TV's "Laugh-in" comic Dick Martin dies in Calif

Source: Associated Press

LOS ANGELES: Dick Martin, the zany half of the comedy team whose "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as "Sock it to me!" has died. He was 86.

Martin, who went on to become one of television's busiest directors after splitting with Dan Rowan in the late 1970s, died Saturday night of respiratory complications at a hospital in Santa Monica, family spokesman Barry Greenberg said.

"He had had some pretty severe respiratory problems for many years, and he had pretty much stopped breathing a week ago," Greenberg said.

Martin had lost the use of one of his lungs as a teenager, and needed supplemental oxygen for most of the day in his later years.

He was surrounded by family and friends when he died just after 6 p.m., Greenberg said.
Today in Americas

"Laugh-in," which debuted in January 1968, was unlike any comedy-variety show before it. Rather than relying on a series of tightly scripted song-and-dance segments, it offered up a steady, almost stream-of-consciousness run of non-sequitur jokes, political satire and madhouse antics from a cast of talented young actors and comedians that also included Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley and announcer Gary Owens.

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/25/america/Obit-Martin.php

I loved that show...

Safe passage to him...

My deepest condolences to his family and to all who love him...

:cry:

Rest in peace.

:shrug:

I had a friend in school who always used to say that, and I could never figure out where he had learned it. I said it to my grandmother once, and she was not amused :evilgrin:

The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate strikes us all.

... go in peace, beloved friend.

and it couldn't have happened without Dick Martin.
They joked about Nixon, the War, sex, Agnew, and just plain silliness.

A lot of stars came out of the show.

SAY GOODNIGHT DICK

GOODNIGHT DICK.

RIP!

bet your own, mines cracked. safe passage Dick.

Now we have "Dancing with the Stars".

Laugh-In would have had a field day with Dumbya.

way more

Thank you Dick Martin, for making life a little better for so many people.

I loved that show. RIP Dick Martin, you made me laugh when I was a teenager, much appreciated.

His playing of the "swinging bachelor" on that show pretty much damned him as a stereotype when it came to performing. But he did a lot of directing of other sitcoms after that, for people like Bob Newhart and Redd Foxx.

One other quibble; the review mentions the "talented young actors" on Laugh-In. Aside from Gary Owens, a long time pro who's just recently regained enough health to perform again, most of them had lousy careers afterwards. Jo Anne Worley (one of my favorites) disappeared into sitcom bit parts and TV game shows. Arte Johnson descended to the lowest rung of show biz, far below even porn acting; he played a character on a soap opera. Judy Carne descended into drugs and obscurity. Henry Gibson's turn in <i>Nashville</i> was a career peak, but went nowhere.

on "Boston Legal" as an addle headed judge.

lot's of talented actors don't get great parts but they didn't have it so bad...

Henry Gibson is still going strong http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002099/

Ruth Buzzi - still going strong (+ did Lost Saucer)

Judy Carne also did 5 episodes of "Love, American Style" before 'descending', like so many, let's not dim accomplishments just because the person moved on) - anyway, laugh-in was later in her career she'd been around a while before that. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0138637/

Alan Sues had some parts through the 90s, not too bad. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0837297/

jo anne worley did THREE Love Boats and worked through the 90s regularly and still today, doing two Kim Possible movies... http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0941506/

and what about Hollywood Squares, weren't most of them on that?


and of course... Lily Tomlin, Goldie Hawn and Flip Wilson

That and "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour." Now THERE was some "Must-See TV."

For those unfamiliar with Dick Martin here is an opening to the "Rowan and Martin's Laugh In" show. Included in this clip is a typical opening by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin followed by a "Sock It To Me" sketch which also has a quickie by Richard Nixon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iGvzmOoh3Y

Wow... Off Topic but: Goldie Hawn looks hardly old enough to get into a bar when this was filmed!

That show was damn funny.:rofl:

And Goldie Hawn wasn't old enough to get into a bar...I'm pretty sure she was only about 19 when she started on this show.

:wow: The show was on in the early-mid '60s so I think it is true that she was likely around 19 or 20. But still 1945?!?!? Hell I AM getting old, Goldie Hawn was always the perfect girl of my dreams while growing up...it was her infectious laugh more than anything else! I loved it when her and Dan got together because he had a similar infectious funny about him too. I don't know who I loved more between those two...Oh well, I guess it is true that they don't make 'em like they used to!

Here are a couple more youtube clips featuring Goldie Hawn from Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh2nDkT-u5I&feature=related
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b7BGBa6MTI

Laugh_in took the place of The Man From UNCLE.

I remember because I was so pissed off.

I remember The Man From UNCLE, Robert Culp and was that a very young Bill Cosby???
Sorry you were upset about the replacement by Laugh-In, we teen boys were madly in love with Laugh-In because it was 'cool' and because we often got to see Judy Carne and Goldie Hawn in bikinis or getting splashed with water...how could life have gotten any better than THAT! (OK so we had no idea what being sexist was back then...that show was rarely PC)

Wrong spy show.

"The Man from U.N.C.L.E." starred Robert Vaughn. It was one of the better James Bond knockoffs that emerged in the 60s (Ian Fleming actually contributed some ideas). A little cheese, but still quite a bit of meat. A local station here has actually been showing black and white reruns from the first season on the weekends. I haven't seen any of the future color seasons, but supposedly, it got kinda campy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_U.N.C.L.E.

Carly Simon did NOT sing "It's Too Late" (Carol King)
Laugh In was not early to mid 60's, (apparently mid to late 60's according to others in this thread)
Man From UNCLE was not starred in by the stars from I Spy
3 gaffs in less than an hour! Time to discuss my memories with my doc I think!

Can't remember shit. :rofl:

...will she hook me up with something useful? I am thinking a green-cross prescription could be VERY helpful. Being a veteran, I can get my prescriptions filled for free so THAT particular prescription would very helpful indeed! (Well one can dream can't they?)

I just took two of them and now I'm FLYIN'! I can even remember the details of when Cornwallis defeated Gen. Robert E. Lee at the battle of Waterloo! :silly:

Cosby was nominated for several Emmys for the show. Culp played a tennis pro with Cosby as his trainer as their cover for being spies from an unknown security/intelligence office in the U.S.

Man from UNCLE was Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. Agents of UNCLE: United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. They used to talk to their pens, which were actual communications devices. Damned prescient, if you ask me.

Spies were popular because of the success of the James Bond movies. In fact, that's where Napoleon Solo (Vaughn) came from: he was a minor character in one of the Bond movies. Ian Fleming was still alive, and was working to get production underway, but I know he died early on in the project. (1964)

... my favorite blonde of all time. Followed David McCallum's real life, too, and saw his wife leave him for Paul McCarney.

and I loved "I Spy" what a team they were Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. Great show.

Napoleon Solo was not a character in a Bond flick. There was an evil henchman character in "Goldfinger" that was going to be named that (Ian Fleming collaborated on UNCLE), but to avoid confusion and legal issues, was merely named "Solo." No relation between the two characters.

The character was not in a film, but in the original novel, Goldfinger. Ian Fleming also created the name April Dancer for what would go on to be The Girl from UNCLE series. :)

But there was a "Mr. Solo" in the film, a mobster named Martin Solo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_James_Bond_henchmen_in_Goldfinger#Martin_Solo

was one of my faves as well. :(

that was when TV was good.

HA!!

I'd always seen it in black & white.

A safe passage to you. You and Laugh-In made me laugh every week.

RIP.

He was also married - twice, in fact - to Dolly Read, who starred in "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls."

Haven't seen posts from you in awhile, and when you do, it's a "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" post!

:rofl:

dolo and hedges were delighted to see that I had a "Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill!" lunchbox when they were here for dinner awhile back. :D

RIP, Dick. You socked it to us all so many times. Thanks for all the laughs and the thoughts that went with them. See you on the other side.

i guess it's because it was so topical. That's what would make it interesting to me.

It was a topical show, and some (the networks?) might say that makes it dated, but I would argue history has relevance, especially when America is living and dying under the Bushco misadministration.

It would be very cool if Comedy Central did a remake using todays up and coming comedians...even though he is not up and coming I could see Louis Black as the announcer. The show could use clips from the original show...especially clips which reflected sentiments about the President and the War. I just got done watching one you-tube clip where Santa's elves, (Laugh-In Cast) were packing away toys into Santa's sack-the toys were all Army rifles and hand-grenades and etc. The clip was satire reflecting how these toys encouraged us into a war-mentality.

using todays up and coming comedians..."

I would like to see it. Personally I think the human race is beyond redemption, but I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong. Click here to see my somewhat pessimistic, but I believe realistic, DU post.

..but not by I. We ARE going through a rough patch. It may get even rougher yet but I think it will turn out just fine when all is said and done. My advice for what it is worth: No matter what, hang in there and when you can, take a moment to enjoy the ride.

At this point, anything is worth a shot! :-)

Quote: "Now that the world is once more in the same kind of turmoil it was back in 1967, everyone asks about the possibility of doing a new LAUGH-IN. I continue to have meetings and discussions about LAUGH-IN 2004 and I may do it if I can get the proper assurances that we would be allowed to be as outrageous, irreverent and meaningful as we were 35 years ago. It seems strange that with all of the new permissiveness as to language, subject matter, clothing, and the lack thereof, the networks are still very nervous about disturbing the status quo the way we used to in the beginning of our LAUGH-IN adventure."

1964 - 66 era right now...

but that was mid-80s or so. Haven't seen them since.

RIP Dick Martin :cry:

during the Nick at Nite reruns.

from the Musical "HAIR" (colored spade)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U1X_fUm_XU

nothing was off the table because the problem isn't the words the problem is the hate. if there's no hate, there's no problem with any word. it's too bad we've lost that to some extent along the way, although not completely. it has nothing to do with "Political Correctness" (a mal-applied phrase if ever there was one) it's about being minimally polite, but again, in a comedy context you can say whatever even today (if you're funny and not just being an asshole like cramer).

the knock-down-drag-out anti war music of the 60's. Lots of disco dreck, not so much steppenwolf.

But not enough of it.

tvshowsondvd.com and add your votes for shows you want to see on DVD. Over the years, they've notified me when some of the shows I've selected get to the DVD stage, and they also keep show statistics and other information.

One interesting example is WKRP in Cincinnati, which was a very difficult show to get to DVD. Problem is that a lot of the music they used in the episodes were now complex to get licenses for, so they've had to substitute other work for many of the episodes. It's finally out there, but there are a lot of people protesting the changes made.

i was only 10 in 1968 and a lot of the references
aren't clear to me. it needs subtitles, or a
guidebook...

great show, though. so much talent, and it was
very innovative.

but I remember that era well, from the TV and radio news, and from the newspapers that I delivered.

And then on Sundays, we'd go over to my grandparents' house and my grandfather and I would watch Issues and Answers, Face the Nation, and/or Meet the Press.

Flat out brilliant work .... Hawn, Johnson, Tomlin, Gibson, Buzzy, and so on.

4 channels ... NBC, CBS, ABC, & PBS .... and they really tried to put out
quality product (sometimes)

Say goodnight Dick.

-Hoot

Thanks for everything, Dick Martin. Rest sweetly....

Hekate

thanks again for all your brilliant work.

After reading this thread, he certainly could look back on his life as giving laughter to a great many people.

Thank you Dick - you touched us all with your great sense of humor.

was, ironically, not 'Laugh In'. I learned of them in my high school Latin class. The teacher had a very droll sense of humor and Rowan and Martin had done a comedic take on The Ides of March. What they had done was taken the death of Julius Caesar and represented it as a mob hit in the 1920's era US. It was hilarious - two detectives trying to figure out who had 'offed The Big J.C.'. On the flip side of the album - yes, album - was 'A Shakespearean Baseball Game' which consisted of Shakespearean characters playing a game of baseball.

When a local station actually showed reruns of 'Laugh In', I liked that as well, but not as much as their historical humor.

"Goodnight Dick!" one last time. I loved that show...was a favorite from my youth. It was funny, political, topical, and just plain silly.

You will be missed.

G'night Dick.

and RIP. He was the perfect foil for straight man Dan Rowan and a great director in later life. Farewell friend, you leave behind much laughter and many happy memories

he'll be missed.

I wonder if there are plans to DVD the old Laugh-In shows. Though I'd like to see the Smothers Brothers. They had a lot of good musical guests.

:(

I'm very sad, since this was a part of my life. I also appeared on a TV show, as a kid, but we were canceled due to the success of our competition, "Laugh-In," and I watched it, too. Goodnight Dick...;(

Julia? The Courtship of Eddie's Father? I might have watched it!

I loved Laugh In! I was 9 yrs. old in 68' but, we watched it the whole time it was on. Even my parents! And my mom is, was, and always will be very religious!

I am glad that people still tell jokes from that show. It is, was and will be great memories.

And have a bite of my Walnetto. You enlivened my youth, for which I thank you greatly. I'm glad your life was a productive one: I hope you were happy.

And you can put that in your Funk and Wagnalls!

but that humor was qualitatively a big jump from what had come before. I loved it.
I wonder what kids today think of "Laugh-in"?

RIP

Thanks for all the fun and laughter! You were truly a man who left the world a little bit better than you found it! :grouphug:

included Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley and announcer Gary Owens....'

The two biggest breakout 'stars' - Goldie Hawn & Lily Tomlin aren't even mentioned?

I loved that show, so progressive back in that time when there was so much unrest in our country. Say good nite dick, good nite.:-(