The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour

Infobox Television
show_name = The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour


caption = Intro of "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour"
aka = S&C Comedy Hour
genre = Variety
creator =
writer =
director = Art Fisher
starring = Sonny and Cher
theme_music_composer = Sonny Bono
opentheme = "The Beat Goes On"
endtheme = "I Got You Babe"
country = USA
language = English
num_seasons = 4
num_episodes = 63
list_episodes =
producer = Chris Bearde
Allan Blye
sup_producer =
asst_producer = Garry Blye
runtime = 60 mins.
channel = CBS
first_aired = August 1, 1971
last_aired = May 29, 1974
followed_by = "The Sonny & Cher Show"

"The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" is a variety show that ran on CBS in the United States from August 1971 until May 1974.

"The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" (1971–1974)

In 1971, Sonny and Cher had stopped producing hit singles. Cher's first feature film, "Chastity", was not a success, and the duo decided to sing and tell jokes in nightclubs across the country. CBS head of programming Fred Silverman saw them one evening and offered them their own show. "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" was originally supposed to be a summer replacement series, but high ratings gave Silverman sufficient reason to bring it back later that year, with a permanent spot on the schedule. The show was taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood.

The show was a Top 20 hit in the ratings for its entire run. Each episode would open with the show's theme song, which would segue into the first few notes of "The Beat Goes On". Every episode, Sonny would exchange banter with Cher, who was usually very proficient in one-liners. Comedy skits would follow, mixed in with musical numbers. At the end of each episode, Sonny and Cher would sing their hit "I Got You Babe" to the audience, sometimes, with daughter Chastity Bono in tow.

Though still popular during its third season (1973-74), the show ended as a result of the Bonos' very public divorce.

In 2004, selected episodes from "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" were released in a three-disc set on Region 1 DVD.

"The Sonny Comedy Revue"

In 1974, Sonny and Cher agreed to end the show as they were separating from each other. Their timeslot was given to "Tony Orlando and Dawn" the next fall. They both starred in separate variety shows over the next two years. Sonny Bono's 1974 variety series, "The Sonny Comedy Revue", only lasted a few episodes. Initially, people assumed that his show would be the greater success when it was heard that Cher was to appear in her own show.

"Cher"

Starting in early 1975, Cher also returned to network television with her solo variety show, entitled "Cher". It did well during its abbreviated run, and was renewed for the 1975-76 season. However, during the second season, Cher herself decided to end the show to work with Sonny again. Although, Sonny's show had all the cast and crew from the comedy hour and was expected to be the bigger hit, Cher's show easily became the greater success with ratings. Due to contracts, Cher was unable to perform many of her sketches and characters from the comedy hour on her show, instead, Sonny had them on his show.

"The Sonny & Cher Show" (1976–1977)

In the fall of 1976, the bitterness of their divorce behind them, the couple reunited for one last try with "The Sonny and Cher Show". It was basically the first variety series, but with different writers on board to create new sketches and songs. Many considered the "magic" that had made the show initially successful was gone now that the couple was no longer married, and that the barbs they aimed at one another were no longer cute after Sonny and Cher had gone through such a bitter divorce. Furthermore, with Cher being married to Gregg Allman and being pregnant with his child, along with the general decline of variety shows from their peak during the 1950s and 1960s, the show was largely doomed. It ran for two seasons in this last format before being cancelled

Trivia

At least for part of its run, "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" only taped its opening and closing segments in front of a live studio audience, along with some musical guests -- which were actually taped after the closing segment was taped. All other segments were taped without an audience, with a laugh track added later. [http://www.oldtvtickets.com/archives1/2005/12/sonny_cher_come.html]

Full List of Guest Stars

eason One (1971-1972)

*Jimmy Durante
*Ken Berry
*Glen Campbell
*Merv Griffin
*Phyllis Diller
*Fanny
*The Grass Roots
*Harvey Korman
*Robert Merrill
*Glenn Ford
*Carroll O'Connor
*Tony Curtis
*Dinah Shore
*Carol Burnett
*George Burns
*Jean Stapleton
*Kate Smith
*Lorne Greene
*Chad Everett
*Tony Randall
*Honey Cone
*Mike Connors
*Burt Reynolds
*Art Carney
*Ralph Edwards
*Sandy Duncan
*David Clayton-Thomas

eason 2 (1972-1973)

*The Jackson 5
*Ronald Reagan
*Larry Storch
*Wilfrid Hyde-White
*Howard Keel
*Jerry Lewis
*The Supremes
*Bobby Sherman
*Chad Everett
*Tony Curtis
*Barbara McNair
*Jimmy Durante
*Gilbert O'Sullivan
*Robert Goulet
*The Temptations
*William Conrad
*Rick Springfield
*Van Johnson
*Lorne Greene
*Bobby Darin
*Ken Berry
*The New Seekers
*Jim Brown
*Bobby Vinton
*Andy Griffith
*Jean Stapleton
*Lyle Waggoner
*Mark Spitz
*Mike Connors
*Merv Griffin
*The Mike Curb Congregation
*Jim Nabors
*Joe Namath
*Hugh Hefner & the Playboy Playmates
*Danny Thomas
*Don Adams
*John Byner
*Tennessee Ernie Ford
*Carol Burnett

eason 3 (1973-1974)

*Chuck Connors
*Howard Cosell
*Ed McMahon
*Danny Thomas
*Telly Savalas
*Dick Clark
*Chuck Berry
*Jerry Lee Lewis
*Edd Byrnes
*Bobby Vinton
*Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
*John Davidson
*Truman Capote
*Jack Palance
*Dennis Weaver
*Sally Struthers
*Jim Nabors
*Lassie
*Jerry Lewis
*Andy Griffith
*Billie Jean King
*Bob Guccione and the Penthouse Pets
*Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
*Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge
*Ken Berry
*George Foreman
*Paul Anka
*The Coasters
*Peter Noone
*Neil Sedaka
*Wolfman Jack
*Vincent Price
*The Temptations
*William Conrad
*O.J. Simpson
*Ted Neely
*Joyce Brothers
*The Jackson 5
*Tennessee Ernie Ford
*Merv Griffin
*The Supremes
*Ricardo Montalban
*Jeanette Nolan
*The DeFranco Family
*Larry Csonka
*Joe Namath
*The Righteous Brothers
*Joel Grey

External links

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