It was the smash hit, Number One TV show our junior and senior years at Father Ryan (1968-69).
With its rapid fire format of gags and skits aimed at a growing younger audience, LAUGH-IN changed how comedy was done on television. Over its 140 episode run on NBC from January 22,1968 to May 14, 1973 it also changed our language.
Here's just a brief list of the catch phrases that began on this show and many still continue in today's language:
"Sock It To Me"
"Ring My Chimes"
"You Bet Your Sweet Bippy"
"It's Time To Say Good Night, Dick." Goodnight, Dick"
"Easy For You To Say"
Oh, I'll Drink To That."
"I Didn't Know That."
"Blow In My Ear And I Will Follow You Anywhere"
""Very Enn..ter..es..ting"
"Here Come De Judge"
"Look That Up In Your Funk & Wagnalls"
""Uncle Al Had A Lot Of Medicine Last Night"
The show was so popular, even candidate Richard Nixon (in the process of re-inventing himself) appeared briefly to say: "Sock It To Me?" His opponent Vice-President Hubert Humphrey declined ti appear and later said it might have cost him the 1968 Presidential election.
The show made stars of many of its performers including hosts Dan Rowan and Dick Martin along with Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne, Ruth Buzzie, Henry Gibson, Lilly Tomlin, Gary Owen, JoAnn Worley and Artie Johnson.
Here's some highlights of one LAUGH-IN episode, that in a not to subtle cross-promotion, featured the MONKEES rock group, which also a hit TV show back in the '60s
The other show that re-shaped TV while we at Father Ryan, and tried to push the boundaries of what could and could not be featured and made fun of on the small screen, was THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR.
The musical/comedy team of Tom and Dick Smothers came to CBS with a long record of success on stage and with comedy albums. Their show which debuted in February, 1967 through April 4, 1969 was known for its great music and its biting comedy.
Such comedians and future stars as Steve Martin, Rob Reiner and Dan Novello (Father Guido Sarducci) got their starts on the show. And it made a star (and a 1968 presidential candidate) out of comedian Pat Paulsen, who did a series of editorials on the show that retain their humor over 40 years later. Even the topics he covers still resonate in the headlines of today: Social Security, Gun Control and Health Care. Here, courtesy of YouTube, is Pat Paulsen.....
And it wasn't just in comedy that the Smothers Brothers made history. Such musical stars, some of them quite controversial at time, as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Janis Ian, Harry Balfonte, the Doors, Steppenwolf, Jefferson Airplane, Peter, Paul & Mary, Donovan and Cream performed.
But perhaps the most memorable musical moment on THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR was The Who performing MY GENERATION (complete with a song-ending explosion and on stage-destruction of their instruments). Here is that performance....
Other musical highlights from the show included the head writer of the program, Mason Williams, performing (during a 1988 Reunion show)what became a smash instrumental hit, CLASSICAL GAS" and THE BEATLES performing an exclusive music video of their smash 1968 hit "Hey Jude." Here are videos of both performances....
But despite all this acclaim, the Smother Brothers show increasingly ran afoul of the censors at CBS, particularly over its political satire and its treatment of the Vietnam War. Here's how a promotional video for a CD version of show's third and final season in 1969 put it....
And so, in the end, it came down not to who "Mom liked best" (a running gag in the Smothers Brothers Act, but what CBS didn't like it. Ironically (or maybe not) THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR won an Emmy for best writing just a few months after it was abruptly cancelled by the network.
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