Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, writer, radio and television comedian, and film actor.

[1][4] After dropping out of Jackson High School, Paar worked as a broadcaster for WIBM, a local radio station.

[5] He went on to work as a humorous disc jockey at other Midwest stations, including WJR in Detroit, WIRE in Indianapolis, WGAR in Cleveland, and WBEN in Buffalo.

In 1943, Paar was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II, which interrupted his tenure as host of WBEN's morning show The Sun Greeter's Club.

[6] Paar was a clever, wisecracking master of ceremonies; he narrowly escaped being disciplined when he impersonated senior officers, especially Col. Ralph Parr.

[6] After World War II, Paar opted not to return to WBEN, instead seeking opportunities in network radio and film.

[4] Paar signed as a contract player for Howard Hughes' RKO studio in the immediate postwar period,[4] appearing as the emcee in Variety Time (1948), a low-budget compilation of vaudeville sketches.

[4] Paar returned to radio in 1950, hosting The $64 Question for one season, then quitting in a wage dispute after the show's sponsor pulled out and NBC insisted everyone involved take a pay cut.

In 1956, he gave radio one more try, hosting a disc jockey effort on ABC called The Jack Paar Show.

Over the next seven months, Allen's Tonight Show duties were limited to three nights per week, with Ernie Kovacs hosting on Mondays and Tuesdays.

[1] Paar found the everyday routine of planning a 105-minute program difficult to sustain for more than five years, and his weariness caused him to end his tenure as host.

[11] Paar's final show aired on March 29, 1962, during which he derided his enemies in the press, notably gossip columnists Walter Winchell and Dorothy Kilgallen.

[12] Near the end of the run of the show, Abel Green of Variety called Paar "the most vivid personality in TV since Milton Berle became Mister Television" and wrote that Paar was the first popular entertainer since the creators of Amos 'n' Andy to change the habits of a nation, influencing sales of TV sets for the bedroom.

[10] Because NBC did not want to lose Paar to another network, it offered him a Friday prime-time hour with full control of content and format.

Most of the films were of travels by guests such as Arthur Godfrey or by Paar himself, including visits with Albert Schweitzer at his compound in Gabon in Central Africa and Mary Martin at her ranch[13] near Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil.

[1][6][16][17] During the first half of 1964, a mock feud pitted Paar against his lead-in program, Englishman David Frost's news-satire series That Was the Week That Was.

The final segment of the series, broadcast on June 25, 1965, featured Paar sitting alone on a stool recounting a discussion that he had with his daughter about his departure.

In 1998, Garry Shandling featured the clip of Paar's farewell in the series finale of The Larry Sanders Show.

Paar later expressed discomfort with developments in television media and once said that he had trouble interviewing people dressed in "overalls," a reference to young rock acts.

Both were composed largely of black-and-white kinescope clips used at the tribute from The Tonight Show and from Paar's primetime program, for which he maintained the copyright.