The Ed Sullivan Show is remembered as a true gem of classic television.
It provided several hilarious moments that are still considered hilarious, albeit slightly politically incorrect. A perfect example of this authentic comedy is this segment from a 1967 episode of the Ed Sullivan show.
Stand up comedian, Red Skeleton made one of his regular appearances on the show to do his latest act and left the audience in stitches after a short set.
Red Skeleton begins his act with a joke about two patients in the “funny farm.” Impersonating two insane men, he messes up his hair and tells a joke involving the men’s plan to escape by climbing the beam of light from their flashlight. After this particular joke, Red Skeleton’s hair is extremely messed up.
He pulls a small comb out of his pocket and begins to fix his hair. While he is styling his hair, he tells the audience about his past as a young man obsessed with women. Now in his old age he is balding and can’t remember why he looks at women, he jokes.
By this time, the entire audience is in hysterics. Even Red Skeleton himself is having trouble keeping a straight face. The hilarious set comes to an end once Red Skeleton gets his hair perfectly styled.
He let’s out an extremely loud and intense sneeze, leaving his hair more messed up than the beginning.
Here are some of our favorite comments:
“I am hard-pressed to think of a comedian since Mr. Skelton passed away that comes anywhere near Skelton’s talent. Go ahead…I dare you to tell me just one funny person who is a master of BOTH mime AND pantomime; who has the sense of timing he had; who enjoys his own jokes; has anywhere nearly as congruent verbal and nonverbal control….go ahead, tell me.?” – Scott McVitte
“Unfortunately, my Mom passed on in December 2009. She fell into dementia around the middle of 2005 and slowly deteriorated toward Alzheimer’s. Nonetheless, I miss the clean humor, even though George Carlin is showing himself as a prophet and using foul language about Reaganomics!
I just found The Golden Magazine on the internet, which reminds me of my childhood back in the 1960’s and Red Skelton’s kind of humor then! I suppose the country will never return to those innocent days.
My mother used to criticize Red Skelton because he laughed at his own jokes. I say we need more comedians like him! He had such clean humor, and the kids loved him. I wonder how long it took to get his hair to fly out at a fake sneeze. What scares me is that I am almost the same age as he is in this scene from 1968.??” – Buddy Noviski
“What I’m saying is that the reason people don’t put quality entertainment on TV sometimes because it doesn’t get ratings because people don’t want it. Leave TV to the idiots. We must go the theatre to get our fix for good art. BTW, look at screen actors like Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Daniel Day-Lewis, etc. Good entertainment even in movies is far from dead. Only TV is dead. ” Patrick Hart
