Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls -- "Laugh-In" is forty!
A "verrry eenteresting" TV anniversary....
40 years ago, on January 22nd, 1968, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In premiered on NBC.
The colorful show, hosted by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin (and featuring Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson, announcer Gary Owens and Jo Anne Worley), was lauded for its fast-paced, sometimes-irreverent vignette comedy sketches and quick gags -- edited in a seemingly random format. The show, produced by Ed Friendly and George Schlatter, quickly shot to number one in the ratings for both the 1968–69 and 1969–70 television seasons.
To celebrate, we've posted a segment of co-host (and co-producer) Dick Martin's Archive interview. Click on the play arrow to watch.
Archive interview with Dick Martin continues here:
Click here to see a great Wikipedia article, filled with lots of facts and trivia about the show.
1 comments:
In January 1968 I was 5 years old, with a father who was a great electronics repairman for Sears, so we had color TV already by then (the round-tube type, "Silvertone" of course.) That helped make "Laugh-In" the first adult TV show I really remember well. For a 5-year-old, it was a blast, starting with all the psychedelic colors and quick-cut pacing, and the catch-phrases, regular features, characters and more. I may not have gotten many of the jokes, but I clearly remember feeling like I wanted to live in Rowan & Martin's cool, colorful, clever, funny, partying world of "beautiful downtown Burbank."
I had a green boy's sweatshirt at that time that had a "Laugh-In" catch-phrase (made famous by guest Sammy Davis Jr.) silkscreened on it:
Here Come Da Judge
Here Come Da Judge
Here Come Da Judge
Here Come Da Judge
NBC should do an anniversary tribute (and fittingly open with the old peacock.) "Laugh-In" was a signature show for them then, up there with "Bonanza" and "Dean Martin."
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