“Dobie Gillis was one of the strangest sitcoms on television at the time.”
It was the first television series I saw where the actor, “broke the 4th wall.” You know, when an actor disengages from the prepared script and directly address the TV audience and explains something. George Burns was the only other actor I can remember doing this .. .
For some reason I really liked the absurdity of it all .. .
The best modern version of this is the appearance of Selena Gomez in The Big Short.
Oliver Hardy used to get an exasperated look on his face whenever Stan Laurel would doing something crazy Ollie would turn towards the audience with a look of “Can you believe this’’.
Bob Hope did it, too, in his movies - broke the 4th wall.
Mel Brooks broke the “4th wall” a lot. In an interview he said it started when he was working in the Catskills(?) at a theater/resort type place.
He was a busboy or waiter or something at the dinner theater, but also something like the third backup actor. So the first two guys end up sick so he gets up to play the part. Plays some old guy with a hat and fake beard.
He gets up on stage and I don’t know if the crowd jeered him because he was so short, flubbed his lines or what.
So he pulls down his beard and lifts up his hat, turns to the crowd and says something like “Whad-ya want!? I’m fourteen!”
That got a huge laugh and won the crowd over, and he used it ever since.