Early American entertainment included the circus, the minstrel show, vaudeville, broadway revues, all popular forms of the variety show.
And it was talent from those stage shows that created radio.
But radio wasn’t the same as the stage.
Radio was different manifesting new possibilities for entertainment.
An opportunity to entertain with new formats.
The situation comedy was one such format, brand new, a child of radio, never before seen in the history of man.
Although the situation comedy format is only a hundred or so years old, there is still a mystery surrounding who was the first and when.
My research indicates three radio shows have claim to be the first situation comedy. But the early recordings that exist casts some doubt on each claim.
That is, according to my definition of Situation Comedy.
If you know others who might be the first, or have recordings I have failed to discover, or want to argue a different definition of SitCom, please let me know in a comment on BeforeTvBlog.com.
FEATURING:
Sam ‘n Henry
Jim and Marion Jordan
George Burns
Gracie Allen
Fibber McGee and Molly
Groucho Marx
Chico Marx
Jack Benny
Phil Harris
Mary Livingstone
Kenny Baker
Eddie “Rochester” Anderson
And More!!
Before TV 