Anyone who wasn't around in the late 1960s can't possibly appreciate how popular "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" was in 1968 and 1969. Everyone watched it and the jokes were endlessly repeated at my school the next morning. The humor touched upon formerly taboo subjects like sex, homosexuality, drugs, pregnancy, infidelity, and just about everything else. The series also had several innovations such as a joke wall, the party sequence, the news of the past, present, and future, and dignified guest stars (such as George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, John Wayne, plus many others) acting like clueless idiots. The show also introduced what became household names, including Judy Carne, Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Alan Sues, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, and many others. The primary thing that made everything work--in addition to the very funny writing--was the breathtakingly fast editing used. No one had ever done or seen anything like that before.The show was so refreshing when compared to usual late 1960s fare that it was an instant smash hit that lasted six seasons. While it seems curiously dated now--the subject matter is so mild today--it was cutting-edge, daring, and uproarious 47 years ago. While the show finally faded away in 1973, it's a reminder of a time in the country's history when everyone was ready for something new, different, and very funny. "Laugh-In" provided something completely new, offbeat and screamingly funny all those long years ago.

Please note that this is not a review of the overall seasons of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" but of a "best of" special that aired on PBS a few years ago that I DVRed and just now watched. The clips though came from the various years the show was on the air and many of them were very funny with some really lame ones scattered through. I liked all the park bench skits with Ruth Buzzi and Arte Johnson playing the elderly folks with Arte always going after her sexually. I was also fascinated by Dan Rowan's "News of the Future" segments when he mentioned both a President Reagan (in 1988) and the fall of the Berlin Wall in exactly 1989! My favorite parts were the ones with a young Goldie Hawn who seemed totally spaced-out (in a good way!) whenever she did her lines which might have been the intention! Producer George Schlatter really picked a fine cast for this iconic show, that's for sure! He, along with many of the surviving cast members, appeared in the pledge breaks with him providing many fascinating insights during them. So on that note, if this was what the show was like during all that time, I can't wait to see some more eps if they ever become available.

In the evolution of television humor Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was probably the forerunner of Saturday Night Live. It's relevant social commentary combined with incredibly adroit acerbic wit allowed this show to cover social, personal, political, and moral territory no show had ever dared attempt on prime time television.For those who watched regularly the catch phrases were priceless and introduced them into our mainstream lexicon. Sayings such as "sock it to me" were not only uttered by business execs, secretary's, hosuewives, and everyday working people wishing to emulate the awakening of social moree's but also spoken freely by media and political types wishing to be thought of as in touch with the younger hip generation.Laugh-In spared no one in it's sarcasm and very often stepped dangerously close to the edge with network execs. Once the show caught fire with TV viewers it became sheik for actors, actresses, and politicians to lobby for a position on next week's show.Unlike SNL Laugh-In could not sustain and reinvent itself and by 1973 the nations TV watchers were ready to move on. Most of the regulars on the show fell into guest shots on other shows and eventually drifted out of site of the public. A couple of the alumni went on to great success in movies and tv. Goldie Hawn was a "graduate" of the show and went on to win an Academy Award for Cactus Flower in 1969 and has become a certifiable star in Hollywood. Lily Tomlin, and who can forget her priceless portrayal of Ernestine the telephone operator at the switchboard, went on to become one of America's most beloved and cherished comedic performers who also showed her acting agility in dramatic roles as well.All in all Laugh-In is a part of television history and deserves its place as a cherished memory and deserving of re-run time on TV Land.

This show is a true snap-shot of the expression "My, how times have changed!" The scariest part of watching re-runs of this awful show is that an entire generation of Americans actually found the sketches (if you can call them that) funny. I watch it a few times a week just out of morbid fascination. Kind of like watching a car wreck as you drive by. Nearly every pop culture icon of the late 1960's & early 1970's did a guest spot on the show. Even Nixon. To call it "sketch humor" is a bit rediculous. It's mostly a dated show of 1960's one-liners. Political humor, sexist humor, and just plain corn-ball crap. No one now would find it remotely interesting unless they had a first hand knowledge of the times or were just into 20th Century history. It is fun to see dead stars of the past and those who aged really bad. It is also fun to watch celebrities who have sold their souls to the devil. This is based on several actors who have not changed at all since the show aired! LOL.... This show really sucks to put it bluntly. It's scary to think it was once the number one rated television show in America. I guess so many people were on hallucenogens, that no one noticed how horrible it was.