Few television programs hit the airwaves with the impact of \u201cRowan & Martin Laugh-In.\u201d With its rapid-fire skein of zany sketches, topical humor, hipster catch phrases, go-go dancing, and zeitgeist-hugging mod fashions and pop-art production design, the program defined the spirit the free-wheeling and often chaotic late 1960s and early 1970s.
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In retrospect, the program had little in the way of genuine originality. Its quickie skits and often-surreal blackout gags were borrowed from such diverse sources as the Olsen and Johnson revues and Ernie Kovacs\u2019 groundbreaking television specials, while the tart observations of the sociopolitical issues of the day were absorbed from \u201cThat Was the Week That Was,\u201d a 1963-1965 show that is now considered a lost production because none of its episodes except for the pilot are known to survive.<\/p>\n
As for the hosts, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, they were hardly hip and trendy \u2013 the duo had years of nightclub engagements, occasional TV guest appearances and one flop B-movie to their credit. But \u201cLaugh-In\u201d put them in the right place at the right time, with the backing of a large ensemble of enthusiastic performers who joked, sang and did double-takes as if the world\u2019s fate depended on them \u2013 including Goldie Hawn (shown here with Judy Carne and Chelsea Brown) and Lily Tomlin, who graduated to big-screen success after this small-screen breakthrough. A seemingly endless parade of guest stars enlivened the shenanigans with gag appearances, including a Richard Nixon asking the deadpan question \u201cSock it to me?\u201d while he was running for president in 1968.<\/p>\n
This DVD collection packs all six seasons together, and when viewed in chronological order it is invigorating to see how the program evolved from an often unsteady first season to the more assured second and third seasons, which represented the show\u2019s peak. An overhaul of the ensemble by the fourth season did not work to the show\u2019s advantage, which chugged along for two more seasons with its cutting edge slowly growing duller.<\/p>\n
Younger viewers watching \u201cLaugh-In\u201d today may miss the meaning in jokes referring to then-important-but-now-mostly-forgotten political figures like Lester Maddox, Spiro Agnew and Martha Mitchell. And survivors of that era might wince in recalling the fashions of that distant time. But fans of old-school Hollywood will enjoy seeing the line-up of icons who gamely participated in the program\u2019s often-wild antics, and much of the show’s humor still holds up quite well.<\/p>\n