"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 announcer, 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 right 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 the 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 Busy 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.........