It Pays to Be Ignorant
- TV Series
- 1949–1951
- 30m
YOUR RATING
A spoof of game shows.A spoof of game shows.A spoof of game shows.
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An Overlooked, Under-appreciated Comedy Gem
This was a wonderful, hilarious program that is sadly, mostly now forgotten. The format is a game show, but it's no more a game show than today's reality shows are real. It was simply the vehicle to let four champion Vaudevillians riff on each other's lines. If you think puns are lame humor, you'll be proved wrong. When they get going, Howard, Shelton, MacNaughton and McConnell inevitably warp all logic at lightning speed. You can't help but find a good belly laugh somewhere. Like its TV successors, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In or yes, even Hee Haw, if you don't care for one joke, just wait ten seconds and a new one comes along that you will. IMO, It Pays to Be Ignorant was a better radio than TV show (a mighty brief length). Its perfection came in 1944, when the show's orchestra, unknown and uncredited, achieved an astounding musical comedy that surpassed Spike Jones in ingenuity and depth. Host Tom Howard sparred with this orchestra as though it were another panelist, in long, alternating bouts of commentary/music. These AFRS recordings had the benefit of no commercial sponsors, and can be found elsewhere in the Internet Archive library. If more and better copies of this program existed, it might be given proper respect. This show is forgotten treasure.
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- BigSkyMax
- Jan 2, 2015
Details
- Runtime30 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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