The ABC Comedy Hour is an American television variety series that aired on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 in 1972. Seven of the 13 episodes featured a guest host and a team of comedy impressionists known as The Kopycats (Rich Little

Rich Little

Richard Caruthers "Rich" Little is a Canadian-American impressionist and voice actor. He has long been known throughout the world as a top impersonator of famous people, resulting in his nickname, "The Man of a Thousand Voices"....

, Frank Gorshin

Frank Gorshin

Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show...

, Joe Baker, Marilyn Michaels

Marilyn Michaels

Marilyn Michaels is an American comedic actress, impressionist and singer. She auditioned for and won an RCA recording contract, singing the follow-up song to Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her", entitled, "Tell Tommy I Miss Him". She later won contracts with Warner Bros...

, Fred Travalena

Fred Travalena

Frederick Albert "Fred" Travalena III was an American entertainer, specializing in comedy and impersonations.-Early life:...

, Charlie Callas

Charlie Callas

Charlie Callas was an American comedian and actor most commonly known for his work with Mel Brooks, Jerry Lewis, and Dean Martin and his many stand-up appearances on television talk shows in the 1970s...

 and George Kirby

George Kirby

George Kirby was an American comedian, singer, and actor from Chicago, Illinois.Kirby broke into show business in the 1940s at the Club DeLisa, a South Side establishment that employed a variety-show format and preferred to hire local singers, dancers, and comedians...

). Guest hosts included Steve Lawrence

Steve Lawrence

Steve Lawrence is an American singer and actor, perhaps best known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, billed as "Steve and Eydie"...

, Orson Welles

Orson Welles

George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...

, Ed Sullivan

Ed Sullivan

Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from 1948 to 1971 , which made it one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S...

, Raymond Burr

Raymond Burr

Raymond William Stacey Burr was a Canadian actor, primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. His early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film, usually as the villain...

, Robert Young

Robert Young (actor)

Robert George Young was an American television, film, and radio actor, best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best and as physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. .-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Young was the son of an Irish immigrant father...

, Debbie Reynolds

Debbie Reynolds

Debbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...

 and Tony Curtis

Tony Curtis

Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...

. The remaining six episodes were variety specials and included two Friars Club roasts and a revival of the musical Hellzapoppin' starring Jack Cassidy

Jack Cassidy

John Joseph Edward “Jack” Cassidy was an American actor of stage, film and screen.His frequent professional persona was that of an urbane, super-confident egotist with a dramatic flair, much in the manner of Broadway actor Frank Fay...

.

The show originally aired on Wednesday at 8:30 PM. Summer reruns of the seven Kopycats episodes were aired under the title The ABC Comedy Hour Presents the Kopycats. The same episodes aired in Great Britain simply as The Kopycats.