Don’t Forget Jack Benny

At age 33 it’s hard to fathom the idea that my favorite show would be one that stopped airing 13 years before my birth. Let’s face it, re-runs were put on this earth for lazy Sunday afternoons, hangover recovery and remember when conversation. There is always that one special show that captures a person’s imagination and makes them wonder about certain times. For me that show was The Jack Benny Program airing on re-runs at Comedy Central one December afternoon in 1992.

I was sick and eating some doughnuts my mother had bought me at the local grocery store. I was watching Comedy Central re-runs of SNL and decided to stay tuned for The Jack Benny Program. I was sick, absent from school and at age 13 I did not have too many options other than the ones laid out by my parents. I thought it would be boring because it was black and white, ignorance is something special at certain ages.

As the show got under way I found myself rolling at gags like the perennial 39 years of age, bad violin, and the classic “Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga.” There was always the beginning monologue and the end monologue with the mix of Jack Benny the man and the comedian. As times progressed there was that cavalcade of stars both young and old playing a semi comedic foil to Benny’s on camera prima donna character. It was at that moment that I learned what talent was all about. I did not hear a dirty joke, see innuendo, nor over reliance on physical comedy.

Those days watching Jack Benny taught me an appreciation for old time television. I might not have been around in the 50’s or 60’s but the truth is that when something is great it transcends time. I learned about the truly boundless talents of Mel Blanc, otherwise known as Bugs Bunny and many other well loved Looney Tunes characters. I learned about how having fun and loving what you do can make for something sensational. I started learning that I wanted to be a writer. Thank you Jack Benny, you made me laugh, you made me think, and your show made me happy. I’ll see you again in black and white land one of these late nights.


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