Unlike comedians such as Red Skelton or Bob Hope, whose series highlighted their monologues, Kaye’s variety hour was similar in scope to Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour. Kaye’s series was a mixture of sketches and special musical material that showcased his inimitable talents. The series attracted prominent guests who helped Kaye demonstrate his own versatility. He sang scat with Louis Armstrong and calypso with Harry Belafonte, danced with Gene Kelly, and performed in sketches with such stars as actor José Ferrer and comedian Dick Van Dyke.

Kaye’s strength was his ability to work with a live studio audience. Most episodes included a “quiet” segment highlighting Kaye’s ability to work one on one with his audience and provide a sense of intimacy. In this portion, Kaye would sit on a chair at the end of the stage; then he might tell a story that would showcase his talent for dialects or tongue-twisting dialogue. On other occasions, he would engage in conversation with a child (Laurie Ichino or, later, Victoria Meyerink) or tell tales to a group of children.

The series was produced by Perry Lafferty, who had previously produced variety series for Arthur Godfrey and Andy Williams. Writers for the series included Larry Gelbart (who later created M*A*S*H) and Mel Tolkin, both of whom had also written for Caesar’s Hour. Although Kaye’s supporting cast did not appear on a weekly basis, they included Harvey Korman, Gwen Verdon, Joyce Van Patten, the Earl Brown Singers, the Clinger Sisters, and the Tony Charmoli Dancers.

In its first season, The Danny Kaye Show garnered three Emmy Awards, including one for the show and one for its star. That same season, the series also received a George Foster Peabody Award as one of the best entertainment programs for the year. During the series’ four-year run, it accumulated a total of ten Emmy nominations.

Despite Kaye’s enormous talents and popularity, the series failed to gain a wide audience and never achieved critical success. Considering Kaye’s popularity among younger viewers, his late time slot (10:00-11:00 P.M.) may have been a major reason for his show’s mediocre ratings. A lack of direction in the show’s format and average material often resulted in childlike antics that some critics felt were inappropriate. In addition, competition from other network programs, such as the National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC’s) Wednesday Night at the Movies and I, Spy, contributed to the variety show’s low ratings.

However, Kaye remained popular with his audience and legions of fans. In fact, the variety series was imported to the United Kingdom in 1964 for the premiere of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC 2) channel and ran there for three seasons.

After his show’s cancellation in 1967, Kaye returned to television in a number of special programs, mostly aimed at younger viewers, including Rankin Bass’s The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye (CBS, February 20, 1972), Hallmark Hall of Fame’s Peter Pan (NBC, December 12, 1976), and Pinocchio (CBS, March 27, 1976). In 1976, he hosted the Emmy Award-winning Danny Kaye’s Look at the Metropolitan Opera (CBS).

His last television appearances were in the Emmy-nominated Live from the Lincoln Center: An Evening with Danny Kaye and the New York Philharmonic (Public Broadcasting Service [PBS], 1981) and the CBS docudrama Skokie (CBS, November 7, 1981). For both these performances, Kaye was presented with another Peabody Award “for virtuoso performances and versatility as a superb clown and a sensitive dramatic actor.” Kaye died in Los Angeles on March 3, 1987.