Say goodnight, Gracie

On Feb. 15, 1932, George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on radio. In 1950, they moved to TV. If you haven't seen their shtick, here's a bit of it.

George Burns broke that televisual 4th wall in surreal ways, often, on the show. He talked to the tv audience, and he'd occasionally watch the program in progress on his tv set in his "office" to see what was going on in the show while he was away from the main action, and -- by the time he got downstairs again -- the plot would have changed, so he'd be all at sixes and sevenses when he came in the door. Any chance he'd have to force the plot in his direction would be foiled by Gracie's unique art of meta-misunderstanding.

Great work. Some of the best tv comedy ever.