Steve Allen Show
| The Steve Allen Show | |
|---|---|
Allen and Sammy Davis, Jr. rehearsing for the premiere show in 1956.
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| Genre | Variety |
| Presented by | Steve Allen |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 167 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 47–51 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network |
NBC (1956–1960) ABC (1961) Syndication (1962–1964) |
| Picture format |
Black-and-white (1956–1957, 1961–1964) Color (1957–1960) |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | June 24, 1956 – July 6, 1964 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Tonight Starring Steve Allen |
The Steve Allen Show is an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, from September 1961 to December 1961 on ABC, and in first-run syndication from 1962 to 1964.
The first three seasons aired on Sunday nights at 8:00pm Eastern Time (directly opposite The Ed Sullivan Show), then on Mondays at 10:00pm Eastern in the 1959-60 season (as The Steve Allen Plymouth Show). After a season's absence, the series briefly returned on Wednesdays at 7:30pm Eastern. The syndicated version aired mostly in late nights. The program, between September 1957 and June 1960 became one of the first programs to be telecast in "compatible color"
Kinescopes of the NBC version were later edited into 104 half-hour episodes and rerun on the short-lived '"HA!'" channel and Comedy Central in the early 1990s, with new introductions by Allen.
The show was the first in a series of prime time spin-offs from The Tonight Show, all of which were named after the host: Jack Paar (1962 to 1965) and Jay Leno (2009 to 2010) would follow in Allen's footsteps.
The show launched the careers of cast members Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Louis Nye, Pat Harrington, Jr. and Bill Dana. The show's most popular sketch was the "Man on the street" which featured Knotts as the nervous Mr. Morrison, Poston as the man who could not remember his own name, Harrington as Italian golf player Guido Panzini, Nye as the smug Gordon Hathaway, and Dana as José Jiménez. Hathaway's greeting of "Hi Ho Steverino!" became a catchphrase as did Jimenez's "My name José Jiménez."Dayton Allen also appeared in the sketch and spawned the catchphrase "Whyyyyy not?"Gabe Dell, previously a member of The Bowery Boys, was also a cast member. Gene Rayburn was the show's announcer and Skitch Henderson was the bandleader.
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