your video. I miss these shows that I grew up with. Jack Benny was one of the greatest comics who ever lived. The writers were excellent. My dad write some scripts for Rich Little. Canadians are funny too.
Thank you so much Mike for the clips. I have only just discovered Jack Benny here in England and I have never laughed so much. I have listened to some of his radio shows on BBC 4 Extra and watched many of his TV shows on You Tube. They have cheered me up during our national lockdown. I admire Jack Benny in having a black comic actor Eddie Anderson, performing as his equal and not in a subservient role during a prime time show. You would not have had this situation in comedy or light entertainment shows on the BBC & ITV during Benny's time on radio & TV in the US.
@@BoopShooBee I really agree with this analogy, and it's surprising how this was the case in the 1940s and 1950s. You essentially have a black Jeeves who's long-suffering of and often making ironic commentary about his white employer's personal follies.
I've met several British fans of Benny over the years, and I think Neil Gaiman, of all people, is a big fan of Benny's humor. Serious question: do you think there's something about Benny's comedy that's more like British humor?
The reason Jack didnt want ad-libs was one time very early in his radio programs, around 1935, people ad-libed and caused the program to run 18 minutes over schedule due to the audience laughter. So if you were listening at home that Sunday you just heard about half the show.
Thank you so much for this. Although too young to remember the show (which wasn't broadcast in UK, anyway), I'm enjoying catching up with it, via RU-vid. If ever you decide to do a TV equivalent, you might consider the segment where Jack stops at the FREE stall in 'Jack at the supermarket,' the laughter from which I timed at 32 secs.
That one doesn't appear on Laura's list. A couple of other Mary fluffs did, including "Your darn one last near made it." jackbenny.org/biography/other/longest_laugh.htm
Great job, Mike. This is the funniest video on RU-vid! I have collected audios of the Jack Benny radio shows for the past 14 years, and you have hit the nail on the head with this compilation. Many thanks!
I always thought the longest laugh with Jack wasn't on his show but on Fred Allen's - the infamous King for a Day skit, when Fred rattled off all the prizes that Jack "won," then brought in a pressing machine and started having Jack's clothes taken off - in real time! The laughter never STOPPED! Jack: Now, wait a minute, Allen! Fred: Keep your shirt on, King! Jack: You bet I'll keep my shirt on! Fred: We're a little late, folks! Tune again next time! Jack: Oh come on, Allen! Give me my pants! Fred: Benny! For 15 years I've been waiting to catch you like this! Jack: Allen! You haven't seen the end of me! Fred: IT WON'T BE LONG NOW!!
Yes ! That's my all time favorite skit from Fred Allen's program. A parody of the popular "Queen for a Day" program (on Allen's series, it was called "King for a Day").
I think one of the longest Benny laughs was while over seas he asked a salesman the price of a necktie he was interested in. The price was given and the Benny reaction was a steady unbroken Benny stare with accompanying laughter that must have lasted close to a full minute.
Yes. The Metro Washington Old-Time Radio Club meets via Zoom every month. Each meeting includes a discussion on an OTR topic. Website is here: mwotrc.com/
1.You have the scripts! So if Mary had said the right line, "How could you hit his car when it was up on the grease rack", what would have been Jack's answer? 2. It was not the first time the sound effects got a big laugh. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Wh1Wu1632jM.html lasts for 20 seconds
Thank you for your feedback, Mark. Bear in mind this was presented over Zoom, for an audience of about 75 old-time radio fans, of which only 4 or 5 had any deep knowledge of the show's history. The rest were fans who knew nothing more than Benny and his cast are funny people. Some of the attendees were doing so via telephone, so I had to speak slowly and clearly. I'm curious: what would you have done differently? Would you have simply played the clips without providing context? Would you have tried to make the narration funny as well? (I'm no comedian, just an author.) The target audience audibly enjoyed it all, so I'm satisfied with that. I'm sorry you weren't.
I think you did a fine job; you gave sufficient context and background information, without being obtrusive. I grew watching the Jack Benny TV show, and your video put a smile on my face. Thanks.
