Steve Allen

1921–2000 · Television host, comedian, songwriter & author

Steve Allen co-created The Tonight Show and was its first host. He also hosted The Steve Allen Show and the PBS series Meeting of Minds, and wrote songs and many books. His February 1957 Cosmopolitan column has the earliest documented form of the formula, “Tragedy plus time equals comedy,” which he kept repeating for decades.

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“Comedy Is Tragedy Plus Time”

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