Originally broadcast on NBC, 17 June 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1941–1952
- Surviving broadcasts
- 248
- Genre
- comedy
This upload contains 266 episodes (228 aired shows, 37 rehearsals, and 1 After Show) of the old time comedy program, The Red Skelton program. The show aired from 1941-1952, save for an 18-month hiatus from June 1944-December 1945 when Skelton served in WWII.
1952 · 161951 · 29
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Listenable · 1 of 45Rough but complete · 44 of 45
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: red-skelton-show_202008
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
13 dated broadcasts across 12 years on the air, with 10 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1951, in original transmission order.
- 1. Red Skelton Show Helter Shelter · 4 Feb 1951
- 2. Red Skelton Show The Big Scare · 11 Feb 1951
- 3. Red Skelton Show I Caught the Devil Part 1 · 18 Feb 1951
Red Skelton Show The Liberty Bell
25 Jun 1952 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 25 June 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Red Skelton Show Cauliflower Fights Tonight
18 Jun 1952 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 18 June 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Red Skelton Show I Bought A Fighter
11 Jun 1952 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 11 June 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Red Skelton Show The Town Gossip
7 May 1952 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 7 May 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Red Skelton Show A Fellow Who Wants to Be Helpful
26 Mar 1952 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 26 March 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Red Skelton Show The Circus
19 Mar 1952 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 19 March 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Red Skelton Show Barber Who Is Trying to Improve His Shop
12 Mar 1952 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 12 March 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Red Skelton Show Hawaii
5 Mar 1952 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 5 March 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
17 Jun 1951
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 17 Jun 1951.
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 17 June 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on CBS, 17 June 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on NBC
NBC in 1941–1952
Other series the network carried while The Red Skelton Show was on the air.
Same seasons
comedy on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
Friends in front of a microphone
Jack Benny and Fibber McGee sold intimacy: recurring characters, in-jokes, a house style. The modern hang-out show is the same trick without the script.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of The Red Skelton Show
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
