Dick Martin

The exposure led to an opportunity for Rowan and Martin to team up with producers Ed Friendly and George Schlatter and create Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–1973) on NBC. The comedy show was an immediate hit, becoming the #1 American television program within two months of its debut. It was the top-rated show in each of its first two seasons. Laugh-In had a kaleidoscopic format, with what was then a uniquely fast-paced stream-of-consciousness style of blackout gags, double entendre, topical satire and catchphrases, much of it delivered by a cast of then-unknowns such as Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, and Arte Johnson.

At the center of the maelstrom stood the veterans Rowan and Martin, who bemusedly made no effort to slow down the program. Martin later said "We designed it so that we are two relatively normal guys wandering through a sea of madness", and described his comic persona as "a kind of inept lech", who could be laughed at as well as laughed with. In real life, Martin spent the 1960s enjoying his high-flying sybaritic lifestyle of women and parties. His partner Rowan was a quiet family man. Read Less