The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour
| The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour | |
|---|---|
Sonny and Telly Savalas begin the show's third season, 1973.
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| Genre | Variety |
| Directed by | Art Fisher |
| Starring | Sonny and Cher |
| Theme music composer | Sonny Bono |
| Opening theme | "The Beat Goes On" |
| Ending theme | "I Got You Babe" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 63 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Chris Bearde Allan Blye |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | August 1, 1971 – May 29, 1974 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The Sonny & Cher Show |
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour is an American variety show starring American pop-singer Cher and her husband Sonny Bono. The show ran on CBS in the United States, when it premiered in August 1971. The show was canceled May 1974, due to the couple's divorce, though the duo would reunite in 1976 for the identically formatted The Sonny & Cher Show (a title sporadically used during the run of the Comedy Hour), which ran until 1977.
In 1971, Sonny and Cher had stopped producing hit singles as a duet act. Cher's first feature film, Chastity, was not a success, and the duo decided to sing and tell jokes in nightclubs across the country. CBS head of programming Fred Silverman saw them one evening and offered them their own show. The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour was originally supposed to be a summer replacement series, but high ratings gave Silverman sufficient reason to bring it back later that year, with a permanent spot on the schedule. The show was taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood.
The show was a Top 20 hit in the ratings for its entire run. Each episode would open with the show's theme song, which would segue into the first few notes of "The Beat Goes On". Every episode, Sonny would exchange banter with Cher, allowing Cher to put down Sonny in a comic manner. Comedy skits would follow, mixed in with musical numbers. At the end of each episode, Sonny and Cher would sing their hit "I Got You Babe" to the audience, sometimes with daughter Chastity Bono in tow.
There were many regular cast members who appeared in sketches. Some notables include Teri Garr, Murray Langston (who later found brief fame as "The Unknown Comic" on The Gong Show), Jack Harrell (who later gained fame as the longtime announcer for the original version of The People's Court), and Steve Martin (who also served as one of the show's writers). Regulars included:
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