Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In brought together a large cast of comedians and guests in a series of sketches from a few seconds long to a few minutes maximum. Getting the quick laugh and moving on to the next gag was the secret to the show's success (#1 show the first two seasons!)
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Cast:
Hosts
Dan Rowan Dick Martin
Laugh-In Regular Performers (Partial List)
Ruth Buzzi Goldie Hawn
Judy Carne Arte Johnson
Henry Gibson Lily Tomlin
Alan Sues Jo Anne Worley
Larry Hovis Dave Madden
Pigmeat Markham Mitzi McCall
Jack Riley J.J. Barry
Richard Dawson Gary Owens (Announcer)
Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In Trivia:
Many television and movie celebrities and even politicians made cameo appearances on the Rowan & Martin's tv show. Even Richard Nixon appeared, voicing the well-known Laugh-In phrase, "Sock It To Me". Hubert Humphrey who was running against Nixon in the 1968 elections was also invited to appear but he refused.
Lillie Tomlin became so identified with her "ditsy" telephone-operater cast character that AT&T tried to hire her to do commercials for them. She refused at that time, but in later years she would reprise her role on commercials.
Dan Rowan was clean shaven during the first season. When the second season began, he had a mustache. A couple of seasons later, he added a beard and then later shaved it off again (but kept the mustache).
Laugh-in was the top-rated show on the air for its first two seasons. Ironically, the show's huge success made stars out of the most popular Laugh-In cast members and they left the show to pursue other opportunities. That led to the show's eventual demise. In fact, only 4 Laugh-In cast members remained on the show for its entire run ... Dick Martin, Dan Rowan, Ruth Buzzi and Gary Owens.
Many phrases on the tv show became commonly used in American culture. A foreigh delegate to the United Nations who thought they spoke English pretty well once asked, "I've heard this phrase, 'You bet your sweet bippy'. What's a bippy"? Other popular one-liners were "One ringy dingy, two ringy dingies ...", "Sock it to me", "Here comes da judge", "Verrrrry interesting", "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls" and "Beautiful Downtown Burbank".
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In replaced "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." on NBC Monday nights from 8:00 to 9:00 PM.
Recurring Sketches On The Tv Show:
Laugh-In Looks At The News - Made fun of people and events past, present and future.
Drunk Couple Sitting At The Bar - And making idiots of themselves!
Dancing Girl In A Bikini - Where most of us met Goldie Hawn for the first time.
The Coctail Party - Everyone (including the Guest Star) standing around drinking and saying funny stuff.
The Resident Poet - With poems by Henry Gibson. Stupid poems.
The Flying Fickle Finger Of Fate Award - Given to people in the news and politicians for doing something that (on the surface at least) sounded pretty stupid (such as the space program's $900 hammer).
Dirty Old Man On The Park Bench - He would sit down next to a woman, say something (often sexual in nature) to her and she would beat him to the ground!
The Farkles - A Hillbilly family with missing teeth (Including the kids). Most of the sketch involved Dad Farkle introducing his family to someone with a last name that sounds close to theirs. "Judy Farkle - Bill Fickle. Joey Farkle - Bill Fickle." And on and on and on.
The Man In A Raincoat Falling Down On His Tricycle - Signalled the end of a comedy bit when Arte Johnson and his tryke fell over.
Lily Tomlin As The Telephone Operator - Emphasized that the telephone company was a (then) monopoly and you'd better do as they say or you'll lose your phone. Her best-known phrazes were, "Is this the party to whom I am speaking?" and "One ringy-dingy, two ringy dingies ...."
Judy Carne The "Sock-It-To-Me" Girl - She'd say "Sock-It-To-Me" and a wall of water would splash on her. Sometimes she'd get other people to say it first and nothing would happen, then she'd say it and get soaked.
Letters To Laugh In - A viewer would write a letter asking a question (supposedly). Then Rowan and Martin would use it as an excuse to make jokes.
The Joke Wall - At the end of each show, the regular Laugh-In cast members would be behind a wall full of little flip-open doors in it and the hosts would play straight-men to the regulars who would flip open their door and deliver the punch-line. Any time someone would say the word, "chicken" or refer to chickens in any way, Joanne Worley would pop out of the wall and ask, "Is that another chicken joke?".
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Dvds Are Available At Amazon.com!
Choose From These Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Dvds!
Best of Volume 1Best of Volume 2
Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzi, Lily Tomlin plus popular guest stars Sammy Davis, Jr., John Wayne, Don Rickles, Sonny and Cher, and more! Volume 1 extras include cast interviews about how they were hired and working on the show, Producer/creator interview about the show's inception, a recreation of the joke wall ... Read More
Episodes Guide With Guests And Original Airdates
Pilot Episode
"Laugh-In" originally was originally planned to be a one-time only special on September 9,1967. It was so popular that it was rushed into production as a regular one-hour tv show!
Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In: The First Season
Barbara Feldon, Flip Wilson, Pamela Austin (1/22/1968)
Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, Flip Wilson (1/29/1968)
Tim Conway (2/5/1968)
Jackson Browne & The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Pamela Austin (2/12/1968)
No Guest Or Unknown (2/19/1968)
Otis Williams & The Temptations (2/26/1968)
Sally Field, Terry-Thomas, Inga Neilsen (3/4/1968)
Barbara Feldon, Paul Winchell (3/11/1968)
Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, Pamela Austin (3/25/1968)
Maurice Gibb & The Bee Gees, Flip Wilson, Barbara Feldon (4/1/1968)
John Byner, Paul Winchell, Flip Wilson, Pamela Austin (4/8/1968)
James Garner (4/15/1968)
Tim Conway, Barbara Feldon, Paul Winchell (4/22/1968)
Tiny Tim (4/29/1968)
Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In: The Second Season
Bob Hope, Richard Nixon, Hugh M. Hefner, Barbara Feldon, Sonny Tufts (9/16/1968)
No Guest Or Unknown (9/23/1968)
Bob Hope (9/30/1968)
No Guest Or Unknown (10/7/1968)
Mitzi Gaynor, Bobby Darin (10/14/1968)
Flip Wilson (10/21/1968)
Sonny Tufts , Marcel Marceau (10/28/1968)
George Gobel, Dick Gregory (11/11/1968)
Victor Borge, George Gobel (11/18/1968)
Phyllis Diller, Tiny Tim (11/25/1968)
Liberace (12/2/1968)
No Guest Or Unknown (12/16/1968)
Kate Smith, Vincent Price (12/30/1968)
Peter Falk (1/6/1969)
Peter Lawford (1/13/1969)
Nancy Sinatra (1/20/1969)
Janos Prohaska (1/29/1969)
Don Rickles (2/3/1969)
Davy Jones (2/10/1969)
Guy Lombardo, Tiny Tim (2/17/1969)
No Guest Or Unknown (2/24/1969)
James Garner (3/3/1969)
Flip Wilson (3/10/1969)
Sammy Davis Jr. (3/17/1969)
Tony Curtis (3/24/1969)
George Gobel, Tiny Tim, Herbert/Harry/Sylvester Wiere (3/31/1969)
Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In: The Third Season
Johnny Carson, Debbie Reynolds, Peter Sellers (9/15/1969)
Diana Ross, Bob Hope, Michael Caine (9/22/1969)
Sonny Bono, Cher (9/29/1969)
Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz (10/6/1969)
Mitzi Gaynor, Jack E. Leonard (10/13/1969)
Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson (10/20/1969)
Flip Wilson (10/27/1969)
Buddy Hackett (11/3/1969)
Johnny Carson, Carol Channing (11/10/1969)
Sid Caesar (11/17/1969)
Sammy Davis Jr. (11/24/1969)
Peter Lawford (12/1/1969)
No Guest Or Unknown (12/8/1968)
Greer Garson (12/15/1969)
Nancy Sinatra, George Gobel, Guy Lombardo (12/29/1969)
James Garner (1/5/1970)
Peter Wintonick (1/12/1970)
Peter Lawford (1/19/1970)
Tony Curtis (1/26/1970)
Jack Benny (2/2/1970)
Carl Reiner (2/9/1970)
No Guest Or Unknown (2/16/1970)
No Guest Or Unknown (2/23/1970)
No Guest Or Unknown (3/2/1970)
Milton Berle (3/9/1970)
Carol Channing, Tiny Tim (3/16/1970)
Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In: The Fourth Season
Art Carney (9/14/1970)
Don Rickles (9/21/1970)
Goldie Hawn (9/28/1970)
Ken Berry (10/5/1970)
Tim Conway (10/12/1970)
No Guest Or Unknown (10/19/1970)
No Guest Or Unknown (10/26/1970)
Carol Channing (11/2/1970)
Carl Reiner (11/9/1970)
Bob Newhart (11/16/1970)
Desi Arnaz (11/23/1970)
No Guest Or Unknown (11/30/1970)
No Guest Or Unknown (12/7/1970)
Debbie Reynolds, Phyllis Diller (12/14/1970)
No Guest Or Unknown (12/28/1970)
Sammy Davis Jr., Wilt Chamberlain (1/4/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (1/11/1971)
Joey Bishop (1/18/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (1/25/1971)
Teresa Graves (2/1/1971)
Dinah Shore (2/8/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (2/15/1971)
Peter Lawford (2/22/1971)
Richard Crenna (3/1/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (3/8/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (3/15/1971)
Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In: The Fifth Season
No Guest Or Unknown (9/13/1971)
Roman Gabriel (9/20/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (9/27/1971)
Karen Valentine (10/4/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (10/11/1971)
Richard Crenna (10/18/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (10/25/1971)
John Wayne, Teresa Graves, Tiny Tim (11/1/1971)
Liza Minnelli (11/8/1971)
James Coco (11/22/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (11/29/1971)
Carroll O'Connor (12/13/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (12/20/1971)
No Guest Or Unknown (12/27/1971)
Robert Goulet (1/3/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (1/10/1972)
Carl Reiner (1/24/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (1/31/1972)
Carol Channing (2/14/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (2/21/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (2/28/1972)
Debbie Reynolds (3/6/1972)
Jo Ann Pflug (3/13/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (3/20/1972)
Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In: The Sixth Season
John Wayne (9/11/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (9/18/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (9/25/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (10/2/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (10/9/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (10/22/1972)
Jean Stapleton (10/23/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (10/30/1972)
Sally Struthers (11/13/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (11/20/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (11/27/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (12/4/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (12/11/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (12/18/1972)
No Guest Or Unknown (1/8/1973)
Robert Goulet (1/15/1973)
Sammy Davis Jr. (1/22/1973)
No Guest Or Unknown (1/29/1973)
Phyllis Diller (2/5/1973)
No Guest Or Unknown (2/12/1973)
No Guest Or Unknown (2/19/1973)
No Guest Or Unknown (2/26/1973)
No Guest Or Unknown (3/5/1973)
No Guest Or Unknown (3/12/1973)
Tv Specials:
Laugh-In's 25th Anniversary (2/7/1993)
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Past Christmas Present (12/2/1993)
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In: A Valentine's Day Special (2/14/1994)
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