The day before this filmed episode aired, Red Skelton suffered a severe cardiac-asthmatic attack that nearly took his life. His doctor stated that, if there were ten steps to death, Red had taken nine of them. This was a bad period for Skelton, who had fallen down a staircase at home a few weeks earlier and sprained an ankle and had recently learned that his young son, Richard, suffering from leukemia, was failing.
During the monologue, Red shared with the audience how he gets into character to play the perpetually inebriated Willie Lump Lump. During the main sketch, Willie and his wife are visited by their Uncle Clarence, who is president of the Temperance League, Willie must take steps to hide his intoxication from Uncle Clarence.