7. Jack Benny.
Jack’s show ran on various networks from 1933 to 1955, For many years the Benny show was number one and indeed Jack may have been the most popular performer of the Golden Age.
His show was one of the first ensemble sit-coms. Like Seinfeld, Jack did not always deliver the big lines or the funny lines. A zany cast of characters paraded by Jack during each show, much in the same way Kramer, Newman, George and Elaine bounced their material off Jerry.
For several years Jack did both radio and TV, but somewhere around 1953 he decided not to make any more radio programs, so for two years the network ran only re-runs: and the re runs often scored a number one rating.
Jack was the first comedian to let his cast have all the best lines, and to allow his character to be topped by every other player, especially his wise-cracking valet, Rochester. This technique was copied to perfection in the nine seasons of Seinfeld, where Jerry, much like Jack, was always upstaged by Kramer, George, Newman, and Elaine.
The cast, from the left. Dennis Day leaning on the radio. Eddie (Rochester) Anderson. Phil Harris, singer and bandleader who had a best-selling record entitled “The Thing”. Mary Livingston (Mrs. Benny). Don Wilson, the announcer. Mel Blanc, the man of a thousand voices who played many parts on the Jack Benny show including Jack’s Maxwell car, the bear who guarded Jack’s money vault, and Professor LeBlanc, Jack’s befuddled violin teacher.LeBlanc, Jack’s befuddled violin teacher.