Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

Pilot and season 1

Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Larry Hovis, Arte Johnson, Barbara Feldon and Jo Anne Worley appeared in the pilot special from 1967. (Goldie Hawn joined for season 1 in 1968). Only the two hosts, announcer Gary Owens, and Buzzi, Carne, Gibson, and Johnson, were in all 14 episodes of season one. Eileen Brennan, Hovis, and Roddy Maude-Roxby left after the first season.

Seasons 2 and 3

The second season had a handful of new people, including Alan Sues, Dave Madden, and Chelsea Brown. All of the new cast members from season two left at the end of that season except Sues, who stayed on until 1972. At the end of the 1968–69 season, Carne chose not to renew her contract, although she did make appearances during 1969–1970.

The third season had several new people who only stayed on for that season: Teresa Graves, Jeremy Lloyd, Pamela Rodgers, and Byron Gilliam. Lily Tomlin joined in the middle of the season. Jo Anne Worley, Goldie Hawn, and Judy Carne left after the season.

Seasons 4 and 5

The 1970–71 season brought new additions to the cast include tall, lanky, sad-eyed Dennis Allen, who alternately played quietly zany characters and straight man for anybody's jokes; comic actress Ann Elder, who also contributed to scripts, tap dancer Barbara Sharma, and Johnny Brown.

Arte Johnson, who created many memorable characters, insisted on star billing, apart from the rest of the cast. The producer mollified him, but had announcer Gary Owens read Johnson's credit as a separate sentence: "Starring Dan Rowan and Dick Martin! And Arte Johnson! With Ruth Buzzi ..." This maneuver gave Johnson star billing, but made it sound like he was still part of the ensemble cast. Johnson left the show after the 1970–71 season. Henry Gibson also departed after the 1970–71 season. Johnson and he were replaced by former Hogan's Heroes stars Richard Dawson and Larry Hovis, both of whom had appeared occasionally in the first season. However, the loss of Johnson's many popular characters caused ratings to drop further.

After winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Cactus Flower, Goldie Hawn made a guest appearance in the third episode of the fourth season. She began the episode as an arrogant snob of an actress; however, a bucket of water thrown at her transformed her back to her giggling dumb blonde persona.

The show celebrated its 100th episode during the 1971–72 season, with Carne, Worley, Johnson, Gibson, Graves, and Tiny Tim all returning for the festivities. John Wayne was on hand for his first cameo appearance since 1968.

Season 6

For the show's final season (1972–73), Rowan and Martin assumed the executive producer roles from George Schlatter (known on-air as "CFG", which stood for "Crazy Fucking George"), and Ed Friendly. Except for holdovers Dawson, Owens, Buzzi, Dennis Allen, and only occasional appearances from Tomlin, a new cast was brought in. This final season featured comedian Patti Deutsch, folksy singer-comedian Jud Strunk, ventriloquist act Willie Tyler & Lester, and giddy Goldie Hawn lookalike Sarah Kennedy. Former regular Jo Anne Worley returned for two guest appearances, including the final episode. These last shows never aired in the edited half-hour rerun syndicated (through Lorimar Productions) to local stations in 1983 and later on Nick at Nite in 1987, although they were included when the program was rerun on the Decades over-the-air television channel in 2017.

Of over three dozen entertainers to join the cast, only Rowan, Martin, Owens, and Buzzi were there from beginning to end. However, Owens was not in the 1967 pilot and Buzzi missed two first-season episodes.

Cast tenures

• All seasons: Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, Gary Owens, and Ruth Buzzi
• Season 1 (1968): Eileen Brennan, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Larry Hovis, Arte Johnson, Roddy Maude-Roxby, Jo Anne Worley
• Season 2 (1968–69): Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley, Alan Sues, Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall ("the Fun Couple"), Chelsea Brown, Dave Madden, Pigmeat Markham, Dick "Sweet Brother" Whittington, J.J. Barry,^[3] Byron Gilliam (uncredited)
• Season 3 (1969–70): Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley, Alan Sues, Lily Tomlin, Byron Gilliam, Teresa Graves, Jeremy Lloyd, Pamela Rodgers, Stu Gillies, Johnny Brown
• Season 4 (1970–71): Henry Gibson, Arte Johnson, Alan Sues, Lily Tomlin, Johnny Brown, Dennis Allen, Ann Elder, Nancie Phillips, Barbara Sharma, Harvey Jason, Larry Hovis, Richard Dawson, Byron Gilliam (dancer only)
• Season 5 (1971–72): Lily Tomlin, Larry Hovis, Alan Sues, Johnny Brown, Dennis Allen, Ann Elder, Barbara Sharma, Richard Dawson, Byron Gilliam (dancer only)
• Season 6 (1972–73): Lily Tomlin, Dennis Allen, Richard Dawson, Moosie Drier, Tod Bass, Brian Bressler, Patti Deutsch, Lisa Farringer, Sarah Kennedy, Jud Strunk, Willie Tyler, Donna Jean Young

John Wayne and Tiny Tim helped Laugh-In celebrate its 100th episode in 1971.

Regular guest performers

• Jack Benny (1968–70, 1972)
• Johnny Carson (1968–70, 1971, 1973)
• Sammy Davis, Jr. (1968–70, 1971, 1973)
• Barbara Feldon (1968)
• Zsa Zsa Gabor (1968–70)
• Peter Lawford (1968–71; Lawford became Dan Rowan's son-in-law in 1971)
• Tiny Tim (1968–70, 1971–72)
• John Wayne (1968, 1971–73)
• Flip Wilson (1968–70)
• Henny Youngman (1968–69, 1971–73)

Sketches

Frequently recurring Laugh-In sketches included:

• "Sock it to me"; Judy Carne was often tricked into saying the phrase ("It may be rice wine to you, but it's still sake to me!"), which almost invariably led to her (and other cast members) falling through a trap door, being doused with water, or playfully assaulted in various other manners. The phrase was also uttered by many of the cameo guest stars, most notably Richard Nixon, though they were almost never subject to the same treatment as Carne.
• "The Party", in which Dan would invite the audience to a wild party attended by the regulars and the guest stars. The orchestra would play a few bars of a dance song, only to temporarily stop while the cast and guests would exchange one-liners.
• "The Joke-Wall", near the end of every episode, the regulars along with the guests would poke out of shuttered windows (or through holes in the floor) in a psychedelically-designed wall and exchange one-liners. Rowan & Martin often stood in front of the wall during this segment, though at the top of every episode, when announcer Gary Owens introduced the cast, Rowan and Martin were inside the windows rather than standing in front of the wall.
• "Mod, Mod World" comprised brief sketches on a theme interspersed with film footage of female cast members go-go dancing in bikinis, their bodies painted with punchy phrases and clever wordplay. Beginning in the 1969–1970 season, the dancing was handled briefly by new cast members Teresa Graves and Pamela Rodgers before being relegated to uncredited extras. On occasion, a cast member (superimposed on the screen) would cast off a one-liner while the dancing took place. Usually, there was also a song which the entire cast sang, paying tribute to the theme.
• "The Farkel Family", a couple with numerous children, all of whom had bright red hair and large freckles similar to their "good friend and trusty neighbor" Ferd Berfel (Dick Martin). The sketch employed diversion humor, the writing paying more attention to the lines said by each player, using alliterative tongue-twisters ("That's a fine-looking Farkel flinger you found there, Frank"). Two of the children were twins named Simon and Gar Farkel, played by cast members of different races (Teresa Graves and Pamela Rodgers in the third season and Johnny Brown and Barbara Sharma in the fourth season). Jo Anne Worley and Patti Deutsch played Fanny Farkel and Dan Rowan played Frank Farkel.
• "The Judge", originally portrayed by British comic Roddy Maude-Roxby, was a stuffy magistrate with a black robe and oversized judge's wig. Each sketch featured the unnamed judge bantering with a defendant brought before the court. For a time guest star Flip Wilson would introduce the sketch saying "Here come da judge!", which was a venerable catchphrase by nightclub comedian Pigmeat Markham. Surprised that his trademark had been appropriated, Markham asked producer George Schlatter to let him play the Judge himself; Schlatter agreed and Markham presided for one season. After Markham left, the sketch was briefly retired until Sammy Davis Jr. donned the judicial robe and wig during his guest appearances, introducing each sketch with a rap that always finished with "Here come da judge, here come da judge..".
• "Laugh-In Looks at the News", a parody of network newscasts, introduced by the female cast members in a highly un-journalistic production number. The sketch was originally called the Rowan and Martin Report (a take-off on The Huntley-Brinkley Report). The sketch itself featured Dick humorously reporting on current events, which then segued into Dan reporting on "News of the Past" and "News of the Future", the latter of these segments, on at least two occasions, correctly predicted future events, one being that Ronald Reagan would be president, and another that the Berlin Wall would finally come down in 1989. This segment was influenced by BBC's That Was the Week That Was, and in turn inspired Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" segments (SNL creator Lorne Michaels was a Laugh-In writer early in his career).
• "New Talent Time" introduced oddball variety acts, most notably of which was Tin Pan Alley musician Tiny Tim. Laugh-In writer Chris Bearde took the "New Talent" concept and later developed it into The Gong Show.
• "The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award" sardonically recognized actual dubious achievements by public individuals or institutions, the most frequent recipients being members or branches of the government. The trophy was a gilded left hand mounted on a trophy base with its extended index finger adorned with two small wings.
• "The Wonderful World of Whoopee Award" was a counterpart to the "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award", described by Rowan as a citation "for the little man who manages to outfight or outfox the bureaucracy"; the statue was similar to the Finger of Fate, only it was a right hand (without wings on the index finger) pointing straight up, and with a hidden mechanism that when activated caused the finger to wave in a circular motion.

Characters

Johnny Brown, 1971

• Dan Rowan, in addition to hosting, appears as a character known as General Bull Right, a far-right-wing representative of the military establishment and outlet for political humor.
• Announcer Gary Owens regularly stands in an old-time radio studio with his hand cupped over his ear, making announcements, often with little relation to the rest of the show, such as (in an overly-dramatic voice), "Earlier that evening ..."
• Arte Johnson:
  • Wolfgang the German soldier – Wolfgang would often peer out from behind a potted palm and comment on the previous gag saying "Verrry interesting", sometimes with comments such as "... but shtupid!" He eventually closed each show by talking to Lucille Ball, as well as the cast of Gunsmoke — both airing opposite Laugh-In on CBS; as well as whatever was on ABC. Johnson later repeated the line while playing Nazi-themed supervillain Virman Vundabar on an episode of Justice League Unlimited. Johnson also reprised his Wolfgang character for a series of small introductory skits with a plant on 3-2-1 Contact, during the "Growth/Decay" week.
  • Tyrone F. Horneigh (pronounced "hor-NIGH", presumably to satisfy the censors) was a dirty old man coming on to Gladys Ormphby (Ruth Buzzi) seated on a park bench, who almost invariably clobbers him with her purse. Both Tyrone and Gladys later became animated characters (voiced by Johnson and Buzzi) in the "Nitwits" segments of the 1977 animated television show, Baggy Pants and the Nitwits.
  • Piotr Rosmenko, the Eastern European Man, stands stiffly and nervously in an ill-fitting suit while commenting on differences between America and "the old country", such as "Here in America, is very good, everyone watch television. In old country, television watches you!" This type of joke has come to be known as the Russian reversal.
  • Rabbi Shankar (a pun on Ravi Shankar) was an Indian guru who dresses in a Nehru jacket dispensing pseudomystical Eastern wisdom laden with bad puns. He held up two fingers in a peace sign whenever he spoke.
  • An unnamed character in yellow raincoat and hat, riding a tricycle and then falling over, was frequently used between sketches. The character was portrayed by many members in the cast including Johnson.
• Ruth Buzzi:
  • Gladys Ormphby – A drab, relatively young spinster, she is the eternal target of Arte Johnson's Tyrone; when Johnson left the series, Gladys retreated into recurring daydreams, often involving marriages to historical figures, including Christopher Columbus and Benjamin Franklin (both played by Alan Sues). She typically hit people repeatedly with her purse. The character was recreated, along with Tyrone, in Baggy Pants and the Nitwits. Buzzi also performed as Gladys on Sesame Street and The Dean Martin Show, most notably in the Celebrity Roasts.
  • Doris Swizzle – A seedy barfly, she is paired with her husband, Leonard Swizzle, played by Dick Martin.
  • Busy Buzzi – A cold and heartless old-style Hedda Hopper-type Hollywood gossip columnist
  • Kathleen Pullman - An always helpful, but exceedingly overdramatic woman who is eager to help people.
• Henry Gibson:
  • The Poet held an oversized flower and nervously read offbeat poems. He pronounced his name "Henrik Ibsen".
  • The Parson – A character who makes ecclesiastical quips, in 1970, he officiated at a near-marriage for Tyrone and Gladys.
• Goldie Hawn is best known as the giggling "dumb blonde", stumbling over her lines, especially when she introduced Dan's "News of the Future". In the earliest episodes, she recited her dialogue sensibly and in her own voice, but as the series progressed, she adopted a Dumb Dora character with a higher-pitched giggle and a vacant expression, which endeared her to viewers.

The Tasteful Lady (Lily Tomlin) entertains Rita Hayworth, 1971

• Lily Tomlin:
  • Ernestine/Miss Tomlin – An obnoxious telephone operator, she has no concern for her customers. Her close friend is fellow telephone operator, Phenicia; and her boyfriend, Vito. Tomlin later performed Ernestine on Saturday Night Live and Happy New Year, America. She also played the Ernestine character for a comedy album called This Is A Recording.
  • Edith Ann – A ​5 ¹⁄₂-year-old child, she ends each of her short monologues with: "And that's the truth", followed by "Pbbbt!". Tomlin performs her skits in an oversized rocking chair that makes her appear small. Tomlin later performed Edith Ann on children's shows such as Sesame Street and The Electric Company.
  • Mrs. Earbore (the "Tasteful Lady") – A prim society matron, Mrs. Earbore expressed quiet disapproval about a tasteless joke or remark, and then rose from her chair with her legs spread, and sometimes got doused with a bucket of water.
  • Dotty – A crass, and rude grocery checker who tended to annoy her customers at the store she worked at.
  • Lula – A loud and boisterous woman with a Marie Antoinette hair-do who always loved a party.
  • Suzie Sorority of the Silent Majority – clueless hippie college student who ended each bit with "Rah!"
  • Fast Talker – A steady stream of broken, incomprehensive, non-pause monologue by Tomlin
• Judy Carne had two characters known for their robotic speech and movement:
  • Mrs. Robot in "Robot Theater" – A female companion to Arte Johnson's "Mr. Robot", both are equally inept and a satire of Shields and Yarnell (popular mimes of the period) who performed a routine as a robotic couple called "The Clinkers".
  • The talking Judy Doll – She is usually played with by Arte Johnson, who never heeded her warning: "Touch my little body, and I hit!"
  • The Sock-it-to-me girl in which she would end up being splashed with water and/or falling through a trap door.
• Jo Anne Worley sometimes sings off-the-wall songs using her loud operatic voice, but is better remembered for her mock outrage at "chicken jokes" and her melodic outcry of "Bo-ring!". At the cocktail parties, she would talk about her never-seen boyfriend/husband "Boris".
• Alan Sues:
  • Big Al – A clueless and fey sports anchor, he loves ringing his "Featurette" bell, which he calls his "tinkle".
  • He would dress in drag as his former co-star, Jo Anne Worley.
  • Uncle Al, the Kiddies' Pal – A short-tempered host of a children's show, he usually goes on the air with a hangover: "Oh, kiddies, Uncle Al had a lot of medicine last night." Whenever he got really agitated, he would yell to "Get Miss Twinkle on the phone!"
  • Boomer – A self-absorbed "jock" bragging about his athletic exploits
  • Ambiguously gay saloon patron – while the tough guys ordered whiskey, he would saunter up to the bar and effeminately say "I'll have a frozen daiquiri!"
  • In the last season he was a regular, he would be the one who got water thrown on him after a ticking alarm clock went off (He replaced Judy Carne as the one who always got drenched).
• Dave Madden as a milk-drinking, confetti-throwing sad sack
• Barbara Sharma as the tap dancing meter-maid (spelled Metre made) who tickets anything from trees to baby carriages. She often praises Vice President Spiro Agnew.
• Richard Dawson appears as Hawkins the Butler, who always started his piece by asking "Permission to ...?" and proceeded to fall over.
• Flip Wilson would appear as his character "Geraldine", originating the catchphrases "What you see is what you get" and "The devil made me do it".

Memorable moments

The first season featured some of the first music videos seen on network TV, with cast members appearing in films set to the music of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Bee Gees, the Temptations, the Strawberry Alarm Clock, and the First Edition.

During the September 16, 1968, episode, Richard Nixon, running for president, appeared for a few seconds with a disbelieving vocal inflection, asking "Sock it to me?" Nixon was not doused or assaulted. An invitation was extended to Nixon's opponent, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, but he declined.^[7] According to George Schlatter, the show's creator, "Humphrey later said that not doing it may have cost him the election", and "[Nixon] said the rest of his life that appearing on Laugh-In is what got him elected. And I believe that. And I've had to live with that."^[4][8] In an episode of the ill-fated 1977 revival, a Nixon impersonator says, "I invited the American people to sock-it-to-me.... you can stop now".

On multiple occasions, producer George Schlatter attempted to get William F. Buckley Jr. to appear on the show, only to be refused each time until he suddenly agreed to an appearance. In the episode that aired December 28, 1970, Buckley appeared in an unusual sit-down segment (portions of which were scattered throughout the episode) flanked by Rowan and Martin and fielding questions from the cast (which included Lily Tomlin doing her Fast Talker shtick) and giving humorous answers to each. Near the end, when Rowan asked Buckley why he finally agreed to appear on the show, Buckley explained that Schlatter had written him "an irresistable letter" in which he promised to fly Buckley out to California "in an airplane with two right wings". At the end, Rowan thanked him for appearing, noting that "you can't be that smart without having a sense of humor, and you have a delightful one".

DVD releases

Between 2003 and 2004, Rhino Entertainment's "Retrovision", under arrangement of then-rightsholder SFM Entertainment, released two The Best Of releases of the show, each containing six episodes presented in its complete and uncut, original broadcast version. In 2003, Rhino, through direct-response marketing firm Guthy-Renker, also released a series of DVDs subtitled The Sock-It-To-Me Collection, with each DVD containing two episodes.

On June 19, 2017, Time Life, another direct-response marketer, released Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time, in a deal with current rightsholder Proven Entertainment.^[11] The 38-disc set contains all 140 episodes of the series, complete and uncut, restored and remastered as well as many bonus features and a special 32-page collector's book.

On September 5, 2017, Time Life began releasing individual complete season sets on DVD, beginning with the first season.^[12] This was followed by the second season on January 9, 2018,^[13] and the third season on March 6, 2018.^[14] The fourth season was released on May 8, 2018.^[15] Season 5 was released on July 10, 2018. Finally, Season 6 was released on September 4, 2018.^[16]