Favorite/Least favorite tertiary characters

[LLeff]

I never liked the Herman Peabody character who carpooled with Jack and others. This character was hard to understand because he talked so softly and had very little personality. I'm pretty sure the actor who did Herman Peabody was the same man who did the voice of Elmer Fudd. But for some reason Herman Peabody just sounded flat and uninteresting.

Z'amatterafact, Herman Peabody was one of the very first repeating speaking roles of Mel Blanc. But Arthur Q. Bryan, who did Elmer Fudd, also appeared on the show a few times.

I recently heard a Thanksgiving scenario of Herman taking his turkey out for a walk that was lifted almost whole cloth to be a Mr. Kitzel scene about 10 years later.

[Roman]

Yes, after listening to a few more Herman Peabody appearances, I could recognize that it as Mel Blanc. I'm not sure if it's because I just always liked Mel, but after I found out it was Mel, the Herman Peabody sketches started to become a bit funnier for me (although never all that funny).

That must be Mel who did the "Anaheim, Azusa & Cucamunga" railroad announcements and was a welcoming soldier (or sailor) at Jack's WWII shows at military bases.

[JohnM]

An old thread, but I wasn't around then. It's fascinating that of all the tertiary characters, I see ones that I really like but others here don't and vice versa.

I really, really like the Jello shows, but I can't stand Mr Billingsley. The gags aren't funny and his delivery is awful. Doesn't seem "surreal," just stupid.

Someone mentioned Killer Hogan and how "giving him the old one two" got old real fast. For some reason, I laughed out loud every time -- couldn't get enough! It's the kind of stupid that speaks to me, I guess.

[scottp]

Was it Elliot Lewis who would turn up as a guy who was new on whatever job? He'd be really enthusiastic about it until asked to do something, and then he'd think up all the bad side effects it might have, so he'd refuse. (Nowadays they could throw in global warming.)
A few years ago I was hearing Phil Harris- Alice Faye shows fairly often, but only lately when I got a bunch on mp3 am I finally getting to the point where I'll know Elliot Lewis' voice (for the rest of my life, I think.) The other day I heard a Benny show where Lewis is a guy upset about a mention of Tennessee, and he gives an overwrought tale of woe based on the lyrics of "Tennessee Waltz."
As far as Mr. Kitzel, I like him OK but it seems the studio audience was in an "Awwww...." mood in the later years-- just a little too glad to see him show up. Reminds me of a Henry Morgan bit where the announcer Charlie Irving sends the audience into hysterics just by saying "Hollywood and Vine... Sunset and Vine... VINE and Vine..."
"Pickle in de middle and de mustard on top" gets old after a while!

[Gerry O.]

Was it Elliot Lewis who would turn up as a guy who was new on whatever job? He'd be really enthusiastic about it until asked to do something, and then he'd think up all the bad side effects it might have, so he'd refuse. (Nowadays they could throw in global warming.)
!

Elliot Lewis appeared as that character on George Burns and Gracie Allen's "Maxwell House Coffee Time" series around 1948.

That was a funny bit....Elliot would show up as a delivery man, house painter, etc., and be so thrilled with him new job, loudly saying "I'm so HAPPY with this job!" over and over again....but then he would start thinking of negative things and gradually get himself worked up to the point where he would yell, "I'll show THEM....I'll QUIT this stinkin' job!" and storm off.

The interesting thing about those routines was that George Burns was always the one who answered the door and had to deal with Lewis and his irrational tirades....and George would be the "put-upon victim" and often react very much like Jack Benny would in that situation.