Season 6 • Episode 12
LatestThe Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show starred many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Ben Blue, Robert Paige, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb and Spike Jones and His City Slickers.
Acting
Martin & Lewis episodes are pure unfiltered lightning.
Direction
Live TV direction — cameras crashing, chaos embraced.
Production
Commercial breaks so integrated they're practically plot.
Creator
Fred Hamilton
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This show essentially invented the variety format that SNL would later perfect — complete with political jokes that got hosts temporarily banned.
Jerry Lewis directed several episodes uncredited, experimenting with techniques that would later define his film career. The chaos was occasionally intentional.
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