I'm a liberal pagan living in West, Texas. Yes. That West, Texas.

Friday, July 14, 2006

"VERRRRRRY INTERESTING...BUT SCHTUPIT."








Yes, boys and girls it's time for the Laugh In Show, brought to you from beautiful downtown Burbank....Yup, every week I waited eagerly for the voice of Gary Owens to announce the Laugh In show..man..that was some tv...It was on NBC from '68-73...The name Laugh In came from the hippy scene of 'love in's, be-in's, or even sit-in's....it was some of the best comedy done by some of the funniest people ever gathered in one show before or since...well, maybe the Show of Show's was better.But it was 140 episodes of fun for me...and can't tell you how many times I have watched in in reruns....
Some of the regulars were of course Dan Rowan and Dick Martin the hosts of the show..Dan played the stright guy and Dick was the bumbling horny jokester..Plus Gary Owen the announc
er, Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne(who was married to Burt Reynolds at the time), Eileen Brennan, Goldie Hawn,Arte Johnson,Henry Gibson, Alan Sues, Joanne Worley, Charlie Brill, Chelsea Brown, Dave Madden, Teresa Graves,LIly Tomlin,Richard Dawson,Moosie Drier and Jud Strunk(I have an album by him with one of my favorite songs on it called "Daisy A Day.")
Regular guests were Jack Benny, Johnny Carson,Sammy Davis Jr.,Zsa Zsa Gabor, Peter Lawford, Tiny Tim,John Wayne, Flip Wilson and Henny Youngman.
The list of guests stars is as long as my rig
ht tit...Don Adams, Steve Allen, James Caan, Sonny Bono,Peter Falk, Mel Brooks,James GArner, Smothers Brothers, Phil Silvers, Peter Sellers, Paul Lyne, Jerry Lewis and of course ..who could forget former President Richard Milhouse Nixon standing on that stage saying"sock it to me"....
I loved all t
he bits...the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award, the Beautiful Downtown Beauties, the cocktail party, letters to Laugh In,Laugh In's Look At The News, the gags written on the bikinied girl, the joke wall,and my very very very favorite...the Farkle Family..they all looked alike with red hair.The girls had red pigtails, and they all wore red/white checkered clothes...There were Simon and Gar Funkle, Fanny Farkle, and Fred Farkle AND I think there were more.....I was staying with my Daddy at the time(escape from Portland, 1970..) and he bought the boys a little female Beagle...we named her Fanny Farkle against my Daddy's wishes..she got lose from the boys on a walk and ran out in front of a car and got ran over..Daddy said she threw her self under the car cause she couldn't stand being called Fanny Farkle any more...could be right...
Some of
the characters played by Arte Johnson were my favorites. He played Wolfgang a Nazi soldier who would pop out of the bushes and say..."verry interesting...but schtupit..At end of show he would talk to Lucille Ball and Gunsmoke.(their shows ran opposite Laugh In on CBS)I guess my favorite character was Tyrone F. Horneigh the dirty old man who was always making moves on Ruth Buzzi's character Gladys Ormphby with the hair net on her head...My favorite come on line to her by Arte was:"Do you belive in the here after?"...and Gladys said "Yes, of course I do."...and he said:"Then you know what I'm here after.".... and she would beat the shit out of him with her purse..still cracks me up...
He also played Rosneko the eastern european guy who compared America with the old country...he did Rabbi Shankar which was a pun on Ravi Shankar..and his mad little
guy in the yellow rain slicker on the tricyle that he rode into things, crashed and fell over..
Ruth Buzzi besides playing Gladys also played Mrs. Swizzle a seedy barfly and B
usy Busby a Hedda Hopper/Loula Parson gossip columnist..and if you don't know who Hedda and Loula are, what the fuck are you doing reading this old farts post?...
Henry Gibson was the poet, he held a big flower and recited his poems...He pronounced his name Hennk Ibsen.He was also the Reverend at the cocktail parties..
Lily Tomlin was the obnoxious Ernestine who worked for the phone company
..."One ringy-dingy....two ringy-dingy....is the person to whom I am talking to?"...little Edith Ann, "and that's the truth...pbbbbbbbt."... and the tasteful society matron Mrs. Earnborn.Who would sit in a chair with her legs ankles crossed and after she gave her little speil she would pull her feet apart and when she stood up her legs would be agape and could see all the way to Wisconsin.
Alan Sues was Big Al the clueless fey sports anchor, who loved his bell which he called his tinkle...and
hung over children's host Uncle Al the Kiddies Pal...Joanne Worley sang in falsetto opera style and told chicken jokes...Goldie Hawn was the giggly dumb blond who could never remember or read her lines correctly...later on she said they delibertly wrote them wrong, so she would giggle...oh man...it was just the best...Judy Carne saying 'Sock it to Me'..and gettin a bucket of water tossed on her...Sammy Davis Jr. saying 'here comes da judge...here comes da judge.'....Was this one of the greatest tv shows of all times???????

YOU BET YOUR BIPPY.........

16 comments:

yellowdoggranny said...

by the way..for anyone interested.tonight on amc...'the day the world stood still' is going to be on..dont know what time..7-8-9PM?...watch it and enjoy....

apositivepessimist said...

sadly I never was of age to stay up and watch this show when it aired over here. a lot of names got their start in in aye...much like saturday night live now.

*cackling* at yer dad's reason.

is this from where that saying came from? I still use it...sometimes things are timeless aye JS.

Cassandra said...

I'm a younger fart. Can I still read your blog?

Cassandra said...

I'm a younger fart. Can I still read your blog?

BriteYellowGun said...

I remember this show fondly but it's funny because I was so young that I think 99% of the humor went so far over my head that I have no idea why I liked it!

Nit Wit said...

I was just the right age to understand the humor and the crush on Goldie Hawn kept my attention. I identified with Dick Martin I think we were a lot alike.
Well I'm still the same.
Don't you just hate it when these young wippersnappers keep asking you the same question till you answer? Just kidding. :)

Lauren said...

Let's see. . . You forgot "Sparkle Farkle" (played by Ruth Buzzi). I worked with a guy at the time named Mark Starkle, so can imagine what he was subjected to. . .

Teresa Graves was never used to her potential. She was incredibly funny. . .

Artie Johnson and Henry Gibson never got near the credit they deserved. The scripts were so biased to the "giggle factor" that their lines were often drowned out by the audience. Old Tyrone F. was a hoot!

One of my favorite bits had Flip Wilson playing Overnight, a Knight of the Round Table. . . The Damsel in distress asked in a coy voice. . . "Can I stay with you, Overnight?. . . Well, it was funny when I was 16 and suffereing from terminal hormone rage. . .

Wanna see my wallnetto???

Or, Dick Martin asking. . Wanna see my flounder??

Thanks for the trip down hazy memory lane. . .

yellowdoggranny said...

oh how could i forget sparkle farkle..damn...
IS THAT A CHICKEN JOKE????

yellowdoggranny said...

PSPSPSP..THEY HAD A THE BEST OF LAUGH IN SHOW IN 75 I THINK AND THE ONLY STAR THAT WAS A BREAK OUT WAS.....ROBIN WILLIAMS..NANU NANU....

Mama Kelly said...

Ill have to defer to Lady Rose for memories of laugh-in i think

ive seen some of the bits though

sounds like a total utter HOOT and a HALF

Sling said...

OMG!!...Is that the same "Daisy a day" that the Irish Rovers did?..it has to be..I swear,I sing that song in my head on a regular basis.

Unknown said...

Here comes da judge. We used to say that all the time and You bet your sweet bippy. I watched Laugh-in every week. Loved Goldie Hawn, Ruth Buzzi, Lily Tomlin and Henry Gibson. That was one of the funniest shows ever on TV.

Dixie said...

I was just a little, little kid when it was on - I was 11 when it went off the air, but I have distinct memories of watching it. I wish I could see it again because I know the best jokes likely went right over my head.

Granny said...

I liked Sid and Imogene and the rest but I think I liked Laugh In better. It came along later and it was so cutting edge for its time.

This sure brings back memories. I was in my early thirties and living in Arkansas. Everything stopped for Laugh-In.

And then there was HeeHaw later on. Same format.

Nancy said...

I loved that show. I wish they could bring it back.

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