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Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is a comedy variety show that aired on NBC.

Pencilled in as a mid-season replacement, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In quickly became appointment TV Monday nights, what everyone was talking about Tuesday morning.

It was sketch comedy that broke the rules by treading on political waters that no sketch comedy had dared to tread, even getting presidential candidate Richard Nixon to appear and utter one of the show's catch phrases "Sock it to me."

It was a quite uniform show structurally. After the opening bits and titles, announced by Gary Owens with hand over ear (and a clock on the wall behind him with hands that point every which way but correctly), Dan and Dick come out with the monologue, which segues into the cocktail party. (Usually a one-liner scroll will appear.) The cocktail party is usually a full-cast fete with the music stopping at intervals to allow the cast to crack jokes (Henry Gibson as a priest: "My church welcomes all denominations, but my favorite is the five dollar bill.") Blackout sketches permeate the hour, interrupted only by features such as Mod Mod World, the Fickle Finger of Fate award, and most famously the Laugh-In News. In a coincidental but eerie case, Dan Rowan, in his News Of The Future bit, would report on President Reagan and the Berlin Wall coming down. In 1981, Ronald Reagan would be sworn into office and the Berlin Wall would be torn down in 1989.

Other features included Arte Johnson and Ruth Buzzi as, respectively, a little old man named Tyrone and a little old lady named Gladys. Meeting at a park bench, Tyrone would make propositions to Gladys only for Gladys to beat him senseless with her purse.

The show was famous for launching many catch phrases, such as "You bet your sweet bippy," "Verrry Interrresting," "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls," "Here come de judge," and the aforementioned "Sock it to me." At the end of each show, Dan would instruct "Say goodnight, Dick." To which Dick would reply "Goodnight, Dick!", and the credits would roll during the joke wall segment. After some more blackouts, the ending title of "Schlatter-Friendly" would be displayed to the sound of one person clapping. The clapping would still be heard through the NBC "snake" logo animation.

Laugh-In also led to success of many of its regulars, most notably Goldie Hawn, who parlayed her lovable dumb blonde act in the movie "Cactus Flower," and went on not only to grow as a performer but be a hit in movies.

Laugh-In ran its course by the end of the 1972-73 season, and was revived in 1977 sans Rowan, Martin and the rest of the original cast. Its most noted feature is that one of its semi-regular was a comic named Robin Williams. Also, a Nixon impersonator on the show said "In 1968, I appeared on Laugh-In and said sock it to me...sock it to me. Well, you can stop now!" This version keeps the one person applauding at the end with the recurring sign-off "May the farce be with you."

Contents 1 Cast 2 Seasons 3 Specials 4 In-Depth 5 DVD Releases 6 External Sites

[edit] Cast

Person	Role	Duration
Main Cast
Dan Rowan	Host	1	2	3	4	5	6
Dick Martin	Host	1	2	3	4	5	6
Gary Owens	Announcer	1	2	3	4	5	6
Ruth Buzzi	Regular Performer	1	2	3	4	5	6
Henry Gibson	Regular Performer	1	2	3	4
Arte Johnson	Regular Performer	1	2	3	4
Judy Carne	Regular Performer	1	2	3
Goldie Hawn	Regular Performer	1	2	3
Jo Anne Worley	Regular Performer	1	2	3
Larry Hovis	Regular Performer	1				5
Eileen Brennan	Regular Performer	1
Roddy Maude-Roxby	Regular Performer	1
Alan Sues	Regular Performer		2	3	4	5
Charlie Brill	Regular Performer		2
Chelsea Brown	Regular Performer		2
Dave Madden	Regular Performer		2
Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham	Regular Performer		2
Mitzi McCall	Regular Performer		2
Dick Whittington	Regular Performer		2
Lily Tomlin	Regular Performer			3	4	5	6
Stu Gilliam	Regular Performer			3
Teresa Graves	Regular Performer			3
Jeremy Lloyd	Regular Performer			3
Pamela Rodgers	Regular Performer			3
Flip Wilson	Regular Performer			3
Dennis Allen	Regular Performer				4	5	6
Johnny Brown	Regular Performer				4	5
Ann Elder	Regular Performer				4	5
Harvey Jason	Regular Performer				4
Nancie Phillips	Regular Performer				4
Barbara Sharma	Regular Performer				4	5
Richard Dawson	Regular Performer					5	6
Moosie Drier	Regular Performer					5	6
Tod Bass	Regular Performer						6
Brian Bressler	Regular Performer						6
Patti Deutsch	Regular Performer						6
Lisa Farringer	Regular Performer						6
Sarah Kennedy	Regular Performer						6
Jud Strunk	Regular Performer						6
Willie Tyler	Regular Performer						6
Donna Jean Young	Regular Performer						6

[edit] Seasons

Season	Premiere	Finale	#
NBC
Season One	January 22, 1968	April 29, 1968	14 + 1
Season Two	September 16, 1968	March 31, 1969	26
Season Three	September 15, 1969	March 16, 1970	26
Season Four	September 14, 1970	March 15, 1971	26
Season Five	September 13, 1971	March 20, 1972	24
Season Six	September 11, 1972	March 12, 1973	24

[edit] Specials

Title	Network	Airdate
Laugh-In's 25th Anniversary	NBC	February 7, 1993
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Past Christmas Present	NBC	December 2, 1993
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In: A Valentine's Day Special	NBC	February 14, 1994

[edit] In-Depth

• At a Glance: Additional information about the series

[edit] DVD Releases

Title	Release Date	#
'Best Of' Collections
The Best of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Volume 1	June 24, 2003	3	purchase
The Best of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Volume 2	February 24, 2004	3	purchase

[edit] External Sites