Bizarre (TV series)

John Byner's interactions with the studio audience and with producer Bob Einstein—who frequently interrupted sketches to halt them midway—broke the fourth wall, an uncommon technique at the time.

In addition to Einstein, the cast included Philip Akin, Harvey Atkin, Billy Barty, Cynthia Belliveau, Jack Duffy, Jayne Eastwood, Barbara Hamilton, John Hemphill, Barry Flatman, Keith Knight, Don Lake, Kathleen Laskey, Kate Lynch, Pat Morita, Debra McGrath, Mike Myers, Earl Pennington, Melissa Steinberg, Billy Van, Steve Weston, and Wayne and Shuster alumnus Tom Harvey.

Guest stars during the series' run included Steve Allen, Frances Bay, Redd Foxx, Luba Goy, Victoria Jackson, Murray Langston (as The Unknown Comic), Howie Mandel, Dave Thomas, Willie Tyler & Lester, Marc Weiner, and Henny Youngman.

In these segments, Super Dave would attempt elaborate mock stunts designed to captivate viewers, a reporter (usually Mike Walden) would assist in framing the sketch.

The sketches typically concluded with a wide shot of the aftermath, showing Super Dave in a humorous predicament, such as being buried, encased, or launched, while he feigned agony and provided commentary.

One memorable Super Dave sketch involved a stunt where he stood under a pile driver and attempted to remain unharmed by repeating the nonsensical phrase "balloon ball."

The uncensored version also aired regionally in the United Kingdom on ITV, typically after 11 pm, with some of the stronger language censored using conventional bleeps.

In 1979, ABC was looking into re-entering the late night television market amid reports of Johnny Carson potentially leaving NBC's The Tonight Show due to a contract dispute.

Production of Bizarre later moved to Canada, enabling the series to qualify for Canadian content credits while retaining a predominantly American cast.