khandu asks, "Was he not the first to have Elvis on TV?" Elvis was on Berle's show before he was on the Ed Sullivan show, but I don't know whether Elvis had made any other TV appearances before Berle put him on the air.

As a child in the late '50s and '60s, I always found Berle quite scary. Even now, when I look at the video-clip tributes, I still can't get past that "Ew! Slimy!" feeling about him. Oh, well, he certainly entertained a host of (other) people! A great loss to the world of comedy.