Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour


The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

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About

From Wikipedia:

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour is an American variety show starring American pop-singer Cher and her husband Sonny Bono. The show ran on CBS in the United States, when it premiered in August 1971. The show was canceled May 1974, due to the couple's divorce, though the duo would reunite in 1976 for the identically-formatted The Sonny & Cher Show (a title sporadically used during the run of the Comedy Hour), which ran until 1977.

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, allowing Cher to put down Sonny in a comic manner. Comedy skits would follow, mixed in with musical numbers. Three of the regular cast members who regularly appeared in sketches were Teri Garr, Murray Langston (who later found brief fame as "The Unknown Comic" on The Gong Show), and Steve Martin (who also served as one of the show's writers). 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.

Among the many guests who appeared on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour were Carol Burnett, George Burns, Glen Campbell, Tony Curtis, Bobby Darin, Phyllis Diller, Farrah Fawcett, Merv Griffin, The Jackson 5, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ronald Reagan, Burt Reynolds, The Righteous Brothers, Dinah Shore, Sally Struthers, The Supremes,Teri Garr, Chuck Berry, and Dick Clark.

The show was scheduled to return for a fourth season in October 1974. However, Sonny and Cher separated that fall, resulting in the cancellation of the show.

Highlights
Fred Silverman on the development of the variety show The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, Silverman's favorite program at the time
04:24
Ret Turner on costume designing for Sonny and Cher on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
02:46
Ben Wolf on shooting The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour
01:03
Hector Ramirez on working with new technology on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:46
Bob Mackie on working with Cher on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
16:38
Ken Berry on performing on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
02:47
Who talked about this show

Ken Berry

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Ken Berry on performing on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
02:47

Allan Blye

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Allan Blye on writing and producing the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour with Chris Bearde
02:52
Allan Blye on how he and Chris Bearde conceived of the concept for the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:34
Allan Blye on his producing style on the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:59
Allan Blye on the musical aspect of the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:59
Allan Blye on specific sketches on the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, and on Cher's style on the show
02:04
Allan Blye on guest-starts on the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:29
Allan Blye on the end of the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:38

Bob Mackie

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Bob Mackie on working with Cher on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
16:38
Bob Mackie on some of the writers on The Sonny and Cher Show
00:28

Carroll Pratt

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Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Happy Days, and The Andy Griffith Show
05:16

Hector Ramirez

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Hector Ramirez on working with new technology on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:46

Arthur Schneider

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Arthur Schneider on editing the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
03:14

Fred Silverman

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Fred Silverman on the development of the variety show The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, Silverman's favorite program at the time
04:24
Fred Silverman on promoting The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour at ABC
01:31
Fred Silverman on the development of the variety show The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, Silverman's favorite program at the time
04:24

Ret Turner

View Interview
Ret Turner on costume designing for Sonny and Cher on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
02:46
Ret Turner on how he came to do costume design for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:32
Ret Turner on working with Bob Mackie on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
02:31
Ret Turner on the collaboration for the wardrobe for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:19
Ret Turner on working with Sonny Bono and Cher on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:57
Ret Turner on costume designing for the sketches and dance numbers on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
02:56
Ret Turner on costume designing for the characters on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:05
Ret Turner on Sonny and Cher's divorce and subsequent shows the pair worked on together
02:01
Ret Turner on Jean Stapleton guest-starring on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
01:17

Ben Wolf

View Interview
Ben Wolf on shooting The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour
01:03

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