Editing George Gobel (section)

==TV guest appearances==
Gobel was a guest on various TV programs, including: ''[[The Andy Williams Show]]'';''[[The Red Skelton Show]]''; ''[[The Dean Martin Show]]''; ''[[What's My Line]];  ''[[The Ford Show|The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford]]''; ''[[The Bing Crosby Show (1964 TV series)|The Bing Crosby Show]]''; ''[[The Dinah Shore Show]]''; ''[[Death Valley Days]]''; ''[[Wagon Train]]''; ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]''; ''[[Donny & Marie (1976 TV series)|The Donny & Marie Show]]''; and [[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|Johnny Carson's ''The Tonight Show'']], and made cameos on ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]''. An episode of ''[[My Three Sons]]'' in December 1960 was titled "Lonesome George", in which Gobel played himself. He appeared on ''[[F Troop]]'' as amateur inventor Henry Terkel in the 1966 episode "Go for Broke".

In an often-replayed segment from a 1969 episode of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', Gobel entered after [[Bob Hope]] and [[Dean Martin]], walking onstage with a plastic cup with an unidentified drink. Gobel remarked to Carson about coming on last and having to follow major stars Hope and Martin. He quipped to Carson, "Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?", to which Carson, Hope, Martin, and the audience came unglued with laughter. After the laughter died down, Carson asked Gobel about his career in World War II as a fighter pilot. Gobel feigned bewilderment at why people laugh when he says that he spent the war in Oklahoma, pointing out with mock pride that no Japanese plane ever got past Tulsa, deep in the center of the continental U.S.<ref name=tonight>{{cite web |title=The Tonight Show 1969 |website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbpc-NJHcZ8 |access-date=March 31, 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227144638/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbpc-NJHcZ8&gl=US&hl=en&has_verified=1&bpctr=9999999999 |archive-date=February 27, 2020}}</ref> Gobel also began to get some unexpected laughs, being unaware that Dean Martin had begun flicking his cigarette ashes into Gobel's drink. Observing all of this, Carson finally asked rhetorically, "Exactly what time did I lose control of the show?!"

Gobel had employed the tuxedo joke at least once before, on the June 22, 1957, episode of his show. He complained that the TV director and crew treated him "as if they were a tuxedo and I was a pair of brown shoes." On that occasion, the gag received a respectable, but not overwhelming, response.

In 1972, the television game show ''[[Hollywood Squares]]'', hosted by [[Peter Marshall (U.S. entertainer)|Peter Marshall]], needed a substitute for its resident folksy comedian [[Cliff Arquette]] ([[Charley Weaver]]), who had a stroke. Gobel was recruited, and he sat in Arquette's square during Arquette's convalescence. After Arquette died in 1974, Gobel became a resident panelist. He was also the voice of Father Mouse in the 1974 Christmas special ''[[Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974 TV special)|'Twas the Night Before Christmas]]'', and sang the song "Give Your Heart a Try" in that production. He also made a guest appearance on ''[[Hee Haw]]'' in 1976. In the early 1980s, Gobel played Otis Harper Jr., the mayor of Harper Valley in the television series based on the film ''[[Harper Valley PTA (TV series)|Harper Valley PTA]]'', and guest-starred as himself on an episode of ''[[Madame's Place]]''.