|
Laugh-In
''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (often simply referred to as ''Laugh-In'') is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network, hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. It originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967, and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' on Mondays at 8 pm (ET). It quickly became the most popular television show in the United States. The title of the show was a play on the 1960s hippie culture "love-ins" or the counterculture " be-ins", terms derived from the " sit-ins" common in protests associated with civil rights and antiwar demonstrations of the time. In 2002, ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' was ranked number 42 on ''TV Guide's'' 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. ''Laugh-In'' had its roots in the humor of vaudeville and burlesque, but its most direct influences were Olsen and Joh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Letters To Laugh-In
''Letters to Laugh-In'' is a daytime game show and spin-off of NBC's nighttime comedy series, ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'', that aired on the network from September 29 to December 26, 1969.{{cite book , last1=Hyatt , first1=Wesley , title=The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television , date=1997 , publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications , isbn=978-0823083152 , url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofda00hyat/page/260/mode/2up, accessdate=22 March 2020, page=260 The show was hosted by Gary Owens, the announcer for ''Laugh-In''. Format Home viewers mailed their jokes to the program, during which they were read by a panel of four celebrities – two of them ''Laugh-In'' regulars. Each joke was rated on a scale of minus-100 to plus-100 by a randomly selected audience panel. "Morgul, the friendly Drelb" (who Owens always referred to on ''Laugh-In'', but who was seen only two or three times) would hand Owens the categories for each round, in the form of a hand or puppet reaching thro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arte Johnson
Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson (January 20, 1929 – July 3, 2019) was an American comic actor who was best known for his work as a regular on television's ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Biography Early life Johnson was born January 20, 1929, in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the son of Abraham Lincoln and Edythe Mackenzie (Goldberg/Golden) Johnson. His father was an attorney. Johnson attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he worked at the campus radio station and the UI Theater Guild with his brother Coslough "Cos" Johnson, and graduated in 1949 with a degree in radio journalism. Following brief military service in Korea (he was discharged due to a duodenal ulcer he had suffered since childhood), [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Gibson
Henry Gibson (born James Bateman; September 21, 1935 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor and poet. His best-known roles include his time as a cast member of the TV sketch-comedy series ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1971, the voice for the protagonist Wilbur in the 1973 animated film '' Charlotte's Web'', his portrayal of country star Haven Hamilton in Robert Altman's 1975 film '' Nashville'', as the Illinois Nazi leader in the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers'', and in his performance opposite Tom Hanks in 1989's ''The 'Burbs.'' Early life Gibson was born September 21, 1935, in Germantown, Philadelphia, the sixth of seven children of Edmund Alberts Bateman and his wife Dorothy (née Cassidy). He attended Saint Joseph's Preparatory School, where he was president of the drama club. After graduating from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., he served as an intelligence officer in the United States Air Force with the 66th Tactical Recon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Ann Buzzi ( ; born July 24, 1936) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She has appeared on stage, in films, and on television. She is best known for her performances on the comedy-variety show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1973, for which she won a Golden Globe Award and received five Emmy nominations. Early life Buzzi was born at Westerly Hospital, Westerly, Rhode Island, the daughter of Rena Pauline and Angelo Peter Buzzi, a nationally recognized stone sculptor. Her father, who came from an Italian family, immigrated from Arzo, Switzerland in 1923. She was raised in the village of Wequetequock in the town of Stonington, Connecticut, in a rock house overlooking the ocean at Wequetequock Cove, where her father owned Buzzi Memorials, a business that her older brother Harold operated until his retirement in 2013. Buzzi attended Stonington High School, where she was head cheerleader. At 17, she enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse for the Performing Arts, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Owens
Gary Owens (born Gary Bernard Altman; May 10, 1934 – February 12, 2015) was an American radio announcer, personality, disc jockey and voice actor. His polished baritone speaking voice generally offered deadpan recitations of total nonsense, which he frequently demonstrated as the announcer on ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Owens was equally proficient in straight or silly assignments and was frequently heard on television and radio as well as in commercials. He was best known, aside from being the announcer on ''Laugh-In'', for providing the voices of the titular superhero on ''Space Ghost'' and of Blue Falcon in ''Dynomutt, Dog Wonder''. He also played himself in a cameo appearance on ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' in 1998. Owens' first cartoon-voice acting was performing the voice of Roger Ramjet on the ''Roger Ramjet'' cartoons. He later served as announcer of Antenna TV. Early life Owens was born in Mitchell, South Dakota, the son of Venetta (née Clark), an educator and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judy Carne
Joyce Audrey Botterill (27 April 1939 – 3 September 2015), known professionally as Judy Carne, was an English actress best remembered for the phrase "Sock it to me!" on ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Career Carne was born in Northampton, England. Her parents, Harold and Kathy, were greengrocers in Kingsthorpe. She received training at the Pitt-Draffen Academy of Dance before being accepted into the prestigious Bush-Davis Theatrical School for Girls in East Grinstead, West Sussex. An instructor at the school began calling her "Judy," telling her that Joyce was not a good professional name. The second part of Judy's stage name was taken from a character named Sarat Carn in the play ''Bonaventure'' by English playwright Charlotte Hastings. She made her first British television appearances on the series ''Danger Man'' (1961) and episodes of ''The Rag Trade'' (also 1961), a BBC sitcom. She moved to the US not long afterward. Her first regular role was in the sitcom '' Fair Excha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in '' Cactus Flower'' (1969). Hawn maintained bankable star status for more than three decades, while appearing in such films as ''There's a Girl in My Soup'' (1970), ''Butterflies Are Free'' (1972), ''The Sugarland Express'' (1974), ''Shampoo'' (1975), '' Foul Play'' (1978), '' Seems Like Old Times'' (1980), and '' Private Benjamin'' (1980), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing the title role. She later starred in '' Overboard'' (1987), '' Bird on a Wire'' (1990), ''Death Becomes Her'' (1992), '' Housesitter'' (1992), ''The First Wives Club'' (1996), ''The'' ''Out-of-Towners'' (1999), and ''The Banger Sisters'' (2002). Hawn made her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Martin (comedian)
Thomas Richard Martin (January 30, 1922 – May 24, 2008), known professionally as Dick Martin, was an American comedian and director. He was known for his role as the co-host of the sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1973. Early life and career Martin was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, to William, a salesman, and Ethel Martin, a homemaker. In the early 1930s, the family moved to Detroit, where his teenage years included a bout with tuberculosis, which kept him out of the military. Early in his career, Martin was a staff writer for ''Duffy's Tavern'', a radio situation comedy. He and Dan Rowan formed the comedy team Rowan and Martin in 1952 and played in nightclubs throughout the United States and overseas. Martin played a drunk heckling a Shakespearean performer, a mainstay of their act for years. They could frequently be seen as host-performers on NBC's ''Colgate Comedy Hour,'' alternating with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and other more estab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turn-On
''Turn-On'' is an American sketch comedy series that aired on ABC in February 1969. Only one episode was shown, leaving one episode unaired, and the show is considered one of the most infamous flops in TV history. ''Turn-Ons sole broadcast episode was shown on Wednesday, February 5, 1969, at 8:30 pm ET, replacing the Wednesday episode of '' Peyton Place''. Among the cast were Teresa Graves (who would join the ''Laugh-In'' cast that fall), Hamilton Camp, and Chuck McCann. The writing staff included Albert Brooks. The guest host for the first episode was Tim Conway, who also participated in certain sketches. Background The show was created by Ed Friendly and George Schlatter, the producers of ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Bristol-Myers contracted with them to develop the show, and provided it to ABC for a projected 13-week run after NBC and CBS rejected it. One CBS official confessed, "It was so fast with the cuts and chops that some of our people actually got physically ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Rowan
Daniel Hale Rowan (July 22, 1922 – September 22, 1987) was an American actor and comedian. He was featured in the television show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'', wherein he played straight man to Dick Martin and won the 1969 Emmy for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series. Early life and career Rowan was born on July 22, 1922, on a carnival train near the small town of Beggs, Oklahoma, as Daniel Hale David. He toured with his parents, Oscar and Nellie David, who performed a singing and dancing act with the carnival. He was orphaned at the age of 11, spent four years at the McClelland Home in Pueblo, Colorado, and then was taken in by a foster family at the age of 16 and enrolled in Central High School. After graduating from high school in 1940, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles and found a job in the mailroom at Paramount Pictures, quickly ingratiating himself with studio head Buddy DeSylva. A year later he became Paramount's youngest staff writer. World War II During World War II ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernie Kovacs
Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was a Hungarian-American comedian, actor, and writer. Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years after his death. Kovacs has been credited as an influence by many individuals and shows, including Johnny Carson, ''Laugh-In, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In'', ''Saturday Night Live'', ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', Jim Henson, ''Max Headroom (character), Max Headroom'', Chevy Chase, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, ''Captain Kangaroo'', ''Sesame Street'', ''The Electric Company'', ''Pee-wee's Playhouse'', ''The Muppet Show'', Dave Garroway, Andy Kaufman, ''You Can't Do That on Television'', ''Mystery Science Theater 3000, MST3K'', Uncle Floyd, among others. Chase even thanked Kovacs during his acceptance speech for his Emmy award for ''Saturday Night Live''. While Kovacs and his wife Edie Adams received Emmy nominations for best performances in a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Schlatter
George Schlatter (born December 31, 1932) is an American television producer and director, best known for ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' and founder of the American Comedy Awards. For his work on television, Schlatter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7030 Hollywood Blvd. Life and career Schlatter was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised in Webster Groves, Missouri, a St. Louis inner-ring suburb. Born the son of a violinist mother and a salesman father. He is Jewish. As a teenager, Schlatter sang for two seasons with the St. Louis Municipal Opera, where his mother also performed. He attended Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California. Schlatter was a Hollywood agent in the band and act department of MCA Records. After several years, he left to become general manager at the Sunset Strip nightclub Ciro's. The comedy team of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin performed there. In the early 1960s, following a short stint in Las Vegas, he started producing variety series an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
