Inviting Hal March to appear as a reciprocal guest on this live edition of his show was good way for Jack Benny to be topical and complete a promotional tie-in with the quiz-show craze that was sweeping television at the time -- and the premise of March's "$64,000 Question" provides a good opportunity for Benny to cash in on his many long running cheapness gags.
The sequence that takes up most of the episode in which Jack does his best not to allow March to win any money on his version of the quiz is very funny indeed, piling absurdity on absurdity like the best of Benny's material. For some reason I broke up laughing the hardest at the hard-boiled gangsters who matter-of-factly admit to killing the question-writer to keep the answers secret.
Hal March seems to have a dry, understated sense of humor similar to Benny's, and they have very god comedy rapport. A sequence with members of the Jack Benny Fan Club disturbing the audience doesn't go as far as it could. A few good gags are derived from (or made around) Don Wilson's son Harlow in the opening, but he's still not the show's most charismatic running character either (though that's part of the point). However his song-and-dance to "Me and My Shadow" is very charming.
The sequence that takes up most of the episode in which Jack does his best not to allow March to win any money on his version of the quiz is very funny indeed, piling absurdity on absurdity like the best of Benny's material. For some reason I broke up laughing the hardest at the hard-boiled gangsters who matter-of-factly admit to killing the question-writer to keep the answers secret.
Hal March seems to have a dry, understated sense of humor similar to Benny's, and they have very god comedy rapport. A sequence with members of the Jack Benny Fan Club disturbing the audience doesn't go as far as it could. A few good gags are derived from (or made around) Don Wilson's son Harlow in the opening, but he's still not the show's most charismatic running character either (though that's part of the point). However his song-and-dance to "Me and My Shadow" is very charming.
