Posted on 05/24/2008 9:02:59 PM PDT by lunarbicep
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 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 was surrounded by family and friends when he died just after 6 p.m., Greenberg said.
"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.
Presiding over it all were Rowan and Martin, the veteran nightclub comics whose standup banter put their own distinct spin on the show.
Like all straight men, Rowan provided the voice of reason, striving to correct his partner's absurdities. Martin, meanwhile, was full of bogus, often risque theories about life, which he appeared to hold with unwavering certainty.
RIP
sorry, I never heard that story
You can bet your sweet bippy!
And most likely losing, when he wrote the alimony checks.
Yeah I think that one LOL!
Brings back many memories. I was just getting out of the Army when this program hit the airwaves.
RIP Dick, and Goodnight.
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I was just a kid - but I remember. Even my folks liked it enough to let me watch it - as strict as they were. I think they knew then that shows like his would help America survive the 60's. "'Night, Dick."
> And most likely losing, when he wrote the alimony checks.
Gee, maybe that's why he remarried her after a few years of divorce. They were still married when he died.
To which islands are you referring?
that was a funny show, my father loved it.
I had no working TV to watch when the series began. Everybody was quoting lines and jokes from the show. I didn’t know what they were talking about. I think it was too edgy for prime time at that time. In retrospect, much of the show wasn’t really all that funny. I think Dick Martin’s directing deserved more respect than Laugh-In.
I was barely ten when it came on...and there wasn’t a single comedy on the three networks that could touch it. But they were out...far, far, on the branch in terms of risks. A lot of the jokes were very liberal for the times. For the first two years...I never missed an episode. There are two interesting aspects to the show, if you browse around today. first...the list of stars on appeared on the show reads like a who’s who of comedy, with two hundred of biggest names in comedy in the late 60’s. Second...if you gaze at the writing staff...you see a group of young folks who all come up in the 1970s and for many shows and even became producers.
I didn't know that. As good a reason as any, I suppose.
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