The Joe Pyne Show (1965)

The Tonight Show: Polaroid Commercials with Jack Paar and Steve Allen - Footage Offline 11/07/07

Jack Paar is forced to struggle with awkward Polaroid Camera pieces in this sequence that aired on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar. Steve Allen then takes a turn or three at shilling the Polaroid Camera with surprising sincerity - and one episode seems to be broadcasting from the newest US state of Hawaii. If someone has unearthed parts of these shows, perhaps the rest of them still exist - although it is unlikely. At the end, Jack Paar comes back for a zany spot with Jerry Lewis taking shots at the beloved sponsor. Jerry Lewis would temporarily replace Jack Paar as host of The Tonight Show until Johnny Carson came on as the new boy for the first week of October the same year.

A reader adds the details: "There was a parade of guest hosts on The Tonight Show between Paar and Carson. Jerry Lewis was scheduled for one week during the summer. It proved to be so wildly successful, he was held over for a second week, bumping Hugh Downs. That was that. I saw them all. Jerry's Tonight Show stint led directly to his five-year contract for the two-hour weekly The Jerry Lewis Show on ABC, live Saturdays in prime time, starting fall 1963. That program, unfortunately, was a dismal failure and the five years were reduced to only 13 weeks."

Dick Cavett, a stay over from Jack Paar, remained a Tonight Show writer during those limbo months, and when Carson was named permanent Tonight Show host in October, Cavett went with Lewis to work on his new show.

Next Week ... on Get Smart! - Footage Offline - 3/26/08

The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (1977) - Footage Offline - 10/02/08

Variety HOUR!? Why, Lord, Why? Rhino Records released a couple episodes of this on DVD and I dare you to watch it in one sitting. Produced by children's TV mavericks(?) Sid and Marty Kroft, the people who brought you Land of the Lost, H.R. Pufenstuf, and Lidsville - this opening sequence is really all you need.

Tom Poston 1921-2007 - To Tell the Truth with guest Stan Lee

This is a great deal of fun. This episode of To Tell The Truth with mainstay panelists like Tom Poston and Bill Cullen features Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee. Tom Poston guesses wrong, choosing number one - who is a dead ringer for Russ Meyer. This is from the early seventies - probably 1971 or so.

Tom Poston 1921-2007

Mark Evanier's Tribute, Tom Poston's Wikipedia Page, Tom Poston Official Website, Tom Poston at IMDB, Hollywood Reporter Obit.

Tom Poston 1921-2007 - Zotz! (1962)

According to the Leonard Maltin Guide: "Zotz! (1962) 87m. ** D: William Castle. Tom Poston, Julia Meade, Jim Backus, Fred Clark, Cecil Kellaway, Margaret Dumont. Goofy attempt at humorous chiller with Poston a teacher who finds strange coin that gives him mystical power over others." This footage contains three William Castle film trailers. The first is for Mr. Sardonicus (1961), the second is Tom Poston in Zotz! (appearing approximately three minutes in) and the last is for Homicidal (1961).

Tom Poston 1921-2007 - Game Show Appearances

Peter Marshall, the host of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 through 1982, wrote in his autobiography that Bert Convy was the only man he truly hated. He found him to be an arrogant scumbag or something to that effect. He also had disdain for Dan Rowan of Rowan and Martin because he had apparently stolen comedy material from Peter in the 1950s when Rowan and Martin were first starting out. Peter Marshall had been in a modestly successful comedy team with Tommy Noonan. They even made a couple crap movies together like The Rookie (1960).

The female panel contains a woman Tom Poston was very familiar with, Jayne Meadows, the wife of Tom's one-time employer - Steve Allen.

Just go ahead and smack her, Tom! Below is Tom Poston sitting in his familiar panel seat on To Tell The Truth. He comes in at approximately the four minute mark.

And don't forget about Tom Poston together with David Letterman on this episode of Mork and Mindy.

Tom Poston 1921-2007

Tom Poston plays straight man in this sketch from The Steve Allen Show. Allen's great ensemble of comedy actors come together to play a series of beatnik jazz musicians with Louis Nye, Don Knotts, and Pat Harrington Jr.

The Tonight Show with Steve Allen with guest Pat Harrington Jr.

Pat Harrington Jr. was just one of several comedy regulars on the roster of Steve Allen's Tonight Show (and later The Steve Allen Show). Here he does his most famous character, the stereotyped Italian caricature of Guido Panzini - Don Knotts is his caddy in this clip.

Tom Jones and Friends - Footage Offline 01/29/08

This awful variety show which featured "comedy" and "music" occasionally plays at odd hours of the morning on obscure Canadian television stations. It was originally filmed in Vancouver - probably for tax reasons of some kind - in the late seventies and early eighties. Here Donny Osmond and Tom Jones seem to be singing along with the world's first kareokee machine. That's what it sounds like anyway. Here's five bucks saying you can't sit through the whole thing.