Fri, May 31, 1974
This unaired pilot of "You Must Be Joking!" was released on the "You Must Be Joking! The Complete Series" DVD by NetworkOnAir. It was never broadcast, and many of it's sketches were re-shot later for the first proper episode of the show. Some of the sketches were performed live while others were filmed and shown to a live audience. The show features two main teenage actors with several supporting children and one adult. Some of the shows key features are present even in this early stage, musical interludes, links sketches, news type interviews, school and parents sketches. The shows funny nature gets put on hold several times during this episode, to present serious subjects that might interest children. This was later toned down for the production series. Even in this early stage the viewer can see the formula that would later be used by shows like "You Can't Do That On Television".