You Bet Your Life (1950–1961)
9/10
Before My Time, But Still Timeless
24 July 2021
I was born years after the series ended, only discovered this recently. Outside of Steve Harvey, I can't think of any game show host anywhere as close to being as funny and quick witted, and done entirely off the cuff, as Groucho. I've even taken to looking up his old appearances on Dick Cavett and elsewhere.

He is easily as funny on this show as in the classic Marx Brothers films of the 30s. The game show itself was almost irrelevant. It was just an excuse to hear one of the funniest men of the century.

Each week the show had some pretty interesting guests. Old time actors, unusual families. On one show a cowboy star challenged Marx to a staged boxing match, doing a stunt fall though the man was perhaps in his 60s.

Marx seemed to especially enjoy having immigrants as guests, asking them their backgrounds. One of the most remarkable was a Pakistani engineering student, wearing a turban and discussing his Muslim faith, praised by Groucho as "a great ambassador for his people." Keep in mind this was in the 1950s, over a half century before a certain president demonized Muslims and immigrants.

The world is a brighter and more joyful place for you having been in it, Mr. Marx.
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