Oh don’t try to get coy and cute now Johnson now that you got corrected on a few things, you basically said that you didn’t know that Harvey Korman was a second banana before he became……..a second banana, implying that ….what, he became a major comedy star when he was on THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW? Korman was always a second banana, one of the best in the business and a terrific comic actor, but he was always support.
It is perfectly okay to say “I don’t like Danny Kaye” or, “I don’t think Danny Kaye is funny”, but you know damn well you’re gonna get grief around here anytime you try any variation on the “I never considered Kaye a comedic talent” nonsense. Your perception problems are indeed your problems, and Kaye made too many damn people laugh not to consider him a “comedic talent”. Try it sometime.
And hmmm, what is this major difference between “comedian” and “musical/comedy performer”? Say, they both seem to contain the word “comedy” in there somewhere, however, apparently by your definition, being “musical” on top of being comic makes it mutually exclusive in some way or another? Well, then I guess The Marx Brothers aren’t comedians either, or Laurel and Hardy, or Chaplin, Keaton, Langdon, Charley Chase, the list goes on and on. Hey, Harold Lloyd didn’t sing, so I guess he was a “comedian”, though he considered himself a “comic actor”, ah well, just can’t make the grade by the Johnson parameters if you warble a tune or play an instrument as well, poppycock. Music and comedy go hand in hand, more often than not, kinda sorta involves that timing and precision you need to truly make either form work.
And since you mentioned those other two clips from the Kaye show, which are indeed delightful, perhaps we should put them up for all to see. Here’s the Hillbilly Sketch with Ebsen and Morris:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6xEcrB60u0And here’s the dance routine with Gene Kelly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za5RdvLsDY4I’m sorry that Danny Kaye does not “amuse “you, yet his comedy does seem to work for a lot of other folk.
RICHARD M ROBERTS