The Dangerous Comedy of Bernard ManningThough he played Las Vegas in the late 1970s and was interviewed by Joan Rivers in the 1980s, British comedian Bernard Manning (1930-2007) […]
ByJoe Blevins
The Forgotten History of ‘The Pat Sajak Show’In the late 1980s, CBS was looking for a plan. Johnny Carson was still dominating late night on NBC, and there was no sign of him slowing down. […]
America’s First Comedy Magazine: ‘The Bee’People are increasingly turning away from content and comedy on paper in favor of content on the Internet. Weird, right? Comedy nerds may one […]
The Head Writer at the End of an EraIt was the summer of Watergate. The Senate panel held forth from every television. Sam Ervin: “That’s not executive privilege, that’s executive […]
What the Hell Is the Deal with Clowns?“All the world loves a clown,” Cole Porter once wrote. Turns out, not so much. Today, people’s perceptions of clowns are largely negative: […]
Finding Long Lost Jack Benny EpisodesThe last time on From the Archives that we checked in on Jack Benny, it was towards the end of his career, in 1973. While he was getting on in […]
The Unsung Brilliance of Tom LehrerOne of the sharpest wits of the 1950s and ‘60s was Tom Lehrer, the mathematician-turned-satirist who sang and performed blackly comic songs […]
There Will Never Be Another Jonathan WintersThere, in his eyes.
Controlled madness. Laser-keen in bursts. Pointed and precise.
Vulnerability, too. A certain tenderness. His eyes set the […]