Any interest in a Rowan and Martins Laugh In episode by episode thread

And a personal recollection: my Father set my bedtime firmly at 8:00 the first year or so Laugh-In was on(he could be a real A**hole about it)as I was only 9 and 10, and it really rankled that I couldn't watch it(except when I sneaked it on my own B/W TV). The one week he let my Brother and me watch it, he sternly warned "don't ask me what any of the jokes mean!". He really couldn't lighten up, sometimes(There was a Laugh-In Coloring Book out a little later, so whatever reputation it had for being "Racy" probably evaporated).

 

Wow, innnteresting item!



(Something I didn't realise until beginning this episode by episode watch is that that little figure on the trike up the top corner originates from an outtake from the Strawberry Alarm Clock video in the first episode, that was spliced into several later editions as a recurring cutaway.)

 

I had this! Another thought-I didn't know that there were FIVE Bee Gees(their Laugh-In appearance/promo film).

 

S1 E10 First Broadcast April 1st 1968.

Not that much to say about this one. There's a notable bit in the party scene where a Larry Hovis (I think) line clearly has someone's name edited out, presumably for legal reasons. Wonder if that was in the original broadcast.

This has another of my favorite Gladys Ormsby skits:

Gladys: 'Can I have this dance?'

Henry Gibson: 'I'm a little stiff from bowling'

Gladys: 'I don't care where you're from: let's dance!'

Probably most notable section is the Bee Gees promo film for 'Lemons Never Forget'. Strange that they did this psychey album track rather than one of their singles as other guest groups had done up to this point. You can see it here:

 

Other than that Strawberry Alarm Clock segment in the first episode (and Tiny Tim), I had totally forgotten about the other musical guests on the show. I'm assuming this was phased out after a time?

 

S1 E11 First broadcast April 8th

One of their more serious than usual sketches with a bit about George the 3rd played as Lyndon B Johnson, clearly comparing the English during the America Revolution to the Americans in Vietnam nearly 200 years on.

The 'Women have adventures too' song with the female casts 'what you gonna do' sighing acceptance of harassment would never get made today!

This, for the record, is the episode in which Goldie Hawn is painted in this much photographed get up.

 

I think so.. I think the exclusive promo films are only in the first series, although I know they still had guests like Wild Man Fischer, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy and The Holy Modal Rounders in the studio in later episodes. But I suspect these acts were picked for their kook factor rather than to provide a sincere musical break,

 

Yes the musical acts disappear rather quickly, only a handful of episodes in on that first season.

 

Just bought the second season LAUGH-IN DVD(because I was disappointed with the kind of anemic guest star line up of the first)and I'm liking the second season more than the first, so far. The pace has picked up, and there's more consistency and invention. Haven't watched them all yet, though.

 

Oh hell, this was a series about pixillation, rapid-fire elements, and caffinated video style. Why not just make it a sketch-by-sketch thread...!

"In Season 4, episode 17, what is the underlying mis-en-scene emotional context, when Alan Seus, in a yellow rain slicker, hits the fire hydrant on his tricycle, and falls over to the left, as opposed to the right...."
(or, we could just take a swig, every time Jo Anne Worley says, "chicken"...! )

 

I really liked the second season Sammy Davis episode, as well.

 

LOL! I appreciate the absolute futility and stupidity of what I'm attempting in this thread.. still I haven't given up............................... yet!

 

S1 E13 First broadcast April 15th 1968

Arte Johnsons's Tyrone F Hornleigh debuts in this episode, although not yet paired up with Gladys on the bench.

This episode features an in studio performance by the obscure sunshine harmony group The Curtain Calls, with their Laugh-In cash in single 'Sock It To Me Sunshine' although confusingly for their performance (dressed in thee most humiliating proto Peter Gabriel flower costumes!) they're introduced as The Pansies. Here's the song itself:



And here's a blog hilariously laying into it:

Ill Folks: Daylight Savings Hell, and "Sock It To Me Sunshine" The Curtain Call

Roddy Maude-Roxby's bit about policemen and their truncheons getting excited is pretty strong stuff for the time .....

 

I hadn't seen Tiny Tim yet, so I thought that The Curtain Calls were "Tiny Tim".

 

No, they were a separate (and very obscure) act. 2 older guys and a girl. Tiny Tim is in S1 E1, 3 and 14, as well as several later episodes.

 

S1 E13 First broadcast April 22nd 1968 (the last one was 12, I got the number wrong)

erm, not that much to say about this one! There's a joke about the 2nd Warren report of the future that I thought was surprisingly full on for the time ('What Assassination?') especially with the events that would happen mere weeks after this series ended. Indeed this series has seen a few Bobby Kennedy impressions: I think it's safe to assume they ceased after S1.

EDIT: Oh, and Gladys first hits Tyrone!

 

Cher didn't sing in the Cher voice at that time!

 

There's a totally dumb joke that Dan & Dick did, that I heard as a kid and found extremely funny.
I don't remember from what season or episode, but I have never forgotten it.
Dick is talking about going camping or something:

Dan: Are you taking some beef jerky?
Dick: No, I'm taking some chicken, dummy!

Pretty dumb, but I still think it's funny!

 

Well, I was only 9 years old when I thought that! I first saw Tiny Tim on the episode where they gave him the grand introduction, and I was a rabid fan from then on!

 

S1 E14 First broadcast April 29th 1968

Last episode of the first series! This features a grand comeback by Tiny Tim. Tbh I don't really get the shows (and the late 60s in general) obsession with Tiny Tim. However I concede that Dick Martin's mixed reactions, caught between reluctant admiration and disparaging disbelief when placed beside him are fairly amusing. Maybe you could sum up the whole of the 60s straight/freak culture wars with that one clip.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see this final episode of S1 features a mimed version of the entire 'Cuckoo Laugh-In World' song that opened the first Laugh In LP, sung mainly by Arte Johnson and Judy Carne with interjections by the rest of the cast. This song always cheers me up. Here's the complete wonderful clip:



Ruth Buzzi finally gets to do the 'Mod Mod World' Go-Go graffiti dancing! Not being what would read as a conventional glamour figure she plays it for laughs, initially coming on in old maid checked bloomers before doing a comic strip tease. It's weird you know: Goldie Hawn and Judy Carne are the regular sexy Go Go dancers dressed in next to nothing and covered in suggestive slogans, but even they probably weren't what a lot of the audience (certainly of Rowan and Martin's generation) would have called conventionally alluring. They're both kind of androgynous and kooky. Now beyond that you have Ruth Buzzi and she's caught between playing her sexuality for laughs (as she did as Gladys Ormsby) and actually going for it. Call it a brave questioning of sexual conventions or just yet more whimsical shilly shally, it's certainly memorable!!!

 

S2 E1 First broadcast Sept 16th 1968

As @antoniod says above, it's immediately clear that the show has gained a lot more confidence and vavoom in the break since the first series. The humour is immediately that bit more sophisticated, the self references denser, the one liners more surreal. Dan Rowan now sports a moustache, immediately making him appear less 'square' for the time. Joining the cast are Alan Sues, Chelsea Brown and Pigmeat Markham reclaiming his 'Here Come The Judge' persona. Also Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall debut as 'The Fun Couple'.. McCall's refrain of 'My life's not going very well' strikes a more cynical modern note to me than a lot of the style of comedy on this show so far. This is also the famous episode where Richard Nixon says 'Sock It To Me?' allegedly winning him the 1968 election in doing so (these days of course it'd be 'Smock it to me' *)

Joanne Worley gets her first chance to go-go dance! I'm predicting it surely won't be long before a male cast member gets a shot.

*they'd get away with that joke on the Smothers Brothers!

 

I should also note that the above episode contains the debut of the phrase 'Look That Up in Your Funk and Wagnalls'!

 

SE E2 First broadcast September 1968 23rd.

@Steve Litos already reviewed this one earlier in the thread.. I'll just add that I can't believe that Herb Alpert and Wild Man Fischer were both guests on the same show! Herb doesn't play, but Fischer does a bit of 'Merry Go Round' clearly framed as just another kook happening rather than a serious musical performance. I wonder what Laugh In's connection were that they got a real outsider artist like Fischer on? (Not to mention the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and the Holy Modal Rounders!).

Fischer's initial appearance is on youtube here in the worst quality video imaginable fwiw.

 

My favorite when I was a kid. We'd talk about it the next day at school. Still think it's the funniest TV show ever.Lucky to have an E/E copy of Laugh-In '69 (Reprise) and a VG/E of R&MLI (Epic).

 

I didn't even know that they were shown overseas. How did it play at the time?