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I've got a breakdown of the first season of COLGATE COMEDY HOUR/THE COMEDY HOUR,(10 Sep 50- 24 Jun 51) and Fred's appearances as host are:

1950
24 September
22 October
19 November
17 December
He later appears as just one of the guest acts:
1951
14 January (starring Jerry Lester)
15 April (starring Tony Martin)
10 June (starring Jackie Gleason)

I have seen Bob Hope's first three shows and since they were not sponsored by Colgate I do not believe there was any mention of who was on next weeks show. I have seen Jackie Gleason's Colgate appearance and he was great. He was still appearing on Dumont at this time and I'm suprised that NBC didn't try to steal him away after he appeared on the Colgate show.

The alternate weeks would be the generically titled "THE COMEDY HOUR". Some of the stars, like Bobby Clark, seem to only appear on non-Colgate weeks.

I don't know how Bob landed in that space; maybe he was just obligated to do X many NBC shows, maybe it was specially made just for him,because there are other one-and two shot hosts that season too.

You mean BOB HOPE CHRYSLER THEATRE? this was a 1963 anthology series,where Bob did occasional alleged comedy stories. Nothing to write home about.
I don't know why, but the old guard of comedy from Radio and early TV just seems to lose their mojo in the 1960's. They softened into a sort of common blandness, as if they weren't required to work hard on their material any more, the laugh track would carry them through.
Bob's longtime screen partner, Bing Crosby had a comedy show of his own in 1964. It was a generic family sitcom that is amazingly light on personality; it's so laid back and easy going that it flat-lines.

But I liked that version as well! Too much of TV has been so cravenly feminised, you'd think just garden-variety heterosexual behavior is some kind of anomaly.
Sometimes I feel that (especially network)Television is specifically aiming for female viewership. Men are endlessly insulted, belittled and exposed as fakes of some sort or another by superior women, whether a comedy or a drama. Men and boys end up watching far raunchier or bloodier fare on cable or those damn video games. Benny's naughty cuties bouncing around gave the show a sense of fun, and in all, was really pretty harmless, prewar-era burlesque gags recycled for TV. He could border on vulgar, but adeptly could pull off without seeming gross because he seemed rather like a big silly boy teasing the adults.(at any age!)

Political Correctness is a severe discipline, and Humor is far too subversive to be left unregulated. For all the many laughs and joy Benny Hill brought to us, he wouldn't be allowed within a mile of a TV studio today.That or he'd be so restricted by what won't offend Feminist sensibilities, he would lose his trademark style.
I miss Benny. He had a truly rare talent, that of how to use a camera intelligently for comic effect. I understand he was an avid fan of silent slapstick comedy. It showed in his work. One of the brightest British TV stars ever.

You do that. In truth, Life of Brian appeals to a lot of Unitarians and Jews and atheists and Americans who are half Persian and half Italian. Pretty soon Albert Brooks has a movie at Regal Cinemas in which he plays an American who visits Afghanistan on a quest to find the funniest person in the Islamic world. He asks one woman wearing a chador, "Is the country where a traitor gets chained to a ceiling vent for 12 hours, whipped forty times and punctured with a dental drill ? She replies, "No, that's Libya." If this movie makes a large profit without Americans dying in another terrorist attack, then Life of Brian will look pretty harmless. Maybe comedy can put a dent in the gap between Christians, Jews, Islamic people and the inevitable mulattos.

As the original author of this thread, I'd like to declare that it has gotten way off subject ... although I think Fred Allen might actually find some of the stuff funny.

Fred Allen wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a TV camera today, simply because he's hoplessly out of fashion. He embodied conventions that are no longer honored; he was witty, generous, and was a real gentleman.
The modern breed of comedians can't even behave like adults. They are endlessly obsessed with their fatuous political views and fascinated by bodily functions. On the short list of their capabilities, number one is shock. Shock is an overabused replacement for real wit, satire or overall talent. And they are an angry bunch. They're always whining to get it accross that they have a right to be confrontational and crude and hateful.If there are comedy saints, Today's comics worship at the shrine of Lenny Bruce, not Fred Allen.

Dick Van Dyke is witty, generous and a real gentleman, and he's allowed near TV cameras all the time. Many other comics avoid shock value. They include Bill Cosby and Sinbad. Because they're African American, few people say they "worship at the shrine of Lenny Bruce." Mr. Bruce himself was hardly "obsessed with ... fatuous political views and fascinated by bodily functions." Hugh Hefner and Steve Allen defended his routines many times because they always addressed religion and poverty in an intelligent way without being rude. At a distance of forty years the New York City judicial system issued a pardon to Lenny for all offenses for which he was arrested. If you, The1Factotum1i1, claim to outsmart all those attorneys, judges and Hugh Hefner -- who also gave a voice to Malcolm X -- then you have failed. YOU come across as "angry." They don't. Lenny Bruce was hardly the only controversial comic of his day. There was Mort Sahl and there was Jackie Mason. Buddy Hackett talked about feces and genitalia at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. Dorothy Kilgallen had to have known that when she plugged his engagement there on October 24, 1965. Mark Goodson, Michael Dann and other CBS executives were remiss if they didn't know that. As usual, if the moderator deletes this, he or she deletes The1Factotum1i1 as well. The moderator got tougher yesterday. That's okay. Nostalgia buffs don't need me to see right through The1Factotum1i1. I have a life, and I have accepted that the year 1960 ain't comin' back.

Gee, I didn't realize I was claiming to outsmart Attorneys, Judges and of all people, Hugh Hefner, who you've carefully noted, gave a voice to Malcom X, And then, wouldn't you know, I failed at it!
The notice that there were in fact controversial performers yon decades hence, as well as the fact that old men with 40 or 50 year long careers or more recent contenders that play it clean was fascinating too. But I just wasn't convinced this valuable knowledge refutes my assertion about the present day comedians.
When you say Nostalgia buffs don't need you to see through me, that's wrong- don't sell yourself short-we do need you and your rational, sane enties to tell us just where we're going wrong, and why. Please explain more!