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Gobel graduated from Chicago's Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1937. Initially a country music singer, he appeared on the National Barn Dance on WLS radio and, after service in World War II, turned to comedy. During World War II, Gobel served in the United States Army Air Forces as a flight instructor in AT-9 aircraft at Altus, Oklahoma and later in B-26 Marauder bombers at Frederick, Oklahoma. In a 1969 appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Gobel joked, "There was not one Japanese aircraft got past Tulsa."...
Gobel was a guest on various TV programs, including The Bing Crosby Show and Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show. In an often-replayed segment from a 1969 episode of The Tonight Show, Gobel followed Bob Hope and Dean Martin, walking onstage with a plastic cup with an unidentified drink. Gobel ribbed Carson about coming on last and having to follow those major TV stars. He quipped to Carson, "Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?" After the laughter died down, Carson asked Gobel about his career in World War II as a fighter pilot. Gobel feigned bewilderment at why people laugh when he says that he spent WWII in Oklahoma, pointing out that no Japanese plane ever got past Tulsa. Gobel also began to get some unexpected laughs, being unaware that Dean Martin had begun flicking his cigarette ashes into Gobel's drink. Observing all of this, Carson finally asked rhetorically, "Exactly what time did I lose control of the show?!"
In the 1970s, Gobel was a regular panelist on the television game show Hollywood Squares hosted by Peter Marshall. He also lent his voice to 1974 animated special Twas the Night Before Christmas. In the early 1980s, Gobel played Otis Harper, Jr., the mayor of Harper Valley in the television series based on the film Harper Valley PTA...
In 1957, three B-52 Stratofortress bombers made the first nonstop round-the-world flight by turbojet aircraft. One of the aircraft was christened "Lonesome George." The crew appeared on George Gobel's primetime television show and recounted their mission which took them 45 hours and 19 minutes. Lonesome George, the tortoise, is also named after Gobel.
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