The Dean Martin Show 

Dean Martin hosts, with several celebrities as guests. There are musical acts and comedy sketches that break down comedy, racial, and sexual barriers all at the same time.

Stars:

Dean Martin, Sandahl Bergman, Dom DeLuise

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 22 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Dean Martin	...	Himself - Host 263 episodes, 1965-1974

Storyline

Dean Martin hosts, with several celebrities as guests. There are musical acts and comedy sketches that break down comedy, racial, and sexual barriers all at the same time.

---

Plot Keywords:

song | singing | singer | variety show | character name in series title | 

---

Taglines:

Bigger than ever! The biggest guests, the biggest songs, the biggest laughs, the biggest cue-cards!

---

Genres:

Comedy | Music

---

Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 September 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Dean Martin Comedy Hour

Filming Locations:

Stage 4, Stage 1, NBC Studios - 3000 W. Alameda Avenue, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Claude Productions, Greg Garrison Production, National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min (245 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dean Martin's contract stipulated that he was only required to work on Sundays. This necessitated that blocking the camera setups and rehearsals be done on Saturdays. It also meant that guest stars rehearse with Lee Hale standing in for Martin. On Sundays, Martin would usually work less than four hours and leave the set before taping was wrapped.

---

Connections

Referenced in Night Gallery: Make Me Laugh/Clean Kills and Other Trophies (1971)

User Reviews

A parody of the standard TV variety show

"The Dean Martin Show," which ran on NBC for nine seasons starting in September 1965, always seemed less like a variety show than a subtle parody of the format. In that sense, it was almost a forerunner of David Letterman's show which pokes fun at the conventional TV talk show by maintaining a slightly subversive air. Martin, of course, was legendary for his casual, spontaneous persona, and everything about his variety show seemed casual and spontaneous, no doubt due to the star's refusal to rehearse. It was obvious that Martin was reading most of his lines from cue cards since he even made jokes about doing so. The sloppy, slightly unprofessional atmosphere that permeated many of his movies at this time, worked on television, making "The Dean Martin Show" one of the more interesting variety shows of the era.

The first episode is available on videocassette in a black-and-white version. Frank Sinatra sings the title track from his Grammy winning "September of My Years" album, Joey Heatherton does a bump and grind, Diahann Carroll warbles a tune, Bob Newhart does a comedy routine, and Dino croons a few bars of "Everybody Loves Somebody" and also performs his hit, "Houston." It's a reasonably pleasant time capsule from a bygone era, and nothing more.