I don’t remember much else, I don’t think I was yet in kindergarten at the time… But your mention of “summer variety show” sounds more like what I remember. I’d read they had a Saturday morning show, but I remember watching a variety-type show with my dad in the evening.
They also did the movie Hysterical, which doesn’t quite live up to its name, but I dug it (haven’t seen it since junior high, though):
