Although I did/do like the crassness of The Jackie Gleason Show, if you can call it crassness... it's not for kids... I look at the Steve Allen shows with awe. He was far ahead of his time. He shaped a lot of American humour... brought it to more distinguished and cerebric (sp ?) levels. Although, he did the sight gags, especially with Cid Caesar, rather, uh, well.

Steve, as opposed to the young lady I mentioned earlier, was a true funnyman. He spent great efforts in his last years trying to appeal to young comics to be funny instead of vulgar, as has been "hip" lately. He actually felt that vulgar humour was demeaning to not only the public, but to the humour, and should be avoided. Some would call this being a prude. I would call it being true to humour. Am I wrong here ?