At one o’ clock in the afternoon New York time on Dec. 7, 1941, everything stopped. At that time, 8 a.m. in Hawaii, the Empire of Japan launched an attack against the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, drawing the United States into World War II. At that same time, people in New York were waiting for the 7 p.m. Sunday broadcast of the wildly popular “Jell-O Program,” starring the radio and film star, comedian Jack Benny.
I can almost imagine the cast gathering around a radio or listening to announcers in the broadcast booth and discussing what to do next. Then perhaps Benny or another cast member rallied everyone, telling them that the show had to go on.
With the expanding national emergency, those tuned into NBC stations at 7 p.m. heard a short blurb about how news bulletins on the station would be inserted as developments warranted. Then the populace heard the reassuring sounds of a quartet singing “J-E-L-L-Ooooo!” and Don Wilson’s jovial voice saying “It’s the Jell-O Program, staring Jack Benny!”
The episode concerned the whole cast’s trip to New York and included the running gags concerning Jack’s vanity and his sub-par violin playing. When Benny talked of a performance he had given at a local hall, he got this comment from co-star Mary Livingstone:
“Well, Jack, if you toy with the word ‘lovely…’”
“Lavely, luvely, lous — That’s Mister Benny to you!”
In short, the cast did not allow the war to intrude on their broadcast. There would be plenty of time for that in the coming four years. After Benny’s personal friend Carole Lombard died in a plane crash, for instance, he refused to do a program that Sunday. He insisted that tasteful music replace the broadcast.
But on Dec. 7, they soldiered on. It was a time to give the American people something to laugh at.
At nine o’ clock in the morning New York time on Sept. 11, 2001, everything stopped. As everyone knows now, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
For nearly a week, all of New York’s entertainment ceased after the tragedy hit. Broadway shut down in anticipation of more attacks. The New York Yankees had their longest game stoppage since the United States entered World War I. Dave Letterman’s “Late Show,” usually taped daily in the early evening at the landmark Ed Sullivan Theater, was scrubbed. Although a few cable networks continued with regular broadcasts, even MTV and VH1 for the first time in their existence scrubbed their usual programming to take on the CBS newsfeed.

For the New-York-based shows, they resumed after a week and a mayoral request that life began to return to normal. “Late Night” was not its usual zany self on Sept. 17. The show began with what is known as a “cold start,” meaning no music or opening monologue. Instead, we saw Letterman at his desk, giving his impressions, with a somber tone, of the previous five days. Although he usually poked fun at New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Monday night there was nothing less than high praise for the way the mayor handled himself during the crisis. The comedian nearly burst into tears as he said that “because of (Giuliani), I’m here tonight.”
The only real laugh came when guest Regis Philbin came on. When asked about his working relationship with former co-host Kathie Lee Gifford, he replied “There’s someone who can end this in a hurry! You want a quick end to this? You send Kathie Lee over there!”
There is one defining characteristic of both these anecdotes. Even through severe adversity, both Jack Benny and Dave Letterman carried on. It would have been very easy to just walk away and never perform again, thinking that in the changed world, there was no room for laughter. But then, if that were true, then the Axis, or the terrorists, would have already won.