Your Show of Shows

From Wikipedia:

Your Show of Shows was a live 90-minute variety show television series appearing weekly in the United States on NBC (Saturdays, 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time), from February 25, 1950 until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Nanette Fabray, Bill Hayes, Judy Johnson, The Hamilton Trio and the soprano Marguerite Piazza. José Ferrer made several guest appearances on the show. The show was telecast from the now-demolished International Theatre (also known as the Park Theatre) at 5 Columbus Circle in New York.

The show was created by Sylvester "Pat" Weaver and directed by Max Liebman. Caesar, Coca, and Liebman had worked on The Admiral Broadway Revue from January to June 1949. Writers for the show included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Mel Tolkin, and Carl Reiner who, though a cast member, always sat in with the writers. A common misconception is that Larry Gelbart wrote for Your Show of Shows; he in fact wrote for its successor program, Caesar's Hour, which ran from 1954 to 1957. Likewise, Woody Allen did not write for Your Show of Shows, as he only worked on several Sid Caesar TV specials that debuted after it.

Carl Reiner has stated that the time he spent on Your Show of Shows was the inspiration for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Your Show of Shows also inspired the 1982 film My Favorite Year, produced by Mel Brooks, and the play Laughter on the 23rd Floor written by Neil Simon.

Most of the kinescopes of the show were discarded by NBC, and so few copies of the show survive. A 1973 theatrical film titled Ten from Your Show of Shows featured ten sketches from the show edited together. Reruns of surviving kinescopes aired on Comedy Central in the early 1990s. Sketches from the show which are from Sid Caesar's personal collection are available on The Sid Caesar Collection DVD set.

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