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Raymond Knight (February 12, 1899 – February 12, 1953) was an American actor, comedian and comedy writer, best known as a pioneer in satirical humor for network radio. ==Life and career== Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Knight studied law at Boston University and passed the Massachusetts bar, but he returned to school to study theater and writing at Harvard's 47 Workshop, followed by more studies at Yale. In 1927, he performed in the Broadway musical revue ''The Manhatters''.〔(Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8 )〕 Knight was writing continuity and commercials for NBC in 1929, when NBC programmer Bertha Brainard asked him to devise "something cuckoo" for the Blue Network. He responded with the zany ''The Cuckoo Hour'', aka ''The KUKU Hour'', as a showcase for his comedy. One of his characters on the series was Professor Ambrose J. Weems, who ran a radio station where he would give his views on current events and chat with his sidekick, Mrs. Pennyfeather.〔〔Dixon, Peter. ''Radio Writing''. New York, The Century Company, 1931.〕 Radio historian Billy Jack Long described the unique aspects of Knight's satirical series: :This show was the forerunner to most of what America thought was funny afterwards. Ray, unlike most of the other radio personalities at the time, didn't have a background in vaudeville. He did all of his work within a short distance from home. Consequently, Ray had a good grasp on what people did when they were at home. Nothing was safe from Ray Knight's sarcasm. It wasn't meant to be rude or upsetting. But ''The KUKU Hour'' was so different from anything that was going on at the time. He would bounce back and forth between networks. The show started on NBC and was there for a few years before moving to Mutual. ''The KUKU Hour'' did not always have the same characters but it would have the same elements in each show. One of these was a segment called "The Firing Squad". In this, Ray would make comments about a person, a group or an idea, and then have everyone in the studio shoot at it with toy guns. Paper cap guns were provided for members of the studio audience, and even the technical people got involved in this!〔(Long, Billy Jack. Know OTR, "Raymond Knight" )〕 Knight replaced Aline and Peter Dixon when he took over the children's series, ''Wheatenaville Sketches'', sponsored by Wheatena. On this program, Knight portrayed editor Billy Batchelor, running a small town newspaper founded by his uncle. ''Wheatenaville Sketches'' and ''The Cuckoo Hour'' were both important influences on comedian Bob Elliott, who attended Knight's show with his parents and later became friends with Knight.〔Nachman, Gerald. ( ''Raised on Radio''. Pantheon, 1998. )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Raymond Knight (radio)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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