What Kind Of Man Was Jack Benny?

[akarpowicz]

How can a man saying "No" several times be so funny?! Genius!

[osallent]

Why are all these ignorant people claiming that Jack Benny was racist? I've listened to every single episode of his radio show (I like vintage radio) and he never said a single racist thing. Jack Benny was friends with Anderson, and treated him with deep respect and affection. Stop trying to create racial tension where there is none to be found, and listen to Jack Benny's radio show for yourself and you'll see just how wrong you are.

[awarren92]

I'm black & I wasn't offended by this nor any scenes that Rochester played. His scenes were funny and he never made a fool out of himself. If anything he often made a fool out of Jack! Him & Jack did a lot of the same things. The reason Rochester called Jack "Boss" or "Mr. Benny" the same way Alice called the Bradys Mr. & Mrs. Brady or like many other white butlers called their bosses "Mr. & Mrs." or sometimes "Madame".

All in all, all I have left to say is: STOP NIT-PICKING!

[peppersax]

I'll always love Jack Benny. He treated all people equally. Back in those days, whites wouldn't even have Blacks in the same dressing room with them. Jack stood up for Blacks. He was a good man through and through.....and he was one of the top ten funny man of all time!!!

[TheCrackedBrick]

This ain't funny, it's absolutely hilarious!

[eagle45147]

Eddie was great and so was Jack for standing up for him.  Bo Jangles got better treatment when he was on broadway then in the movies in Hollywood. Jack so much higher in treating people as equalies regardless.

[Blackjesus3]

wow this is niceee :) eddie was cool

[skyler0248]

funny

[kennedya]

i love how they had a black actor it shows that not all the people back then were Rasies

[zyxquark]

Not only were these guys hilarious, they did it while being G rated which, whether you think it cool or not, is much MUCH harder to do.  That's why rodchester is ten times funnier than chris rock (who inherited his voice).

[kingod615]

THIS IS COONERY AND BUFFONARY

[ObamaIsPathetic]

@kingod615

No, it is not. This clip does NOT show a black man being a kiss ass to white folks, and it certainly does NOT showcase any negative stereotypes about black people.

[kingod615]

@ObamaIsPathetic im tryna get a gift 4 my boss um um! c'mon son!

[tranurse]

@kingod615 no, rochester usually got the best of jack benny. and jack benny was never a racist. he would get angry if the writers wrote scenes where rochester looked ignorant. and yes there were ignorant portrayals of women and minorities back then. and how come there weren't any black people in mayberry? but, this was one of the few shows that wasn't like this.

[felixjazzage]

@kingod615

It would help your argument enormously if you could only learn to spell "buffoonery."

[kingod615]

@felixjazzage SUCK IT!

[felixjazzage]

@kingod615

Oh, I see, an Oxford man. I'm in awe of your debating skills.

[akarpowicz]

There's no one like Rochester van Jones. thanks for posting.

[layersthemovie]

#littlebiggy.rating 9/10 for comedic timing

subject=Rolfe Sedan

role=comedian

[teengenerate08]

I think the thing I like so much about this character is how the role high lights Eddie Anderson'stalent as an actor and his genius in delivering lines. And TBH he doesn't play Rochester as a fool, quite the opposite, he almost always one ups Jack Benny in the show. They were apparently very close friends in real life as well, Anderson and Benny.

Thanks for posting this!

[SuperFromatoz]

Whoever isn't offended, must be white.

[sunsdomain]

Can you explain what offends you about this clip?

[SuperFromatoz]

@sunsdomain It gets under my skin when he refers to Jack Benny as his "boss" and Benny calls him by his first name. White butlers are called Mr. French or Mr. Belvarere. The buckeyes and the way he walks and talks suggests a dumb nigger. And not on this clip, but he is a house keeper for a white man, wearing an apron, I'm not sure, but it looks like a woman's apron.

[sunsdomain]

@SuperFromatoz thanks for your reply. I was wondering what you found offensive about THIS particular clip, not other ones. Believe me - I was fully expecting to be offended by this clip. But I wasn't. I didn't get "dumb nigger" from this clip at all, I got an extremely funny talented comedian who happens to be black. I mean. what's his material? Almost nothing - "No... No... No... No..." But I LOL'd. Does that mean I'm white?

[akarpowicz]

@SuperFromatoz Sheesh, the apron is a joke. Jack Benny wore the same apron himself - for laughs. He had buck eyes, because that's the way he was made. If you actually watch the Jack Benny shows on TV, listen to the radio shows or see their movies, you will see that Rochester always one ups Jack Benny. Not many people can say NO over and over and be very very funny.

[Nickcat5]

@SuperFromatoz If you live to be 1000 years old you will NEVER get it!!! How DARE you even mention those others in the same block as Jack Benny & Eddie'Rochester' Anderson ,who in fact were close personal friends!

[felixjazzage]

@SuperFromatoz

Most of the folks in my house are Asian, and they laughed at it.

[frau4bzna]

that was funny and strangely not offensive.

[BrendaQG]

because that time they did not have Rochester sounding like a fool. He was just a black guy with an accent there.

[KDoyle4]

Rochester was wonderful, and that's the famous character actor Rolfe Sedan behind the counter.

[kyokogodai]

ROTFL!!! THAT"S HIM! Rochester was great!

[travis7310]

"I'm afraid there isn't very much left."

"That's him!" :D

[travis7310]

"Is the playboy type?"

"oh, no, no, no!" LOL>

[cannibaljuice]

Rochester is very funny

[byebyebirdie2]

Rochester was so funny! Is anyone still alive that watched this show,..was he a real black guy or did they just paint a white guy to play the part?

[BenVarkentine]

A real black guy; Eddie Anderson was his real name. He and Jack Benny were the first of the many black/white comic pairings that have come since.

[dale1966gto]

a real black guy. what wasn't strange was that back in those days it was so unusual to see a black on t.v. in the first place, no one ''protested'' about stereotyping blacks.

he was his house man and personal assistant, not his pilot or dermatologist.

[OrganCat]

Jack was a genius- he knew enough to give all the funniest lines to the other cast members and allow himself to be the butt of all the jokes. That's what makes Gene Simmons' show successful too. Show vulnerability.

[BTLemming]

Jack Benny had the same writers for almost his entire career, so they knew the characters well. It was like minimalist humor. Rochester saying "no," and Mel Blanc as a Mexican who only says "si" and Jack himself saying nothing at all got the biggest laughs! It's brilliance itself.

[BenAliGtor]

My favorite gag was the announcing of the train. On one show, the loudspeaker (Mel Blanc) somberly entoned,

"Train now leaving on Track Five..for Anaheim, Azuza..and Cuc..."

Dead silence. The dialogue of the show then went on for at least 4 more minutes until you hear..

"..amunga...."

[BTLemming]

YES! That show, and a lot of other radio shows, wouldn't have been the same without Mel Blanc. He and Jack Benny adored each other. If you can find Mel Blanc's autobiography, it's worth reading just the chapter he wrote about Jack.

[cjjaxxon]

I heard that same skit on a Daffy Duck with Porky Pig cartoon too. He did a lot of those Warner Bros cartoons I know.

[TEMPmichaelhansen]

i am looking for the episode where jack benny practices his violin late at night, does the song "Blue Danube" (I think) and every time he played, lights went on in the neighborhood...and also TV show where DON WILSON was having people come to the house, it starts to rain, Benny says "Call her up...lets not barge in on her" and then Jack Gets MUGGED his famous line:

"YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!!!"

"IM THINKING IT OVER!!!"

some of this was on his radio show

MEL BLANC played many different roles

[TEMPmichaelhansen]

PUBLIC DOMAIN?

[Timesobserver]

Rochester was just too funny. I can see why Benny gave him some great lines.

timesobserver DOT blogspot DOT come

[JamesBaldwinIsGod]

Does anyone know what Rochester was just yelling, perhaps to himself, at the very beginning of the clip, as he walks over to the clerk? Was he yelling to someone at the end of a conversation from earlier in the scene, or just mumbling to himself, albeit out loud? If he was yelling about something or to someone prior to this clip, does anyone know what the scene entailed? Either way, it was so hysterical and so random, felt like Rochester in his own little world. Anyway, please let me know.

[hillbillyburcham]

He is singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

[JamesBaldwinIsGod]

Thanks, hillbillyburcham. I just saw your answer a second ago. My friend actually just told me what it was yesterday. Thanks again.

[JamesBaldwinIsGod]

Beautiful. His frog-like voice was so easy and so funny to listen to. He gave such a brilliant, hysterrical delivery in his response to Benny being "the playboy type," the best part of this clip.

[condensedclassics]

Is it only our generation that thinks these comedians were the funniest or is their comedy timeless??? I think it's timeless!

[bus114]

It takes a good comedian to get so many laughs just by saying the word "no" several times.

[fromthesidelines]

There was a similar exchange in one of the radio "Christmas Shopping" shows between "Rochester" and a sales clerk: he's trying to determine how old Jack is, so Rochester can choose the ideal gift-

CLERK: "What kind of man is your boss? Is he young?"

ROCHESTER: "No.."

CLERK: "Is he middle-aged?"

ROCHESTER: "No..."

CLERK: "Is he elderly?"

ROCHESTER: "WRAP IT UP!"

[fromthesidelines]

That's veteran character actor Rolfe Sedan as the sales clerk; he often appeared as "Mr. Beasley" (the postman) in filmed episodes of "THE GEORGE BURNS AND GRACIE ALLEN SHOW"....

[Flowbee79]

Great show, great scene. Anderson got a lot of respectable showcase with this show. There was some stereotype, but it was rather minimal compared to other shows, and during WW2, Benny worked hard to scale that much back even further.

[brewcityjr]

more than that...in Palm Springs, when Eddie Anderson was refused a room, Benny said 'if he doesn't stay here, then neither do I'..and slept with him in the car in the parking lot. (and not because he was cheap, and SHUT UP! lol)

[Flowbee79]

Yeah, Benny was a really good, decent guy. Almost everyone who came on his show liked him, almost every one of his regulars liked him.

[kaisenji]

Wow. I knew Benny wasn't as harsh as most but that kind of protest is almost unheard of back in the day. My level of repect for the man just went up many more notches.

[dharmaseed]

@brewcityjr True. There was a coat check girl at a club that Jack was visiting one night. When Jack handed her a tip (he was a big tipper in real life) she politely handed it back to him and said: "Please Mister Benny, I need to have some illusions".

[STP43FAN1]

@brewcityjr I understand fully why Benny slept with Anderson in the car - for the same reason Lombardi refused to stay in certain hotels that would not cater to ALL of his players.

[YouTvbeSucksMyCock]

Old as shit and still funny.

[HoughsVideos]

It's even older than this episode. It was a remake of a Christmas episode of his radio show, copied almost word for word.

[manodogs]

Yes, it was! In fact, the script from that single radio episode made its way into at least two TV episodes. Most of the spots were played by the same people who did them on radio.

Thanks for this!

[hajune]

funny funny funny

[Cagney888]

Thanks!! I LOVE this bit!! I almost died the first time I saw it!!!

[ellington56]

Classic!!!