David Brenner’s First Appearance on The Tonight Show
Today is the birthday of David Brenner (b. 1936), not to be confused with David Steinberg! While both were Jewish stand-up comedians whose heyday was the 1970s, the two had very different styles and personalities. Brenner’s was (and is) brash and urban as befits a street kid from Philadelphia. He actually started out making television documentaries before going into stand-up. The historic clip below records his first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1971. He would go on to appear on the show over 150 more times.
To find out more about the variety arts past and present, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold. And don’t miss Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, to be released by Bear Manor Media in 2013.
