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. 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.
| Created By | ||
|---|---|---|
| Status | Ended | |
| Original Name | The NBC Comedy Hour | |
| First Air Date | January 8, 1956 | |
| Last Air Date | May 6, 1956 | |
| Seasons | 1 | |
| Episodes | 18 | |
| Episode Runtime | 1h 0min | |
| Language | English | |
| Original Language | English | |
| Production Countries | — | |
| Production Companies | ||
| Networks | NBC | |