History Series / RowanAndMartinsLaughIn

** 'WesternAnimation/BaggyPantsAndTheNitwits'' featured as its titular "Nitwits" animated versions of Gladys and Tyrone -- the latter with ''super powers'' (specifically, a magic sentient cane). They were remade into a husband-and-wife pair.

[[caption-width-right:350:The cast during the second season (1968–69).[[note]]From top to bottom, starting from the left -- '''First column:''' Dave Madden. '''Second column:''' Dick Whittington, Chelsea Brown, Judy Carne. '''Third column:''' Creator/GoldieHawn, Creator/HenryGibson, Dan Rowan. '''Fourth column:''' Arte Johnson, Creator/RuthBuzzi, Dick Martin. '''Fifth column:''' Alan Sues, Jo Anne Worley. '''Not pictured:''' Creator/GaryOwens.[[/note]]]]

The show is best known today for the future stars whose careers it launched -- Creator/GoldieHawn, Creator/LilyTomlin, Music/TinyTim, Creator/HenryGibson, Creator/RuthBuzzi, Creator/ArteJohnson, Pat Paulsen, and Jo Anne Worley among others -- and the incredible comic moments it managed to pull off (such as then-presidential-candidate UsefulNotes/RichardNixon asking America to "sock it to him"). Until the birth of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' several years later, ''Laugh-In'' was the touchstone of modern American humor. (''SNL'' emulated it, in some ways -- perhaps unsurprisingly, because many ''Laugh-In'' writers later worked on ''SNL'', including the later show's creator and executive producer, Creator/LorneMichaels.) It was possibly the single largest source of {{Running Gag}}s, {{Catch Phrase}}s and other pop culture contributions during the middle of the 20th century, and developed during its surprisingly brief run an utterly unique and frenetically subversive style that carried them directly into the subconscious of the viewer. Because of its wild and unpredictable yet ''intelligent'' style, it was also often very successful at getting surprisingly risque material (for the era) on the air -- usually by setting up apparently-innocent situations where the viewer's mind would fill in the blanks with suitably dirty punchlines and speculations of their own.

** Teresa Graves, who had disappeared at the end of season 3 due to ''Get Christie Love'', came back for two episodes in season four near its end before she left again.

[[caption-width-right:350:The cast during the second season (1968–69).[[note]]From top to bottom, starting from the left -- '''First column:''' Dave Madden. '''Second column:''' Dick Whittington, Chelsea Brown, Judy Carne. '''Third column:''' Creator/GoldieHawn, Creator/HenryGibson, Dan Rowan. '''Fourth column:''' Arte Johnson, Creator/RuthBuzzi, Dick Martin. '''Fifth column:''' Alan Sues, Jo Anne Worley. '''Not pictured:''' Gary Owens.[[/note]]]]

!!''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' provides examples of:

The show is best known today for the future stars whose careers it launched -- Creator/GoldieHawn, Creator/LilyTomlin, Music/TinyTim, Creator/HenryGibson, Creator/RuthBuzzi, Arte Johnson, Pat Paulsen, and Jo Anne Worley among others -- and the incredible comic moments it managed to pull off (such as then-presidential-candidate UsefulNotes/RichardNixon asking America to "sock it to him"). Until the birth of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' several years later, ''Laugh-In'' was the touchstone of modern American humor. (''SNL'' emulated it, in some ways -- perhaps unsurprisingly, because many ''Laugh-In'' writers later worked on ''SNL'', including the later show's creator and executive producer, Creator/LorneMichaels.) It was possibly the single largest source of {{Running Gag}}s, {{Catch Phrase}}s and other pop culture contributions during the middle of the 20th century, and developed during its surprisingly brief run an utterly unique and frenetically subversive style that carried them directly into the subconscious of the viewer. Because of its wild and unpredictable yet ''intelligent'' style, it was also often very successful at getting surprisingly risque material (for the era) on the air -- usually by setting up apparently-innocent situations where the viewer's mind would fill in the blanks with suitably dirty punchlines and speculations of their own.

* AnimatedAdaptation: ''WesternAnimation/BaggyPantsAndTheNitwits'' featured as its titular "Nitwits" animated versions of Gladys and Tyrone -- the latter with ''super powers'' (specifically, a magic sentient cane). They were remade into a husband-and-wife pair.

George Schlatter attempted to recreate the success of ''Laugh-In'' for ABC by cloning it into a show called ''Turn-On''. However, the first episode of ''Turn-On'' was met with so many complaints about its quality that it was either banned from airing, cancelled fifteen minutes into the episode (Website/TheOtherWiki says the last sketch that aired was one where a woman violently shakes a vending machine that dispenses birth control pills), or aired in full and then never again. (Viewers also complained about flashing animations and rapid-fire visual switching -- which some of ''Series/SesameStreet'''s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WSHvbGM6oE&list=PLLTqQpssWvJ6R-W2zfOeVzbk-lN_pg1-L&index=21 animations]] normalized and made commonplace a few months later.)

An iconic, anarchic hour-long SketchComedy series broadcast on Creator/{{NBC}} from 1968 to 1973 (after a one-off {{Pilot}} special aired in September of 1967). Created by George Schlatter, it broke new ground in American TV comedy with its rapid-fire jokes, outrageous characters and -- for the time -- utterly insane and over-the-top humor. The show's ostensible hosts were the urbane Dan Rowan and the somewhat dim Dick Martin, but this tuxedo-clad pair were frequently outshone by the platoon of seeming lunatics who made up the rest of the cast.

George Schlatter attempted to recreate the success of ''Laugh-In'' for ABC by cloning it into a show called ''Turn-On''. However, the first episode of ''Turn-On'' was met with so many complaints about its quality that it was either banned from airing, cancelled fifteen minutes into the episode (Wiki/TheOtherWiki says the last sketch that aired was one where a woman violently shakes a vending machine that dispenses birth control pills), or aired in full and then never again. (Viewers also complained about flashing animations and rapid-fire visual switching -- which some of ''Series/SesameStreet'''s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WSHvbGM6oE&list=PLLTqQpssWvJ6R-W2zfOeVzbk-lN_pg1-L&index=21 animations]] normalized and made commonplace a few months later.)

* {{Corpsing}}: Notable examples include but are not limited to...
** Dan Rowan, despite his OnlySaneMan nature, was a frequent corpser whenever Dick was involved. Some other ones who made him crack include Arte Johnson, Ann Elder and Barbara Sharma.
** Dick Martin was not above cracking himself up, as the San Clemente dateline bloopers he repeatedly tried to correct had shown. It happens repeatedly again in season five with a wedding sketch that Dan and Ann Elder had either he had corpsed, or Dan himself had corpsed due to Dick... or unexpectedly, Ann corpsing both of them with a raspberry. However, he DID crack up Willie Tyler in season six as well as Dan in a western sketch.
** Arte Johnson cracked himself up whenever Robot Theatre was involved. He also made Dick corpse at times, too. Then there's what he and Don Rickles did to each other back and forth in outtakes...
** Richard Dawson is the '''king''' of making people corpse in his time during the series, combining this with MetaGuy to the point where he managed to make Lily Tomlin, Larry Hovis, Johnny Brown and Barbara Sharma corpse all at once in season five during a doctor sketch. He did it again with Barbara in another episode as their newlywed characters, to which he tried to make Dennis corpse by placing Barbara in his arms as a 'tip', but only succeeds in causing Barbara to completely laugh throughout the sketch. Season six saw him making Dan, Sarah and Dennis crack in record time and visibly making Dan laugh from the sheer force of the W.C. Fields impression and during the rest of the series, cracking nearly everyone in any sketch he did, including guests like Robert Goulet, with two exceptions: Jud Strunk and Ruth Buzzi.
** Goldie herself as Sparkle Farkel near the end of season three in the Founding Farkels sketch made Dan, [=Dick=] and Ruth crack up along with herself, making Teresa and Jo Anne somewhat corpse as well.
** Lily Tomlin absolutely lost it in the Joke Wall in season four at one point, to the point where Dennis Allen made her corpse even more when he pulled ShouldersUpNudity. Dennis proved to be the one thing making Lily corpse in some spots, as the end of season four proved.
** Don Rickles manages to corpse Arte Johnson in an outtake, who in turn corpses him. He does this to Lily Tomlin in season six while she's dressed up as Carmen Miranda in a sketch and later on in another sketch, Ruth Buzzi as well.
** Dennis Allen surprisingly did this to Patti Deutsch in season six at one point, where both of them started laughing a bit after flinging mashed potatos at each other and a few other things. Donna Jean Young corpsed just by seeing him come in as a butler in the final episode, as well.
** In an season three outtake, Pamela Rodgers was ultimately SmarterThanYouLook by making Dick (and everyone by extension) crack up bigtime when Dan asked her about what she'd do if she was on a plane and said airplane losing altitude. Her answer subverts everything that she played up on the show, proving she could play comedically with the big kids and win.

[[caption-width-right:350:The cast during the second season (1968-69).[[note]]From top to bottom, starting from the left -- '''First column:''' Dave Madden. '''Second column:''' Dick Whittington, Chelsea Brown, Judy Carne. '''Third column:''' Creator/GoldieHawn, Creator/HenryGibson, Dan Rowan. '''Fourth column:''' Arte Johnson, Creator/RuthBuzzi, Dick Martin. '''Fifth column:''' Alan Sues, Jo Anne Worley. '''Not pictured:''' Gary Owens.[[/note]]]]

The show is best known today for the future stars whose careers it launched -- Creator/GoldieHawn, Creator/LilyTomlin, Music/TinyTim, Creator/HenryGibson, Creator/RuthBuzzi, Arte Johnson, Pat Paulsen, and Jo Anne Worley among others -- and the incredible comic moments it managed to pull off (such as then-presidential-candidate UsefulNotes/RichardNixon asking America to "sock it to him"). Until the birth of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' several years later, ''Laugh-In'' was the touchstone of modern American humor. (''SNL'' emulated it, in some ways -- unsurprisingly, because many ''Laugh-In'' writers later worked on ''SNL'', including the later show's creator and executive producer, Creator/LorneMichaels.) It was possibly the single largest source of {{Running Gag}}s, {{Catch Phrase}}s and other pop culture contributions during the middle of the 20th century, and developed during its surprisingly brief run an utterly unique and frenetically subversive style that carried them directly into the subconscious of the viewer. Because of its wild and unpredictable yet ''intelligent'' style, it was also often very successful at getting surprisingly risque material (for the era) on the air -- usually by setting up apparently-innocent situations where the viewer's mind would fill in the blanks with suitably dirty punchlines and speculations of their own.

* PantyShot: A very quick blackout had the wind of an unseen fan blow Judy Carne's dress up.

[[caption-width-right:350:The cast during the second season (1968-69).[[note]]From top to bottom, starting from the left -- '''First column:''' Dick Whittington. '''Second column:''' Dave Madden, Chelsea Brown, Judy Carne. '''Third column:''' Creator/GoldieHawn, Creator/HenryGibson, Dan Rowan. '''Fourth column:''' Arte Johnson, Creator/RuthBuzzi, Dick Martin. '''Fifth column:''' Alan Sues, Jo Anne Worley. '''Not pictured:''' Gary Owens.[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The cast during the second season (1968-69).[[note]]From top to bottom, starting from the left -- '''First column:''' Dave Madden. '''Second column:''' Larry Hovis, Chelsea Brown, Judy Carne. '''Third column:''' Creator/GoldieHawn, Creator/HenryGibson, Dan Rowan. '''Fourth column:''' Arte Johnson, Creator/RuthBuzzi, Dick Martin. '''Fifth column:''' Alan Sues, Jo Anne Worley. '''Not pictured:''' Gary Owens.[[/note]]]]

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: In a show full of visual gags and wild comedy, there were a number of serious segments through the years. One example came in the late winter of 1973, during the show's last season, when cast member Jud Strunk picked up his banjo and sang a gentle ballad called "Daisy a Day" (about a couple who meet in elementary school, fall in love, eventually marry and remain together for nearly 80 years total; the song gets its name from his daily routine of giving his wife a daisy each day, as a sign of love, undying affection and devotion). On-show, Strunk is best known for providing the sports from a town called Farmington, Maine (which ''is'' a real place, but the reports were fictional).. which is the same as the comedy weather reports he did for it off-show, as well.

[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_661.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:315:The cast during the second season (1968-69).[[note]]From top to bottom, starting from the left -- '''First column:''' Dave Madden. '''Second column:''' Larry Hovis, Chelsea Brown, Judy Carne. '''Third column:''' Creator/GoldieHawn, Creator/HenryGibson, Dan Rowan. '''Fourth column:''' Arte Johnson, Creator/RuthBuzzi, Dick Martin. '''Fifth column:''' Alan Sues, Jo Anne Worley. '''Not pictured:''' Gary Owens.[[/note]]]]

* ItIsPronouncedTropay: Tyrone F. Horneigh, whose last name was pronounced "hor-''nigh''".