User Reviews

With this, the fifth season premiere of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In", there are some noticeable changes like Gary Owens now having a mustasche, the cast now being introed by him at the Cocktail Party instead of the Joke Wall, and a couple of former "Hogan's Heroes" stars joining that cast-Richard Dawson and Larry Hovis who was previously a regular on this show during the first season. Special guest star is Raquel Welch who has a funny sketch with Gladys as she tries to teach her the way to attract men as they sing about it. Gladys also has a dream about being married to Tarzan. Another guest star is Martha Mitchell, wife of a Nixon cabinet member, who has a habit of talking out of turn. In fact, the show had made lots of jokes about her the previous season and even awarded her the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate award. But she seems to be a good sport about it all especially when Ernestine talks to her! Also guesting are Henny Youngman, Pat Morita, and Buffalo Bob Smith with Howdy Doody. Oh, and "Adam-12" stars Kent McCord and Martin Milner do some hilarious bloopers near the beginning of the show. In summary, this was a hilarious start of a new season of "Laugh-In"!

This episode was worth checking out just to see Raquel Welch in her heyday. Her introduction and entrance were both spectacular and funny. She was in her prime and Laugh-In must have emptied the vault to get her on the show. By Season 5(71/72), Arte Johnson is gone and the cast is not what it was. His Wolfgang ending to the show, became a final zing. Without it, the show seems empty. Another observation that I have noticed is by the fifth season, NBC is using Laugh-In to promote other shows that were on at the time (Adam 12). It's great seeing some of the cameos of stars how they looked back in the early 70's.