The Hank McCune Show was an
American television situation comedy. Filmed without a studio audience, it was notable for being the first program to incorporate a
laugh track.
The series began as a local
Los Angeles program in 1949.
NBC placed it on its national
primetime schedule at the start of the 1950-51 season. It debuted at 7:00pm Eastern Time on
September 9 and was cancelled three months later.
The premise foreshadowed that of
The Larry Sanders Show in that it contained a show within a show. McCune portrayed a television variety show host named after himself, and each week the character managed to blunder his way into a variety of comic predicaments.
The supporting cast included
Larry Keating,
Charles Maxwell,
Frank Nelson, and
Florence Bates.