People are Funny debuted on April 10th, 1942 on NBC. It was created by gameshow maven John Guedel. He was a jack of all trades who’d spent time as a WPA ditch digger, a traveling salesman, and a collector of his own rejection slips. By the fall of 1943, Guedel had negotiated a large raise from the initial production offer and made Art Linkletter the sole emcee.

People Are Funny became a Friday night staple throughout the 1940s. In addition Guedel would create House Party and You Bet Your Life.

By January of 1954, People Are Funny was airing on CBS Tuesday nights at 8PM for Mars Candy. With a rating of 8.4 it was radio’s top-rated show.

This is audio from the January 5th, 1954 episode.