Originally aired in 1955 (season 6, episode 4) of the Jack Benny Program. Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky in 1894) was a contemporary of the Marx Brothers, at one point accompanying their vaudeville stage show with violin in the orchestra pit.
Video Rating: 4 / five
@wsenator1: Very well said. I totally agree with you.
@doublemandala – no – like Hikikomori said, Jack Benny wasn’t gay, or supposed to be. His on-stage persona (going back to vaudeville) was as an affected, sophisticated somewhat arrogant gentleman. And back in the day, that’s how those kind of men acted. And that’s what made his show work: Everybody would pile on JB when he got a bit too full of himself. Seems like, if a man isn’t a clueless knucklehead or a violent brute, he’s gay. Isn’t that a sad commentary on today’s society?
Well!!! NOW CUT THAT OUT!! LOL. They don’t make them like this no more
@Flowbee79 I think you mean Johnny Carson is 2 years in the buisness. anyway two great TV Giants
Jack Benny was soooo funny. He didn’t have to say anything; he could just look out at the audience (when someone said something odd) and everyone would die of laughter.
@Flowbee79 geniuses ?? why is this genius ? luck is more like it. think about it.
15 people have no soul or sense of humor.
OMG! Johnny is so young!!!
Some trivia: “The Jack Benny Program” was the first TV show directed by the legendary Fred de Cordova. In 1970, he went on to become the producer/director of “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,” for which he won five Emmys and was with the show until Johnny’s retirement in 1992.
@doublemandala
No, he wasn’t gay. Was he supposed to be? I know it’s all the fashion now.
Just once I’d like to see a star go on a talk show and do something really courageous; admit to being straight.
Was Jack Benney gay?
What’s funny is that in this clip Johnny is only two years into showbiz and would later be a host of the Tonight Show; a few years earlier in 1947, on Jack Benny’s radio show, he had a guest host for the summer, an up and coming comedian by the name of Jack Parr. Funny how life works.
Jack couldn’t have been in show business much longer than Johnny. He is only 39.
Johnny Carson here looks just like my Grandpa did…wow…
@keca1430 Yes, Johnny was on Jack’s show to promote his own show which was shortly to premiere. Many years later, Jack said “I used to be Johnny Carson’s idol. Now, he’s MY idol. I liked it better the other way.”
Johnny deserved a better tailor.
This must have been when CBS had Carson on the air with his own weekly variety show, “The Johnny Carson Show” in 1955-’56, but it got cancelled after only one year on the air. Carson came to Hollywood in 1950 or so, worked as a staff announcer for the CBS station, KNXT-channel 2 in L.A., then had his own show “Carson’s Cellar” on channel 2. Red Skelton saw the show, hired Carson as a writer in ’52 or so. Carson’s big break came when Red got hurt in rehearsal, and Johnny Carson subbed for him
@MissHarpoMarx Another question is when did he start? He said 2 years, but that means 1953, right? Unless he started in vaudeville, like Jack?
@Flowbee79 Actually, Jack was 39, but if you want to know his real age, that he never told anyone on the air, in 1955, he was 61 years old! He died when he was 80, on Boxing Day, 1974, was born on Valentine’s Day, 1894 and was really quite generous.
Get these…..I hope i’m not wrong in this,, do you guys get these classic but important clips sometimes or a little tribute is shown or something…..Seriously,, India does not provide these knowledges no wonder it is like living under the rock,,,,… I seriously choked over this clip,, so old yet so GOLD…….R.I.P who has changed comedy as a whole forever….
Continue from last comment::: that in todays T.V and movies when ever they show tributes they hardly mention these legends at all,, they only mention after golden age cinema you know,, 70′s 80′s or 90′s if I’m not wrong,, but never mention much of these guys who made something that would change the mood of the world…..Now in India,,, we get eng channels thank God for that,, but these are channels broadcast in Asia,, so it means I would not get these important classics like all of you in west.
Telling the truth,, I really do not know this guy,, just wikipedia’d him today and there it came as expected and I could’nt believe what I red,,, this is the guy who made the famous pause method which till now is used for anyone who is a comic or used in sitcoms in general.. The problem is I’m in India,, and these stuffs they dont broadcast it in English channels like star world etc,,, I knew Mel Blanc and because of that I came to know about Jack Benny….This is what really upsets me……….
Is Johnny imitating Benny?
Correction. Benny had been in show business for 4 decades. Benny went to 6 decades. The comedy top award is the Benny.
Amazing. Johnny did his paper in college about radio comedy and studied everything Jack did. Great stuff.