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| The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour | |
|---|---|
| Show name | The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour |
| Genre | Sketch comedy, Variety |
| Creator | Hart Pomerantz, Lorne Michaels |
| Director | Martin Lavut |
| Starring | Hart Pomerantz, Lorne Michaels, Elliot L. Sims |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Num episodes | 13 |
| Executive producer | Lorne Michaels |
| Producer | Norman Jewison |
| Runtime | 30 minutes |
| Company | CBC Television |
| Network | CBC Television |
The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour was a 1970 Canadian sketch comedy and variety television series that showcased early work by comedians who later influenced Saturday Night Live, Second City Television, and North American sketch traditions. The program combined musical numbers, written sketches, and celebrity interviews, and it aired during a period of significant expansion in Canadian television production involving talent associated with Harold Pinter-era dramatic shifts and contemporaneous variety formats such as The Ed Sullivan Show and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
The series starred Hart Pomerantz and Lorne Michaels and was produced for CBC Television during a transitional moment in Canadian Broadcasting Corporation programming policy and cultural funding linked to agencies like the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and the National Film Board of Canada. Its blend of satire, improvisation, and musical performance reflected influences from institutions and figures such as The Second City, Comedy Store, John Cleese, Monty Python, Steve Martin, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, Murray McLachlan, and the emerging counterculture entertainment circuits in Toronto, New York City, and Los Angeles.
Development involved collaboration among Canadian producers, writers, and musicians connected to established bodies including CBC Television, the National Film Board of Canada, and independent production houses associated with producers like Norman Jewison and directors like Martin Lavut. Creative leadership by Lorne Michaels drew on his experiences in Toronto comedy circles, Hart Pomerantz's legal and satirical background, and contributions from writers with ties to Yuk Yuk's, Second City Toronto, and university revue traditions at University of Toronto and McGill University. Budgetary and scheduling constraints were negotiated with executives influenced by policy debates in the Parliament of Canada and programming trends exemplified by American networks such as NBC, CBS, and ABC.
Each half-hour episode mixed sketches, musical interludes, and guest interviews. Sketch material ranged from short satirical pieces to longer recurring bits reminiscent of formats developed at The Second City and later refined on Saturday Night Live; musical guests and comedic performers often had links to institutions like Yorkville (Toronto), the ByWard Market, and regional folk circuits. The program featured editing and production techniques comparable to contemporary variety shows including The Carol Burnett Show, The Muppet Show, and The Gong Show, while also experimenting with the sketch-driven pacing later seen in SCTV and All That.
Principal performers included Hart Pomerantz and Lorne Michaels; supporting players and guest stars comprised a mix of Canadian and American talent drawn from theatre, radio, and television. Appearances included figures from the comedy and music communities such as Gordon Pinsent, Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Norman Lear, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Gordon Lightfoot, and television personalities associated with CBC News and entertainment programming. The show also hosted actors and writers with theatre affiliations to Stratford Festival, Royal Alexandra Theatre, and Tarragon Theatre.
Contemporary reception was mixed but notable for its role in incubating talent that shaped later North American comedy institutions, including Saturday Night Live and Second City Television. Critical discussion in outlets such as The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and broadcasting trade press compared its experimental sketches to work by Monty Python's Flying Circus and praised its contribution to a growing Canadian comedy industry alongside festivals like the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and institutions like The Second City Toronto. Alumni connections helped spawn careers at NBC, Channel 4, HBO, and Canadian networks; the series is cited in retrospectives alongside shows like This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Royal Canadian Air Farce for influencing sketch structure and performer development.
The series ran for a single season of 13 episodes on CBC Television in 1970, occupying a late-night variety slot similar to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and competing for audience share with imported American programming on CBC Television schedules. Episodes featured rotating guest stars from the music, film, and theatre worlds, with production credits linking to studios and broadcast facilities in Toronto, Vancouver, and occasionally Los Angeles. Syndication was limited; however, episodes and clips resurfaced in archival retrospectives at institutions such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Archives, the National Film Board of Canada, the Canadian Museum of History, and university media collections at University of Toronto and York University.
Category:Canadian sketch comedy television series Category:CBC Television original programming