The Best of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In

This is just too cool for words! Even though this show pre-dates me by a year or two, it's still one of the funniest TV shows made!

Has anyone purchased this? (It was released on June 24th.) How good is it?

LOL! John, actually it was Rowan and Martin's Laugh In. It launched many a movie career for alot of comedians, but I can't really say if it got Rowan or Martin many movie roles. The show ran for a number of years and then I lost interest in it or something else was better to watch.

I'd love to know what's on this myself. If it is the same as the CBS special that aired about 6 years ago, then it would definitely be worth picking up. Plus I could chuck my EP recorded VHS of it.

According to Video Business magazine, the R&M L-I DVDs contain six episodes, so I doubt that they're a "special".

If you're referring to my hyphenation, you're incorrect. It was Laugh-In. If that wasn't what you're talking about, then I don't know what you're referring to.

It says Lowan in the title of the thread.

Re: The Best of Lowan and Martin's Laugh-In

Does anyone know if there is any hope of any more episodes from this classic series being released on DVD? Thanks.

Re: The Best of Lowan and Martin's Laugh-In

"Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me!" Yeah, you bet your sweet bippy I watched this show. For its time, it was very, very fast-moving. It was actually a lot of fun. I remember the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and other interesting musical acts appearing on it. Those were the days....

Re: The Best of Lowan and Martin's Laugh-In

I really enjoyed seeing it again. The cast is very talented, though I found some of the humor to be rather dated. Alot of what was controversial in 1968 isn't shocking at all now...all in all, though, it's worth a look just for the cast, including a young Goldie Hawn.

Re: The Best of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In

I'll never forget one of their segments having to do with News of the Future, twenty years from now. They had one episode in which Dan Rowan said, "President Ronald Reagan..." -- and you can hear the audience laugh at the absurdity of the suggestion at the time (ca. 1968). They weren't all that far off the mark.

Re: The Best of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In

Considering the high price these sets cost, I'm not surprised that we haven't seem more of this show coming out. Rhino might have let their license lapse. Maybe some other company, like Shout Factory will pick it up for more releases. I'm not sure how well full season sets would sell, but I'm sure the first couple of seasons would be good sellers.

I have to agree that some of the humor is a bit dated.

What disappointed me about these two sets were the small amount of Lily Tomlin's Ernestine and Edith Ann characters. I remember loving those two characters in the early 70s. I'd love to see more of the vintage Laugh In stuff from Lily.

Re: The Best of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In

Besides Rhino, Guthy-Renker had a series of Laugh-In's they were offering by mail, similar to the way you can order the Best of Dean Martin dvd's now, although the Laugh-In's were complete episodes. You got one dvd (2 episodes) to begin with, and then you received two dvd's every other month for a total of 19 dvd's or 38 episodes. The packaging is nothing special, as opposed to Rhino's really fine sets, and they were rather pricey--each shipment of two dvd's (4 episodes) with the tax and shipping cost $47.25, but this is one show I was willing to pay for the episodes. Unfortunately, I did not start getting them when they were first available. I was 2/3 of the way through the selections when I got a notice they were no longer selling them. No explanation was given. If they had let me buy them all at once I would've gotten the remaining ones. As it stands, there are 6 dvd's (12 episodes) that I did not receive. I have been looking for them anywhere (used or new etc.) but have never come across them.

I don't know if anyone is interested, but since I have the info I will post it here.

The Rhino episodes that are available are:
Season 1: Episodes #3, 9
Season 2: Episodes #15, 16, 32
Season 3: Episodes #52, 54, 60, 61, 64, 65
Season 4: Episode #87


The Guthy-Renker Episodes that were released are:

Season 1: Episodes #8, 10, 13
Season 2: Episodes #18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39
Season 3: Episodes #42, 43, 48, 50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 62, 63
Season 4: Episodes #67, 69, 71, 73, 77, 79, 81, 82
Season 5: Episodes #93, 101

I guess I should point out that the episodes, both Rhino and Guthy-Renker, were not in any particular order. Each Guthy-Renker dvd had a title such as "Look That Up in Your Funk and Wagnall's" and two episodes included--in this case episodes #10, 13.

If anyone knows the titles of the remaining six dvd's that I don't have, I would like to know as it would help in searching for them somewhere. I know the episodes that were on each one, but I don't know the titles.

Those dvd's had the following episodes on each disc:

*#20, #27
*#33, #67
*#38, #53
*#48, #79
*#93, #28
*#71, #101

All in all, if one is a fan of Laugh-In, there are, or were, 50 episodes of the series available on dvd, a little above 1/3 of the episodes, which is pretty good for a variety series on dvd. I hope to find those other 12 episodes someday!

Say Goodnight, Dick