The Legacy of ‘Laugh-In’

How a Sixties TV show became a cultural phenomenon

Laugh-In “joke wall.” Credit: National Broadcasting Corp. (NBC)

As a child of the Sixties, I was a rebellious college student with a twist — I not only marched in protests, I helped start a satire magazine at the university I attended. Satire, particularly pillorying the Vietnam war, social injustice and the “military industrial complex,” was necessary to help my generation laugh at the absurdity of it all.

I and my compatriots craved comic release in the form of magazines like MAD and TV shows like That Was The Week That Was, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Laugh-In. While the first two shows were short-lived, they influenced Laugh-In — which ran from 1968 to 1973 and became the most popular show on U.S. television in its second and third seasons. The program directly influenced Saturday Night Live, which has been on the air since 1975.

Here’s how Laugh-In became a cultural phenomenon whose legacy lasts to this day.

Two earlier shows influenced Laugh-In

There were two earlier shows that were inspirational for the creators of Laugh-In: That Was The Week That Was (referred to as TW3) and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

TW3 first aired in the UK on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. Hosted by David Frost, the show covered…