What's My Line? - Groucho Marx destroys the show; Claudette Colbert (Sep 20, 1959) 

Anyone else love the high level of casual vocabulary these folks have?

Love the way Arlene Francis presented herself. Her manner, her speech, the way she looked was simply All American fabulous IMO ❤️

When Arlene says "Groucho wants to know if your product found in the kitchen"! I almost had a heart attack laughing!

Claudette Colbert is the icing on the cake. She is a gem. It Happened One Night is one of cinema's greatest films.

Groucho had a reputation for edgy comedy. On his own show he once had a lady contestant who had 13 children. Groucho asked her "how did that happen?" to which she responded, "I guess I just love my husband." Without missing a beat Groucho replied "lady, I love my cigar but I take it out of my mouth now and then."

Wow, Groucho Marx was what, 69, when he made this appearance? And he was still sharp as a tack.

Groucho is brilliant. John Daley can barely keep it together. These people were so classy and witty, and Groucho just tears it up.

"Groucho wants to know if your product is found in the kitchen."

That smile on Groucho's face when Dorothy says " Do you in any way alter or improve their appearance?" really proves that however witty and comedic Groucho Marx was, he could still laugh if he encountered something funny enough. Timestamp: 19:53

Claudette Colbert went on to live another 37 years after this show. Wow.

I just love it, pure unadulterated class all round, John Daly was simply in stitches. Remember, this was an era, when women dressed in style. Personally I think that Arlene Francis was drop dead gorgeous, highly intelligent and a smile that would melt my heart, and still does. Great job uploading this for us all to enjoy.Bravo!

Groucho could make it today, he was the absolute best ever.

17:26 “would you say you deal with more sex?” Best Freudian slip question.

Such a joy; "what a Freudian panel". Timeless.

19:52 Of course a wrestler is going to alter their appearance when they’re smashing them on the canvas. 😂

I've watched this episode probably three or four times. It never gets old!!

Groucho - "Are you a corrupt politician? Or am I being redundant?"

I haven't laughed so hard in a while. Hilarious.

Thanks for sharing. I don't know this series, but found it really funny.

Groucho Marx does not destroy the show in any way, shape or form. He is brilliant :D

Grocho is soooo brilliant, i still laugh at his timeless humor

Groucho is one of a kind. He is so quick witted.

I could listen to Groucho all day!

So funny - need to bring back that show

Back when games shows had class, dignity and good humour.

Wow, this episode aired just a few days after my birth! I watched the show as a boy from time to time but I would never have understood Marx's humor at such a young age. As an adult, I can see how he was a very edgy character for his day!

Bennett thought the MG was Tallulah Bankhead. His question whether she was related to a Southern Congressman reflects that Taullah's father, William Bankhead, had been Speaker of the House for a few years in the 1930s.

"Are you a corrupt politician, or am I being redundant"

This was genuine "reality TV"--they were actually witty, intelligent people who could crack you up with an off-the-cuff remark. And notice that John Daly pronounces "Khrushchev" correctly, with the accent on the final syllable, which is more than most of the newscasters could or can do. Alas, intelligence and wit are no longer in fashion.

The guy next to Daly could have been a relative of Nikita Kruschev. Groucho looked in good shape for someone approaching 70.

"You Bet Your Life" is such fun to watch. I've watched all the episodes many times. Groucho got away with a lot of humor that would not have made it on the sitcoms of the day. Love the old commercials , too

Duuude, im old! Wtf happened? Time truly flies. At least I partied with Motley Crue and David Lee.

Claudette Colbert was funny in her own right but no one dared try to be funnier than groucho.

Ms. Judy Grable, the professional wrestler is in the WWE hall of fame, despite never wrestling in the WWE or WWF, and retiring in the late 60s. She died in 2008, but was inducted in 2017.

I LOVE THIS! Thanks for the channel owner for posting this episode, along with all the others, but especially this one. Long live Groucho! Do you have any other vintage shows too? I've been reading about this one episode of I've Got A Secret for years when Groucho was a guest jury member and Harpo came on the show and his secret was "I'm actually Chico". It's supposed to be hilarious because Groucho doesn't realize that it is in fact actually Chico before him. and not his other brother. I haven't been able to find the episode yet and perhaps you know more about it..?

I loved it!

Loved Claudette Colbert what a beautiful lady i liked watching her as a boy god bless her

"Does this product... that you manufacture..." **deliberately belligerent pause**

Wow. I heard someone say Claudette Colbert when she was signing in. Must have been Groucho. Listen carefully you will hear it too. 😁 Lol

Today Groucho Marx would be over 130 years old.

Khrushchev had been in the US since September 15 to meet with president Eisenhower, and he visited Los Angeles while he was here. The day before this episode aired he had been barred from going to Disneyland because of concerns about the crowds and his security, which made him very upset. That explains the Disneyland references and the Khrushchev look-alike.

8:36 "Are you a corrupt politician...or am I being redundant?" Priceless.

It's always interesting to know what became of the guests on the show. Claudette Colbert, the mystery guest is well known. The warden, Henry McFarland, went on to make some dubious headlines. He was suspended from his warden job, and sentenced to six months for perjury in 1966. He passed in 1971 at the age of 77. Judy Grable had a long and successful career as a wrestler, and is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame. She died in 2008 at the age of 72.

Yikes!!! This is easily the most instantly popular WML video I've ever posted, by a huge margin. 10,000 views in less than a month! Hooray for Captain Spaulding!

I lost it when Arlene says to Claudette Colbert, "Groucho wants to know if your product is found in the kitchen."

If Groucho were to behave like any other panelist, what would be the point of asking him on the show? You ask Groucho because you want him to BE Groucho.

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." (Groucho Marx)

"I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a decent meal." Groucho Marx.

"Are people happier when you perform your services?" Groucho: "I should think so...."

Arlene Francis looked gorgeous.

Groucho demolished that show and was utterly hilarious in doing so.

Everyone else seems dated but Groucho is could be transplated into today without missing a beat.

"Is this product found in your kitchen?" happens to be a line that I've grown to randomly use with people during a meaningful conversation. I take so much joy in witnessing their blank stares. (I'm an interior designer, it's just that appropriate haha!) I think the the episode wouldn't have been as mirthful without Groucho. Gotta love that man ♡

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode with my favorite comedian of all time, GROUCHO! But then I read the comments and was saddened to find that we have truly lost our sense of humor. Folks, being a professional a---hole was Groucho's JOB! He spent his life poking the establishment in the nose! They knew exactly what they were going to get when Groucho showed up!!!

It is very impressive that Daly was able to maintain control of the show, add on to a few of Groucho's jokes, etc. Expertly done.

I swear Groucho was the Robin Williams of the time. Just amazing.

Mr. Marx certainly destroyed Mr. Daly's composure!

Nobody could destroy a show quite like Groucho.

I remember watching this show with my mother and grandmother who lived with us...we had many wonderful times in front of the old Muntz B&W TV, and even though they are gone, this clip reminds me that I had a wonderful life....

Man, Groucho had John Daly dying back there, XD

Nearly 40 years after his death Groucho is well remembered, as he should be. There were few (I can't think of any) sharper wits around.

I was born exactly 57 years ago on the early morning hours of September 21, 1959. I was 7 and a half months premature when I was delivered that Monday morning. My mother was watching this episode with my Dad that Sunday evening and could not stop herself from laughing so hard since the show started and by the time Claudette Colbert appeared she had already been experiencing severe abdominal cramps and had to be rushed to the hospital. I wasn't supposed to come out until that November, but my mother to this day blames Groucho Marx and thanks him at the same time for the unexpected events that happened that night.

Every time I stumble across and watch episodes of this old show (I was born in 1953), I am amazed at how smart Dorothy Kilgallen is. She nails it so often.

Dorothy Kilgallen’s question about sex to the woman wrestler had me laughing so hard I had tears.

"Do you touch them above the waist or below the waist?"

I'm 25, so this show was obviously way before my time, but I stumbled upon it maybe two weeks ago at most while looking for Buster Keaton interviews and now I can't stop watching it. Something about it is very soothing.

They knew exactly what to expect when they invited Groucho Marx on the show and they got it. I laughed my ass off watching it.

This reminds me of a story that illustrates just how outrageous Groucho could be: A plane of USO performers was arriving at Washington, DC, with Groucho and Eleanor Roosevelt amongst the greeters. As Charlotte Greenwood was getting off the plane, at the top of the airstairs she did one of her hallmark high kicks. Groucho turned to Mrs. Roosevelt and said; "You know, you could do that if you put your mind to it." .

Groucho was a master of comedy. The format of the show was inconsequential. He stole the show, and was a riot.

I bet the producers held Their breaths when they got Groucho on the panel. Not knowing if they made a mistake, but I can assure them now, almost 60 years later, it was a great idea.

This is hands down the FUNNIEST episode of "What's My Line?" I have EVER seen. And just like you, I have seen quite a few of them myself!! No matter how many times I watch this, I am almost in tears every time!! I have NEVER heard any of the panel or John Daly laugh the way they did on this show. Plus, Groucho brought out John Daly's ad libbing skills as well. To anyone who thinks Groucho is being annoying, you have never seen Groucho or how dull WML? can be sometimes. This was a REFRESHING change from the norm!!

Groucho Marx was right Appellant Henry B. McFarland was convicted of two counts of perjury before a grand jury in violation of 18 U. S.C. § 1621, after trial by jury in the Southern District of New York. Finding no error in his trial, we affirm the judgment. Since appellant does not argue insufficiency of evidence, only a brief statement of facts is required. Since 1951, appellant had been the warden of the Hudson County Jail in Jersey City, New Jersey. In January 1965, a grand jury in the Southern District of New York was investigating the transportation of prostitutes from that district to the Hudson County Jail and the use of telephones in connection therewith. Appellant appeared before the grand jury on January 26, 1965, and the following December was indicted for perjury.

Watching John Daly lose it is totally worth this entire show. Priceless! He is absolutely hysterical by the mystery guest!

I just noticed for the first time, Arlene gets something wrong in her intro of Groucho: she refers to his beginning his 13th year on TV as host of "You Bet Your Life", but he had only been on TV since 1950. It was his 13th year of the series, but not on TV-- YBYL aired for 3 years on radio before it debuted on TV.

In the world of comedy, Groucho was an anarchist.

Groucho is a relative of mine, on my mother's side of the family. I met him at my grandfather's house (

That had to have been the funniest episode I've ever seen. Between the Krushchev double and Groucho Marx, I couldn't stop laughing.

How I wish Groucho...and the rest of the boys...were still with us...

See, you don't see brilliant people like this on television anymore. If they remade this show for primetime at a major network, the panel would be full of gorgeous, sexy, chiseled actors/actresses/musicians/reality TV stars, but highly doubt that the panel would have one functioning brain between the four of them... How cool is it that on THIS panel there's a book publisher? When do you ever see publishers on TV on popular shows nowadays except for when they are being played by someone super gorgeous....?

*Wherever Groucho is, it's The Groucho Show. He's the whole thing. The real deal.*

So far ahead of his time he's ahead of our time

Dorothy Kilgallen is adorable XD

This was the best game show of all time in my humble opinion. The world was a kinder sweeter place when "What's My Line" was a "reality" show and the themes of mainstream entertainment hadn't devolved and degenerated into humiliation, conquest and the summary executions of "losers."

Delicious show with groucho

What an episode of WML this was. Groucho REALLY DID break up the show. His rapid-fire delivery when he spewed jokes was his trademark. Loved it, whether it was from a Marx Bros. film, or You Bet Your Life. He was a master of insult comedy. The One, The Only...Groucho. Thanks for presenting this clip.

The play that Colbert was appearing in at the time was Leslie Stevens' "The Marriage-Go-Round" with Charles Boyer. The play ran for 431 performances at the Plymouth Theatre (now the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre). Marx refused to wear the customary tuxedo worn by male panelists, refused to follow the format, and even announced the name of the mystery guest (Colbert). Marx appeared four times on the show: twice as a mystery guest, twice as a panelist. Brother Chico appeared once in 1951 (the episode is lost). Groucho's question: "Are you a corrupt politician?" wasn't far off-base. A few years after the show, McFarland was sentenced to 18 months of prison for perjury in denying various improprieties related to his tenure as warden. Judy Grable was originally an acrobat but turned to wrestling in the 1950s and 1960s. After wrestling, she worked as a nurses aide. Daly is one of the few people to have worked on all three major networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) in the early days of television. In addition to being the host of WML, he was the news anchor for ABC in the 1950s and also filled-in for various people on NBC, most notably for David Garroway on the Today Show.

You have to hand it to Claudette for being a good sport. She probably knew Groucho well enough to know what it was going to be. She seemed to have a good time with it all.

The best part is when he turns his blind fold into his signature mustache :)

Wow. Groucho was ridiculously funny. I love how he did nothing to facilitate a proper guess.. #1 goal, get laughs.

All these years later, Groucho is still a riot... way ahead of his time in comedy...

Please put me in a time machine. I want to go back to when I watched a little black and white portable, and we had four channels to chose from... and LOVED every minute.

"The question is withdrawn" "Let's see you withdraw it, then" I also love Salvador Dali's episode, for what it's worth.

21:05 Daly trying really hard not to laugh... 21:26 totally loses it

What a naturally funny man, he obviously doesn't need a script

"Now would you say you deal with more sex- more than one-" Dorothy 😂

15:30 "You realize that no one's listening to you?" - Groucho Marx A message to all who bad-mouths his influence for comedy.

17:24 - Groucho looks so proud of that little flub. Like he's thinking "My work here is done."

The one...the only...Groucho!!!

By far the quickest wit in the history of entertainment. Better than Rickles, Johnny Carson....anyone.

Thanks for posting this!...Groucho was a genius and I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at an old school game show.