The official description is: "folk music & farce, show tunes & satire, madness & escape."

[2] In 1953, Mike Nichols (later notable as a comedian, writer, actor, and director) created a Saturday evening folk music program.

Early regular guests were local musicians including Fleming Brown, Win Stracke and Big Bill Broonzy.

When Nichols left the program Norman Pellegrini became the host and it evolved to a mix of released and live-performance recordings, with only occasional live concerts.

Various celebrities guest-hosted the program over the years, including Tom Paxton, and theater directors Frank Galati and Robert Falls.