A Comedy/Variety Classic – The Red Skelton Show

by Guy Belleranti


The Red Skelton Show was one of the longest running variety shows of all time. It began as a 30 minute program on NBC in 1951. After a few years it moved to CBS where it eventually became an hour length program for a good portion of its run. In its final two seasons it moved back to NBC as a half hour program, ending in 1971.

The Red Skelton Show began in black and white, but in 1955 it became one of the first color television shows. For almost all of its run it was very popular, often in the top 10.

The program starred the wonderful Red Skelton. Each week Skelton welcomed popular guest stars from the entertainment world. Singing, dancing and comedy were all featured on the show, but it is primarily the comedy skits for which it is most remembered. Skelton wasn’t a cerebral comedian, but he sure was entertaining. He was a master of physical humor and pantomime.

Skelton’s comedy was clean, and sometimes it was also very poignant. Before his television show he’d become well known in vaudeville, nights club, radio and motion pictures.

The comedy sketches on Skelton’s program were usually built around one of his characters. These characters included:

- the inept old west Sheriff Deadeye
- Clem Kadiddlehopper, the country hick
- George Applebee, the henpecked husband
- Junior the Mean Widdle Kid
- Freddie the Freeloader, the clown-faced hobo with the heart of gold
- San Fernando Red, the conman
- Willie Lump Lump, the drunk

Skelton would often start off with a monologue and then veer into his comedy. One of my favorite portions of the program was The Silent Spot. Here Skelton would appear in a wordless skit, with the only sound being sound effects and audience laughter. His expertise with pantomime and physical humor was especially well showcased in these moments. Indeed, his talent here was reminiscent of the great silent comedy stars, masters like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

Red Skelton had a wonderful sense of comedy timing. Yes, his gags were sometimes corny, but the show was fun. He was a master of the ad-lib, and would often crack up on stage, laughing at his own jokes. He also often cracked up guest stars. Such guests included Vincent Price, Carol Channing, John Wayne, Lucille Ball, Mickey Rooney, Liberace, Milton Berle, Peter Lorre, Tim Conway and Jayne Meadows.

Some have criticized Skelton for laughing at his own jokes or for cracking up others in the middle of a skit, but I liked it when this happened. More often than not this added to the humor and gave the program a feel of spontaneity.

A couple interesting tidbits about The Red Skelton Show:

- Johnny Carson pretty much got his start in show business on the program, working as one of its earliest writers.

- Red Skelton always ended his program by coming out and wishing the viewer “Good night and God Bless”.

He was, indeed, a one of a kind talent.
 

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