The Jonathan Winters Show (1957)

This was Winters' first variety program, a show that was bi-weekly and fifteen minutes in length. Shortly before that famous mental breakdown.

The Richard Pryor Show: The Richard Pryor Roast (1977)

Whatever happened to Jimmy Martinez?

A Tribute to Phyllis Diller

I've uploaded the classic Verve LP Are You Ready for Phyllis Diller? for yer listening pleasure and bookended it with the two best tracks off her novelty LP Born to Sing, an album that includes Diller's interpretation of The Rolling Stones' Satisfaction. Verve didn't have a lot of comedians under contract but those that they did have were top of the line... and they all recorded a lot of stuff for the label. Other than Diller, Verve had Jonathan Winters, Jackie Mason, Shelley Berman and Mort Sahl. Not a bad line-up. Here's the Diller record.

Phyllis Diller backstage with Robert Goulet:
An early Phyllis TV appearance:
The failed 1967 Diller sitcom, The Pruitts of Southampton:
Phyllis Diller on The Dean Martin Show:
Also watch Phyllis on The Muppet Show in three parts here, here and here. Watch some more Phyllis stand-up from The Flip Wilson Show here and here.

The Very Funny Side of Pete Barbutti

Pete Barbutti was/is an eccentric jazz musician and comedian, known best for his many appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. You can watch a couple of those old appearances over here. Barbutti eventually went on to host an absurd syndicated daytime television show called Celebrity Microwaves in the early eighties. I was going to upload his very funny Decca Records comedy album in its entirety today, titled The Very Funny Side of Pete Barbutti and released in 1967. But then I went to Barbutti's recently revamped website and discovered that the man himself has uploaded the LP in its entirety for free already! That and his earlier comedy LP on Chicago's VeeJay Records (primarliy the domain of Black R&B, DooWop, and Soul artists). The site immediately greets you with a montage of Tonight Show hosts introducing Pete. Other than Carson and Leno, you can see him introduced by guest hosts David Brenner, George Carlin, David Letterman, Martin Mull, Bob Newhart, Burt Reynolds and McLean Stevenson. You can also watch several of his television appearances that aren't anywhere else on the internet. That's all over here.

Captain Nice (1967)

Captain Nice is the best of today's neglected sitcom offerings, and that probably has more than a little to do with the script from Mr. Buck Henry. It even has one of those familiar, "I asked you not to tell me that!" lines that were common over on Get Smart.

My Mother the Car with guest star Avery Schreiber (1965)

Well, I feel like posting some obscure, and certainly failed, sixties sitcoms today. Here's Jerry Van Dyke in the first of today's three kooky duds.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1963)

Before the feature-length, animated, theatrical release A Boy Named Charlie Brown was released in 1969, a live-action documentary showing a day in the life of Charles Schulz was made with the same name. Here's a five minute sample.

The Morey Amsterdam Show with guest Art Carney (1949) - Footage Offline 1/18/08

The Wilburn Brothers Show with guest Charlie Louvin (1968)

The Joe Pyne Show (1967)

Here's a nice solid chunk of The Joe Pyne Show. The program has been showcased on Classic Television Showbiz twice before, and if I had access to more of this footage it would appear as often as possible. Always fascinating, combative and generally reactionary, you gotta hand it to Pyne. He was brave enough to bring on some very articulate people with totally opposing viewpoints and gave them a forum. Although he may have been utterly rude to them - he was generally rude to everyone. Compare this to a Bill O'Reilly today who is rude to a Phil Donahue but polite and complimentary to an Anne Coulter. Or a Glenn Beck who simply would never have anybody as far to the left on his show as Pyne has here.

Joe Pyne Show
Uploaded by DwightFrye

To Tell the Truth with contestant Rex Reed (1965)

There are three notable things about this episode of To Tell the Truth and no, the fact that host Bud Collyer used to play Superman on the old radio show isn't one of them. The questioning revolves primarily around Okefenokee Swamp, which is the location where Walt Kelly's legendary Pogo comic strip took place. Pogo is mentioned several times, mostly by the two comedians on the panel, Orson Bean and Tom Poston who appear to be big fans of the great satirical cartoonist's work. Secondly, the real such and such sings a song at the end of the game titled Swamp Country. The obscure country-folk tune was used as the title track for a trashy drive-in moonshine exploitation film of the same name. The incredibly amateurish 1966 film is a great piece of junk and the infectious theme is played throughout. It has been released on DVD by the fine company Something Weird Video. Lastly, one of the contestants playing the game is the not yet famous film critic Rex Reed!

Get Smart with guest star Carol Burnett (1967)

Here is the entire episode entitled One of Our Olives is Missing from Season Three of Get Smart.

The Tonight Show with Jack Paar with guest Vaughn Meader (1962)

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with guest host Joan Rivers and guest Hulk Hogan (1985) - Footage Offline - 9/20/08