Progress Hornsby, a character from Your Show of Shows, a popular 1950-1954 sketch comedy television series, is a Beatnik jazz saxophonist from Chicago celebrated for his exceptionally avant-garde style. Progress was the creation comedy legend Sid Caesar, who was also a proficient tenor saxophonist. This dual talent of Caesar added a layer of authenticity to his portrayal of the eccentric and captivating Progress Hornsby.
Kool Cees was a 2nd beatnik saxophonist Caesar portrayed on the show.
In a 1959 issue of Mad Magazine, Caesar wrote “For the Life of Progress Hornsby,” illustrated by Mort Drucker.
He also appeared on The Dean Martin Show, March 3, 1966 as Dr. Progress B. Wayout, who talks about the latest trends in Jazz. When Dean Martin asks about his group, Dr. Wayout lists the personnel: Fats Oregano on first trumpet, The Wolfman on baritone sax, and Count Dracula on bass.
When he had the chance, he played alongside famous musicians such as Benny Goodman, during a performance on Caesar's Hour on November 1, 1954.
Sid Caesar, a comedic force of nature who became one of television’s first stars in the early 1950s and influenced generations of comedians and comedy writers, introduced a different kind of humor to the small screen, at once more intimate and more absurd, based less on jokes or pratfalls than on characters and situations. It left an indelible mark on American comedy. In one guise, as the extremely far-out jazz saxophonist Progress Hornsby, he explained that his new record was in a special kind of hi-fi: “This is the highest they’ve ever fied. If they fi any higher than this, they’re gonna foo!”
Here, with Carl Reiner, he defines Jazz. And as Progress Hornsby, plays it.
A genius. And what a writers room too!
Yeah.