Am I the only one that thinks Laugh-In is still funny?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by OldSoul, Apr 16, 2014.

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  1. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    The show was very much of its time-but I still love it and revisit the dvd's often.
     
  2. TheLazenby

    TheLazenby Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Pittsburgh
    I don't get it.
     
  3. goodiesguy

    goodiesguy Confide In Me

    Location:
    New Zealand
    Your not meant to, it's extremely weird, mental and just eff-d up. That's why it appeals to me and why I wish to see it.
     
  4. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    yes it still brings a smile or 2...
     
  5. Mark Nelson

    Mark Nelson Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    I taped the full run of hour-long episodes when the short-lived Trio cable network ran them all (minus the final non-Schlautter season) a decade or so ago. Likely the only way I'll be able to see
    the majority of these uncut, unless Shout Factory leaps into the fray with a complete series set, which I'd snap up in a heartbeat.

    There was also a revival series in 1977 that featured a pre-Mork Robin Williams and Martin Mull among the cast. I've seen a few of these, and they have the same feel as the original show, just set
    in the disco era.
     
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  6. guy incognito

    guy incognito Senior Member

    Location:
    Mee-chigan
    Nick at Nite aired Laugh-In reruns when I was in high school. I remember trying to watch a couple episodes and being astounded that anyone could ever have found such a how watchable, let alone funny or hip. I just found it utterly cringeworthy, and this is from somebody who loved (and still loves) old Monty Python, SNL, SCTV, etc.

    I assume it's one of those "you just had to be there" things.
     
  7. frankfan1

    frankfan1 Some days I feel like Balok

    I wish they would put more of these sets on the market.

    My two kids just love watching this show, and it brings back great memories.
     
    OldSoul likes this.
  8. JFS3

    JFS3 Senior Member

    Location:
    Hooterville
    Depends on what time period the shows you saw were from. I remember Nick-At-Nite showing some of the later shows from the 70's and some of those were indeed downright painful to watch.
     
  9. dewey02

    dewey02 Forum Resident

    Location:
    The mid-South.
    Laugh In was far too much of a period piece to be funny or relevant today. I had a similar experience when ME TV showed the premier episode of Mod Squad a few weeks back. I'd not seen that show since its original run in the late '60s to early '70s. I had good memories of it. Watched it on ME TV and it was truly terrible. I couldn't sit through more than about 15 minutes. I'll never watch it again.
     
  10. Muzyck

    Muzyck Pardon my scruffy hospitality

    Location:
    Long Island
    You bet your sweet bippy! Somehow I always think of Goldie Hawn. I don't know why...

     
  11. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Agree. I'm not a huge Python fan, but I don't see it as particularly dated. "Laugh-In", on the other hand, DEFINES "dated". Even its title acts as a reflection of a brief period of time!
     
  12. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Yes and no. I believe he transferred all the shows' 2" analogue masters to a digital tape format somewhere in the midwest in the 1990s, and then there was some issue and all the originals got destroyed. But the transfers were pretty good. I think they could still be a lot better, but they're not too bad.

    Yeah, I think there are aspects of pop culture that get very dated, and this is one of them. I think the show is very good in small doses... not so good when you watch an entire unedited hour. Very funny 40 years ago.
     
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  13. JFS3

    JFS3 Senior Member

    Location:
    Hooterville
    One of the more warped images from a very warped period of time

     
  14. tonyc

    tonyc Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    My parents used to love "Laugh-In" particularly Lily Tomlin. I thought it was okay back then but never understood why they liked it so much. I would definitely like it even less nowadays.
     
  15. Mister Charlie

    Mister Charlie "Music Is The Doctor Of My Soul " - Doobie Bros.

    Location:
    Aromas, CA USA
    I* loved* Laugh-In when it was on the air (66-69), after 69 the shows became more predicatable, less funny, too political and just tired.

    And I -loved- seeing the whole episodes when Trio ran them (wish I'd thought to VHS record them!). Funny is funny, the political/contemporary humor was less funny but still effective since I was there and remember who they are referring to (Ho Chi Mihn, for example). For the most part I still found the complete shows excellent and fun to watch, but the 'best ofs' and the thiry minute shows were awful. Out of context perhaps but the humor was somehow stripped.

    I would watch the whole episodes again, mainly though only up to 1970.
     
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  16. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    I did enjoy the show when they reran it on Nick At Nite and would still enjoy it today.
     
  17. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage

    Smart, funny. Love it.
     
  18. hbbfam

    hbbfam Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chandler,AZ
    I loved Laugh-In and was in my early teens when it hit its peak. I have watched short portions over the years, either to reminisce or to show my kids, etc. It is definitely dated. It does not make me laugh the way, say "the twin peaks of Mt Kilimanjaro" or the "dead parrot" skits in Monty Python still do.
    I will offer an analogy. Garry Trudeau is on leave and they are rerunning some of the earliest Doonsebury. I have been ready Doones daily for 40 years. SO in rereading these again, they are fascinating as a historical document, but decidedly less funny than they were to me in their original run.
    I also had a similar experience watching clips from the original Smothers Brothers.
     
  19. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Small correction: the show was on from January 1968 to March '73. In terms of pop culture, 1966 was a huge difference from 1968. What I remember as a kid was being angry that Laugh-In replaced Man from U.N.C.L.E. on NBC's schedule, and I was so angry about it I boycotted the show for a few weeks. But... it got popular so quick, I eventually had to watch it just to know what the hell everybody was talking about at school.

    It was an extremely innovative show in terms of editing, since nobody had ever cut videotape with so many edits in it. A single 1-hour episode of Laugh-In frequently had more than 1000 edits in it, which was unheard of at the time -- before computers, before digital, before anything. In the first few years, all those edits were made by splicing, which was very, very difficult.
     
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  20. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
    Who can forget the peanut butter commercial Alan Sues did?



    Darryl
     
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  21. Mark Nelson

    Mark Nelson Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    I remember reading that the editor used to edit the shows with a microscope, looking for (for lack of the right
    term) "audio squiggles" to know where to cut. Or something equally as mind-blowing when looking back at
    it from today's technological POV.

    I highly recommed Hal Erickson's FROM BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN BURBANK: A CRITICAL HISTORY
    OF ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN for those interested in the history of the show...and not just because
    I'm listed in the "Special Thanks" (a fact that amuses me to no end)!
     
  22. lugnut2099

    lugnut2099 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Missouri
    I agree, and from the very few things I've seen of it, it seems like it would be a more interesting watch than Laugh-In, even if you only wound up watching it once or twice. I'm honestly surprised it hasn't made it to DVD since at least the first two episodes seem to exist (and apparently others in the can according to Schlatter), just because it's so infamous. I'd think a company like Shout Factory could easily sell out a limited run of these to hardcore TV fanatics just so they could finally see what the show actually was. There's gotta be some reason beyond a limited audience...
     
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  23. lugnut2099

    lugnut2099 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Missouri
    As for Laugh-In, I was a kid in the '80s who watched it on Nick at Nite with my parents, who of course remembered it from their youth, and I still thought it was interesting and often funny. Hell, I probably even learned a lot from it, in regards to figuring out what the dated references actually referred to. I haven't seen a complete episode in years though, so no idea what I'd think of it now. As a kid, I remember thinking of it as sort of a hipper Hee-Haw in a lot of respects.
     
  24. Scooterpiety

    Scooterpiety Ars Gratia Artis

    Location:
    Oregon
    I remember seeing that one when it originally aired.
     
  25. progrocker

    progrocker Senior Member

    The show's best viewed under the influence of the substances in common use at that time.
     
    T'mershi Duween likes this.
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