Howard Hesseman and his pants

This gets confusing, but stay with it...Howard Hesseman of "WKRP in Cincinnati" spent much of the late 60s and early 70s as part of The Committee, a San Francisco-based comedy troupe.  Here he does a semi-bizarre (and very much of-its-time) sketch on race with Mel Stewart.

Stewart played Henry Jefferson on "All In the Family."  Henry was George Jefferson's brother.  The reason Henry was on the show for its first 3 seasons is because Sherman Hemsley was on Broadway during those years in "Purlie," and wouldn't be available to play George.  So Henry was a stop-gap.  By season 4, Hemsley was available and they were both on the show till Henry "moved away"; really, Stewart had gotten a role in "Roll Out!," a 1974 pilot that was a sort of African-American take on "M*A*S*H."  It did not do well.  CBS picked up the pilot instead of "Bachelor at Law," a white "Sanford & Son" knock-off that swapped junk dealers for shyster lawyers (redundant).  "Bachelor" starred Harold Gould (Rhoda's Dad) and a then-unknown John Ritter, and was written/produced by MTM Productions, the creative minds behind "The Bob Newhart Show" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."



Four years later, CBS picked up another MTM show, "WKRP in Cincinnati," which became a hit once it was scheduled in the time slot after "M*A*S*H."  WHAT?!

By the way, the sketch above is from the under-rated "Dick Cavett Show."  And as a kid, I always thought this Mel Stewart was the same one who directed "Willy Wonka."  (Turns out that film was directed by Mel Stuart).