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* ThePeteBest: Several people from the early history of the show. Don Bestor, Johnny Green, Frank Parker. The best example is his writer Harry Conn. Harry Conn was Jack's writer until mid-1936, when he claimed that Jack had no talent of his own and all of his laughs came from his head. Coupled with his wife making a similar remark to Jack's wife Mary Livingstone, he was fired and left Jack without a script. Jack hired two writers named Bill Morrow and Ed Beloin, who greatly refined the show's humor and the characters into what we recognize until the end of the show. Harry Conn barely wrote anything after leaving the show and wound up as a doorman.
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* HeterosexualLifePartners: Jack and Rochester in the later shows. In earlier shows, it is implied Rochester goes home to his own home. Later, Rochester lives at Jack's house. Jack scolds Rochester for being out too late, they squabble over what to fix for breakfast, whose turn it is to answer the doorbell or telephone, and Rochester hangs around the house even on his days off. Rochester stays home with Jack on New Year's Eve when Jack's date cancels and he has nowhere else to go.
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* WhyDidntYouJustSaySo: Used with [[HilarityEnsues hilarious effect]] with Dennis Day, often driving Jack to distraction.
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** Professor LeBlanc, played by... [[MelBlanc guess who...]] was routinely driven to both suicide ''and'' homicide when he tried to teach Jack the rudiments of playing the violin.
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** Though, he showed on other episodes that he actually was ''quite'' the talented violinist, so more along the lines of HollywoodToneDeaf.
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** Though, he showed on other episodes that he In RealLife, Benny was actually a competent violinist. Jascha Heifetz (who was ''quite'' a close friend of Benny's in real life) once stated that to play the talented violinist, so more along way Benny did on the lines of HollywoodToneDeaf.radio demanded a competent and skilled violinist. Anyone who was genuinely bad would be not funny, but ear-splittingly unlistenable.
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** According to {{Snopes}}, it was more a case of AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther.
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* CloudCuckoolander: Dennis Day
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* CloudCuckoolander: Dennis DayDay, and Jack's boarder, Mr. Billingsley.
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** Whenever Jack implied that he might consider spending money or doing something generous, Rochester would reply "Oh, boss, come now!"
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** In the episode of ''Bachelor Father'' called "Pinch That Penny!", Rochester hires Lawyer Bently Gregg to renegotiate his 40 year contract with Jack. Impressed by Rochester's ecomomicly means of running the Benny household, Bently invites Rochester to live in a few weeks to help his houseboy Peter with his spendthrift ways. Jack isn't seen on camera, although Bently has a one way telephone conversation with him at the end.
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* ChannelHop: The radio show moved from Creator/{{NBC}} to Creator/{{CBS}} in 1949, one of a number of shows and personalities that the latter network "raided" from the former.
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* ChannelHop: The radio show moved from Creator/{{NBC}} to Creator/{{CBS}} in 1949, one of a number of shows and personalities that the latter network "raided" from the former.
**The show had jumped around quite a bit in its radio days: starting on NBC Blue (later Creator/{{ABC}}) in May 1932, it moved to CBS that October, then to NBC Red (now NBC) in March 1933. It went to NBC Blue in October 1934 and back to Blue in October 1936, where it stayed until the great talent raid of 1949.
**Also, the TV show moved to NBC for its final seasonin 1964.
**The show had jumped around quite a bit in its radio days: starting on NBC Blue (later Creator/{{ABC}}) in May 1932, it moved to CBS that October, then to NBC Red (now NBC) in March 1933. It went to NBC Blue in October 1934 and back to Blue in October 1936, where it stayed until the great talent raid of 1949.
**Also, the TV show moved to NBC for its final seasonin 1964.
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* TalkingToHimself: One episode featured Jack and Rochester taking a road trip to Palm Springs. A scene in a gas station featured Mel Blanc playing the gas station attendent, as well as providing voice overs for the Maxwell's motor and Polly, Jack's parrot.
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* ThrowItIn: That's what MelBlanc did when the sound effect recording for Benny's Maxwell failed to play on cue. Thinking fast, Blanc took the mike and improvised the sounds himself. The audience loved it so much that Benny decided to dispense with the recording and keep Blanc doing the sounds himself.
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* ChannelHop: The radio show moved from {{NBC}} to {{CBS}} in 1949, one of a number of shows and personalities that the latter network "raided" from the former.
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* ChannelHop: The radio show moved from {{NBC}} Creator/{{NBC}} to {{CBS}} Creator/{{CBS}} in 1949, one of a number of shows and personalities that the latter network "raided" from the former.
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-->"Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc..."
-->'''Mugger''': Your money or your life.
-->''(long pause)''
-->'''Mugger''': Look, bud! I said your money or your life!
-->'''Jack''': ''I'm thinking it over!''
-->'''Mugger''': Your money or your life.
-->''(long pause)''
-->'''Mugger''': Look, bud! I said your money or your life!
-->'''Jack''': ''I'm thinking it over!''
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-->'''Mugger''':
->'''Mugger''': Your money or your life.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jackbenny.png
[[caption-width:330:From left to right: [[ServileSnarker Rochester]], [[TenorBoy Dennis Day]], [[TedBaxter Phil Harris]], [[CloserToEarth Mary Livingston]], [[StraightMan Jack Benny]], [[EnforcedPlug Don Wilson]], and MelBlanc.]]
[[caption-width:330:From left to right: [[ServileSnarker Rochester]], [[TenorBoy Dennis Day]], [[TedBaxter Phil Harris]], [[CloserToEarth Mary Livingston]], [[StraightMan Jack Benny]], [[EnforcedPlug Don Wilson]], and MelBlanc.]]
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[[caption-width:330:From
[[caption-width-right:330:From left to right: [[ServileSnarker Rochester]], [[TenorBoy Dennis Day]], [[TedBaxter Phil Harris]], [[CloserToEarth Mary Livingston]], [[StraightMan Jack Benny]], [[EnforcedPlug Don Wilson]], and MelBlanc.]]
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** It should be noted that Mister Kitzel, a RecurringCharacter who was openly Jewish was never portrayed as being particularly tight-fisted or stingy.
* AnimatedAdaptation: The 1959 [[LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] short "The Mouse That Jack Built", a short that unintentionally served, years later, as many younger viewers' initial introduction to Jack Benny.
* AnimatedAdaptation: The 1959 [[LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] short "The Mouse That Jack Built", a short that unintentionally served, years later, as many younger viewers' initial introduction to Jack Benny.
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* AnimatedAdaptation: The 1959
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* CatchPhrase: "Well!" "Now cut that out!"
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* CatchPhrase: "Well!" "Now cut that out!" out!"
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* DreadfulMusician: Jack and his violin.
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* DreadfulMusician: Jack and his violin.
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** In fact, the show sold product a little too well during World War Two. General Foods was forced to take Benny off of promoting their Jell-O and move him to Grape Nuts -- because Benny's show had created a tidal-wave of demand for Jell-O. Under normal circumstances, this would not be a problem. Except that this was circa 1943-44, when strict sugar rationing was in effect, and General Foods had absolutely no way to meet consumer demand for the dessert and still meet its obligations to the troops.
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** In fact, the show sold product a little too well during World War Two. General Foods was forced to take Benny off of promoting their Jell-O and move him to Grape Nuts -- because Benny's show had created a tidal-wave of demand for Jell-O. Under normal circumstances, this would not be a problem. Except that this was circa 1943-44, when strict sugar rationing was in effect, and General Foods had absolutely no way to meet consumer demand for the dessert and still meet its obligations to the troops.
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** Frank Nelson's many appearances (the roles vary, the character remains constant) also qualify. One episode even has Jack visiting a shrink, convinced that he's losing his mind because he keeps seeing Nelson everywhere he goes!
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** Frank Nelson's many appearances (the roles vary, the character remains constant) also qualify. One episode even has Jack visiting a shrink, convinced that he's losing his mind because he keeps seeing Nelson everywhere he goes! goes!
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** And when a Southern listener wrote in once irate that Benny let Rochester hit him while sparring, Benny repiled with something along the lines of "and it's funny if ''I'' hit ''Rochester'', how, exactly?"
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* HilariousInHindsight: In a 1941 radio episode, Jack is bragging about a big party he's having and saying there will be a lot of big movie stars there. Mary asks him to name one- Jack refuses to answer. She badgers him to name one until he says, "All right- Rodney Dangerfield!" At the time it was just a funny name his writers made up, but now...
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* HilariousInHindsight: In a 1941 radio episode, Jack is bragging about a big party he's having and saying there will be a lot of big movie stars there. Mary asks him to name one- Jack refuses to answer. She badgers him to name one until he says, "All right- Rodney Dangerfield!" At the time it was just a funny name his writers made up, but now...
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* ShoutOut: On one episode of ''TheOffice'' Michael Scott blows a wooden train whistle and announces "Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc...camunda!"
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** In fact, the show sold product a little too well during World War Two. General Foods was forced to take Benny off of promoting their Jell-O and move him to Grape Nuts -- because Benny's show had created a tidal-wave of demand for Jell-O. Under normal circumstances, this would not be a problem. Except that this was circa 1943-44, when strict sugar rationing was in effect, and General Foods had absolutely no way to meet consumer demand for the dessert and still meet its obligations to the troops.
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* BigShutUp: There numerous, hilarious versions of this on TheJackBennyShow. Many times, various people, often Mary Livingstone and Verna Felton (as Dennis Day's mother), would snap at Jack to shut up to keep him from making some corny joke. Sometimes, Jack would give it in response to someone either pointing out the obvious, or the flaw in a gag, or his ego. Most of the time, though, it would be Jack hollering "Wait a minute!" at his quartet, the Sportsmen, in a [[MusicalisInterruptus futile attempt to stop them]] from going crazy with their latest wacky song.
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* BigShutUp: There numerous, hilarious versions of this on TheJackBennyShow. Many times, various people, often Mary Livingstone and Verna Felton (as Dennis Day's mother), would snap at Jack to shut up to keep him from making some corny joke. Sometimes, Jack would give it in response to someone either pointing out the obvious, or the flaw in a gag, or lancing his ego. Most of the time, though, it would be Jack hollering "Wait a minute!" at his quartet, the Sportsmen, in a [[MusicalisInterruptus futile attempt to stop them]] from going crazy with their latest wacky song.
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IGB cleanup
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* DrivenToSuicide: One Christmas episode has Jack shopping for presents. A [[MelBlanc clerk]] helps him with a gift and message, but Jack keeps recalling the gift so he can change the message. The increasingly frazzled clerk (MelBlanc, at his hysterical over-the-top best) [[SuicideAsComedy ultimately leaves to shoot himself.]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Jack decides to return the gift and get a cheaper version.]]
** In another Christmas episode, [[IGotBetter the same clerk]] [[BeyondTheImpossible tries and fails]] to do it again.
** In another Christmas episode, [[IGotBetter the same clerk]] [[BeyondTheImpossible tries and fails]] to do it again.
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* DrivenToSuicide: DrivenToSuicide:
** One Christmas episode has Jack shopping for presents. A [[MelBlanc clerk]] helps him with a gift and message, but Jack keeps recalling the gift so he can change the message. The increasingly frazzled clerk (MelBlanc, at his hysterical over-the-top best) [[SuicideAsComedy ultimately leaves to shoot himself.]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Jack decides to return the gift and get a cheaper version.]]
** In another Christmas episode,[[IGotBetter the same clerk]] [[BeyondTheImpossible clerk tries and fails]] fails to do it again.
** One Christmas episode has Jack shopping for presents. A [[MelBlanc clerk]] helps him with a gift and message, but Jack keeps recalling the gift so he can change the message. The increasingly frazzled clerk (MelBlanc, at his hysterical over-the-top best) [[SuicideAsComedy ultimately leaves to shoot himself.]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Jack decides to return the gift and get a cheaper version.]]
** In another Christmas episode,
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* TakeMeOutAtTheBallgame: A 1939 sketch featured "Murder on the Gridiron".
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* AnnoyingLaugh: Or, at any rate, a very ''distinctive'' laugh from Mary.
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* HappilyMarried: Jack with Mary Livingstone. When he died, it was revealed in his will that he had provided for a long-stemmed red rose to be delivered to her, every day, until her own death.
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''Goodnight, folks. And I'll see you soon.''
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* MrViceGuy: Benny's central character flaw is that he's a miserly self-promoter, but this never rises to the level of making him a bad person.
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* MrViceGuy: Benny's central character flaw is that he's a miserly self-promoter, but this never rises to the level of making him a bad person.person, or rather, never rises to the level of making him unsympathetic to the audience.
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* CrossOver: With ''TheBurnsAndAllenShow''. Jack and GeorgeBurns were lifelong friends and appeared on each others shows often. In one episode of his show George gets Jack on his special television which Jack lampshades with "You're not watching me on your silly TV are you? I'm not on until Sunday Night!". After Jack then starts to quote his appearence fee George shuts off the tv! In another episode George threatens his announcer Harry Von Zell by pondering, "I wonder what Don Wilson is doing next year..."
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* CrossOver: With ''TheBurnsAndAllenShow''. Jack and GeorgeBurns were lifelong friends and appeared on each others shows often. In one episode of his show [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CoYC1QhjgI&list=UUoJDv_hP2zmTX8SIKPsuW7A&index=1&feature=plcp George gets Jack on his special television television]] which Jack lampshades with "You're not watching me on your silly TV are you? I'm not on until Sunday Night!". After Jack then starts to quote his appearence fee George shuts off the tv! In another episode George threatens his announcer Harry Von Zell by pondering, "I wonder what Don Wilson is doing next year..."
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jackbenny.png
[[caption-width:330:From left to right: [[ServileSnarker Rochester]], [[TenorBoy Dennis Day]], [[TedBaxter Phil Harris]], [[CloserToEarth Mary Livingston]], [[StraightMan Jack Benny]], [[EnforcedPlug Don Wilson]], and MelBlanc.]]
-->"Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc..."
-->'''Mugger''': Your money or your life.
-->''(long pause)''
-->'''Mugger''': Look, bud! I said your money or your life!
-->'''Jack''': ''I'm thinking it over!''
Comedian Jack Benny's {{Radio}} program made its debut in 1932 as ''The Canada Dry Program'' and ran until 1955 under various titles: ''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 program was also adapted into an eponymous television show, which aired from 1950 to 1965.
Generally, ''The Jack Benny Program'' was 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 radio host Fred Allen.
Recurring characters included Jack's CloserToEarth co-star (and real-life wife) Mary Livingston; his long-suffering African-American valet Rochester; brash Southern bandleader Phil Harris; naïve boy tenor Dennis Day (and, beforehand, 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. 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."
----
!!This work provides examples of:
* TheAlcoholic: Phil Harris
* TheAllegedCar: Jack's Maxwell.
* AllJewsAreCheapskates: Jack Benny's birth name was "Benjamin Kubelsky". (In character, though, this was never alluded to as the reason for his stinginess.)
** It should be noted that Mister Kitzel, a RecurringCharacter who was openly Jewish was never portrayed as being particularly tight-fisted or stingy.
* AnimatedAdaptation: The 1959 [[LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] short "The Mouse That Jack Built", a short that unintentionally served, years later, as many younger viewers' initial introduction to Jack Benny.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=OOubPWGUhQo One of the supporting cast of characters]] on ''TheSimpsons'' is an animated (unnamed) version of Frank Nelson's "Yessssssssssss!" character. As in Jack's show, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpQVIlWPmac&feature=related Homer and company are usually waited on by him]] in various episodes.
* AsHimself: Future ''BarneyMiller'' Detective 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?"
* AsideGlance: Done to perfection by Jack on the TV version.
* BigShutUp: There numerous, hilarious versions of this on TheJackBennyShow. Many times, various people, often Mary Livingstone and Verna Felton (as Dennis Day's mother), would snap at Jack to shut up to keep him from making some corny joke. Sometimes, Jack would give it in response to someone either pointing out the obvious, or the flaw in a gag, or his ego. Most of the time, though, it would be Jack hollering "Wait a minute!" at his quartet, the Sportsmen, in a [[MusicalisInterruptus futile attempt to stop them]] from going crazy with their latest wacky song.
* BigYes: The usual opening for Frank Nelson.
* BrooklynRage: One of Mel Blanc's characters was a surly gentleman who spoke in a Brooklyn drawl, often giving Jack all sorts of grief.
* BrickJoke: ...amonga!
* CatchPhrase: "Well!" "Now cut that out!"
* ChannelHop: The radio show moved from {{NBC}} to {{CBS}} in 1949, one of a number of shows and personalities that the latter network "raided" from the former.
* CloserToEarth: Mary
* CloudCuckoolander: Dennis Day
* ComicBookTime: sorta. The first year the radio show was on the air, Jack Benny's 39th Birthday occurred. The next year, as a gag, they had him turn 39 again. It became a running gag so popular that when he actually died in 1974, the headline in newspapers around the world stated, "Jack Benny dies at 39".
* ContinuityNod
* CrossOver: With ''TheBurnsAndAllenShow''. Jack and GeorgeBurns were lifelong friends and appeared on each others shows often. In one episode of his show George gets Jack on his special television which Jack lampshades with "You're not watching me on your silly TV are you? I'm not on until Sunday Night!". After Jack then starts to quote his appearence fee George shuts off the tv! In another episode George threatens his announcer Harry Von Zell by pondering, "I wonder what Don Wilson is doing next year..."
* TheDanza
* DeathByMaterialism: Parodied with the famous "Your money or your life!" skit.
* TheDitz: Dennis Day
* DreadfulMusician: Jack and his violin.
** Though, he showed on other episodes that he actually was ''quite'' the talented violinist, so more along the lines of HollywoodToneDeaf.
** RefugeInAudacity: To bring the world's greatest violinists like Jascha Heifetz and Isaac Stern on his program where he not only compares his skills with them, but also goes on to play duets for added effect, such as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seZ4KhYr-Hw this one for USO troops in WorldWarII,]] is nothing short of pure hilarious audacity.
--> '''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...)
* DrivenToSuicide: One Christmas episode has Jack shopping for presents. A [[MelBlanc clerk]] helps him with a gift and message, but Jack keeps recalling the gift so he can change the message. The increasingly frazzled clerk (MelBlanc, at his hysterical over-the-top best) [[SuicideAsComedy ultimately leaves to shoot himself.]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Jack decides to return the gift and get a cheaper version.]]
** In another Christmas episode, [[IGotBetter the same clerk]] [[BeyondTheImpossible tries and fails]] to do it again.
--> '''Mel''' Look't what you made me do! You made me so nervous, ''I missed!!!''
* EnforcedPlug
* TheEponymousShow
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Jack and his writers were always battling with the censors. Sometimes, it was for legitimate reasons. For example, one skit originally described a beautiful woman wearing 3 fraternity pins, and no sweater, but at the censors' insistence, the number of pins was bumped up to 300. Other times, for rather inane reasons. Like, when (in another skit) the censors insisted on removing a scene where Jack placates a horde of cannibals with a dirty limerick in a nonsense language.
** Phil Harris said that his character used to refer to Jack Benny as 'Jackson' because it was the closest he could get to saying 'jackass' on the air without getting into trouble with the censors.
** One time Jack called a Gym.
--> '''Girl on Phone''': [=McGuire=]'s Gym. We make mountains out of molehills.
--> '''Jack Benny''': Hello, this is Jack Benny....
--> '''Girl on Phone''': Oh, Mr Benny! You'll want our male division...
* ImThinkingItOver: TropeNamer.
* IncomingHam: Two great ones. Phil Harris ("Hiya folks, your future looks bright because Harris is here and there's good news tonight! Oh, Harris, you've got your own teeth, but you're clicking all the time!") and Frank Nelson ([[BigYes "Yeeeeeesssss?"]])
* IncrediblyLamePun: The show was infested with puns. Most of the time, [[PungeonMaster Jack]] would use them as a part of his Self-Depreciation schtick.
--> '''Sy (Mel Blanc)''': I was arrested for reheating the coffee. They got me for double perking.
* IronyAsSheIsCast: In real life, Jack Benny was actually a very good violinist. It takes a lot of musical talent to be able to play a musical instrument badly for comic effect and having it come out amusing rather than painful.
* ItsAWonderfulPlot: The February 2, 1947 episode.
* {{Jingle}}: If you want better taste from your cigarette, Lucky Strikes is the brand to get!
** J-E-L-L-OOOOOOOOO!!!
* LampshadeHanging: There was so much hanging of lampshades everywhere, Jack's career could have doubled as a furniture store. One example, from the detective themed Bogart episode:
-->'''Jack:''' I was typing out a report on Slim-Finger Sarah, when the door opened. And there were detectives Simmons and Ross. They had brought in a vicious gunman, a killer named Baby-Faced Bogart.
-->''[HumphreyBogart enters to long applause from the audience]''
-->'''Jack:''' I didn't mind the applause he got on his entrance, but I resented the fact that Crosby and Wilson joined in.
* LongRunners: 33 years on Radio and TV.
* MamaBear: Verna Felton played the part of Dennis Day's mother, a tough as nails, literally frightening woman who clashed with Jack on numerous occasions in order protect Dennis from being taken advantage of.
* MarathonRunning: On Dec 31 2011/Jan 1st 2012 Digital channel Antenna TV ran "Night of 2012 Laughs" a 20 hour marathon of ''TheJackBennyProgram'' alternating with ''TheBurnsAndAllenShow''.
* MelBlanc: Did a number of minor voice-over and live-action roles, as well as some sound effects.
** "Si."
* MrViceGuy: Benny's central character flaw is that he's a miserly self-promoter, but this never rises to the level of making him a bad person.
* OfficerOHara: In the "Captain O'Benny" sketches.
* OffingTheOffspring: Dennis Day drove everyone nuts, especially his parents. Apparently, according to the show, his childhood was riddled with ParentalAbandonment situations, and his parents trying to kill him:
--> '''Mrs. Day''' You know, Dennis, lots of people think you act strange, and I may be to blame. You see, when you were a baby, I dropped you on your head.
--> '''Dennis''' That's okay, lots of mothers drop their babies on their heads.
--> '''Mrs. Day''' Out of a 2 story window? Oh, I knew there was something wrong when you bounced right back up.
* TheOperatorsMustBeCrazy: Gertrude Gearshift and Mabel Flapsaddle of The Jack Benny Program, who are too busy making wisecracks and infuriating Jack to put the call through.
* OrsonWelles: Guest-hosted for several 1943 episodes while Benny was ill with pneumonia.
* PrettyInMink: He went on a [[ButtMonkey failed date]] with a girl who wore a fur wrap.
* ProductPlacement: If Don Wilson is talking, prepare for Jell-O or Lucky Strike references soon.
* RevealShot, or the radio equivalent.
* TheRival: Fred Allen, who was fond of LampshadeHanging the various contrived ways scripts would bring the rivalry up. And cracking Jack up in the process.
* RuleOfFunny: This was the show's unspoken and spoken MadnessMantra '''EVERYTHING''' on the show was done to get laughs. Obviously, this fact was also repeatedly lampshaded both on and off the show.
** In one episode, Don Wilson goes into a DudeWheresMyRespect rant about how the only reason why he's such a BigEater is to let Jack insult his girth, and then Phil Harris explains/complains how the only reason he's a womanizing drunkard is to stay in character for the show, whereupon Jack one-ups both them by complaining about how hard it is to be impossibly stingy.
** During a rehearsal, a gag situation is explained to guest star Ronald Colman, who then asks "What's my motivation?" The writers then explain, "to get the biggest friggin' laugh possible." Ronald then asks again, "But what's my motivation?" His wife, Benita Humes, explained further, "[[MeaningfulEcho To get the biggest friggin' laugh possible.]]"
* RunningGag: So many... but above all, there is the truly '''epic''' feud with Fred Allen.
** Also Benny's permanent age of 39.
--> '''Rochester''' ''Whatever happened to the gasman???''
* TheScrooge: Before Jack Benny, all penny-pinching jokes were about the [[BonnieScotland Scottish]]. After Jack Benny, most penny-pinching jokes were about Jack Benny.
* ServileSnarker: Rochester
* ShowWithinAShow: A frequent device was to transition Jack and other characters from "real life" to the show, and vice versa.
* SoundToScreenAdaptation
* StraightMan: Jack
** To elaborate, the underlying theme to pretty much the totality of Jack's schtick was that he was literally almost everybody's straightman.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Dennis Day started out as the same character as Kenny Baker, whom he replaced. Dennis Day was a good enough actor that his part was fleshed out as the years went on.
* TakeThat: Most examples of this trope on Jack's radioshow 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 gueststar, Claude Rains repeated Allen's accusation that Jack is so uncreative that he had to steal jokes from infamous joke-thief, Milton Berle:
--> '''Jack:''' Mr Rains, when you take a joke away from Berle, it's not called "stealing," it's called "repossessing."
* TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat: While waiting in an airport Jack had a variation with the Flight announcer.
--> '''Don Wilson''' Well, Jack, at least you don't have to listen to that announcer they had here.
--> '''Jack''' You're right! Remember him? Thank goodness he's no longer here.
--> '''Announcer on Speaker''' Attention, attention ... flights now arriving from Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc...
--> '''Jack''' Oh, No!!!!
--> '''Announcer on Speaker''' Oh, Yes! ...camunga.
* TedBaxter
* TenorBoy: Dennis (& Kenny before him). He once said he didn't have an opinion on an issue because "tenors are a dime a dozen."
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Though combined with a very well-proportioned amount of SelfDeprecation.
* WhoWritesThisCrap: A running gag was that Benny's writers were a gaggle of semi-literate boobs (and a convict) who only got their jobs by blackmailing Jack. Another running gag was that virtually everything Jack said was written by his writers.
* WhyDidntYouJustSaySo: Used with [[HilarityEnsues hilarious effect]] with Dennis Day, often driving Jack to distraction.
* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: Mr. Schlepperman, Mr. Kitzel, but especially Frank Nelson.
* YouLookFamiliar: All of Mel Blanc's roles, lampshaded brutally and constantly.
--> '''Polly''' Monsieur Benny, my money, please! *rawk*
--> '''Jack''' Polly! You sounded just like Professor Le Blanc!
--> *{{Beat}}*
--> '''Jack''' Come to think of it, you look just like Professor Le Blanc, too...
** Frank Nelson's many appearances (the roles vary, the character remains constant) also qualify. One episode even has Jack visiting a shrink, convinced that he's losing his mind because he keeps seeing Nelson everywhere he goes!
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%% Please don't put "...amonga!" at the end of this page. It's under BrickJoke.
[[caption-width:330:From left to right: [[ServileSnarker Rochester]], [[TenorBoy Dennis Day]], [[TedBaxter Phil Harris]], [[CloserToEarth Mary Livingston]], [[StraightMan Jack Benny]], [[EnforcedPlug Don Wilson]], and MelBlanc.]]
-->"Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc..."
-->'''Mugger''': Your money or your life.
-->''(long pause)''
-->'''Mugger''': Look, bud! I said your money or your life!
-->'''Jack''': ''I'm thinking it over!''
Comedian Jack Benny's {{Radio}} program made its debut in 1932 as ''The Canada Dry Program'' and ran until 1955 under various titles: ''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 program was also adapted into an eponymous television show, which aired from 1950 to 1965.
Generally, ''The Jack Benny Program'' was 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 radio host Fred Allen.
Recurring characters included Jack's CloserToEarth co-star (and real-life wife) Mary Livingston; his long-suffering African-American valet Rochester; brash Southern bandleader Phil Harris; naïve boy tenor Dennis Day (and, beforehand, 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. 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."
----
!!This work provides examples of:
* TheAlcoholic: Phil Harris
* TheAllegedCar: Jack's Maxwell.
* AllJewsAreCheapskates: Jack Benny's birth name was "Benjamin Kubelsky". (In character, though, this was never alluded to as the reason for his stinginess.)
** It should be noted that Mister Kitzel, a RecurringCharacter who was openly Jewish was never portrayed as being particularly tight-fisted or stingy.
* AnimatedAdaptation: The 1959 [[LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] short "The Mouse That Jack Built", a short that unintentionally served, years later, as many younger viewers' initial introduction to Jack Benny.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=OOubPWGUhQo One of the supporting cast of characters]] on ''TheSimpsons'' is an animated (unnamed) version of Frank Nelson's "Yessssssssssss!" character. As in Jack's show, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpQVIlWPmac&feature=related Homer and company are usually waited on by him]] in various episodes.
* AsHimself: Future ''BarneyMiller'' Detective 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?"
* AsideGlance: Done to perfection by Jack on the TV version.
* BigShutUp: There numerous, hilarious versions of this on TheJackBennyShow. Many times, various people, often Mary Livingstone and Verna Felton (as Dennis Day's mother), would snap at Jack to shut up to keep him from making some corny joke. Sometimes, Jack would give it in response to someone either pointing out the obvious, or the flaw in a gag, or his ego. Most of the time, though, it would be Jack hollering "Wait a minute!" at his quartet, the Sportsmen, in a [[MusicalisInterruptus futile attempt to stop them]] from going crazy with their latest wacky song.
* BigYes: The usual opening for Frank Nelson.
* BrooklynRage: One of Mel Blanc's characters was a surly gentleman who spoke in a Brooklyn drawl, often giving Jack all sorts of grief.
* BrickJoke: ...amonga!
* CatchPhrase: "Well!" "Now cut that out!"
* ChannelHop: The radio show moved from {{NBC}} to {{CBS}} in 1949, one of a number of shows and personalities that the latter network "raided" from the former.
* CloserToEarth: Mary
* CloudCuckoolander: Dennis Day
* ComicBookTime: sorta. The first year the radio show was on the air, Jack Benny's 39th Birthday occurred. The next year, as a gag, they had him turn 39 again. It became a running gag so popular that when he actually died in 1974, the headline in newspapers around the world stated, "Jack Benny dies at 39".
* ContinuityNod
* CrossOver: With ''TheBurnsAndAllenShow''. Jack and GeorgeBurns were lifelong friends and appeared on each others shows often. In one episode of his show George gets Jack on his special television which Jack lampshades with "You're not watching me on your silly TV are you? I'm not on until Sunday Night!". After Jack then starts to quote his appearence fee George shuts off the tv! In another episode George threatens his announcer Harry Von Zell by pondering, "I wonder what Don Wilson is doing next year..."
* TheDanza
* DeathByMaterialism: Parodied with the famous "Your money or your life!" skit.
* TheDitz: Dennis Day
* DreadfulMusician: Jack and his violin.
** Though, he showed on other episodes that he actually was ''quite'' the talented violinist, so more along the lines of HollywoodToneDeaf.
** RefugeInAudacity: To bring the world's greatest violinists like Jascha Heifetz and Isaac Stern on his program where he not only compares his skills with them, but also goes on to play duets for added effect, such as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seZ4KhYr-Hw this one for USO troops in WorldWarII,]] is nothing short of pure hilarious audacity.
--> '''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...)
* DrivenToSuicide: One Christmas episode has Jack shopping for presents. A [[MelBlanc clerk]] helps him with a gift and message, but Jack keeps recalling the gift so he can change the message. The increasingly frazzled clerk (MelBlanc, at his hysterical over-the-top best) [[SuicideAsComedy ultimately leaves to shoot himself.]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Jack decides to return the gift and get a cheaper version.]]
** In another Christmas episode, [[IGotBetter the same clerk]] [[BeyondTheImpossible tries and fails]] to do it again.
--> '''Mel''' Look't what you made me do! You made me so nervous, ''I missed!!!''
* EnforcedPlug
* TheEponymousShow
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Jack and his writers were always battling with the censors. Sometimes, it was for legitimate reasons. For example, one skit originally described a beautiful woman wearing 3 fraternity pins, and no sweater, but at the censors' insistence, the number of pins was bumped up to 300. Other times, for rather inane reasons. Like, when (in another skit) the censors insisted on removing a scene where Jack placates a horde of cannibals with a dirty limerick in a nonsense language.
** Phil Harris said that his character used to refer to Jack Benny as 'Jackson' because it was the closest he could get to saying 'jackass' on the air without getting into trouble with the censors.
** One time Jack called a Gym.
--> '''Girl on Phone''': [=McGuire=]'s Gym. We make mountains out of molehills.
--> '''Jack Benny''': Hello, this is Jack Benny....
--> '''Girl on Phone''': Oh, Mr Benny! You'll want our male division...
* ImThinkingItOver: TropeNamer.
* IncomingHam: Two great ones. Phil Harris ("Hiya folks, your future looks bright because Harris is here and there's good news tonight! Oh, Harris, you've got your own teeth, but you're clicking all the time!") and Frank Nelson ([[BigYes "Yeeeeeesssss?"]])
* IncrediblyLamePun: The show was infested with puns. Most of the time, [[PungeonMaster Jack]] would use them as a part of his Self-Depreciation schtick.
--> '''Sy (Mel Blanc)''': I was arrested for reheating the coffee. They got me for double perking.
* IronyAsSheIsCast: In real life, Jack Benny was actually a very good violinist. It takes a lot of musical talent to be able to play a musical instrument badly for comic effect and having it come out amusing rather than painful.
* ItsAWonderfulPlot: The February 2, 1947 episode.
* {{Jingle}}: If you want better taste from your cigarette, Lucky Strikes is the brand to get!
** J-E-L-L-OOOOOOOOO!!!
* LampshadeHanging: There was so much hanging of lampshades everywhere, Jack's career could have doubled as a furniture store. One example, from the detective themed Bogart episode:
-->'''Jack:''' I was typing out a report on Slim-Finger Sarah, when the door opened. And there were detectives Simmons and Ross. They had brought in a vicious gunman, a killer named Baby-Faced Bogart.
-->''[HumphreyBogart enters to long applause from the audience]''
-->'''Jack:''' I didn't mind the applause he got on his entrance, but I resented the fact that Crosby and Wilson joined in.
* LongRunners: 33 years on Radio and TV.
* MamaBear: Verna Felton played the part of Dennis Day's mother, a tough as nails, literally frightening woman who clashed with Jack on numerous occasions in order protect Dennis from being taken advantage of.
* MarathonRunning: On Dec 31 2011/Jan 1st 2012 Digital channel Antenna TV ran "Night of 2012 Laughs" a 20 hour marathon of ''TheJackBennyProgram'' alternating with ''TheBurnsAndAllenShow''.
* MelBlanc: Did a number of minor voice-over and live-action roles, as well as some sound effects.
** "Si."
* MrViceGuy: Benny's central character flaw is that he's a miserly self-promoter, but this never rises to the level of making him a bad person.
* OfficerOHara: In the "Captain O'Benny" sketches.
* OffingTheOffspring: Dennis Day drove everyone nuts, especially his parents. Apparently, according to the show, his childhood was riddled with ParentalAbandonment situations, and his parents trying to kill him:
--> '''Mrs. Day''' You know, Dennis, lots of people think you act strange, and I may be to blame. You see, when you were a baby, I dropped you on your head.
--> '''Dennis''' That's okay, lots of mothers drop their babies on their heads.
--> '''Mrs. Day''' Out of a 2 story window? Oh, I knew there was something wrong when you bounced right back up.
* TheOperatorsMustBeCrazy: Gertrude Gearshift and Mabel Flapsaddle of The Jack Benny Program, who are too busy making wisecracks and infuriating Jack to put the call through.
* OrsonWelles: Guest-hosted for several 1943 episodes while Benny was ill with pneumonia.
* PrettyInMink: He went on a [[ButtMonkey failed date]] with a girl who wore a fur wrap.
* ProductPlacement: If Don Wilson is talking, prepare for Jell-O or Lucky Strike references soon.
* RevealShot, or the radio equivalent.
* TheRival: Fred Allen, who was fond of LampshadeHanging the various contrived ways scripts would bring the rivalry up. And cracking Jack up in the process.
* RuleOfFunny: This was the show's unspoken and spoken MadnessMantra '''EVERYTHING''' on the show was done to get laughs. Obviously, this fact was also repeatedly lampshaded both on and off the show.
** In one episode, Don Wilson goes into a DudeWheresMyRespect rant about how the only reason why he's such a BigEater is to let Jack insult his girth, and then Phil Harris explains/complains how the only reason he's a womanizing drunkard is to stay in character for the show, whereupon Jack one-ups both them by complaining about how hard it is to be impossibly stingy.
** During a rehearsal, a gag situation is explained to guest star Ronald Colman, who then asks "What's my motivation?" The writers then explain, "to get the biggest friggin' laugh possible." Ronald then asks again, "But what's my motivation?" His wife, Benita Humes, explained further, "[[MeaningfulEcho To get the biggest friggin' laugh possible.]]"
* RunningGag: So many... but above all, there is the truly '''epic''' feud with Fred Allen.
** Also Benny's permanent age of 39.
--> '''Rochester''' ''Whatever happened to the gasman???''
* TheScrooge: Before Jack Benny, all penny-pinching jokes were about the [[BonnieScotland Scottish]]. After Jack Benny, most penny-pinching jokes were about Jack Benny.
* ServileSnarker: Rochester
* ShowWithinAShow: A frequent device was to transition Jack and other characters from "real life" to the show, and vice versa.
* SoundToScreenAdaptation
* StraightMan: Jack
** To elaborate, the underlying theme to pretty much the totality of Jack's schtick was that he was literally almost everybody's straightman.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Dennis Day started out as the same character as Kenny Baker, whom he replaced. Dennis Day was a good enough actor that his part was fleshed out as the years went on.
* TakeThat: Most examples of this trope on Jack's radioshow 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 gueststar, Claude Rains repeated Allen's accusation that Jack is so uncreative that he had to steal jokes from infamous joke-thief, Milton Berle:
--> '''Jack:''' Mr Rains, when you take a joke away from Berle, it's not called "stealing," it's called "repossessing."
* TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat: While waiting in an airport Jack had a variation with the Flight announcer.
--> '''Don Wilson''' Well, Jack, at least you don't have to listen to that announcer they had here.
--> '''Jack''' You're right! Remember him? Thank goodness he's no longer here.
--> '''Announcer on Speaker''' Attention, attention ... flights now arriving from Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc...
--> '''Jack''' Oh, No!!!!
--> '''Announcer on Speaker''' Oh, Yes! ...camunga.
* TedBaxter
* TenorBoy: Dennis (& Kenny before him). He once said he didn't have an opinion on an issue because "tenors are a dime a dozen."
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Though combined with a very well-proportioned amount of SelfDeprecation.
* WhoWritesThisCrap: A running gag was that Benny's writers were a gaggle of semi-literate boobs (and a convict) who only got their jobs by blackmailing Jack. Another running gag was that virtually everything Jack said was written by his writers.
* WhyDidntYouJustSaySo: Used with [[HilarityEnsues hilarious effect]] with Dennis Day, often driving Jack to distraction.
* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: Mr. Schlepperman, Mr. Kitzel, but especially Frank Nelson.
* YouLookFamiliar: All of Mel Blanc's roles, lampshaded brutally and constantly.
--> '''Polly''' Monsieur Benny, my money, please! *rawk*
--> '''Jack''' Polly! You sounded just like Professor Le Blanc!
--> *{{Beat}}*
--> '''Jack''' Come to think of it, you look just like Professor Le Blanc, too...
** Frank Nelson's many appearances (the roles vary, the character remains constant) also qualify. One episode even has Jack visiting a shrink, convinced that he's losing his mind because he keeps seeing Nelson everywhere he goes!
----
%% Please don't put "...amonga!" at the end of this page. It's under BrickJoke.
