Editing Golden Age of Radio (section)

=== Comedy ===
Radio attracted top comedy talents from [[vaudeville]] and Hollywood for many years: [[Bing Crosby]], [[Abbott and Costello]], [[Fred Allen]], [[Jack Benny]], [[Victor Borge]], [[Fanny Brice]], [[Billie Burke]], [[Bob Burns (comedian)|Bob Burns]], [[Judy Canova]], [[Eddie Cantor]], [[Jimmy Durante]], ''[[Burns and Allen]]'', [[Phil Harris]], [[Edgar Bergen]], [[Bob Hope]], [[Groucho Marx]], [[Jean Shepherd]], [[Red Skelton]] and [[Ed Wynn]]. [[Sitcom|Situational comedies]] also gained popularity, such as ''[[Amos 'n' Andy]]'', ''[[Easy Aces]]'', ''[[Ethel and Albert]]'', ''[[Fibber McGee and Molly]]'', ''[[The Goldbergs (broadcast series)|The Goldbergs]]'', ''[[The Great Gildersleeve]]'', ''[[The Halls of Ivy]]'' (which featured screen star [[Ronald Colman]] and his wife [[Benita Hume]]), ''[[Meet Corliss Archer]]'', ''[[Meet Millie]]'', and ''[[Our Miss Brooks]]''.

Radio comedy ran the gamut from the small town humor of [[Lum and Abner]], [[Herb Shriner]] and [[Minnie Pearl]] to the dialect characterizations of [[Mel Blanc]] and the caustic sarcasm of [[Henry Morgan (comedian)|Henry Morgan]]. Gags galore were delivered weekly on ''[[Stop Me If You've Heard This One]]'' and ''[[Can You Top This?]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/rhofsection.php?page=274|title=Home|website=www.museum.tv|access-date=30 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922034839/http://www.museum.tv/rhofsection.php?page=274|archive-date=22 September 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> panel programs devoted to the art of telling jokes. Quiz shows were lampooned on ''[[It Pays to Be Ignorant]]'', and other memorable parodies were presented by such satirists as [[Spike Jones]], [[Stoopnagle and Budd]], [[Stan Freberg]] and [[Bob and Ray]]. British comedy reached American shores in a major assault when NBC carried ''[[The Goon Show]]'' in the mid-1950s.

[[File:Radio - Keep It Free.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Radio-related World War II propaganda poster]]
Some shows originated as stage productions: [[Clifford Goldsmith|Clifford Goldsmith's]] play ''[[What a Life (play)|What a Life]]'' was reworked into NBC's popular, long-running ''[[The Aldrich Family]]'' (1939–1953) with the familiar [[catchphrase]]s "Henry! Henry Aldrich!," followed by Henry's answer, "Coming, Mother!" Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway hit, ''[[You Can't Take It with You (play)|You Can't Take It with You]]'' (1936), became a weekly situation comedy heard on Mutual (1944) with Everett Sloane and later on NBC (1951) with [[Walter Brennan]].

Other shows were adapted from comic strips, such as ''[[Blondie (comic strip)|Blondie]]'', ''[[Dick Tracy]]'', ''[[Gasoline Alley (comic strip)|Gasoline Alley]]'', ''[[The Gumps]]'', ''[[Li'l Abner]]'', ''[[Little Orphan Annie]]'', ''[[Popeye the Sailor]]'', ''[[Red Ryder]]'', ''[[Reg'lar Fellers]]'', ''[[Terry and the Pirates (radio serial)|Terry and the Pirates]]'' and ''[[Tillie the Toiler]]''. Bob Montana's redheaded teen of comic strips and comic books was heard on radio's ''[[Archie Andrews (comics)|Archie Andrews]]'' from 1943 to 1953. ''The Timid Soul'' was a 1941–1942 comedy based on cartoonist [[H. T. Webster]]'s famed [[Caspar Milquetoast]] character, and Robert L. [[Ripley's Believe It or Not!]] was adapted to several different radio formats during the 1930s and 1940s. Conversely, some radio shows gave rise to spinoff comic strips, such as ''My Friend Irma'' starring [[Marie Wilson (American actress)|Marie Wilson]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Everybody's Friend: Remembering Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo's 'My Friend Irma' |work=Hogan's Alley |volume=#16 |publisher=cartoonician.com |url=http://cartoonician.com/everybodys-friend-remembering-stan-lee-and-dan-decarlos-my-friend-irma/ |year=2010 |access-date=2013-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319184704/http://cartoonician.com/everybodys-friend-remembering-stan-lee-and-dan-decarlos-my-friend-irma/ |archive-date=2013-03-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref>