Rowan & Martin's "Laugh-In"

45 years ago this show premiered, and within 8 episodes became the #1 show in the nation, and is still the highest rated ensemble comedy in history.

Anyone a fan?

sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me

The show was surprisingly gay for the time...

One of the weirdest moments in television: Richard Nixon on "Laugh In".

I didn't even KNOW there was an Appian way!

"Here come da' judge!!!!!"

[quote]sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me sock it to me

Jo Anne Worley was the best! Totally one-note but hilarious.

Is that a chicken joke, R10?

Never missed episode. Some of the humor went over my head at the time, though. I laughed at the Farkle family but didn't get the big joke about the kids' parentage. Loved Tyrone and Gladys!

And THAT'S the truth, thpthpththp!!!

Artie Johnson and Ruth Buzzie as the Old Man and Old Woman sitting on a bench. Johnson letching at Buzzie and Buzzie whacking him with her purse.

The late, great Sammy 'Here come de judge!' Davis Jr.

You bet your sweet Bippy!

I liked the joke wall and "News of the Future," the latter which not only predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall, but the correct date, and also said that Reagan (then the joke Gov. of California) would be elected President.

Loved The Farkles, Ruth Buzzi was hilarious.

Watched Laugh-In when it ran on Nick at Nite in 1989. Johnny Carson as Dick Martin was the most brilliant bit ever.

Would love to have seen a behind the scenes. They couldn't possibly taped that whole show in front of an audience with all the quick skits and costumes changes. It would take a whole day.

r1

Has anyone gotten so famous doing so little?

The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate!

Look [italic]that[/italic] up in your Funk & Wagnalls!

Ruth Buzzi married a Texas rancher and retired on the ranch. She has a very sweet Twitter account filled with corny jokes and warm thoughts.

[quote] I laughed at the Farkle family but didn't get the big joke about the kids' parentage.

That joke went over our heads too, but then we had a black and white tv.

Same here r24 -- the black and white TV left us thinking the joke was in their constant constantance and alliteration.

Also, Ruth Buzzi throwing up her dress and saying HI!

I was in high school then and I couldn't stand the show. My idea of comedy in the late 60s was the Smothers Brothers show.

I loved it and watched it ffaithfully. Towards the end of the series it kind of ran out of gas, but for a few years it was funny, popular and sort of a cultural touchstone. Each episode ended with the sound of one person clapping. Years later I drove past the NBC studios in Burbank and recognized some of the props sitting there in a back junkyard.

Anyone remember the attempt to remake it, with a then unknown Robin Williams?

[quote]In 1977, Schlatter and NBC briefly revived the property as a series of specials – titled simply Laugh-In – with a new cast, including former child evangelist Marjoe Gortner. The standout was a then-unknown Robin Williams, whose starring role on ABC's Mork & Mindy one year later prompted NBC to rerun the specials as a summer series in 1979. Also featured were Wayland and Madame as well as his other puppet, "Jiffy"; former Barney Miller actress, June Gable; and Good Times actor Ben Powers. Rowan and Martin, who owned part of the Laugh-In franchise, were not involved in this project. They sued Schlatter for using the format without their permission, and won a judgment of $4.6 million in 1980.

It was terrible. It invented repetitive catch phrase comedy.

I hated Henry Gibson's character--the guy with the flower. I was surprised when he made a couple of Altman movies in which he was excellent.

Alan Sues was amazing - he made Paul Lynde look like John Wayne. Every time he walked on camera purses flew out of the screen.

As a kid I never understood what was so funny about his sportscaster character...

SNL vowed to be the Anti-Laugh-In.

No busting up during the jokes.

Loved it when I was a kid. So many catch phrases came from that show.

Wasn't there a mock sportscaster with the first name of Gary?

Can't think of his last name.

I was VERY young when I watched this with my parents. Watching a few scenes from it now, it was pretty racy for a 4-5 year old.

Strange how it was so obviously "gay" yet that's never really mentioned.

[quote]SNL vowed to be the Anti-Laugh-In. No busting up during the jokes.

I didn't get that memo.

Interestingly, Lorne Michaels did a short stint on Laugh-In before going off to do SNL and build a huge empire (he now owns late-night on every single night on NBC).

R32 , SNL also vowed not to use the same silly catchphrases and characters over and over again like Laugh-In had done....

They would have a dance party on each episode, where the music would stop, everyone froze, the camera would zoom in on one cast member, they would crack a joke, then the camera would zoom back out, the music would start again and everyone would dance again, until it was time for the next joke.

They also had a wall of small doors of different shapes, with a cast member behind each one, and they would take turns opening their doors and saying jokes or responding to other jokes that were just said. Rowan and Martin would stand in front of the wall.

Gary Owens was the sportscaster. What a great voice.

Say “Good night,” Dick.

It was the hippest thing on television at the time.

It's hard to believe that as wild and free as the women's fashion was... the men were still in suits and ties (even if the ties were wild, wide, and weird).

"One ringy-dingy. Two ringy-ding. Yes, is this the party to whom I am speaking to? Mr. Veedle? This is Miss Ernestine Tomlin of the telephone company."

[quote]It was the hippest thing on television at the time.

What was the second hippest?

r28 DL "fave" Rosie O. was on a few of the remakes.

R[46]: Second hippest was Mod Squad. Third was the opening credits of I Spy.

My sisters and I used to watch it with my parents as kids. I rarely understood the humor, but I still enjoyed it, especially because it made my parents laugh a lot. I loved The Farkle Family, and Lily Tomlin as Edith Ann. If we asked too many questions, we would get sent to bed.

Okay, so I had a B&W TV too... what was the joke about the Farkle Family that I missed?

[quote]What was the second hippest?

Julia Child. Oh, I thought you said hippiest.

This is weird because this show popped into my head this morning. Our family did not do a lot together but that was one show that we all watched together (the other was "The FBI"!)

It allowed my parents to feel they were "in the groove" and as mentioned there was obvious visuals that the kids could laugh about.

When I moved to CA (the very first second I legally could) my first job was as a delivery guy and I got to listen to Gary Owens radio show every weekday.

As you might expect it was very off-the-wall but goofy and funny and I appreciated his company. He did have a sexy, sexy voice. I thought he was handsome too, but that's probably just me.

Laugh-In was so much fun. Goldie Hawn laughing is still funny. Lily Tomlin was genius with her Ma Bell character Ernestine. Joanne Worley was a riot. Alan Sues, omg.

Surely one of television's landmark shows.

Ma Bell wanted to hire Lily Tomlin to play Ernestine in a series of commercials that would have paid extremely well. To her credit, Tomlin turned down the offer, because she did not want to then-monopoly to limit Ernestine's power to parody them.

Sigh. Another elder gay memory post. This queen just can't stop living in the past for shit. Laugh-In was a shitty show. That's why it's not rerun even. Yawn.

R55 can't figure out that he doesn't have to look at, let alone contribute to threads whose topics are of no interest to him.

[quote]SNL vowed to be the Anti-Laugh-In.

I thought I read once that SNL vowed to be the anti-Carol Burnett Show.

Flip Wilson was a guest star a few times on this show.... he also had his own show, which my family watched religiously when I was a kid.

Anyone remember The Flip Wilson show?

Anyone know if he was gay or not? Because honey, he pinged!

SNL became a 90 minute beer commercial

[quote]I thought I read once that SNL vowed to be the anti-Carol Burnett Show.

This is true. They thought sketches that had an ending were "too Carol Burnett."

Lorne Michaels also forbade them to break character to laugh at their own jokes because that was "too Carol Burnett."

But the Sweeney Sisters did steal jokes from Jo Ann Worley.

Maybe this explains why Carol Burnett has never hosted SNL.

Oh my god. The Farkle Family. With Simon and Garfarkle.

I was a kid watching my parents' black and white TV. What did I miss about the Farkle Family?

r63 You left out my favorite, daughter Sparkle Farkle. "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii..."

This show made stars out of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin.

While American tv was producing this fake-hip, unfunny show, Monty Python was being produced in the UK. It was light years ahead of loudly dressed idiots saying, "you bet your bippie."

Rowan and Martin referred to the cast as "kids." Yeah, right.

It's Raining! It's POOOOOOOOOOURRRRRINNNGGGG!

R63, all of the Farkle children looked just like next door neighbor and best friend, Ferd Burfle.

I find it unfunny and stupid

I too was a preteen during its run. Yes, we kids didn't always gets the jokes, but we could be popular at recess or lunch for quoting the catchphrases.

I always loved the party joke scenes. We knew all the celebrities, if not the jokes.

[quote] This is true. They thought sketches that had an ending were "too Carol Burnett." Lorne Michaels also forbade them to break character to laugh at their own jokes because that was "too Carol Burnett."

Jimmy Fallon must have missed that memo.

[quote] Jo Anne Worley was the best! Totally one-note but hilarious.

And that one note was fortissimo.

Henry Gibson and Goldie..

Civil Rights Leader

Eldridge Cleaver

Had a wife and he did leave her

Skipped the bail at 50 thou

I wonder where he's hiding now?

Still stuck in my head for all those years.

Goldie Hawn was such a ditz on that show that I remember being shocked even as a kid when I first heard her normal speaking voice outside of the show and then won the Oscar to boot.

One of the writers, Chris Bearde, died today. He also created "The Gong Show" and Sonny & Cher's variety show.

He also co-created ABC's short-lived [italic]That's My Mama[/italic] and got pushed out after the first season along with his writing partner Allan Blye.

[quote] Anyone remember The Flip Wilson show?

Oh yeah! My dad LOVED Flip Wilson.

[quote] Anyone know if he was gay or not? Because honey, he pinged!

Gee....ya think? Here's a classic "Geraldine" skit with Joe Namath. Bonus: VPL on Broadway Joe. The humor was a bit rounchy for the early 1970's

r66, I lived in Chicago and MP, being a Brit import show, was shown on some high number UHF station.

Remember UHF? The other antenna with the other dial?

The respect for Brit shows has dramatically increased.

Loved Ernestine but couldn't stand Edith Ann.

Lily Tomlin's comedy album 'This is a Recording' was the funniest record I'd ever heard. I had a friend who liked it too and we used to play it over and over again. Drove our parents crazy.

And I also loved Tiny Tim

Here's the link to 'Tip Toe Thru' The Tulips. I haven't seen this since it originally aired. Amazing that Dick Martin keeps a straight face.

Sorry, the link was wrong at R84

r82

It was WFLD it was hardly a high number UHF and is now Fox 32.

[quote]and then won the Oscar to boot.

Supporting actress isn't a real Oscar. It's just used as an excuse to extend TV time to sell more ads.

Other than Lily Tomlin as Ernestine and Edith Ann, I seem to have forgotten most of Laugh-In, except for odd snippets here and there.

In one that still cracks me up, the announcer says something like, "And now, highlights from MY FAIR LADY," followed by a side view of a very pregnant Joanne Worley, who belts out:

[quote]I should have danced all night, I should have danced all night . . .

Jeremy from this show went on to create "Are You Being Serviced"

Jo Anne Worley inspired many drag queens.

[quote]But the Sweeney Sisters did steal jokes from Jo Ann Worley.

Lorne Michaels worked on both shows.

So I imagine he was behind the heist of the "Have a Naglia, Have two Nagilas, Have three Nagilas, they're very small!" joke

Laugh-in is great for those with short attention spans.

I remember Judy Carne leaning out one of those windows at the end of a show and she was so wasted she couldn't move her lips.

Here's Ernestine giving the world the two fingered salute.

I enjoyed Lily Tomlin's Ernestine skits, but overall found the show very annoying and hard to sit through.

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