Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In: Difference between revisions

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The show is best known today for the future stars whose careers it launched -- Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, [[Tiny Tim]], Henry Gibson, Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Pat Paulson, and Joanne Worley among others -- and the incredible comic moments it managed to pull off (such as then-presidential-candidate Richard M. Nixon asking America to "sock it to him"). But until the birth of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' several years later, ''Laugh-In'' was the touchstone of modern American humor. (''SNL'' emulated it, in some ways -- unsurprisingly, because many ''Laugh-In'' writers later worked on ''SNL'', including the later show's producer, [[Lorne Michaels]].) It was possibly the single largest source of [[Running Gag|Running Gags]], [[Catch Phrase|Catch Phrases]] and other pop culture contributions during the middle of the 20th century, and developed during its surprisingly brief run an utterly unique and frenetically subversive style that carried them directly into the subconscious of the viewer. Because of its wild and unpredictable yet ''intelligent'' style, it was also often very successful at getting surprisingly risque material (for the era) on the air -- usually by setting up apparently-innocent situations where the viewer's mind would fill in the blanks with suitably dirty punchlines and speculations of their own.

Regular features of the show included Rowan and Martin's opening "monologue", Gladys and Tyrone the [[Dirty Old Man]] on the park bench, the "cocktail party", the not-quite adventures of the Farkle family, "Laugh-In News" and the end-of-episode "joke wall". In addition to the videotaped studio sketches, there were also a large number of filmed bits, most of them running gags, including most famously Judy Carne and Goldie Hawn go-go ~~dancing~~, and the raincoated man on his tricycle. Every episode had a celebrity [[Special Guest]] who participated -- usually with gleeful good humor -- in the anarchic goings-on. Certain stars -- like Tiny Tim -- were particular favorites and were brought back episode after episode until they were almost members of the main cast themselves. Video clips of previous guest stars would also frequently show up on later shows as punchlines, setups or simple [[Reaction Shot|Reaction Shots]].

Regular features of the show included Rowan and Martin's opening "monologue", Gladys and Tyrone the [[Dirty Old Man]] on the park bench, the "cocktail party", the not-quite adventures of the Farkle family, "Laugh-In News" and the end-of-episode "joke wall". In addition to the videotaped studio sketches, there were also a large number of filmed bits, most of them running gags, including most famously Judy Carne and Goldie Hawn [[Go-Go Dancing]], and the raincoated man on his tricycle. Every episode had a celebrity [[Special Guest]] who participated -- usually with gleeful good humor -- in the anarchic goings-on. Certain stars -- like Tiny Tim -- were particular favorites and were brought back episode after episode until they were almost members of the main cast themselves. Video clips of previous guest stars would also frequently show up on later shows as punchlines, setups or simple [[Reaction Shot|Reaction Shots]].

Part of the show's charm was due to Schlatter's tendency not to do retakes, leaving bungles, bloopers and cast crack-ups in place for broadcast. (In fact, he often deliberately provoked Goldie Hawn into fits of giggles on-camera just so he could film and broadcast her laughing.) This gave the impression of a show that was often completely out of control and on which almost anything could happen. The often psychedelic set design just added to it, although ''Laugh-In'' never did any kind of overt hard drug humor (although most episodes had a coy marijuana one-liner or two).

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* [[Gag Series]]

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Just about everything out of Dick's mouth.

* [[Go-Go Dancing]]: [[Goldie Hawn]] and [[Judy Carne]] were frequently shown go-go dancing, wearing bikinis with various slogans, [[Catch Phrase]]s and punch lines painted on their bodies.

* [[Handbag of Hurt]]: Wielded by Ruth Buzzi's Gladys Ormphby against Arte Johnson's Tyrone F. Horneigh.

* [[Her Child, but Not His]]: The fabulous Farkle Family. Parents Frank and Fanny were both brunettes with good eyesight, but their dozen or so children were all freckled redheads with glasses -- just like "friend and trusted neighbor" Ferd Berfel. [[Played for Laughs]] in that Frank clearly never suspected Fanny of dallying with Ferd.