The NBC Comedy Hour
| The NBC Comedy Hour | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Television comedy |
| Directed by | Herbert Kenwith[1] |
| Presented by | Leo Durocher; Gale Storm; various |
| Starring | Jonathan Winters |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1[2] |
| No. of episodes | 18[2] |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | NBC[1] |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format | NTSC Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural[1] |
| Original release | January 8[2] – June 10, 1956[2] |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Colgate Comedy Hour[2] |
| Followed by | The Steve Allen Show[2] |
The NBC Comedy Hour was a comedy show that ran on NBC in the first half of 1956, intended to be a replacement for The Colgate Comedy Hour.[2]
Leo Durocher hosted the show in January, and Gale Storm from February until April 8; from April 22 on, hosts were called in per episode. Comic Jonathan Winters was a more frequent face than any of the hosts; he appeared in 17 of the 18 episodes. Stan Freberg was also a guest 6 times. Topical comedian Mort Saul's network debut was on the Comedy Hour. A group of acting chimpanzees named The Marquee Chimps performed parodies of movies in 3 episodes.[2]
The show was a critical and ratings failure:[2] Variety stated "A more poorly conceived, routined and paced outing would be difficult to imagine."[3] It was cancelled in June, having already been pre-empted 4 times in 5 months.[2][3] It was succeeded by The Steve Allen Show, whose reputation became a marked contrast to that of The NBC Comedy Hour.[2]