Have Gun – Will Travel
Cream of the Jest
TV Flash files “Cream of the Jest” as hour 189 of 225 in the TV Flash guide — Have Gun – Will Travel (1957–1963) on CBS, season 5, episode 34, aired 1962-05-05, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E34: listed hour 189 of 225 in the Have Gun – Will Travel guide, hour 34 of 38 in season 5. It aired 1962-05-05 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Invasion” (S05E33). Next is “Bandit” (S05E35).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Practical joker Caleb Musgrove picks the wrong man to prank, and Caleb's wife Nora asks Paladin for help.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Cream of the Jest sit in the Have Gun – Will Travel guide?
S05E34 is listed hour 189 of 225 — hour 34 of 38 in season 5, season 5 episode 34.
When did Have Gun – Will Travel S05E34 air?
Cream of the Jest aired 1962-05-05 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Boone's Paladin and the calling-card ritual. The knight-for-hire brief is clear in the weekly form; you do not need a origin-mythology marathon.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Have Gun – Will Travel is a chess-piece knight for hire: Paladin's calling card cooler than most heroes' faces, Richard Boone's Broadway grit in a gunbelt. Watch it now as adult-western antihero cool — sophistication as a gunslinger trait, and the Wire Paladin card as brand-before-branding.
The calling card is cooler than most heroes' faces. (I said spoiler-free. The card is the spoiler.) *Have Gun – Will Travel*, CBS 1957–1963, 225 episodes across six seasons, also a concurrent radio hit: Richard Boone's Paladin, a chess-piece knight for hire with San Francisco manners and a gunbelt. Kam Tong as Hey Boy for much of the run; Lisa Lu as Hey Girl. Adult-western antihero cool. The group chat would have made the chess knight a stan logo by lunch.
Filed against
- Richard Boone as Paladin
Richard Boone's Paladin sold Have Gun – Will Travel as a chess-piece knight for hire — calling card cooler than most heroes' faces, Broadway grit in a gunbelt. Adult-western antihero cool before the term got a think piece. TV Flash files…
- Kam Tong as Hey Boy
Kam Tong’s Hey Boy kept Have Gun – Will Travel’s hotel a chessboard — Paladin’s calling card cooler than most heroes’ faces, Richard Boone’s Broadway grit in a gunbelt, adult-western antihero cool. Sophistication as a gunslinger trait,…
- Lisa Lu as Hey Girl
Lisa Lu occupied Paladin’s household as Hey Girl on Have Gun – Will Travel — a chess-piece knight for hire, Richard Boone’s Broadway grit in a gunbelt, and a 1950s adult-western that sold sophistication as a calling card. Cooler than most…