Sam 'N' Henry

Sam ‘n’ Henry was a radio series that aired between 1926 and 1927. Although it was mainly drama it is considered to be the first ever Situation Comedy

In late 1925 radio performers Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll were asked to do a show based on Sidney Smith’s popular comic strip The Grumps. However instead of basing the show on the Grumps Gosden and Correll proposed their own radio serial using characters they created themselves. There show would be a comedy, but would have continuing characters in an on going storyline. The two main characters were Sam Smith and Henry Johnson, two African Americans who has just arrived in Chicago from rural Alabama. Sam ‘n’ Henry began on 12th January 1926 on Chicago radio station WGN. The Show had 586 episodes, with the final one airing on 18th December 1927