Comedy Stars on Suspense, Day 9: Elliott Lewis!

Today's Suspense episode is "Joker Wild" (December 8, 1952) starring Elliott Lewis! Although he'd made plenty of dramatic appearances (many on Suspense), Lewis was also adept at comedy, performing on shows like the Jack Benny Program and being a top-billed star on the Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show. At the time, he was also the producer-director of Suspense.

The story was written by the team of Morton Fine and David Friedkin, two of Lewis' favourite radio scribes (they wrote for Lewis on Broadway Is My Beat, Crime Classics, the Line-Up, On Stage and Pursuit). Lewis' then-wife Cathy Lewis has the top female role in this episode.

Harry (Elliott) is a comedian who's tired of making people laugh; he wants to make them sad by committing murder (this is not me giving away a twist - that's the opening scene!).

I kind of hate this episode because it feels so mean-spirited. Later in life Lewis said he didn't care for his work as a comedian and I wonder if this episode (written by two of his favourite writers) was an attempt at lashing out. I find it a very miserable, sour program-- but it's worth hearing once, so you should definitely check it out:

Tomorrow: Dennis Day!