A-Z GUIDE TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS PARODIED BY MAD, CRACKED, CRAZY, ETC. UP TO 1996. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. SPOILERS AND OTHER NON-SEQUITURS, TOO. SOMETIMES THESE THINGS HAVE WORDS OR SITUATIONS WE DON'T USE ANYMORE. YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE THEY'RE OLD.
Updated daily. There's posts besides this one archived in the sidebar on the right, you clods!
if you're at a laptop or desktop, right-click and open link on pages and they'll be clearer and legible in a new window.
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
THE ED SUVILLAN SHOW
THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW
1948-1971 CBS
YouTube has almost no clips of Sullivan himself, just clips of the acts from his show.
THE ED SUVILLAN SHOW
MAD #26, April 1956
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Will Elder
Entertainment columnist that had a long-running variety show that introduced several music and comedy acts to the public.
When you see reruns, you only see the performers that are still known today, but there were plenty of forgotten acts and forgotten kinds of acts on the show.
What can I say? This is what America thought of Africa back then.
Celebrities in the audience being introduced is also something never shown in reruns.
Ed Sullivan is one of those people who is often imitated by people who don't actually know who he is and have never seen him. When they do an imitation of him, they are actually imitating the imitators. The "really big shew" impression was created by Will Jordan, who has been used to play Ed Sullivan in movie versions of him.
THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW
Cracked #38, August 1964
a: John Severin
The cannibal motif lasted until the late 80s or early 90s at least. Where did it originally come from? Don't say racism, we know that already.
Cracked did a bunch of smaller gags too. This was from an article called Casual Format, in #10, August 1959, illustrated by Angelo Torres. Based on the idea of the talk show format being used on other programs.
From Russian TV Shows in Cracked #19, April 1961, by Paul Laikin and John Severin
From Monsters in Everything in #43, May 1965, drawn by John Severin
One-pager from #61, July 1967, art by John Langton
From Talking Animals Take Over TV in #91, March 1971, art by John Severin
A HAND-Y CONVERSATION GUIDE TO JACKIE MASON AND ED SULLIVAN
Sick #35, March 1965
When a comedian does their act on TV, there's usually someone off-stage gesturing with their fingers how many minutes they have left. One night when Jackie Mason (who we just lost this weekend. Another one for the Rated Ecch curse) was performing, he commented on it and made gestures back. This apparently made Sullivan really angry and he chewed out Mason backstage after the show. Accounts differ as to what actually happened and what was said, I can't find footage, people claim to know the real story and it has been greatly exaggerated over time, but regardless of the truth there were no obscene gestures on the air and nobody was fired.
I'm not sure the exact issues of Sick these are from. I think they were drawn by Angelo Torres.
The show was best known for introducing the Beatles to America, bringing in the 60s.
UPDATE:
From TV Scenes That Make More Sense in Sick #47, September 1966, by Angelo Torres.
In the Mad story, the guys on page 4 who get burnt at the stake are Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.
On page 5, 'Sultan Taj Mahal' is Punjab from Little Orphan Annie. And the audience is filled with real celebrities, including Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth, Liberace, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. I may be missing some.
On page 6, the comedian looks like Phil Silvers (though he didn't do impressions).
In the Cracked 'Talking Animals' bit, the other guy is John Wayne.
In the Mad story, the guys on page 4 who get burnt at the stake are Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.
ReplyDeleteOn page 5, 'Sultan Taj Mahal' is Punjab from Little Orphan Annie. And the audience is filled with real celebrities, including Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth, Liberace, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. I may be missing some.
On page 6, the comedian looks like Phil Silvers (though he didn't do impressions).
In the Cracked 'Talking Animals' bit, the other guy is John Wayne.
Actually, I think I goofed - I think the comedian may be patterned after Jack E. Leonard, not Silvers.
Delete