Sketch o’the Week- Phil Silvers!

I have mostly run out of TV shows I actually watched as a kid after school, but I’m having too much fun doing caricatures from old TV sitcoms, … so why stop now! This week’s sketch is by far the most requested from readers- Phil Silvers! I wanted to do more of the cast but elected to just draw Silvers, the incredibly goofy and funny Pvt. Doberman (Maurice Gosfield) and the eternally put-upon commanding officer Col. John T. Hall (Paul Ford).

I admit I never watched “The Phil Silvers Show” as a kid, probably because it was just never syndicated on my local stations during the 3-6 pm window I would watch TV waiting for my dad to come home from work after school. However over the years I have seen a number of episodes, and in preparing for this sketch watched a bunch of them on YouTube. The show definitely deserves the legendary status and still strong following it has.

You’d think a TV show from the 1950’s would come off as very dated in 2023, but despite it being almost 70 years old, “The Phil Silvers Show” holds up extremely well. In fact it’s still damn funny. Sure, some of the guest characters come off as stiff and have that old-time over-acting feel, but the main cast and especially Silvers are timeless. Many people consider Phil Silvers as one of the greatest comedians and especially television comedy stars ever, and I can’t argue with that. When you can watch someone performing in a TV show that is 60 plus years old and he still makes you laugh, he’s that good.