A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts (hence the name), especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère (master of ceremonies) or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling and ventriloquism. The variety format made its way from Victorian era stage to radio to television. Variety shows were a staple of anglophone television from its early days into the 1970s, and lasted into the 1980s. In several parts of the world, variety TV remains popular and widespread.
Read more about Variety Show: History, Contemporary U.S. Variety Shows, Other Countries
Famous quotes containing the words variety and/or show:
“The best interviews—like the best biographies—should sing the strangeness and variety of the human race.”
—Lynn Barber (b. 1944)
“What we have we prize not to the worth
Whiles we enjoy it, but being lacked and lost,
Why, then we rack the value, then we find
The virtue that possession would not show us
Whiles it was ours.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)