Remember When Bedford, New Hampshire, Native Sarah Silverman Sang on This Long-Lost Boston TV Show?

Community Auditions Was The Best

If you grew up in New England in the '70s and '80s, especially Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire, chances are you watched Community Auditions on Sunday mornings at 11am with its beloved host, Dave Maynard.  Dave was hilarious, may he rest in peace.  If you watch the full show below, you will see that Dave is just doing a radio show, but he's doing it in front of the camera.

This Boston Show Was American Idol Before American Idol

The show ran from 1950-1987, according to the IMDB. From what I remember, if you were a theater kid or some variation in the chorus or marching band, you wanted to be on Community Auditions.

There were mostly kids who auditioned, but anyone was welcome.  Kind of like American Idol, The Voice and America's Got Talent all rolled up into one!

Boston could have been the birthplace of reality TV (I know, say it isn't so!).

Sarah Silverman Won First Place

Sarah Silverman, a Bedford, New Hampshire, native, was on the show sometime in the '80s and won first place.

I can imagine that she didn't think she would reach the level of fame that she has. Otherwise, she may have asked to keep the original tape from WBZ-TV.

The audition became nationally known when in 2009, her friend, Jimmy Kimmel, put it on his late-night talk show, much to her dismay.

If you don't remember this absolute GEM of a TV show, lucky for us, there's YouTube.

Sing it with me:

Star of the day, who will it be?

Your vote may hold the key, it's up to you.

Tell us who, will be Star of the Day.

Everyone knew that theme song.  This video is hilarious, so enjoy.

Dave Maynard passed away in February of 2012, and WBZ honored him:

New England should bring this show back.  They tried to do it once in the early 2000s, but it lost Dave's magic.  Were you ever on the show?  Would you want it to come back?