Old Stone Face meets The Kinkajou!

Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town, 1/27/52. I was pleasantly surprised by how well Ed handles his role here as Bert's foil. And given Sullivan's famously straitlaced persona, the payoff of this routine is, I think, even funnier than when Gleason performed it (better yet, you can actually see the payoff here). Sadly not included, though, is the punchline for the "Is This Worth Fighting For?" song. Incidentally, does anyone out there know where this routine originated? Was this one of Bert's routines from his vaudeville days with Tom Moran?