Getting Into the Mood to Laugh

You’d think people would already be in the mood for laughing when they seat themselves down in front of a stage to watch a comedy.

In radio and television, producers take no chances.

There’s always a warm-up period after a studio audience seats itself to get it in the mood to enjoy the show—and be told when to applaud and react.

Here’s a piece that I suspect came out of the CBS publicity department and was sent (along with photos, I imagine) to newspapers on its mailing list. This appeared in November 1960. Inidentally, Moore had been using the “feathers” line for years, judging by old clippings.

Benny, Skelton Featured In Audience Warm-up Roles
The curtain parts and Jack Benny steps before the audience to relate how he talked former President Harry S. Truman into appearing on one of his shows . . .
"I was terribly nervous about calling such an important person, and a little afraid, too. When I got Mr. Truman on the line, I said, 'Mr. Truman, this is Jack Benny. Would you appear on my show?' Well, he said, 'yes.' And I was so nervous I said, Why not?'
Then Benny switches the subject . . .
“There has been a lot of talk about my age. Actually, I'm not 39. I'll be 66 on my next birthday . . . I don't mind telling you this because you'll all say, 'No, he can’t be.'”
This is Jack Benny during the audience warm-up period that is held before every broadcast of "The Jack Benny Show, presented on the CBS Television Network on alternate Sundays from 10 to 10:30 p.m.
The purpose of a warm-up is obvious: to get the audience into the mood to laugh and enjoy themselves. Benny and other top CBS Television Network comedians—such as Red Skelton and Garry Moore—accomplish this result by doing what comes naturally: telling jokes.
Even Ed Sullivan, who is not a comedian, has a warm-up period for "The Ed Sullivan Show" presented on the CBS Television Network Sundays, 8-9 p.m. Sullivan doesn't tell jokes, but he makes his audience feel at home by introducing various members of the show. For instance: "I'd like you to meet my handsome co-producer, the Scarsdale Flash, Mario Lewis. We've been working together since the show first started 12 years ago and we're still speaking to each other.” Sullivan will go along in this vein introducing all show staffers who happen to be on hand.
Most warm-ups—but not all start—with an announcer greeting the audience and introducing the stars.
Don Wilson handles these warm-up openings for "The Jack Benny Program," Harry Von Zell for “The George Gobel Show” (CBS Television Network, alternate Sundays, 10-10:30 p.m.), and Durward Kirby for 'The Garry Moore Show,” CBS Television Network, Tuesdays, 10-11 p.m.
Red Skelton, star of "The Red Skelton Show," CBS Television Network, Tuesdays, 9:30-10 p.m. handles the warm-ups himself.
What kind of routines do the stars employ?
Jack Benny is the same during the warm-up and during the show itself. Only his jokes are different.
Garry Moore starts his routine by running his hand through his crew cut, staring at the audience and demanding:
"What did you expect, feathers?"
Moore then seats himself on a stool to answer questions thrown at him from the audience. He manages to turn many answers into jokes.
If he's asked, for instance, how tall he is, he might compliment the questioner for his diplomacy, "because what you really mean to ask is how short am I."
And Moore has a regular quip that closes each warm-up. "Don't worry," he tells the audience, "you'll get through this just fine."
Red Skelton varies his routine from week to week, telling whatever jokes come to mind.
Here's a recent Skelton warm- up joke:
“Gee, what a nice surprise I had when I walked into the studio. There was a crowd outside and some guy hollers: 'Hey, there's Red Skelton. It really made me feel good, you know, with everybody turning to look at me."
There is a pause. Then Skelton adds:
"Heck, I may as well admit it. I'm the guy who hollered."

And speaking of warm-ups, here’s a revelation from the “Between You and Me” column of the Port Huron Times-Herald of March 12, 1950. Jack obviously didn’t tell this one in vaudeville, but it wasn’t exactly a new joke.

THE TALKING DOG—We are all still laughing. Jack Benny and his radio entertainers, at last Sunday's broadcast, laid us in the aisles, as the saying goes. Jack Benny is tops, in my opinion. The fact that he holds the ace position in about every radio survey, year after year, leaves me with plenty of company, too. Sunday afternoon, along with Blanche and the Andreaes, we attended his broadcast out here in Hollywood and we are still holding our sides. Because of the differences in time the starting hour out here is four o'clock in the afternoon (seven in the evening at home) and there is always a long line-up. Only a ticket holder has any chance of getting in and, as one stands in line, he is besieged with requests from both men and women who go from one to the other asking for "an extra ticket." Those who heard Benny last Sunday, when he had that brilliant and attractive daughter of Winston Churchill as his guest star will know what I mean. But I really like Benny, Phil Harris, Rochester (who does a grand job in his modest way and is mighty popular out here), orchestra and, in fact, all of them, in the horseplay which goes on before the broadcast, more than I did in the show itself. It is one of those things which go absolutely flat when one tries to tell about it or write about it, but I can repeat a story which Jack told just before the real show started. A fellow and his dog walked into a bar and the man asked the bartender for a drink. "I've got a talking dog here," he said, "and if you'll give me a drink I'll make him talk." The bartender looked a bit suspicious, but finally agreed. "Now let's hear the dog talk," he growled, after he gave the fellow a shot. "What's that up there?" said the dog's owner, pointing to the ceiling overhead. "Ruth, Ruth!" barked the dog. The bartender looked black. "That's no talk!" he exclaimed "I have a notion to throw you out." The dog’s owner was undisturbed. "Just give me another drink and I'll prove it again," he said. The bartender weakened. "All right," he said "but no more fooling, you understand." The man got his second drink. He pointed with his finger to the roof of his mouth. "What's this Fido?" he asked. "Ruth, Ruth," barked the dog, again. The bartender was at the boiling point. "Out you go," he exclaimed, threateningly, pointing to the door. The man was unperturbed. “Give me another chance and another drink and I'll show you this time," he pleaded. Once again the bartender fell for it, but this time with the threatening promise that he would be tossed out if he did not make good. So he poured the drink, the man took it and again turned to his dog. "Fido," he cried, "who was the greatest ball player in the world?" The little dog never batted an eye. "Ruth, Ruth," he barked once more. Both he and his dog were promptly tossed out the door by the outraged bartender. As they picked themselves up the dog turned to his master and exclaimed: "He must be a DiMaggio fan!"