Can You Top This?

Can You Top This? was a half-hour comedy show in which comedians tried to top each other's jokes. The show solicited jokes from listeners; the host would then read the best of the submissions, which the panelists would attempt to top with their own jokes in the same vein, while results were scored by a "laugh meter." Listeners whose submissions made it on the air received small cash prizes, with bonuses if their submissions outperformed the panelists' gags on the laugh meter.

Panelists included veteran vaudevillians "Senator" Edward Hastings Ford and Joe Laurie, Jr. and cartoonist Harry Hershfield. Several persons served as host over the years, most notably Peter Donald, the original host, and Dennis James.

The show debuted on WOR in New York City in 1940 and was picked up by NBC in 1942, where it aired for over a decade. An attempt at a television version in 1950 lasted only one season. In the late 194s, the show also spawned two joke books, Can You Top This? and Cream of the Crop.

The show has no continuity whatsoever; it's one joke after another. Some of them are quite funny; others--er--less so. And some of the ethnic stereotypes and dialects common in the humor of that era would likely not make it to the air today.

For more information, see Can You Top This? at Wikipedia.

Series description provided by Frank Bell.