Playboy After Dark

- Season 1

(1969)

Sid Caesar and The Grateful Dead appear. The latter perform "Mountains of the Moon" and "St. Stephen."

A strange show with a mixed bag of a cast. Bill Cosby does a routine and spends the rest of the show lurking at the edges of the action, occasionally offering comments that come off as more obnoxious than incisive. Songwriter Shel Silverstein gives a rendition on the acoustic guitar of his tune The Unicorn that was popularized by the Irish Rovers. Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers lip syncs a couple of songs. Classic rock band Iron Butterfly sets up on the live stage and then lip syncs as well. Hef talks religion with a theologian in the library. The show closes ...

The daft Professor Irwin Corey dominates this show with his inane ramblings. I expect he was never invited back to any Playboy function after this performance. Steppenwolf and John Kay make it worth wading through the nonsense with amazing renditions of Sookie and Born To Be Wild before it became the iconic song it did. George Plimpton plays 3-D tic-tac-toe with Hugh and expounds on his strange career as a participation journalist until Corey staggers in to disrupt the conversation. Tony Bennett closes out the show with a solid set.

This show is heavy on talk and stand up comics. Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate are the central figures as Hef talks violence in movies with Polanski and its influence on audiences, a chilling discussion in view of events that took place only a few months later. This is one of the few extended pieces with Sharon without a script in front of her. Unlike Tarantino's movie, she comes across as jaded and serious. Hef tries to cut off the interview with Polanski by getting up and walking while but Polanski follows, blithering on causing Sharon to chuckle. Comic Jackie Gayle...

The Pair Extraordinaire performs. Norm Crosby does a routine. Otto Preminger is on hand decked out in a Nehru Jacket and love beads to promote his bomb of a movie Skidoo. Assisting him is Harry Nilsson who did the soundtrack. At one point Otto hovers over Harry at the piano browbeating him to play a tune like a child a parent. Rich Little does impressions and The Brothers Castro close out the show with a set.

A mustachioed Tommy Smothers talks about the censorship of his show, oh yes Tommy it was about to get much worse. Louis Nye sits on the couch and does comedy, more or less. Buddy Miles talks about his music and performs with his band. Former Kingston Trio front man John Stewart comes out with his new singer and partner Buffy Ford. They banter with Tommy Smothers and play a nice couple of tunes.

Don Adams steps in to help Tommy Smothers for a new Smothers Brothers act. David Hemmings is somewhere in the crowd. The rather plastic group Avante-Garde lip syncs a couple of numbers. Joan Baez talks about the "resistance" and the coming revolution. Wow. cool. Having pontificated, Joan sings. Tommy Smothers rambles on next about the progressive world to come. If only they could fast forwarded fifty years, I wonder what they would have done? Tommy and Joan over the closing credits.

The Checkmates play. Leroy Neiman draws. Sammy Davis Jr. sings with Bill Cosby on maracas. The programs is basically a showcase for Sammy - Anthony Newley joins him at one point. Jerry Lewis crashes the party and brings Peter Lawford along. Jerry and Sammy have an extended talk session on the couch as Hugh Hefner moderates. Sammy and Jerry then sing together with Cosby on electric bass.

Harry Blackstone Jr. performs magic tricks just like at a kid's birthday party. Wow. Tony Hendra does comedy routines. The Checkmates do a lively set. Master songwriter Jimmy Webb does a tune on the piano while Lindsay Wagner looks ion n adoration. Webb was the best part of the show and surprisingly does only one number. This was at the very beginning of his performing career before his first album had been released.

The Collage sing. The Checkmates are back again, they perform. Don Rickles is the main attraction. Cosby wanders about, sitting in with the band playing the bongos. Shecky Greene does some comedy bits. Attorney Melvin Belli talks. Not the most memorable of shows.

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The first 12 minutes of the show are given over to a hypnotist. Yawn. John Hartford performs. The hippie vibe is strong in this one. Hef is trying hard to be hip. Gore Vidal joins Hugh in the library for a stimulating conversation. Well, not really. Three Dog Night does a couple tunes. Unfortunately, this is before they became a hit machine and the tunes are rather forgettable. There are a few more songs, a few more jokes and the show mercifully comes to a close.

A rather forgettable show, the highlights being Hugh and friends briefly playing Twister, fully clothed of course. Bob Newhart does a routine and is then forced to watch a clip of himself on Hef's old Playboy's Penthouse program from the Fifties which was allegedly Newhart's first ever television performance. Bill Cosby playing stand up bass with the band.

Excellent show starts off with Jackie DeShannon lip syncing a couple of songs from her newly released album Laurel Canyon. Live or syncing, Jackie was great and unbelievably she is backed up by a young, nerdy Barry White on vocals. Marty Engels does a comedy routine, Jim Brown pontificates quite eloquently on race relations, movies and projects for the ghetto while Bill Cosby wanders through the entire program wearing a bathrobe. Taj Mahal steals the show with a truly live set. The legendary Jessie Ed Davis backs him on lead guitar. Taj and the band play out an ...

Jazz and Blues performers dominate this show. James Cotton and his band reel off a pair of fine songs as does Joe Williams and Sue Raney. Buddy Rich does his usual excellent turn on the drums. Pat McCormick, who was a lead writer and sometime performer on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson from 72 to 81 does a turn on the couch telling jokes.

Shelly Berman opens the show with Hef. David Steinberg does comedy on the couch, the same kind of stuff that helped get the Smothers Brothers cancelled, but nobody was watching this show. The Times Square Two do a comic-music set. Buddy Miles is back with his band. Joannie Sommers sings. Low Rawls closes the show with a solid set.

Jack Carter and Soupy Sales joke around. Three Dog Night perform Celebrity Ball with an invisible band. Man, were they good. Not to be outdone, James Brown brings along his invisible band as well. Cosby sits on the edge of the couch. How exciting.

Five years before Jesus Christ Superstar, a very young Ted Neely, billed as Teddy, sings. Comic Jack E. Leonard may have been the most obnoxious comedian of all time. Cosby sits on the couch beside him. Jefferson Airplane wannabe MC Squared plays. Pete Seeger talks ecology and sings. Carmen MacRae sings.

Beloved children's entertainer Shari Lewis opens the festivities with an adult routine from Lamb Chop. Truly weird. Makes you hope she ran that sock puppet through the rinse cycle a few times before she let her entertain kids again. Highlight of the show is Canned Heat. Bob Hite does a song and then Al Wilson goes into On The Road Again. Academic Max Lerner actually engages Hef in an intelligent conversation about the sexual revolution. Buddy Greco closes the show.

Lenny Bruce's mother talks about her son and Hugh shows clips of the late comedian. Comic-musician Pete Barbutti plays the broom and does other bits. The magnificent Marvin Gaye shows up but appears to be only lip syncing. Classic comedy ensemble The Committee perform, but Howard Hesseman is nowhere in sight. The most recognizable member is Barbara Bosson who would star in Hill Street Blues a decade later. The highlight of the show is the Byrds. This is the lineup with Clarence White on lead guitar. The numbers include two Dylan songs, You Ain't Goin' Nowhere and ...

The Grass Roots do Bella Linda and they're either lip syncing or they have a string section hidden out somewhere. They also mime Midnight Confessions. The great Billy Eckstine also appears to be syncing. What a shame. He does perform live at a later date with Linda Ronstadt. Director Paul Mazursky joins Hef in the library for a discussion. Rich Little does a bit. Pianist-singer Bobby Doyle actually performs live.

Frankie Randall sings. The Chicago Second City comedy troop performs. Cast members include Valerie Harper and Paul Sand. Pat Morita, yet to graduate to full-time actor, does standup. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band play a lively set. Shelly Berman adds more comedy and Lou Rawls sings magnificently.

Petticoat Junction actress Meredith MacRae sings Going Out Of My Head. Her husband, Greg Mullavey talks. A young Michael Caine expounds on his latest movie. Mort Sahl does comedy. Doug Sahm and the Sir Douglas Quartet do their classic songs Mendocino and She's About A Mover. Augie Meyers is on the keys. The Clara Ward and Her Gospel Singers close out the show.

Singers Johnny Mathis and Nadia Christian lip syncing a couple of tunes. Mort Sahl gives a short, extremely misogynistic monologue and basketball star Bill Russell pontificates on race relations. Comic Corbett Monica does a gay bashing routine to top off the festivities. My how the times have changed. The best part is the Chambers Brothers actually performing live. Their tunes that I Wish It Would Rain live. These shows are basically Hef's home movies with the clothes on. It brings back fond memories of his magazine of the era, over priced, pretentious nonsense, but ...

Skiles and Henderson do comedy. Joanne Vent does an extended set. John Kay and Steppenwolf perform. The great Joe Williams sings a duet with Joanne Vent. Joey Bishop entertains. Joe Williams closes out the show and outperforms everyone. Amazing voice, talent and presence.

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