User Reviews

This being the first ep of the fourth season of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In", there are many noticeable changes such as: Gary Owens only mentioning the title at the beginning before Dan Rowan and Dick Martin then go on stage and mention all the cast members old and new. Among those missing are Jo Anne Worley and Goldie Hawn of which the last one was now busy making movies. Art Carney is the special guest star and, yes, he does his Norton character but buddy Ralph is played by Johnny Brown which makes Norton say, "If you ask me, I think you've been out in that Miami sun a little too long!" (Jackie Gleason had his show taped in the Florida city the last several years it was on the air) Other things different from previously: The Cocktail Party is a running skit for this ep, instead of all the female cast members doing the "news" number-it's Arte Johnson as Rosmenko with Lily Tomlin as her Tasteful Lady and Ruth Buzzi as an old lady doing it, Dick and Dan doing the news together with Dan doing both present and future segments, and instead of a Joke Wall, it's the cast telling one-liners surrounded by cardboard still cut-ups of various past celebrities. Perhaps the most interesting of the new cast members is Barbara Sharma who sings and dances like a '30s movie musical chorus girl and plays someone who's fascinated by vice president Spiro Agnew! Art Carney makes many of the sketches funny with his delivery and movements whether they seem worthy of such attention or not. This certainly was a most interesting way to bring some new life into a nearly four-year-old show, that's for sure! P.S. This also marked the debut of Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann character, seen here first talking from a cardboard box in her backyard. Pretty entertaining but too brief.

The first episode of "Laugh-In" clearly was trying to be fresh by making some small changes in format, larger changes in cast and just shaking things up.

While Art Carney made things very amusing, it seemed like the show was starting to get a little tired. It seemed like the show was losing some of the spontaneity of the early episodes. Too bad, because so many of the new performers were and are quite good, such as Johnny Brown and Barbara Sharma.

Perhaps it's because it was the first new episode of the 1970s, but it sure seemed like the show's pace had slowed. Sorta like a prehistoric version of NBC Saturday Night Live.