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Who had the best comedy variety show

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:54 am
by seriously curious (imported)
Not really sure where to post this one but here it goes

Who had or who do you think had the funniest comedy variety TV show I’m not talking about musical variety such as Donny and Marie Osmond’s show that was musical variety.

My vote would have to go with the Carrol Burnet show as being the best and funniest of all time. What made the show so great was not so much the sketches but who would crack doing the sketches it was always a battle between Harvey Corman and Tim Conway along with Carrol. Don't get me wrong some of the sketches were brilliant and I believe that the show could run in reruns on the major networks and still draw a substantial audience it would reintroduce clean comedy more importantly it would show today’s youth to what comedy is that it can be done with out using profanity but that it can be good clean fun with some very vague sexual content.

I vote for Carrol Burnet who do you vote for:)

SC

Re: Who had the best comedy variety show

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:05 am
by socky1965 (imported)
Voting for Carol. I've got a facebook page posted trying to petition TVLand to run her show. Seems a lot of comedy shows aren't that funny now days. Sex jokes can only go so far.

Re: Who had the best comedy variety show

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:30 am
by butterflyjack (imported)
Ernie Kovaks dragonfly

Re: Who had the best comedy variety show

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:14 am
by BossTamsin (imported)
Carol Burnett for overall comedy humour. As far as political humour goes, I have to say that very little has topped the two Canadian shows "This Hour Has 22 Minutes", and "Royal Canadian Air Farce."

Re: Who had the best comedy variety show

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:20 am
by Riverwind (imported)
Yes, when I read the title only one show came to mind, Carol Burnett show. It showed Saturday evening at 7 or 8 as I remember, I also remember not going out or doing anything for that hour each and every week.

Nothing has come close sense.

River

Re: Who had the best comedy variety show

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:29 am
by JesusA (imported)
For anyone old enough to remember him, it has to be Ernie Kovacs. Much of what has happened on television since owes to his creativity and sense of humor. His live TV shows provided inspiration for a later generation of comedians, though only Monty Python seems to have come close to capturing his weirdly inventive humor.

Since his was the age before videotape, little of his best work is preserved for later generations, But, nearly 50 years after his death, I can still close my eyes and watch a performance by his Matzoh Hepplewhite, the world’s most inept magician. I can still hear his Percy Dovetonsils declaim some of the worst poetry ever written. Now that Ernie Kovacs has been brought up, I can’t get the Nairobi Trio out of my head.

.

Re: Who had the best comedy variety show

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 11:33 am
by Dave (imported)
I have fond memories of Jackie Gleason's show ...

However, I get giggling memories and tending to guffaw memories at Carol Burnett. Her gang of loonies still make me laugh to this day.

Re: Who had the best comedy variety show

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 1:08 pm
by iBorg317 (imported)
Bush-Cheney.....

Re: Who had the best comedy variety show

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 1:34 pm
by seriously curious (imported)
Although Bush- Cheny had their moments sadly they don't qualify as a variety show since you always knew what to expect.

I've heard the name Ernie Kovacks before but I am unfamiliar with his work there for I think that we should stay in the relm of known video taped shows

someone mentioned Jackie Gleason was his show a comedy variety show or was it musical variety? There were other shows such as Sid Ceaser's to name one any others?

Re: Who had the best comedy variety show

Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 2:19 pm
by transward (imported)
Perhaps the humor of our childhood is always the funniest in our memories, but I remember laughing histerically at some of Red Skelton's skits. Mean Widdle Kid, Clem Kadiddlehopper and others could reduce me to fits of laughter.

In Groucho and Me, Groucho Marx called Skelton "the most unacclaimed clown in show business", and "the logical successor to [Charlie] Chaplin", largely because of his ability to play a multitude of characters with minimal use of props. "With one prop, a soft battered hat," Groucho wrote, describing a performance he had witnessed, "he successfully converted himself into an idiot boy, a peevish old lady, a teetering-tottering drunk, an overstuffed clubwoman, a tramp, and any other character that seemed to suit his fancy. No grotesque make-up, no funny clothes, just Red." He added that Skelton also "plays a dramatic scene about as effectively as any of the dramatic actors."

Transward