It's very surprising to see no other comments attributed to the groundbreaking, innovative 1967 Pilot of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In".
I remember the pilot distinctly to this day. Oh, I don't mean each gag or joke but, rather, the impact it had on my brain and all my senses. I felt, after watching the show, much the same as when a youngster experiences their first roller-coaster ride. "Wow!" I thought. "This is new and I want more-lots more!"
"Laugh-In" the pilot and the many seasons that followed planted its unique historical footprint with as much subtlety as General George Patton's tanks "tip-toeing" across Europe during World War II.
The show was responsible for causing a generation of TV style comedy to become extinct. No longer were we young TV viewers satisfied with sitting through "dull" adult style stand-up with the likes of a suited Jack Benny. Then, at that time, a Jonathon Winters could stand in front of a camera and transform an empty wallet into various hand puppet characters for minutes on end!
Benny, Gleason, Winters, Coca, Caesar, Berle et al are truly comedic geniuses, an attribute which will never be taken away from them. However,"Laugh-In" robbed us young ones of our patience of having to sit through set-ups to the inevitable punch-line or sitting through Bob Hope's adult / political style banter with the home audience while going straight over the heads of we bored children at their feet.
No. No, indeed. When that young, hip, bawdy, naughty, machine gun joke delivering new generation comedy show "Laugh-In" rode into town even if it was Burbank a lot of pink slips rained down on those now old-time writers, producers and talent.
Geez! Forty years ago, huh? I must be getting old. I now enjoy watching Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners" on the tube.
I remember the pilot distinctly to this day. Oh, I don't mean each gag or joke but, rather, the impact it had on my brain and all my senses. I felt, after watching the show, much the same as when a youngster experiences their first roller-coaster ride. "Wow!" I thought. "This is new and I want more-lots more!"
"Laugh-In" the pilot and the many seasons that followed planted its unique historical footprint with as much subtlety as General George Patton's tanks "tip-toeing" across Europe during World War II.
The show was responsible for causing a generation of TV style comedy to become extinct. No longer were we young TV viewers satisfied with sitting through "dull" adult style stand-up with the likes of a suited Jack Benny. Then, at that time, a Jonathon Winters could stand in front of a camera and transform an empty wallet into various hand puppet characters for minutes on end!
Benny, Gleason, Winters, Coca, Caesar, Berle et al are truly comedic geniuses, an attribute which will never be taken away from them. However,"Laugh-In" robbed us young ones of our patience of having to sit through set-ups to the inevitable punch-line or sitting through Bob Hope's adult / political style banter with the home audience while going straight over the heads of we bored children at their feet.
No. No, indeed. When that young, hip, bawdy, naughty, machine gun joke delivering new generation comedy show "Laugh-In" rode into town even if it was Burbank a lot of pink slips rained down on those now old-time writers, producers and talent.
Geez! Forty years ago, huh? I must be getting old. I now enjoy watching Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners" on the tube.