Episodes would be fast-paced, he said, each with a minimum of 24 elements including varied acts and comedic personalities with "enough material to make this, we hope, one of the fastest moving shows ever presented".

(The trade publication Billboard reported that Storm was "scheduled to appear on the March 4 Comedy Hour in addition to serving as femcee of one program in April and in May".

[citation needed] Other performers who appeared on the series included Gloria DeHaven, William Bendix, Shecky Greene,[8] June Havoc, Ben Blue,[9] Pat Stanley, Elena Verdugo, Cliff Arquette, Stan Freberg,[10] Bob and Ray, Pat Carroll, Henny Youngman, William Frawley,[11] the Al White Dancers, the Tony Charmoli Dancers, the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra, the Al Goodman Orchestra,[3] and Robin Tyler.

[12] The show was a critical and ratings failure:[citation needed] Variety stated about the series's second episode,[13] "A more poorly conceived, routined and paced outing would be difficult to imagine.

[20] Daniel Richman wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer that the premiere episode of The NBC Comedy Hour "was probably the worst excuse for a variety show since vaudeville died.

[22] The trade publication Sponsor said that the premiere episode "did little to live up to NBC's boast that the Comedy Hour would be a 'showcase of new and promising comics,' and proved once again that there are certain things money can't buy".

[24] It supported that summary by citing specifice comedy segments with comments that included "... his various antics became a little tiresome after a while ...", "... some spotty laugh material for an overall weak effect ...", "... three stories, none of which were really rib-ticklers ...", and "... wasn't much of a laugh-getter.