What's YOUR longest loudest laugh?

[shimp scrampi]

Thought I would poll on this one... Jack's gags that got big audience laughs are well known - but what gag makes you laugh the most? I know it's an impossible choice so you can cheat and say whatever your current favorite is.

I'll start - it's from the Dorothy Shay TV show, with Jack coming out playing "You are my sunshine" with the dilapidated "Beverly Hillbillies", including a sullen 9 or 10 year old girl. He finishes, introduces Remley, Bagby and the rest, gets to the girl and says "This is my wife." I was pounding the floor like George Burns had pulled a piece of lint off of Jack himself. Then he tops it by turning to an oafish 7-foot tall guy in the back and says "and this is our son".

[Mike]

When Jack's suit rips apart at the end of the 'hong kong suit' skit! Mike

[bboswell]

Jack is going down to his vault to get some money. This series of one-liners ALWAYS gives me a solid laugh:

Now to cross the bridge over the moat...

Gosh, look at that alligator...

So strong and powerful, he's been very valuable to me too. Three wallets and a belt and he's still as healthy as ever! (<--My very favorite!)

I hope he forgets by next Christmas. He's getting wise to me when I come in here with a piece of meat in one hand and a can of ether in the other!

Down boy...


Hahahahaha, I love it!

[bboswell]

I'll start - it's from the Dorothy Shay TV show, with Jack coming out playing "You are my sunshine" with the dilapidated "Beverly Hillbillies", including a sullen 9 or 10 year old girl. He finishes, introduces Remley, Bagby and the rest, gets to the girl and says "This is my wife." I was pounding the floor like George Burns had pulled a piece of lint off of Jack himself. Then he tops it by turning to an oafish 7-foot tall guy in the back and says "and this is our son".

Holy cow, I totally forgot about that episode. That was hilarious! I saw it almost 20 years ago, before I became a die-hard Jack Benny fan! (I'm 34) Thanks for reminding me of that! javascript:emoticon(':D')

[LLeff]

The stuff that makes me laugh is often the stuff that doesn' t make anyone else laugh because:

a) I know the structure of the show so deeply that I'm often anticipating what they're going to do with the gag, at least approximately, and

b) I often laugh at stuff that's a blooper or an "in joke" that requires some behind-the-scenes knowledge.

A lot of you will know that Jack purported (incorrectly...sorry, Jack) that the longest laugh was in response to Mary's "Oh shut up" during the Dorothy Kirsten radio appearance. However, I got a good laugh out of a scene where Jack, Phil, and Dennis are all crammed into a train berth, and Dennis is complaining about his inability to sleep due to lack of room and Jack's snoring. When Jack starts talking in his sleep, Dennis gives out with a loud "EHHHHH SHADDUP!" that could have easily competed with Verna Felton (Dennis' mother). It was so out of character for Dennis at the time that it got a huge laugh from both the audience and me, and probably competed for duration with Mary's own delivery of the line.

[shimp scrampi]

a) I know the structure of the show so deeply that I'm often anticipating what they're going to do with the gag, at least approximately,

Of course some of the biggest laughs are exactly because the show was so long-running and ingrained that everyone in the audience was anticipating - Like the multiple-minute gap between "Cuc-" and "-amonga" in one train station show.

and sometimes there's that little last-minute left-turn or variation that throws you.

But those unexpected left-field laughs are just as great. I think the "Hello little birdie" Snow White raspberry falls into that category.

[Gerry O.]

I REALLY crack up at those moments (both on radio and TV) when JACK cracks up. Many times he's trying hard NOT to laugh (like the Christmas shopping TV episode with Mel Blanc), and that's even funnier.

I'm used to seeing other comedians like Red Skelton crack up, and it gets old after a while....but there's something about seeing a relatively deadpan, dignified comedian like Jack "lose it" that's absolutely hilarious!

[Jack Benny]

I've been listening to a episode from 1940, and my MP3 player does not have a resume function, so I have heard the same line three times lately and laughed every time.

Mary: Hey Jack, here's a picture of you at the Cocanut Grove.

Jack: Hey, I wonder why I have such a bland expression on my face.

Mary: That's a cocanut, your on the left.

[Alan]

The TV eps noted above reminded me of one with a very long sustained laugh that i watched a few months ago;

The show starts routinely, with JB walking out to the front of the curtain and starting a monologue.

Suddenly, a singer bounds out to center stage and launches into an energetic tune (he sings a complete ~3 minute song!)

JB just stands to the side in silent surprise, confusion and disbelief ....as i laughed along with the recorded audience for the majority of the song - just based on JB's facial expressions!

PS-I had never heard the "coconut" joke (previous post); i now have diet pepsi on my t-shirt 8-)

[Jack Benny]

Just heard another great show from 1940. This is the one that Don announces his marriage and then invites the whole gang to his house. But the interesting part is the Phil secton of the show. It's some really bad banter about Phil dating an eskimo, and him not speaking ekimoese. Phil realy muffs up the line, then loses his place entirely, and Jack has to read Phils part. Jack adlibs if I could just find someone that could read the script right. The Phil says reading this script right wouldn't help. The audience howls, and so do I. It was perfect because it was such astupid bit anyway. It really felt like they were both off script for the longest time I can ever remember on a Benny show. IT was great!

[haverpopper]

I'm terrible at re-telling jokes; I can only remember the punchlines. Having said that, some of the biggest laughs I can remember are: from an earlier show, where there was a recurring joke about things being "puerile and banal," and Rochester refers to the Maxwell that way. A show where Jack and someone else from the cast are in jail, and Jack sees Norman Krasnitz (sp?) and calls out for help, only to get that crazy laugh. Another show where Jack's playing a terminally ill-man who runs into the doctor's office pleading for help. "What can I do, doc, tell me!" "I dunno," says the doctor to all his requests.

Like I said, I'm terrible at retelling jokes, but these were all funny in the original!!

[LLeff]

Suddenly, a singer bounds out to center stage and launches into an energetic tune (he sings a complete ~3 minute song!)

I think that was Bob Crosby who sang the song. Am I right?

[Alan]

I'm not sure, but i don't think so.

I don't know what Bob Crosby looks like (and i havn't been able to find a picture), but i vaguely remember that the singer who came out and "interupted" JB's monologue was probably not more than 35 years old (so possibly too young to be Bing's brother in the 1950's?).

Also, i think JB announces his name after the number, and i don't recall thinking "so, that's Bing's brother."

If it helps, i also sort of remember that he looked a little bit like Dennis Day, but slightly heavier.

[shimp scrampi]

Yep, it's Bob Crosby - at least in the TV show I am thinking of, they may have done the gag more than once of course. Bob shows some real Phil Harris hubris in that one!

By the way - the coconut gag has me cracking up here, can anyone provide the airdate of that one so I can hear it for myself??!

[Maxwell]

Bob Crosby was certainly over 35 in the 1950s. I'm not sure of his date of birth, but he began his singing career in the early '30s, and was a band "leader" beginning in the mid-'30s.

The reason for the quotation marks is that he was actually just the front man for the band, which was a co-op. He was a salaried performer. He left that group when he went into the service (navy or coast guard, I think, during WWII).

"Bob Crosby's Band" can be heard in many of the musical numbers in the movie Holiday Inn. I saw Crosby perform in Chicago in the mid-'80s, a few years before he passed away. He told a lot of stories about the era and the music and led a band of local union members playing standards from the era. He did comment about Gary Crosby's accusations against Bing, telling audience members that they shouldn't believe them.