Here is yet another classic episode of The Tonight Show from 1974, featuring the great Jack Benny, voice magician Mel Blanc, smooth singer-songwriter Maria Muldaur, and the one and only Jim Henson with Kermit the Frog.
This was a great Era in Broadcast Late Night Television. Many of the early Pioneers in Vaudeville, Radio and Television were still around. Thank-you for sharing this wonderful gem.
Oh this is just a priceless episode. Unbelievable to have so much talent on the show at once. I am so glad to have grown up in the 1960's. I used to sneak out of bed, down the hall, and under the Ethan Allen couch my parents would be snuggling on, just to get to watch The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I loved him so, probably my first real crush truth told. He is still so cute to me. RIP all you dear souls
@@Heres_Johnny. Amen! Thanks for the kind comment! I can also stream it on my tablets through channels on Amazon Prime. There for a while I was watching it nightly at 10:30 pm...same time it always came on all my early life. It brings me comfort and a feeling of tranquility. Some wouldn't approve of a person that lives so much in the past. But I'm older and disabled...so I will do what I enjoy.
That episode should have won an Emmy. Amazing television. Aside from Jack Benny, Jim Henson, mel blanc and Maria Muldaur, the interlude music and the slides we’re top notch as well.
Whoa! The legendary Jack Benny, the legendary voice Mel Blanc, Jim Henson with Kermit and Maria Muldaur singing her hit "Midnight at the Oasis." You couldn't ask for a better show from Burbank!
Watching Mel Blanc and Jack Benny puts a smile on my face. Two comedy legends. Mel Blanc was my childhood and I adore everything he did from acting to cartoon voices.
Have you seen the previously lost interview with Blanc that I saved from being erased? Warner Bros recently included a short clip from it on the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Special, but you can watch the entire 1/2-hour here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-95eXCS0Qy2Y.html
He looks so healthy and alive here and yet....By the end of that year we Americans lost Jack Benny. We loved him. We cried at hearing the news in Dec.'74.
@@thomasdonlin5456 the special report announcing his death with Tom Snyder said he died of cancer . Must of had it for a while and didn't let anyone know or it was a quick type.
He was before my time but I watched the reruns of the Jack Benny Show and they are very funny. Mel Blanc was another great talent. Classic stuff unlike the total garbage of today.
Wasnt it great. Even though you were a kid an probably didnt get some of the humor you knew what you were watching was something special. And now in 2021 we truely know just how special it was
Listen to the laughter from the audience, many of whom likely remembered all of the great comedy between Jack and Mel. And many who may have heard it for the first time. We watch this clip today and it takes many of us back looking at the radio and listening to this great comedy. Jack and Mel and many of their contemporaries got US through the war years. Great writing, great performances, and lasting classic impact. Wake up America. We need to get the junk off of TV and Radio and put back the genius of Jack, Mel , Johnny, et.al. For our health as a nation.
Buckminster Fuller Agreed. Just one innocuous starlet after another, rappers who can’t hold conversations, and hosts who compete with their guests. Just awful.
Nothing can touch this. This was humor at it's best. Kinda makes me wonder about other humor over the centuries.....what was the joke and the punch line with ...Vikings maybe....perhaps Victorian times....Roman Times...Mayan times.... The best punchline is the one that cripples the recipient into gales of laughter while the smiles and sounds are contagious. Definitely one of a kind. Pass it on.
When you could watch these kinds of shows to get away from all the problems in your life and in the world. Nowadays that is what these shows pretty much offer you.
@@kensellers4082 yes. Do you have any idea what Johnny’s personal political views were? Nope. That’s the way he liked it. With Colbert and the rest it’s just the nightly hate. Orwell would be proud.
@@RossM3838 Johnny kept politics out of yhe show for the most part. He didn't push for any kind of agenda. People want to be engaged and entertained. They don't want things shoved down their throats. That's what Johnny believed!
Jack Benny was a GIANT in the entertainment world, from the 1930's through the early 1960's. He's well past his prime here, and less than a year from leaving the world. For a thirty year span, though, there was nobody bigger than Jack on the comedy scene. Arguably it can be said that Jack invented the sitcom as we know it today. For a brief time Jack Benny RULED, and the American entertainment industry was greatly enriched by his input!
Totally agree; Jack Benny helped to form modern comedy. His radio show was revolutionary and created a blueprint for all others to follow. It's sad and dismaying that most people under the age of 40 have never heard of him. One day, he'll be barely remembered at all.
That probably came from a master tape. When Johnny found out that NBC didn't keep any of the tapes, he had NBC do so from 1972 forward. Any Tonight Show prior to 1972 is very rare. You can see reruns of his show on TV now (forget the channel off hand).
@@diamonddave45 Antenna TV. But the music is dubbed so that the channel can avoid paying Doc and the band and the songwriters what they worked hard to earn.
jack benny always looked so young, he never looked his age. he left too soon. he will always be missed and loved. he was just the best. mel blanc was great too. so glad i still get to see them.
This one episode has more talent and class than the last 25 years of talks shows combined. Amazing how long the segments ran and those wonderful musical interludes were great. Why can't we go back to this? Oh that's right, everyone has the attention span of a gnat from Anaheim.
Jack Benny's will arranged for a single long-stemmed red rose to be delivered to his widow, Mary Livingstone, every day for the rest of her life. The dude was romantic even after he died.
Jack had been such a presence for so many years, he was kind of taken for granted. Nobody knew how close he was to the end. We don't appreciate people until they're gone, unfortunately.
Mel Blanc, the greatest character actor in history. Jack Benny loved him, very much, with Mel giving back just as much. What I would give, to go back and watch a radio show of Jack's, to see them both at work (along with all the others). I am grateful to hear/see anything with them.
When I was in my 20's, a local UHF station used to play repeats of The Jack Benny Show at eleven o'clock at night, followed by Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life at eleven thirty. That was one of the BEST hours of television in the 1980s as far as I'm concerned! I saw Jack and Mel do a bit once where Mel was a stagehand asking for Benny's autograph. Mel, whose father was an eye chart maker, had a strange last name. Oh my goodness... The two of them were hilarious in that skit!
Thanx again, pannoni, for sharing! Always a gift to find a post from you. So nice to see Johnny and the gang again. Still giggling at Jack and Mel, even tho I can recite their routines right along with them. Always fun to see Jim and Kermit, too. I remember watching them, back to the old Sam and Friends days. Thanx so much for sharing, dear pannoni. Keep 'em coming, please
I was 11 at the time of this broadcast, turning 12 in April, that song so reminds me of summer of '74, also Jack Benny w/Mel Blanc, thanks to Sirius/XM radio, I listened to the old Jack Benny radio shows from the late 30's thru the 50's, and I will admit many of them are hilarious...
Lido, we can still get lots of Jack Benny shows here on RU-vid...I don't think we in England got these , when they were current ...?🤔. So if you listen to them, they seem just like new shows. Great stuff .😊💕😊 🇬🇧💕🇺🇲😊💕🇬🇧💕🇺🇲
I don't think people know how classical this is. I'd listen as a kid teenager of the old Benny radio show 1979, 80, 81. So awesome to see this on good old Carson. Mel & Jack together, what a privilege to see. Jack died about 11 months later.
Wait.....Mel Blanc and Jim Henson in the same show?!? Two of the most legendary and iconic voice actors of all time who have influenced and entertained so many generations of all ages. How many different characters in those brains between the two of them! Wouldve loved to see an "interaction" between "Kermit" and "Bugs Bunny!!" Oh by the way we also have Jack Benny on too! Mindblowing!!
Jack Benny was a reliably great guest on any show he was on, what with his wit, story-telling ability, and his aura. The Benny and Blanc portion of the program splendidly documents how greatly enriching they were for America and how truly blessed America was to have them. And Carson was just so adept and unobtrusive in setting a respectful and encouraging tone for the program. It is depressing and a shame how America has nothing like this kind of entertainment anymore.
Whenever the producers of the Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin, and Mike Douglas shows needed to give their shows a good comedy interview, they knew Jack Benny always delivered!
During Jack Benny's final day of his life, Johnny and a few other close friends sat around with Jack and told jokes until Jack took his final breath. A sincere tribute.
I could listen to these guys swap stories all day long. Jack Benny, that's one movie role that was perfect for Kevin Spacey, who knows maybe. Mel Blanc can make you laugh by just looking at him and thinking what's he going to sound like next. Johnny as always was just perfect, he knew when to just sit back and listen, and the way he laughed was 100% genuine. Excellent show.
Carson really admired Benny a lot...it goes way back...sad..that Benny died not to long after this show...at 80...Red fox was something too...met the guy one time trying to get out of the holiday inn in holly wood way back when..he gave me a couple of tickets to see his fight in east LA that night....a time not to be forgotten...and a lot of water under the bridge.....
Mr. Benny looked good and sounded good in this airing January of 74. According to Wikipedia he died of pancreatic cancer December of the same year. I know from a personal friend of mine passing by this that it is quick (as cancers go). Can see this happening! Long live your memory Mr. Jack Benny aka Benjamin Kubelsky. Long may your memory be!!!
You can see Jack and Mel truly respected and loved each other here ! Classic, brings a tear to my 56 year old eyes knowing that they are all gone from this world......we all gotta go & we will all be memories for many, make sure you're a good one ! Also " Midnight at The Oasis " is great too !! ....one more thing , the Dr. here at the end passed away just one year after this at 79 from a heart attack ! We can do all we want to try and live long healthy lives, but when GOD calls, we go !!
The Jack Benny Show is from the golden years of radio, but it has a very modern feel to it. You can sit there in a car and the same person who says the cannot stand black and white movies will be cracking up listening to his show.
Tge generation, was a product of their times They werent raised with TV but used it as a tool Midrrn entertainers were raised on screens and video games
Jack Benny was just a class act and left way too soon. He will always be loved and missed. Mel blanc was great also. I'm so glad these video's are still around to watch over and over again.
Jack is still my favorite old-time radio personality. I really hate this question, but for this one I will ask -- anyone listening in 2019? If so, check out some of the old Jack Benny shows - radio or tv.
@@DonaldGerbino There is an episode of the Jack Benny show where Johnny Carson was his guest early in Johnny's career. Jack helped Johnny break into Hollywood as he did with many of his guest.
WOW WOW WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From a mad keen 76yo Aussie fan. What amazing interviews of extraordinary people. Much different than today's so called U.S. comedians.
Jack Benny and Mel Blanc were the best combination!. Naturally funny and for different reasons but that's why they are an awesome pair!.. My parents and grandparents showed me these two gentleman and I love them for it.
I remember as kid hearing this song on the car radio and having no clue who it was. But, you kept hearing over and over that year. Now i'm 54 and I see this beauty singing it. Better late than never I guess.
2:50 Johnny brought back some great memories of The Exorcist. Does anyone remember waiting on lines that went around the corner-in the rain AND snow? All the mass hysteria? All the sleeping bags and blankets? Great time for movie history😊👍🏻
Talk about National Treasures.🤗😀😇👍Jack Benny ,Johnny Carson , & Mel Blanc, WOW,the happy& joyful memories the three have given.Mel Blanc, You continue to give me joy& laughter & make me smile.I agree with all those who miss the quality of their performance and their banter with each other.They indeed are greatly appreciated & missed.
I apologize for posting again, but just had to! Mr. Mel Blanc was so entertaining in this Carson Segment!!! Just have to appreciate Mel Blanc for his voice with Warner as to the iconic Bugs Bunny Cartoons!
