Red was always hilarious. Red was very aware of the difference he pointed out about TV vs Vaudeville because Red experienced it. In Vaudeville you could perfect an act, take it on the road, do the same act in every town in the US and you didn't have to come up with a new act until next year. This allowed you to really perfect the act. You could find out what worked and what didn't and practice the tiiming etc. On TV you had to have a new act every show. A lot of Vaudevillians never made the transition because of this. Red was one of the ones that did. So did Jack Benny, Gracie Allen, George Burns etc. But many never could make that transition. So what he pointed out about Will Rogers was essentially correct. Rogers could use the same routine every night for a week or two (he was always making jokes about current events, so he had to change more often than once a year). Johnny had to have a new monologue every night.
Topic: How Johnny Carson Meet Red Skelton (Read 196 times)