Who could have ever imagined we'd have the first Tonight Show at our fingertips? It's really incredible.

At 2:41, Steve’s words were prophetic: “This program is going to go on forever”.

Steve Allen was the true America! Inventive, musical, intelligent, well spoken, science minded, tolerant, liberal and lots of fun! I miss those people in

The first live shot of his glasses, and then the whole picture out of focus until he puts on the glasses... was an inventive visual gag, complete with expert camera focussing that preceded a million late night TV innovations. Steve Allen was a genius.

I saw this first run. I was four years old. Seattle. My father worked graveyard at Boeing, and my mother waited up for him. So did I. I sneaked out and hid behind the sofa and watched with them. (I'm sure they knew I was there, but let me stay.) I loved Steve Allen. And his later show. Learned my sense of humor from him.

The Father of all late night talk shows! Thanks for resurrecting this historic broadcast. I'd rather forgotten what a good pianist Steve was!

KZfaq is the closest thing we have for a time machine

Will never be another complete personality like Steve Allen

Steve Allen could actually do it all. The man had so many talents.

2:39 "This program is gonna go on forever." Well, he wasn't wrong about that!

David Letterman’s first few years were just him doing Steve Allen’s show. The Alka Seltzer suit, the Velcro suit…he should have given Steve Allen a writer’s credit for nearly his entire career.

I was 8 years old when this aired, I'm 73 now, great memories of those day's!!!!!!

I adored STEVE ALLEN ! I cried after his demise.The hospital failed him. 😢

Steve Allen as host of the Tonight Show was a bit before my time but, from watching all the videos I can find of him, it's apparent, to me at least, he created the formula the others followed and stands head and shoulders above all those who followed him. The relaxed, self-deprecating humor, making fun of the show itself, the man in the street interviews, the crazy stunts. The man was a genius.

Now this is a genuine moment of history. Wow! Great that this was recorded at the time and has been digitized now.

Steve Allen does a flawless David Letterman impression! No but seriously folks, props to Steve Allen for inventing late night!

Steve was only 31 at the time. Loved him. Had the funniest laugh in the world and he was a genuinely gifted musician and songwriter. RIP.

Steve allen was an adroit talent in a time when media needed one. And his circle of talented friends like wally Cox. Louis Nye, jayne meadow, impgene Coca and sid ceaser and others were the greatest support ensemble to bring us tv talk and variety. It truly was the golden age of television and i still enjoy Steve Allen when ever on.👍🏼🤗

Greetings from UK.Thanks so much for posting this.Pure Class.When USA ruled the TV airwaves!.Steve Allen superb!!!!.

I remember watching Steve doing his man on the street commentaries and also the calls to businesses in which he would ask the most ridiculous questions to people that would try to give him a serious answer. His laugh was very infectious and he could play the piano like no one else at the time. What a talented man!

This sure brings back memories. Loved the Tonight show from the start even way before Jack and Johnny. Steve Allen was always entertaining!

If only we could have all the Steve Allen tonight shows on DVD that would be great 📀

I remember this show when it first aired. Steve was a very funny talented guy. Many years ago, I was standing in crowd waiting to board a plane in Maui. We traded glances and I think he wondered if I remembered him. Boy did I.

I loved Steverino when he had his morning show about 1955-56. He always had that zany quality....smaack amaack!! I was a little kid but I got it anyway! Then he went to late night and the Tonight Show was born.

Steve Allen was one of a kind pioneer TV personality.

I was always a Steve Allen fan since I discovered him in the early 60s as a kid. He was amazing at funny ad libbing and quick witted funny , all the while making it look relaxed and easy. He truly was great.

We cannot lose this ever

This was actually very funny, Steve Allen is one of the funniest (and smartest) people ever

Appreciate his talent now.. actually putting together a format before our eyes, live!

I love Steve Allen! He was brilliant and talented in so many fields. It’s so nice to be able to watch some his shows.

Steve Allen was one of the all time best comedian/hosts of the Tonight Show. He was very intellectual and silly, which is my favorite type of humorist. Silliness is essential. We have no silly humor anymore. It's all coarse and political and without imagination, for the most part.

It's so amazing that we've saved the first Tonight Show, seeing that NBC "wiped" all the tapes from that era. Very happy to see this was one of the episodes that were saved by someone.

Wow, this is like a History of TV! Gene Rayburn without his iconic "Match Game" stickshift microphone, Andy Williams making his debut... Steve Allen was HOF terrific!

I watched Steve and The Tonight Show until he left. He was my all time favorite. I loved seeing this first episode. I hope to watch more.

Imagine intellectual comedy. Back when cleverness, talent and humor all came together to take our attention OFF the political strife of the period.

Whenever I watch TV like this I can't help thinking about their historical context. It's sobering to think this was broadcast only 9 years after the end of WW2 and Joseph McCarthy was a force to be reckoned with.

Steve Allen was a genius.

Although I didn't watch TV the first 3 years of the 1950's, I saw the rest of the decade. We will never see such a cornucopia of entertainment in our lifetimes. There was everything, and most of it was live. We only had about 4 or 5 channels, but there was something interesting to watch every hour of every day. I miss those days.

What ever happened to this kind of TV entertainment, I really miss it! This broadcasting was worth staying up late for!

The first announcer for "Tonight"was Gene Rayburn.

70 years later.. I guess Steve was right, it still goes on forever! 👍

I'll watch Steve Allen anytime!

Steve was the greatest genus of early television. He was the perfect night time host at the opposite end of the day from the Today Show and the host there, Dave Garroway. I've watched the reruns all of my life. I also miss Tomorrow with Tom Snyder.

I knew Steve Allen played piano but damn he was killing it

This guy was genuinely funny with his voice, wit and actions. Although i live in Australia, we used to get the Steve Allen show on late night TV in the 1960s, and we loved his spontaneity and comic mannerisms.

Glad that Steve's first Tonight show was preserved, but sadly footage of Johnny Carson's first Tonight Show was lost (save for an audio copy of the opening)

As a teenager I watched Steve in the early 60s and loved his show with all the skits and the man in the street segments Steve Allen invented the late night format

My father was friends with Steve and they also worked together. Steve visited him in the hospital while he was being treated for cancer. I still have the photos of them working together on set, and the book Steve gave him in the hospital.

Few television personalities have possessed the wit, humility, and urbane charm of Steve Allen. Indeed, the first several minutes of this broadcast perfectly captures the many talents of this most distinctive - and sorely missed - entertainer.

As you can see the "Tonight" show was not originally a talk show. It was a variety show.

Steve Allen: The Father of the Tonight Show. He set up the matrix - couch, opening monologue, etc. - that all those who followed have used.

Steve Allen a true pioneer of Television and an all around amazing talent!

This show had been locally broadcast in New York for about fourteen months prior to going to the full NBC network.

Best talk show host of all time. Mr. Steve Allen.

7:00 "I could turn this into a national beer if I get thirsty enough," haha... Boy, he knew the power that TV had, even back then!

Interestingly enough, Pat Weaver had envisioned the comedian Fred Allen as the host of a "Tonight Show" format. But by this time, Allen's health had declined enough that he was content just to be a weekly panelist on "What's My Line".

The “beer” reference when Steve moves to the desk was for the origin show of the tonight show he hosted on the local nbc affiliate in New York and called the “Knickerbocker Beer Show”. Knickerbocker was the sponsor. Then beer was a local staple not national brands. In 1954 the show was expanded nationally and extended to 90 minutes as the Tonight Show. Steve was so right when he said this will last forever.

"This show is going to go on forever." Yep, ol' Steverino got that one right. Edit: A quick glance at the exhaustive (though occasionally wrong) Wikipedia reveals that Pat Weaver, the NBC executive mentioned at about 3:45, was probably pretty bright. He was Phi Beta Kappa at Dartmouth. He also had a brilliant, tall, willowy, gorgeous daughter named Sigourney.

I wish more people knew about Steve Allen. He was an impresario and renaissance man.

I'm surprised that any footage has survived from the original "Tonight Show". There is a book called "Inventing Late Night" that states that the network kinescopes were deliberately destroyed in order to make room for additional network footage at the NBC storage warehouse in NJ. Where has this been hiding? Steve Allen created the late night gig. All those who followed in his footsteps, including Carson, owe their careers to him.

If this was broadcast "live" then it was shot on video, not on film. But this was produced a few years before the Video Tape Recorder was invented, so the only way to record this was to use a Kinescope - in essence, a film camera was pointed at a TV monitor!

"This program is going to go on forever". Steve was referring to the length of the show (90 minutes). But the Tonight Show HAS gone on forever - 68 years (as of 2022). BTW the announcer on the first few years was Gene Rayburn.

At 2:39sec "This show is gonna go on forever...." He was more correct than he could possibly imagine.

I would have LOVED to see Willie Mays on this first show!

It didn't go on forever. It ended when Carson retired.

What a brilliant man!

In England in 1954 television was a VERY different thing. Unlike the US where television would be on the air from 7.00am each day and then conclude with this example of the late night talk show, BBC and later ITV would be limited to 5/6 hours a day. On this day for example, the one television station in England - the BBC had the following schedule for the whole day, just to give the US viewer an example of the different television culture between our two countries below: Monday September 27th 1954 - BBC Television Service: 3.00pm - Film, Danger on the Air (1938). Film concluded at 4.10pm and television signed off until 5.00pm. 5.00pm - Children's Television - an hour of programming for the younger viewer which concluded at 6.00pm. 7.25pm - The Weather and BBC News and Newsreel - news read in sound only with no in-vision newscaster 7.45pm - The Driving Club - a motoring show 8.30pm - This Is Showbusiness - a variety show 9.30pm - Musicians to Moscow - British musicians visit to Moscow 10.20pm - Fashion Spotlight - fashion programme 10.35pm - The News, read in sound only with no in-vision newscaster. 10.45pm - Sign Off (or closedown as it was known in England). There, around 5 and a half hours of television on this day in England that the Tonight Show launched in America.

Wally Cox! I recently watched him on an episode of “I Spy”. A very good actor, and from what I hear, a great comedian.

Who knew that 20 years later, Gene Rayburn would be hosting Match Game!

Steve was the king of ad libbers

Steve Allen. . .the Father of the Tonight Show

David Letterman always called out Johnny Carson as his mentor and idol, but after you watch this you'll quickly realize his show was 98% Steve Allen.

It is absolutely amazing to see this. I was only two years old at the time so my parents didn't let stay to watch. By the time I was old enough Steve Allen had long since turned the reigns of the show over to his successors. I only wish he had saved all of his shows. It would have been a real historic treasure.😊❤

I was only a year old when this premiered . I’ve always liked Steve growing up.

Steve Allen was one of a kind thank you for posting this I’ve always had a great fascination with the Tonight Show😎

Notice he wasn’t bad mouthing presidents or talking politics? Very refreshing.

Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson. It ended there.

Back in the day Steve was so disturbed by the growing lack of morals on TV, I remember he created and paid for his own commercial against filth on TV. I’ll never forget it. I was likely a preteen or barely into my teens at the time, so maybe early 70’s. Or earlier. He had character. And he was right.

Didn't know Steve Allen played piano so well. 😃

Wow. “Fine and Dandy” was old even back then!

Steve Allen was very smart and very funny, qualities sorely lacking today

It lasted for some time up through Jay Leno and when he retired the sled turned down hill and raced full bore into the abyss! Allen was great, Paar had his moments, Carson was an icon and I recall as a mere boy sneaking out to the living room to watch until late at night! Got to see the Leno version with THE GREATEST AND ONLY TRUSTED NEWSMAN IN THE WORLD, Walter Cronkite. What an incredible treat that was! Thank to Mr. DiFlorio for this incredible memory!

I was too young to see the Steve Allen Tonight Shows, but after seeing his later shows, it's obvious that NBC picked the right person to start the franchise. If you wanted to laugh, Steve was a great comedian. If you wanted to hear music, Steve was a knockout piano player (and could sing well enough to not be booed off the stage!) You wanted serious talk, Steve could conduct interviews worth listening to. And even though he didn't deliver trend-setting monologues like Johnny Carson later did, Steve could get the show up and running with his.

A multitalented original from early TV. Always loved his wacky humor. He started a lot of people's careers too. Hey Gene Rayburn!

Why does 'How's your fern?' enter my mind whenever I think of Steve Allen.? Does anyone out there remember this often commentary that Allen invented and often used? As a kid sneaking out to the tv on the screen porch to watch his shows every night in summer it still sticks with me today.🌿

Life is good and people generally get along and are optimistic after major wars. The problem is humanity won't survive another one!

Just looked it up--- it was only 2 days after this appearance that Willie Mays would make The Catch.

As a non American, I'm loving this!

"This program will go on forever". "If it's as popular as ("Today" and "Home) the other Weaver shows, they'll have a program called "Son Of Today". Boy, was he on target.

Allen was a musical genius with an equally wonderful sense of humor.

Hi Ho Stevereno. You were the best. I loved the Steve Allen Show at 8.00 PM EST every Sunday night opposite Ed Sullivan on CBS who must have lost much of his audience when Steve showed on NBC.

14:39 Nice to see that Gene Rayburn was the first sidekick in this longtime late night franchise. He would be on the show for about as long as Allen. His last episode would air on January 25, 1957.

I loved the Steve Allen and Jack Paar Tonight Show's better than any that followed. Although not considered part of the Tonight Show, Ernie Kovacs did a show in that time slot for several weeks while the Tonight Show was transitioning after Allen left, and that was actually the best thing NBC ever had in that time slot.

This is great! I was 3 years old when this was on, but was never allowed to watch, even later when Carson was on. Yes, I can see some of Letterman’s stuff in this.

Steve was the best host of The Tonight Show. He has talent,humor and never a hint of scandal

I really loved the Steve Allan Show. He was an absolute riot!

And here we are 70 years later and it's still going.

I grew up hearing a lot about Steve Allen. I watched his syndicated show all the time.

Amazing to see so little has changed.

I was 9 years old when this aired. I remember this! When late night was creative!