I've Got a Secret with guest Meredith Wilson (1963)

I've Got a Secret (1965)

I've got another secret.

Norm Crosby's Comedy Shop with guest Fred Travelena (1978) - Footage Offline - 10/12/08

Richard Diamond with guest star Deforest Kelly (1959)

Two episodes - and Bones is in both.

Adventures in Paradise with Dick York (1961)

Norm Crosby's Comedy Shop with guest Jackie Mason (1978)

Norm Crosby's Comedy Shop with guest Michael Keaton (1978)

It can be a serious mistake for a comedian to accept an invitation for a television appearance before they're ready - when their material is still shaky and not fully polished. Michael Keaton makes just such a mistake with this, his first stand-up appearance on American television (he had previously performed stand-up on the Canadian CTV Network on The Alan Hamel Show). It wasn't his American television debut however - that had occurred a couple years earlier on an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Norm Crosby's Comedy Shop with guest Jackie Gayle (1978)

Jackie Gayle is one of the many forgotten old school Jackies of comedy history, along with Jackie Miles, Jackie Vernon and on down the line. Like those two, Gayle was a successful nightclub comedian who never truly crossed over to television fame. That might even be a noble fact, if it weren't for the fact that today we are left with little documentation of his act. Woody Allen used Gayle in his salute to the borscht belt comedians in Broadway Danny Rose.

Norm Crosby's Comedy Shop with guests Vic Tayback and Garry Shandling (1978) - Footage Offline - 10/07/09

Vic Tayback was the "mystery surprise guest" on this episode of Norm Crosby's Comedy Shop. This feature of every episode had a seventies celebrity knocking on the door of a phony living room set and making an unannounced appearance in which they would engage in terribly labored comedy banter with Norm and then introducing the next comedian. Although it isn't in this clip, Tayback introduces Shandling as a funny young writer from his sitcom Alice.

The Dean Martin Show: Celebrity Roast of Ronald Reagan (1973)

My Favorite Martian with guest star Henry Gibson (1964)

Leave it to Beaver (1959)

12 O'Clock High with guest star Peter Fonda (1964)

The Bob Cummings Show featuring Nancy Kulp and Peter Lawford (1958)

This show features several of the first ladies of sitcomhood: Nancy Kulp, Ann B. Davis and even Rose Marie (The Beverly Hillbillies, The Brady Bunch, The Dick Van Dyke Show).

Richard Diamond with guest star Barbara Bain (1959)

The Twilight Zone with guest stars Carol Burnett and Jesse White (1962)

The Stu Erwin Show AKA The Trouble with Father (1951)

A typically bland sitcom from the early fifties.

The Dick Cavett Show with guest Orson Welles (1970)

Person to Person with Edward R. Murrow (1958)

Tonight, Mr. Murrow interviews Hollywood couple Gene Raymond and Jeanette MacDonald.

Ringo with guests Art Carney, Mike Douglas, Carrie Fisher, Vincent Price, George Harrison and John Ritter (1978)