Variety show Stan Laurel revisited his music hall days when he performed at the "Royal Variety" show. In the United States, former vaudeville performers such as the Marx Brothers, George Burns and Gracie Allen, W. C. Fields, and Jack Benny honed their skills in the Borscht Belt before moving to talkies, to radio shows, and then to television shows, including variety shows. Variety shows were among the first programs to be featured on television during the experimental mechanical television era. Variety shows hosted by Helen Haynes and Harriet Lee are recorded in contemporary newspapers in 1931 and 1932; because of technical limits
The Carol Burnett Show Wind", which had its television debut on NBC the week before. After the 1976-77 season ended, Harvey Korman decided to leave the series. After a decade of working with Burnett and winning several Emmy Awards, Korman had been offered a contract by ABC to headline his own series. Also, the ratings had begun to decline. Nevertheless, CBS renewed Burnett's show for an 11th season. Dick Van Dyke, fresh from headlining his own short-lived Emmy-winning variety series, "Van Dyke & Company", was brought in to replace Korman. However, his presence did not help stem the sagging ratings, as the show faced