7.4 /10 1 Votes
6.2/10 TV Directed by Herbert Kenwith Original language(s) English No. of episodes 18 Final episode date 10 June 1956 Number of episodes 18 | 8.7/10 IMDb Genre Television comedy Country of origin USA No. of seasons 1 First episode date 8 January 1956 Number of seasons 1 Presented by Leo Durocher, Gale Storm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cast Jonathan Winters, Gale Storm, Leo Durocher Similar Variety show, The Gale Storm Show, The Joey Bishop Show, Davis Rules, Tonight Starring Jack Paar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The NBC Comedy Hour was a comedy show that ran on NBC in the first half of 1956, intended to be a replacement for The Colgate Comedy Hour.
Leo Durocher hosted the show in January, and Gale Storm from February until April 8; from April 22 on, hosts were called in per episode. Comic Jonathan Winters was a more frequent face than any of the hosts; he appeared in 17 of the 18 episodes. Stan Freberg was also a guest 6 times. Topical comedian Mort Saul's network debut was on the Comedy Hour. A group of acting chimpanzees named The Marquee Chimps performed parodies of movies in 3 episodes.
The show was a critical and ratings failure: Variety stated "A more poorly conceived, routined and paced outing would be difficult to imagine." It was cancelled in June, having already been pre-empted 4 times in 5 months. It was succeeded by The Steve Allen Show, whose reputation became a marked contrast to that of The NBC Comedy Hour.