Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: George Burns and Jack (Gracie) Benny in London Royal Variety Review

Back in 1961, George Burns did a skit in the Royal Variety Performance in a London theater, with Jack Benny playing the role of George's wife Gracie Allen.

They performed one of the Burns and Allen classic routines that 12 years after Gracie died in 1964, George performed again with comedian Madeline Kahn, a routine that we posted on Jewish Humor Central in 2015.

We never saw the original skit, but thoroughly enjoyed both of the revised versions. We hope you'll enjoy them too.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

 

  #Throwback Thursday      #TBT

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: George Burns and Gracie Allen - "The Auto Show"

Burns and Allen was an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen. They worked together as a successful comedy team that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over forty years. 

The duo met in 1922 and married in 1926.From 1950 to 1958 Burns and Allen appeared on TV in the Burns and Allen Show. Each show ended with a dialogue between Burns, who played the straight man and Allen, who played the scatterbrained wife.

In this episode, Gracie tells George all about her visit to the auto show. Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

  

#Throwback Thursday   #TBT

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: George Burns and Gracie Allen and Her Uncle Otis

George Burns and Gracie Allen worked together as a successful comedy team that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over forty years.

The duo met in 1922 and married in 1926. Burns was the straight man and Allen was a silly, addle-headed woman. Their 30-minute radio show debuted in September 1934 as The Adventures of Gracie, whose title changed to The Burns and Allen Show in 1936; the series ran, moving back and forth between NBC and CBS, until May 1950. 

After their radio show's cancellation, Burns and Allen reemerged on television with a popular situation comedy, which ran from 1950 to 1958.

Here's a skit from their TV series in which George and Gracie banter about Gracie's uncle Otis and his election campaign for City Council in San Francisco.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



#Throwback Thursday   #TBT 

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Rare 1929 George Burns and Gracie Allen Skit - "Lambchops"

George Burns and Gracie Allen worked together as a successful comedy team that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over 40 years. 

The duo met in 1922 and married in 1926. Burns was the straight man and Allen was a silly, addle-headed woman. 

Their 30-minute radio show debuted in September 1934 as The Adventures of Gracie, whose title changed to The Burns and Allen Show in 1936; the series ran, moving back and forth between NBC and CBS, until May 1950. 

After their radio show's cancellation, Burns and Allen reemerged on television with a popular situation comedy, which ran from 1950 to 1958.

We found an old short movie skit called Lambchops that Burns and Allen made in 1929.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: George Burns at 93 on the Johnny Carson Show

When George Burns was 93 years old in 1989 he was interviewed by Johnny Carson on his Tonight Show. In the interview Burns reminisced about the many entertainers that he knew and wrote about in his book All My Best Friends, including Al Jolson, Groucho Marx, and Jack Benny.

Burns, who lived to be 100, had Carson laughing as he joked about outliving his doctors and his habit of smoking between 15 and 20 cigars every day.
   
Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO. 

                         
#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: George Burns & Jack Benny Impersonate The Smothers Brothers

It's another Throwback Thursday, so come with us in the time machine as we go back to 1967, when Jack Benny and George Burns appeared on The Smothers Brothers show and took a shot at impersonating the comedy duo. 

In this skit, Burns and Benny are dressed like the Smothers Brothers and take turns praising and criticizing each other until Tommy and Dick Smothers join them on stage dressed alike and get into the act.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Throwback Thursday Comedy Nostalgia: George Burns and Gracie Allen on the Road

Today we had a twinge of nostalgia for the old TV sitcoms and found this 65 year old clip of a segment from the George Burns and Gracie Allen show.

This episode goes way back to 1952 and has George and Gracie driving with their friend Blanche Morton (played by Bea Benaderet, who appeared in almost every episode of the show) from Los Angeles to Palm Springs to visit Jack Benny.

Burns and Allen worked together as a successful comedy team that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over forty years.

The duo met in 1922 and married in 1926. Burns was the straight man and Allen was a silly, addle-headed woman. Their 30-minute radio show debuted in September 1934 as The Adventures of Gracie, whose title changed to The Burns and Allen Show in 1936; the series ran, moving back and forth between NBC and CBS, until May 1950. 

After their radio show's cancellation, Burns and Allen reemerged on television with a popular situation comedy, which ran from 1950 to 1958.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



#Throwback Thursday   #TBT

Comedy Flashback: Rich Little Roasts Jack Benny at Friars Club

The Friars Club has been conducting celebrity roasts since 1950. A typical roast has many entertainment industry greats delivering funny tributes to the annual honoree. We'll be running a series of videos showing some of the funniest roasts at the Friars Club.

Comedian Jack Benny was roasted by the Friars Club in 1963 and 1970. In this video clip, Jack is roasted by Rich Little impersonating Jack, George Burns, and Jimmy Stewart.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

The Great Jewish Comedians: George Burns Does a Burns and Allen Routine with Madeline Kahn

George Burns was born Nathan Birnbaum on January 20, 1896 in New York City, the ninth of 12 children born to Jewish immigrants who had come to the United States from Romania. Burns was a member of the First Roumanian-American congregation, the Orthodox synagogue where Red Buttons sang in the choir and Edward G. Robinson became a bar mitzvah.

Burns had a long career as a comedian, actor, and writer. He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century.

One of his career highlights was The Burns and Allen show, in which he co-starred with his wife, Gracie Allen. Allen's part was known in vaudeville as a "Dumb Dora" act, named after a very early film of the same name that featured a scatterbrained female protagonist, but her "illogical logic" style was several cuts above the Dumb Dora stereotype, as was Burns' understated straight man. 

The twosome worked tirelessly on the road, building a following, as well as a reputation for being a reliable "disappointment act" (one that could fill in for another act on short notice). Burns and Allen were so consistently dependable that vaudeville bookers elevated them to the more secure "standard act" status, and finally to the vaudevillian's dream: the Palace Theatre in New York.

In 1976, twelve years after Gracie died, George appeared in a television special in which he revived one of the Burns and Allen routines with comedian Madeline Kahn.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)