History Radio / TheJackBennyProgram

* {{Pun}}: An item named 'Goho-M' will instantly transport your party from the dungeon back to the entrance area. At first glance, it appears to just be another strangely named item in the game with some roots still stuck in the original Japanese; however, it can also be read as 'go ho-M', or 'Go Home'.: The show was infested with puns. Most of the time, [[PungeonMaster Jack]] would use them as a part of his Self-Depreciation schtick. In the very early (1932-1935) years they played an especially large part of the show and were played much more straight than was later the case.

* JustForPun: The show was infested with puns. Most of the time, [[PungeonMaster Jack]] would use them as a part of his Self-Depreciation schtick. In the very early (1932-1935) years they played an especially large part of the show and were played much more straight than was later the case.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* BeleagueredAssistant: Rochester was often this to Jack.

** Jack Soo made an appearence thanks to his appearing in the road company of ''Flower Drum Song''. He's not quite a guest star in the usual sense - he first comes on pretending to be an agent for a fellow cast member when during negotiations with Jack, Jack says "Wait a minute....I know you...you're Jack Soo, aren't you?"
** Creator/JimmyStewart and his wife Gloria as Jack's neighbors in the TV show. Creator/RonaldColman and his wife performed a similar function on the radio show.

Comedian Creator/JackBenny's weekly radio series made its debut in 1932 as ''The Canada Dry Program'' and ran until 1955 under various titles reflecting changes in sponsorship: ''The Chevrolet Program'', ''The General Tire Revue'', ''The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny'', ''The Grape-Nuts and Grape-Nuts Flakes Program Starring Jack Benny'', ''The Lucky Strike Program Starring Jack Benny'', and, finally, ''The Jack Benny Program''. The show was also adapted into an eponymous television series, which aired from 1950 to 1965.

In its earlier years, the program was generally a VarietyShow with sketches and music with an open. Later on, generally, ''The Jack Benny Program'' became a SitCom ''about'' the production of ''The Jack Benny Program''. Some of the action flashed back to what the cast had been up to that week, and some took place on the stage of the program, where Jack and the gang would try to put on plays and sketches, often taking the form of parodies of popular movies. Celebrity guests were not uncommon, and could be easily introduced as Jack's friends or neighbors in Hollywood. One long-term RunningGag was Jack's bitter "feud" with rival comic and radio host Fred Allen.

Comedian Creator/JackBenny's weekly radio series made its debut in 1932 as ''The Canada Dry Program'' and ran until 1955 under various titles reflecting changes in sponsorship: ''The Chevrolet Program'', ''The General Tire Revue'', ''The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny'', ''The Grape Nuts and Grape Nuts Flakes Program Starring Jack Benny'', ''The Lucky Strike Program Starring Jack Benny'', and, finally, ''The Jack Benny Program''. The show was also adapted into an eponymous television series, which aired from 1950 to 1965.

** StylisticSuck: In RealLife, Benny was actually a competent violinist. Jascha Heifetz (who was a close friend of Benny's in real life) once stated that to play the way Benny did on the radio demanded a competent and skilled violinist. Anyone who was genuinely bad would be not funny, but ear-splittingly unlistenable.

--> '''Jack''' (after a round of playing with Heifetz): "Honest folks, can you tell the difference?" (Even announcer Edward Arnold is laughing in splits at this stage...)

** One can not forget about the orchestra, a band of off-key, perpetually drunken criminals originally hired by Phil Harris, and whose status as human beings were sometimes called into question.

Recurring characters included Jack's CloserToEarth co-star Mary Livingston (played by his real-life wife Sadie Marks); his long-suffering African-American valet Rochester van Jones (Eddie Anderson); brash Southern bandleader Phil Harris; naïve boy tenor Dennis Day (and, earlier, Kenny Baker in a similar role); and rotund announcer Don Wilson, who tended to turn the conversation or the sketch to a discussion of the sponsor's product. Creator/MelBlanc also did several characters, such as Polly the parrot; the malfunctioning Maxwell; the long-suffering violin teacher, Pierre [=LeBlanc=]; and the train station PA ("Trains leaving for Anaheim, Azusa and Cuc..."). Jack himself, portrayed as notoriously cheap and self-aggrandizing, usually played the comic foil to the other characters: the real-life Benny is famous for noting, "I don't care who gets the laughs on my show, as long as the show is funny."

** Early Grape Nuts shows began with the iconic Jell-O jingle, with Jack reminding Don about the new sponsor, which Don refers to ''Great'' Nuts before getting the name right.

** After Dennis Day got his own show called "A Day In The Life Of Dennis Day", he started constantly putting Jack down because he only has one show.

* TakeThat: Most examples of this trope on Jack's radio show were directed at Fred Allen, as a part of their ongoing "feud." Still, there have been numerous times where Jack took potshots at other comedians. Like for example, when his guest star, Claude Rains repeated Allen's accusation that Jack is so uncreative that he had to steal jokes from infamous joke-thief, Milton Berle: