Clerow "Flip" Wilson had been working small venues for over a decade when Redd Foxx observed his act in 1965 and raved about him to Johnny Carson. As a result, Wilson made more than 25 appearances on the Tonight Show, and in 1968 NBC signed him to a five-year development deal.

     Wilson made guest appearances on shows such as Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and the first episode of Love, American Style. On September 22, 1969, he appeared with 20 other up-and-coming comics in a Bob Hope special, which was followed by a Flip Wilson Show special, a pilot for the series to come. Wilson's special introduced many distinctive elements that would be part of the series, the most striking element being the small, round stage in the middle of the audience, from which Wilson told jokes and where guests sang and performed sketches with minimal sets.

     For his opening monologue on that special, Wilson told a story about a minister's wife who tried to justify her new extravagant purchase by explaining how "the Devil made me buy this dress!" The wife's voice was the one subsequently used for all his female characters, whether a girlfriend or Queen Isabella ("Christopher Columbus going to find Ray Charles!"). Later in the special, he put a look to the voice in a sketch opposite guest Jonathan Winters. Winters played his swinging granny character, Maudie Frickert, as an airline passenger, and when Wilson donned a contemporary stewardess's outfit-loud print miniskirt and puffy cap-Geraldine Jones was born. The audience howled as Winters apparently met his match.

     Encouraged by the special, NBC decided to go forward with a regular series, and The Flip Wilson Show joined the fall lineup on September 17, 1970. Wilson appeared at the opening and explained that there was no big opening production number, because it would have cost $104,000. "So I thought I would show you what $104,000 looks like." Flashing a courier's case filled with bills before the camera and audience, he asked, "Now, wasn't that much better than watching a bunch of girls jumping around the stage?"

     That monologue illustrated the sort of chances Wilson and his producer, Bob Henry, took. They did away with the variety show's conventional chorus lines, singers, and dancers, and allowed the star and his guests to carry the show. The creative gamble paid off as The Flip Wilson Show defeated all other programs airing in its time slot and won two Emmy Awards in 1971: as Best Variety Show and for Best Writing in a Variety Show.

     The show was also a landmark in the networks' fit­ful history of integrating its prime-time lineup. Nat "King" Cole had been the first African American to host a variety show, which NBC carried on a sustaining basis in 1956. Despite appearances by guests such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Harry Belafonte, that program could neither attract sponsors nor obtain sufficient clearances from affiliates. Cole left the air at the end of 1957. Later, NBC was more successful with Bill Cosby in I Spy, and Diahann Carroll as Julia. The week after The Flip Wilson Show's premiere, ABC debuted its first all-Black situation comedy, an unsuccessful adaptation of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park.

     During the run of his show, Wilson created several other characters who flirted with controversy. There was the Reverend Leroy, of the Church of What's Happening' Now, whose sermons were tinged with a hint of larceny; Freddy the Playboy, always, but unsuccessfully, on the make; and Sonny, the White House janitor, who knew more than the president about what was going on.

     However, Geraldine Jones was by far the most popular character on the series. Wilson wrote Geraldine's mate­ rial himself and tried not to use her to demean Black women. Though flirty and flashy, Geraldine was no "finger-popping chippie." She was based partly on Butterfly McQueen's character in Gone with the Wind: unrefined but outspoken and honest ("What you see is what you get, honey!"). She expected respect and was devoted to her unseen boyfriend, "Killer." It also helped that Flip had the legs for the role and did not burlesque Geral­ dine's build, though NBC Standards and Practices did ask him to reduce slightly the size of Geraldine's bust.

     Another aspect of the show's appeal was its variety of guests. Like Ed Sullivan, Wilson tried to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. The premiere saw James Brown, David Frost, and the Sesame Street Muppets. A later show offered Roger Miller, the Temptations, Redd Foxx, and Lily Tomlin, whom Freddy the Playboy tried to pick up. Roy Clark, Bobby Darin, and Denise Nicholas joined Wilson for a "Butch Cassidy and the Suntan Kid" sketch.

     The Flip Wilson Show turned out to be one of the last successful variety shows. CBS's 1972 offering The Waltons became a surprise hit, winning the Thursday time slot in which The Flip Wilson Show aired. By the 1973-74 season, it was John-Boy and company who had the second-most-popular show of the season. NBC put Wilson's show to rest, airing its last episode on June 24, 1974.