When Radio Ruled #143 - Birth of the SitCom

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!!