George Kirby (June 8, 1923 â€" September 30, 1995) was an American
comedian, singer, and actor.Born in Chicago, Kirby broke into show
business in the 1940s at the Club DeLisa, a South Side establishment
that employed a variety-show format and preferred to hire local
singers, dancers, and comedians. His first recording was as a stand-up
blues singer, performing "Ice Man Blues" on a Tom Archia session done
in 1947 for Aristocrat Records.He was one of the first
African-American comedians to appeal to white as well as black
audiences during the height of the Civil Rights era, appearing between
1963 and 1972 on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall, The Ed Sullivan Show,
The Dean Martin Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Temptations Show,
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny
Carson. As an impressionist, he mimickedâ€"provocatively for 1960s
performance venuesâ€"white actors such as John Wayne and Walter
Brennan rather than solely black stars such as Bill Cosby and Pearl
Bailey. He also did vocal impressions of such singers as Louis
Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams.In 1970, he
was allowed to produce The George Kirby Show, a television special, to
gauge whether he could attract an audience for a weekly series. This
led to his hosting Half the George Kirby Comedy Hour, a sketch comedy
and variety show, which lasted for 22 episodes in 1972; it was one of
the actor-comedian Steve Martin's first credits in front of the
camera. The series was in many ways an uneasy compromise between
Kirby's natural gifts and what the public would accept of black actors
at the time; a regular feature was a shaggy dog story segment entitled
the "Funky Fable". He was also a regular in the ABC series The
Kopykats, with other impressionists such as Rich Little, Charlie
Callas, Marilyn Michaels, and Frank Gorshin.
comedian, singer, and actor.Born in Chicago, Kirby broke into show
business in the 1940s at the Club DeLisa, a South Side establishment
that employed a variety-show format and preferred to hire local
singers, dancers, and comedians. His first recording was as a stand-up
blues singer, performing "Ice Man Blues" on a Tom Archia session done
in 1947 for Aristocrat Records.He was one of the first
African-American comedians to appeal to white as well as black
audiences during the height of the Civil Rights era, appearing between
1963 and 1972 on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall, The Ed Sullivan Show,
The Dean Martin Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Temptations Show,
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny
Carson. As an impressionist, he mimickedâ€"provocatively for 1960s
performance venuesâ€"white actors such as John Wayne and Walter
Brennan rather than solely black stars such as Bill Cosby and Pearl
Bailey. He also did vocal impressions of such singers as Louis
Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams.In 1970, he
was allowed to produce The George Kirby Show, a television special, to
gauge whether he could attract an audience for a weekly series. This
led to his hosting Half the George Kirby Comedy Hour, a sketch comedy
and variety show, which lasted for 22 episodes in 1972; it was one of
the actor-comedian Steve Martin's first credits in front of the
camera. The series was in many ways an uneasy compromise between
Kirby's natural gifts and what the public would accept of black actors
at the time; a regular feature was a shaggy dog story segment entitled
the "Funky Fable". He was also a regular in the ABC series The
Kopykats, with other impressionists such as Rich Little, Charlie
Callas, Marilyn Michaels, and Frank Gorshin.
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