Variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compère (master of ceremonies) or host. The variety format made its way from the Victorian era stage in Britain and America to radio and then television. Variety shows were a staple of English language television from the late 1940s into the 1980s.
While still widespread in some parts of the world, such as in the United Kingdom with the Royal Variety Performance, and South Korea with Running Man, the proliferation of multichannel television and evolving viewer tastes have affected the popularity of variety shows in the United States. Despite this, their influence has still had a major effect on late night television whose late-night talk shows and NBC's variety series Saturday Night Live (which originally premiered in 1975) have remained popular fixtures of American television.
Other countries or regions[edit]
Australia[edit]
The prime time variety show format was popular in the early decades of Australian television, spawning such series as In Melbourne Tonight, The Graham Kennedy Show, The Don Lane Show, and Hey Hey It's Saturday, which ran for 27 years. Recent prime time variety shows include the short lived Micallef Tonight and The Sideshow.
Brazil[edit]
In Brazil, variety shows are referred to as a show de auditório (lit. "auditorium show").[15] Among the longest-running variety shows on Brazilian TV have been SBT's Programa Silvio Santos (1963–present), which is hosted by SBT's owner Silvio Santos, and TV Globo's Domingão do Faustão (1989–2021), which was hosted by Fausto Silva until he departed the network to host a new variety show on Rede Bandeirantes.[16][17][18][19]
Taiwan[edit]
Two notable Taiwanese variety shows are Guess (1996-2012) and 100% Entertainment (1997–present). East Asian variety programs are known for their constant use of sound effects, on-screen visuals and comedic bantering. Many of the shows are presented in a live-like presentation in a fast-paced setting, with scenes repeating or fast forwarded.
Another popular variety show in Taiwan was Kangsi Coming (2004-2016). It was famous for its bantering, which was scripted.
Hong Kong[edit]
The first Cantonese variety show to become a major success was Hong Kong's Enjoy Yourself Tonight, which first aired in 1967 and ran for 27 years. In Hong Kong, variety shows are often combined with elements of a cooking show or a talent competition but end in various results.
The dictionary definition of variety show at Wiktionary