When I visited my grandfather in SW Florida for the holidays, we got to go to many great places. But on Saturday night, for one hour, our world stopped so he could watch the Lawrence Welk Show in PBS. The Lawrence Welk Show hasn’t recorded an episode since 1982, but it’s timeless to him.

It was clean-cut, wholesome entertainment and g-pa could which show performers were from Indiana. A worthwhile time, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if the show was more spontaneous like its counterpart –The Red Skelton Show.

We just got g-pa a DVD player for Christmas. I think for his birthday, coming up, I’m going to get him the Authorized Red Skelton collection from the Red Skelton Estate.

Hours of comedic genius from “America’s Clown Prince.” I can fit the 6 DVD collection between his John Wayne movies n “Saving Private Ryan.”

And, if for some unearthly reason he doesn’t watch them, then I’ll have something else to watch in addition to On-Demand and Comedy Central.

This Red Skelton Collection is loaded with many of Red’s primetime moments, his classic characters and more. Clem Kadiddlehopper, Freddie the Freeloader and more are all on the package.

The whole package comes for about 40 bucks when you include shipping n taxes. 40 bucks to widen my grandfather’s world a little more. I’d consider that priceless.

I honestly never heard of Red Skelton before, and probably wouldn’t have given him a second thought in passing. Sorry, guys. But after getting a hold of some episodes of the Red Skelton Show a year or so ago, given to me by my mother, I found myself liking the aptly dubbed “America’s Clown Prince.”

Red Skelton embodies the golden age of television with a great variety of skits, celebrity guest stars and characters. Oh god, the characters! Red does an amazing job bringing to life the distinct characters in his repertoire: Clem Kadiddlehopper, Appleby, Freddie the Freeloader. You have to love those names!

Good stuff. Which then leads me into this nicely put together, 6-DVD collection of unreleased Red Skelton shows. The digitally remastered copies were light years better than the copies my mother had given me. It made me appreciate The Red Skelton Show in an entirely new light.

The collection features 16 of Red Skelton’s unedited shows. You get the full show, including all the stuff you may have missed before. These unedited versions are top quality and so good, they’re even authorized by the Red Skelton Estate. I like that kind of approval.

You get some special goodies with this DVD collection too, which I find to be pretty nice: Goodnight and God Bless (3 shows from Red’s final year performing, apparently, including the Red Skelton Pledge of Allegiance) and some rare, hidden camera footage of Red Skelton performing at the Nugget Hotel.

So, if you’re a sucker for classic shows or love the crazy antics of one called Red Skelton, check out the Red Skelton Unreleased collection. It may just tickle your fancy… and your funny bone.

Tags: red skelton show, pledge of allegiance, red skelton DVD, america’s clown prince, DVD collection, as seen on tv