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Even the most original shows aren’t created from nothing. Saturday Night Live, like every comedy show before or since, can point to funny ancestors that helped draw up the blueprint for its success. Here are five comedy classics that formed the template for the show that became SNL…

[subtitle]1Your Show of Shows [/subtitle]

“Saturday Night Live always had its roots showing,” wrote Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller in their oral history Live From New York. Those roots began in the golden era of live TV in New York, especially Your Show of Shows featuring Sid Caesar and his troupe. The comedy was enhanced by the thrill of the live broadcast, a “this is happening now!” quality that had disappeared from television before SNL brought it back in 1975.

When Dick Ebersol made his initial Saturday Night pitch to NBC, Your Show of Shows was one of his examples of what SNL would try to emulate,...

While Lorne Michaels is an occasional bit player on Saturday Night Live, offering $3,000 for a Beatles reunion or singing operatic encouragement to Steve Martin, not many think of Michaels as an out-and-out comedian. But back in the 1960s, he was part of Hart and Lorne, a two-man comedy team that took Canada by storm.

Well, they performed in Canada.

Along with his boisterous comic counterpart, Hart Pomerantz, Michaels struggled to find his way into the comedy business. As a comedy writing team, the duo sold jokes to Woody Allen and Joan Rivers, creating a resume that landed them writing jobs on The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show and Laugh-In. They didn’t last more than a single season on either show, but the credits got them their own Canadian program, The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour. Michaels even anchored a proto version of Weekend Update.

Right around that same time, the...

Richard D. James, the Emmy-winning production designer who worked on all but one of the 14 seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager, has died. He was 88.

James died Nov. 11 of complications from an infection at Ut Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, his longtime friend Tom Sanden told The Hollywood Reporter.

For the big screen, the Texas native was art director on Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero (1983), starring Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert; on Mike Nichols’ Silkwood (1983), starring Meryl Streep, Cher and Kurt Russell; and on Kevin Reynolds’ The Beast of War, starring George Dzundza, Jason Patric and Steven Bauer.

James joined the syndicated Next Generation for its second season (1988-89) and remained through its conclusion in 1994. He then segued to Upn’s Voyager, working on that series for its entire seven-season run (1995-2001).

James received his Emmy (shared with longtime collaborator Jim Mees) in 1990 for his...

As millions of viewers and host Regis Philbin looked on, John Carpenter rocketed to the top question of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire across two nights of gameplay. And on November 19, 1999, he became the ABC game show’s first million-dollar winner. On that last question, he finally used a lifeline — not for a hint but for a gloat. “Uh, hi, Dad. I don’t really need your help,” Carpenter said after ringing up his father. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to win the million dollars.” And that’s exactly what he did, correctly identifying Richard Nixon as the U.S. president who appeared on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. The win and — the lifeline flex — made the then-31-year-old from Hamden, Connecticut, a national hero. That’s no small feat for a guy who works for the Internal Revenue Service. “It was a spur of the moment thing.

Comedy has had a substantial impact on this year’s presidential election discourse, as evidenced by Kamala Harris’ recent Saturday Night Live cameo, Tony Hinchcliffe’s racist Trump rally jokes and, most recently, an endorsement from one of the supporting cast members of Newsradio (Andy Dick’s silence is deafening).

But this isn’t the first time that the worlds of comedy and politics have overlapped during a presidential election. In fact, it’s been argued that a TV comedy was responsible for helping elect one of the shittiest presidents of all-time: Richard Milhous Nixon.

As any Boomer will tell you, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was a freewheeling sketch series that paired the absurdity of the vaudeville era with the contemporary politics of the late 1960s counterculture movement. It was very much the hippie aesthetic packaged and sold for mass consumption. It also helped launch the careers of Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn.

The ventriloquist act that opens for Adam Sandler in his new special Love You is working hard to win over the crowd. “How’s he doing?” Sandler asks a world-weary guy operating the theater audio board.

“He’s doing good,” the guy croaks in unconvincing fashion.

A stray dog passes through the worn-down theater halls. Sandler looks to his entourage: “Who booked this place?”

As Sandler prepares to take the stage, he crosses paths with the ventriloquist and his dummy, wearing a cap with “Lester” bedazzled across the front. “Great audience,” says the puppetmaster.

“They made me feel real,” agrees Lester, the bespectacled puppet.

“Willie and Lester, you guys,” says Sandler. “This means a lot to me. The crowd loves you.”

While Willie Tyler and Lester might be unknowns to younger viewers of Sandler’s special, his admiration for the comic duo is genuine. The veteran ventriloquist act has been...

The team behind the low-budget Canadian kids’ sketch show You Can’t Do That on Television didn’t know it would help define the Nickelodeon brand when it premiered 45 years ago.

British TV producer Roger Price had created several children’s programs in the U.K. before moving to Canada, where he aimed to launch a show that respected kids’ perspectives and didn’t condescend to them. Price wasn’t one to glamorize childhood, having endured a tough upbringing that included boarding school in Switzerland.

Inspired by adult-focused programs like Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Ycdtot featured mostly amateur child actors playing kids who were putting on their own TV show while dealing with incompetent adults. Premiering on Cjoh-tv in Ottawa on Feb. 3, 1979, it earned the stateside attention of fledgling network Nickelodeon, which began airing episodes in early 1982 to big ratings.

“With 30-second sketches, there’s no room for filler,” recalls Abby Hagyard,...

Peter Marshall, the velvety-voiced host who presided over NBC’s celebrity-filled game show The Hollywood Squares for 16 years, died Thursday. He was 98.

Marshall, an accomplished singer who also was a leading man on Broadway and one-half of a popular comedy team before embarking on his game-show gig, died of kidney failure at his Encino home, his family announced.

The pride of West Virginia hosted some 6,000 episodes of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 through 1981, winning four Daytime Emmy Awards. Marshall often worked just one day a week, when he taped five shows. “It was the easiest job I ever had, and I never rehearsed,” he said.

Soon after starring in the Tony-nominated Broadway musical comedy Skyscraper opposite Julie Harris, Marshall was offered the job as host of The Hollywood Squares, created by Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley. An earlier version of the show, hosted by Bert Parks, had been turned down.

Marshall...

Mitzi McCall, the delightful actress and sitcom writer who partnered with her husband, Charlie Brill, in a sketch comedy act that famously floundered between sets by The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, has died. She was 93.

McCall died Thursday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, her family announced.

The pint-sized Pittsburgh native also played the dry cleaner’s wife who wears a fur coat owned by Jerry’s mom on the 1994 Seinfeld episode “The Secretary,” and she was the mother of Carol Leifer’s optometrist character on the 1997-98 WB sitcom Alright Already.

McCall had a thriving career as a voiceover artist; she played Mother Goose on Mother Goose and Grimm and worked on other animated projects including The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, Paw Paws, Darkwing Duck, Yo Yogi! and Ice Age (2002).

And she wrote for shows including 13 Queens Boulevard, Eight Is Enough, One Day at a Time,...

Mitzi McCall, whose five-decade resume in entertainment included 11 films, 14 TV shows and many animated series voice-overs, died August 8 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank at age 93. No details on cause were immediately available.

Her husband and comedy partner, Charlie Brill, confirmed her death in a Facebook post. “I lost my Mitzi last night. Rest in peace my one and only love…Rest in peace and laughter.”

McCall and Brill appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, better known as the U.S. television debut of The Beatles; the pair’s act can be seen on the DVD of the Beatles’ appearance on the show. They were interviewed in 2005 for Public Radio International’s “Big Break” episode of This American Life regarding their Beatles-Sullivan experience, including a dressing room encounter with John Lennon.

McCall started her entertainment career on the Kiddie Castle program on Kdka-tv in Pittsburgh.

When Bob Newhart died July 19 at the age of 94, the world lost one of the last remaining comedians of a certain era. Predating “Saturday Night Live” and more contemporary avenues for comedy, the Chicago-born master of dry, deadpan wit came up through stand-up sets in his city, growing into a familiar face in the ’60s with appearances on variety series such as “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.” His debut live album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” was what shot him into full superstar status, becoming the first comedy album to receive the Grammy for Album of the Year; a feat most comedians ever seem unlikely to repeat today.

Of course, nowadays Newhart is remembered most vividly not for his live work but as one of the great stars of the sitcom genre. He had two short-lived series (“Bob” and “George and Leo”) that sputtered after...

It was the year 1974 when a TV show titled Happy Days aired in the United States. With cameos from Robin Williams to other notable actors, Happy Days found fame and viewers over the 11 years that it aired.

Robin Williams as Mork in a still from Happy Days | Paramount Television

With Ron Howard starring in the lead role alongside Henry Wrinkler, the television show had one peculiar episode starring Robin Williams which was inspired by Star Wars!

When Robin Williams Became Mork

Williams found worldwide fame as a stand-up comedian and a great actor. Starring in projects like The Dead Poets Society to Popeye, the world loved watching Williams and naturally, he appeared in Happy Days.

Robin Williams as Mork in a still from Happy Days | Paramount Television

In 1978, an episode was released titled “My Favorite Orkan”. The premise of that episode was Robin Williams appearing as an alien Mork who...

Famed comedian and actor Bob Newhart has died. The performer, known for The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart, among other projects, was 94 years old. Newhart’s death was announced by his publicist Jerry Digney who revealed that the TV icon had died Thursday, July 18th after a series of short illnesses. Along with his 1970s hit series, the actor was best known for his shows like Bob and George & Leo. The comedian got his start in television when he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s, performing standup. Newhart in Elf (Credit: New Line/courtesy Everett Collection) From there, he took on roles in films and series like The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Captain Nice, Hot Millions, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and Catch-22. He later went on to make appearances on such classics as Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and The Don Rickles Show.

Robin Williams was an iconic figure in Hollywood who will be forever remembered for his iconic films, roles, and, comedy. An old clip of Williams was recently shared on the internet and the world is in love with it.

Matt Damon and Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting | Miramax Films

It was 1977 when a show titled Laugh-In aired on television. From various cameos by stars to comedians doing funny bits and skits, the show was quite popular during that time.

When Robin Williams Met Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra was a veteran singer known for songs like Fly Me To The Moon and New York, New York. Well, the singer also appeared in one episode of Laugh-In and that’s when Aladdin star Robin Williams made a simple cameo.

Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra in Guys and Dolls | Samuel Goldwyn Productions

Back in 1977, no one really knew who Robin Williams was.

Al Schultz, who worked as a makeup artist for some of the top TV shows of the 1960s and ’70s and was married to Vicki Lawrence for five decades, has died. He was 82.

Schultz died June 19 at his home in Long Beach, California, according to his publicist. A cause of death was not given.

Schultz started his career in makeup in the mid-1960s. He was mentored by Harry Maret, who worked with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Donna Reed and Doris Day. He began at NBC on shows like Hollywood Squares and Laugh-In and segued to a job at The Dean Martin Show, where he worked with the dancers known as the Golddiggers.

His big break came in 1968 when the Makeup Artists Union sent him to CBS Television City. There, he was noticed by Carol Burnett as he was walking by her dressing room, sparking a partnership that lasted for a decade.

Al Schultz, makeup artist on TV shows such as “The Carol Burnett Show” and “Good Times,” died June 19 at his home in Long Beach, Calif. He was 82.

Born in Fond du Lac, Wis. in 1942, Schultz played college football at the University of Missouri until a knee injury ended his sports career. He then moved to Hollywood, initially working as a grip and camera dolly operator before finding his passion in makeup artistry.

Schultz began his career as a makeup artist in the mid-1960s. His initial break came with NBC-tv, where he contributed to shows like “Hollywood Squares” and “Laugh-In.” He later worked on “The Dean Martin Show.”

In 1968, the Makeup Artist’s Union sent him to CBS Television City where Carol Burnett noticed him walking by her dressing room. From then on, he worked on “The Carol Burnett Show,” where he met his wife, Vicki Lawrence. He served as...

Al Schultz, a top CBS makeup artist for The Carol Burnett Show and several groundbreaking Norman Lear sitcoms including All in the Family and Good Times and was married to Vicki Lawrence for nearly 50 years, has died. He was 82.

His publicist said today that Schultz died June 19 at his home in Long Beach, CA, but did not give details.

Born Alvin Schultz in 1942 in Wisconsin, he moved to Los Angeles and found work in Hollywood as a camera dolly operator and grip before pivoting to become a makeup artist. He joined variety hit The Carol Burnett Show during its third season in 1969 and would work in its makeup department for more than 180 episodes through 1977.

It was there he met Lawrence, the show’s co-star and future Mama’s Family lead. They would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year.

Related: Norman Lear Remembered: Jennifer Aniston, Fran Drescher & Barbra Streisand Join...

In one of this year’s climaxes at the Tribeca Festival, Steven Spielberg showed off his first major studio theatrical release, Sugarland Express, which celebrates 50 years.

“You’re the first audience to ever see Sugarland Express in 50 years,” joked the 3x Oscar-winning filmmaker at the packed Bmcc screening in the lower west side of Manhattan.

How’s that? Spielberg said Universal pulled the movie out of theaters after two weeks as no one went to see it despite good reviews. The movie repped his first big screen release after cutting his teeth as a TV director, and it preceded his work on 1975’s Jaws, the blockbuster that would give definition to the word tentpole.

Sugarland Express failed at the box office per Spielberg, as audiences wanted to see a lighthearted Goldie Hawn in the movie, not to mention, it had a tragic ending.

Here are some of the memories Spielberg...

On David X. Cohen and Matt Groening's 31st-century sci-fi sitcom "Futurama," the world's citizens are hooked on a high-octane ultra-soap-opera called "All My Circuits," a long-running TV series starring a cast of mostly robots. The main character in "All My Circuits" is a tall, egocentric blowhard named Calculon who is constantly discovering evil twins, engaging in robotic infidelities, and discovering multiple personalities. In a strange metanarrative twist, the Calculon on "All My Circuits" is played by a robot ... that also happens to be named Calculon, and also happens to be an egocentric blowhard.

In reality, Calculon is played by veteran voice actor Maurice Lamarche, one of the best voice actors currently working. Maurice Lamarche plays Calculon with a bloviating confidence that only seems to infect famous actors. Calculon eventually reveals that he is many hundreds of years old, and changes his identity every few decades. In previous lives, he...

John Hamlin, who contributed to 45 Academy Awards telecasts at NBC and ABC as an executive or consultant and produced many other TV specials during his long career, has died. He was 92.

Hamlin died Monday at a family home in Pacific Palisades after he was hospitalized for severe dehydration from stomach flu, his family announced.

Hamlin worked with everyone from Bob Hope and Elvis Presley to Michael Jackson and said the highlight of his career was meeting Charlie Chaplin at the 1972 Academy Awards when the legend emerged from exile to receive an honorary Oscar.

He also had the truth about the streaker Robert Opel, who flashed across the stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the 1974 Academy Awards, saying the whole thing was planned and that co-host David Niven’s impromptu response about the naked man’s “shortcomings” was prewritten.

When anyone was new to working on the Oscars, they often...

With the recent death of Norman Lear, we were reminded this year that precious few comedy legends remain with us who were around in the 1960s and ’70s. One of those is George Schlatter, the legendary creator-producer of the iconic 1960s NBC comedy-variety series “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.” Taking its title from the “love-in” and “sit-in” of the hippie counterculture of the time, “Laugh-In” ran from January 1968 to March 1973 and was a giant hit, introducing the world to regulars Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn (among many others).

Schlatter turns 94 today (New Year’s Eve), and he still goes into the office every day, looking to produce the next big thing in TV comedy. And this past week, with the death at 86 of Tom Smothers, Schlatter said, “I loved Tommy. Tommy and I were great friends. Tommy took the rap for a lot of what I did, y’know. See, we...

Tom Smothers, the countercultural comedy icon admired for the 1960s variety program he created and hosted with his younger brother, Dick, and for the tenacity he displayed in frequent clashes with CBS censors, has died. He was 86.

Smothers died Tuesday at his home in Santa Rosa, California, after a battle with cancer, his brother announced in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter by the National Comedy Center.

“Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner,” Dick, 84, said. “I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him, on and off stage, for over 60 years. Our relationship was like a good marriage — the longer we were together, the more we loved and respected one another. We were truly blessed.”

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ran from February 1967 until April 1969, when the pair were fired after...

The Movie Orgy.The title is a kind of ontological dare: can an assemblage of movies all lay on top of each other, swap positions, feel each other? Surely humans love, as they say, “to watch,” to raise voyeurism up as art. But when left to its own devices, does cinema also experience such base urges? Asked another way: when we say “the movie orgy,” don’t we mean “editing”? Disparate parts colliding with and enveloping one another, penetrating and being penetrated, and finally mutating after coming together? Cinema is transformed by—and transforms (us) through—the spaces between the images. A classier writer might cite Robert Bresson, speaking to Cahiers du cinéma at Cannes in 1957: “The cinema must express itself not with images, but with relationships between images, which is not at all the same thing.” A happy vulgarian—I betray that I am one, as I suspect Joe Dante,...

At age 93, producer George Schlatter has a lifetime of memories to look back at. Producing the groundbreaking and iconic TV comedy show Laugh-in is just one facet. There’s also presidential inaugurations, countless TV specials with big-name talent, running the Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethons, and hanging with Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra among them.

All of that and more is captured in a memoir just-released via Unnamed Press/Rare Bird Books, Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy.

Already a well-regarded producer of television specials and variety shows by 1967, Schlatter pitched NBC on an idea that was a radical departure: a comedy special inspired by the hippie counter-culture, one which would take the idea of sit-ins, love-ins, and be-ins and manifest that politicized, sexualized, consciousness-raising energy into comedic sketches. The special that emerged, Laugh-in, was so successful it became a regular television series, running from January 1968 to March 1973 and eventually becoming the #1 show on TV.

Let’s be honest, it’s a weird time out there in the world of streaming movies. As the major streamers continue to mess around with their apps and libraries, adding ad-tiers or changing their names to nonsense words that have nothing to do with the brand, they’re also charging more for less. As Netflix, Max, and Amazon Prime decrease in value, free streaming services become a better deal.

But just because you’re not shelling out any cash doesn’t mean that you want a terrible experience. If you know where to look, you can find hundreds of movies available online, completely for free. And no, I’m not referring to those sketchy sites you used to visit in college. I’m talking about services that let you watch full-length movies completely for free. Sure, you’ll need to watch a few ads to get the movies, but...

Goldie Hawn has been a star for more than 50 years. She got her start dancing and giggling, often in a bikini, on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," a seminal TV comedy series of the late 1960s. She left the show to focus on her film career. At first, her film roles were pretty similar to the free spirit/dumb blonde act she did on "Laugh-In," but her potential as a comedic actor shone through, and by the 1980s, she was leading movies herself. After starring in some classics of the '80s and '90s, she left acting behind in the early 2000s, focusing on her family, writing her autobiography, and running the Hawn Foundation, a nonprofit that helps disadvantaged kids perform better in school.

After a 15-year hiatus from the big screen, Goldie Hawn returned to star with Amy Schumer in the comedy "Snatched." Since then, she's appeared alongside her real-life partner,...

The Peabody Awards announced Thursday that Issa Rae and Lily Tomlin will receive honorary awards at the June 11 ceremony, which will be held in Los Angeles for the first time in Peabody’s 83-year history. Shrinking star Jessica Williams will host the event at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the first in-person ceremony since 2019.

Rae will receive the Trailblazer Award, which “recognizes visionaries that are impacting our culture and affecting social change through their innovative storytelling.” The Black Lady Sketch Show and Rap Sh!t producer previously won a Peabody in 2017 for HBO’s Insecure, which Rae created with Larry Wilmore.

Tomlin will be honored with the Peabody’s Career Achievement Award, “reserved for individuals whose work and commitment to broadcasting and streaming media have left an indelible mark on the field and in American culture.” She won two Peabody Awards in 1996 for the documentary The Celluloid Closet, for which she provided narration,...

Perry Cross, who served as Johnny Carson’s first producer on The Tonight Show before he exited to run an ABC program hosted by Jerry Lewis that came and went after 13 episodes, has died. He was 95.

Cross died March 9 of kidney cancer at a hospital in Los Angeles, his son, Larry Cross, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Cross started out producing Ernie Kovacs’ CBS weekday morning show in 1952 and also worked on The Red Skelton Hour, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Soupy Sales Show, Life With Linkletter, The Garry Moore Show and several Jonathan Winters live specials during his career.

Cross had been producing The Tonight Show in the immediate aftermath of host Jack Paar’s departure on March 30, 1962, guiding the NBC program in Hollywood and New York that featured guest hosts for six months until Carson took over.

NBC wanted Cross to be Carson’s producer,...

Coslough Johnson, the Emmy-winning writer who worked with his late older brother, Arte Johnson, on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and wrote for two variety shows toplined by Sonny and Cher, has died. He was 91.

Johnson died March 23 of prostate cancer at a nursing facility in the Thousand Oaks area, his wife, Mary Jane, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Johnson also worked on sitcoms including The Monkees, Bewitched, That Girl, The Partridge Family, Good Times, Flo, Operation Petticoat and Cpo Sharkey and on cartoons featuring Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, The Flintstones, Voltron and He-Man.

He wrote on the first three seasons (1968-70) of NBC’s Laugh-In, the final three seasons (1971-74) of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and the lone season (1976-77) of The Sonny and Cher Show, those last two for CBS.

Other variety shows on his résumé included The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show...

Lee Mendelson, the producer behind more than 50 animated TV specials featuring Charlie Brown and the “Peanuts” gang, died on Christmas Day at his home in Hillsborough, Calif., after a long battle with cancer. He was 86.

Mendelson also wrote the lyrics to “Christmas Time Is Here,” a song featured in “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the 1965 special that turned “Peanuts” into a TV staple. “Charlie Brown Christmas” brought Mendelson the first of his 12 Emmys. The last came in 2015 for “It’s Your 50th Christmas, Charlie Brown.” Mendelson’s work with animator Lee Melendez also brought him four Peabody Awards, an Oscar nomination and two Grammy noms.

A lifelong fan of jazz, Mendelson had the inspiration to hire musician Vince Guaraldi to create original music for “Charlie Brown Christmas,” a touch that helped make the specials stand out with viewers young and old. Over the years Mendelson worked with other notable musicians such as Dave Brubeck,...

Created by and starring comedy duo Diallo Riddle and Bashir Salahuddin, IFC’s new sketch show “Sherman’s Showcase” travels through time via music and clips drawn from the 40-year library of a fictional legendary musical variety show. Unlike “South Side,” the duo’s more traditional Comedy Central series, “Sherman’s Showcase” is unapologetically delirious, seemingly operating under no specific set of rules, which might leave audiences dazed, for better or worse. And that’s exactly how Riddle and Salahuddin want it.

“As comedy writers, we really desire to be unbound, and because it’s a variety show, it allowed us to open up the format and write about anything that we wanted,” said Salahuddin at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour. “And so the ability for us to do that and also work with talented people who could put their own spin on what we wrote let us...

Created by and starring comedy duo Diallo Riddle and Bashir Salahuddin, IFC’s new variety sketch show “Sherman’s Showcase” travels through time via music and clips drawn from the 40-year library of a fictional legendary musical variety show. Executive produced by John Legend’s Get Lifted Film Co. and RadicalMedia, the series is inspired by shows like “Solid Gold,” “Soul Train,” and “Laugh-In,” and features a who’s who of movies, music, sports and entertainment — including two Egot winners — and multiple award-winning artists, actors and entertainers.

Each week on the eight-episode series, the show’s host, Sherman McDaniels (played by Salahuddin), opens up the vault for viewers to experience the comedy and musical numbers from the made-up 40-year history of the show. Whether it’s a real artist playing a fake character, or a comedian playing a real artist, the series promises to be always unconventional, irreverent, and most of all,...

Arte Johnson, an Emmy Award-winning comedian best known for his work on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, died Wednesday at the age of 90, our sister publication Variety reports, citing heart failure as his official cause of death.

Born Jan. 20, 1929 in Benton Harbor, Mich., Johnson appeared in a number of TV shows and movies before landing a spot on Laugh-In, the NBC sketch comedy series (1968–1971) that made him a household name. Among his more popular characters was Wolfgang, a German soldier who didn’t seem to realize that World War II had ended. Wolfgang came equipped with an iconic catchphrase (“Verrrry interesting…...

Arte Johnson, who won an Emmy for his work on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” has died at the age of 90.

Johnson died of heart failure on Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which first broke the news Wednesday. His death followed a three-year battle with bladder and prostate cancer.

The actor starred on “Laugh-In” from 1968 to 1973, playing a variety of characters including his best known, the Nazi soldier Wolfgang, who is known for his catchphrase, “Very interesting.” The phrase would go on to become the title of his own sketch comedy special, which aired on NBC in 1970.

Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2019 (Photos)

For his work on “Laugh-In,” Johnson was awarded an Emmy in 1969 and received two additional nominations.

His other TV roles included appearances on “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Bewitched,” “The Twilight Zone,” “The Donna Reed Show” and “Lost in Space.” In...

Arte Johnson, who won an Emmy for his memorable work on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and worked in TV and film for nearly half a century, died early Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, his family said announced. He was 90 and had battled bladder and prostate cancer for the past three years.

Johnson earned three consecutive Emmy noms for Laugh-In from 1969-71, winning the first year. He was part of the politically tinged NBC sketch series’ main cast from its launch in January 1968 until 1971, playing myriad characters in the show that launched the careers of such stars as Lily Tomlin, Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley and many others.

Among his most popular characters was Wolfgang, a cigarette-smoking German soldier who believed that World War II was still ongoing, as he scouted the show while hidden behind bushes. He would then invariably comment on the preceding sketch...

Arte Johnson, Emmy-winning star of 1960s and ’70s comedy sketch show “Laugh-In,” died July 3 in Los Angeles of heart failure. He was 90.

On “Laugh-In,” he was most familiar as Wolfgang, the German soldier who thought World War II was still going on. His catchphrase “Very interesting…” was one of many that caught on from the hit show. He won one Emmy for the show and was nominated two more times.

Johnson appeared in early TV series including “Sally” and “Hennesey.” He appeared in the “Twilight Zone” episdoe “The Whole Truth” as a car salesman who punches a used car lot owner.

His other TV appearances included “Bewitched,” “Lost in Space” and “The Donna Reed Show.”

He did voice work for cartoons including “The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo,” “Ducktales” and “Animaniacs.”

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Gisela, and his brother, Coslogh. Donations maybe be made to Actors & Others for Animals,...

It isn’t often that costumes get a direct shout-out in a TV show title. But then there’s Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” a singing competition series in which contestants all wore mascot-sized creature costumes, including full headpieces, to disguise themselves in front of a panel of judges.

“Singer” became broadcast’s biggest mid-season hit.

So all due credit to costume designer Marina Toybina, who translated the Korean concept series for American audiences — turning her costumes into the real stars of the show, at least until their occupants were revealed. “It’s go big or go home,” Toybina says. “Everyone’s trying to experiment with different ways of building costumes, going back to big pictures, big fabrics.”

Character outfits on TV have begun taking on bigger roles as costume designers let loose with assertive looks that not only dress actors, but enhance the overall show.

On Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel...

When “Laugh-In” debuted on NBC in 1967, creator George Schlatter could have very well gotten away with murder. The network didn’t often understand what the producer was trying to accomplish with his quick comedic snippets, his fresh-faced cast who often stumbled over their lines (which were sometimes purposely transposed on the teleprompter), or his ragtag group of oddball writers, which included a political science professor, a 16-year-old, and a young Lorne Michaels. But the Peacock was willing to experiment in order to sock it to CBS juggernaut “I Love Lucy” in the competing timeslot.

A year and a Richard Nixon appearance later, and “Laugh-In” became the place that every star and aspiring comedic yearned to be. From Orson Welles, Michael Cain and Kirk Douglas, to Cher and Flip Wilson, a wide-range of personalities popped up in various capacities, including in the famed Cocktail Parties or on the larger-than-life Joke Wall.

Beyoncé Knowles-Carter blessed the internet and the world on April 17, releasing a new Netflix film documenting her two 2018 Coachella performances, plus additional footage offering a glimpse into the iconic musician’s collaborative creative process. And indeed, it was very good.

The concerts – designed to celebrate the lasting legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities – were already guaranteed crowdpleasers, garnering more than 43 million views on YouTube in the last year, but what remains to be seen is whether or not the TV Academy will be similarly smitten with Beyoncé’s latest foray into the television sphere.

It’s not that the former Destiny’s Child star is unfamiliar with the Emmys. Beyoncé has four previous Emmy nominations, including nods for her 2013 Super Bowl Halftime Show, 2015 HBO “On The Run Tour” concert film with husband Jay-z, as well as nominations for Variety Special and Direction of a Variety Special for 2016’s HBO visual album “Lemonade.

In today’s TV News roundup, Netflix sets the premiere date for its 50th anniversary special of “Laugh-In.”

Dates

“Laugh-In: The Stars Celebrate,” the 50th anniversary tribute to the original series by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, will premiere on Netflix on May 14. The special, which was taped at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, pays homage to the late ’60s series and includes Lily Tomlin, one of the original stars, playing her iconic Edith Ann and Ernestine characters. The lineup of celebrities for the tribute includes Billy Crystal, Tiffany Haddish, Chelsea Handler, Neil Patrick Harris, Snoop Dogg, Michael Douglas, Jay Leno, Rita Moreno, Margaret Cho, Bobby Moynihan, Rob Riggle, Tony Hale, Jameela Jamil and many more.

Behind The Scenes

Variety has exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the creation of the 200th episode of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,” premiering April 20 at 11:30 a.m. on Discovery Family. For the first time in the series,...

Netflix has announced a new special Still Laugh-In: The Stars Celebrate, a 50th anniversary tribute to the sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1968-1973).

Hosted by original Laugh-In cast member Lily Tomlin and filmed at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater, the special will feature appearances by Billy Crystal, Tiffany Haddish, Neil Patrick Harris, Taye Diggs, Michael Douglas, Chelsea Handler, Jay Leno, Rita Moreno, Rita Wilson, Jo Anne Worley, Snoop Dogg, Maria Bamford, Margaret Cho, Jameela Jamil and more.

“The special, which was taped at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater, is filled...

Several years before Saturday Night Live premiered, there was a set of prime-time players doing hysterical sketch comedy on network television every week. Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In premiered in January 1968 and ran for over five years, creating many verrrrry interesting recurring characters and launching a few careers along the way, including Lily Tomlin’s and [...]

The post ‘Laugh-In’s’ Legacy Gets A Chance To Celebrate appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Netflix has announced it will pay tribute to the iconic sketch comedy show “Laugh-In” with a special event at the Dolby Theater on March 8.

“Still Laugh-In: The Stars Celebrate” will serve as a 50th anniversary celebration of the NBC show which aired from 1968 to 1973 and won two Emmy’s. Lily Tomlin will take center stage and revive two of the seminal characters she played on the show: Edith Ann and Ernestine.

The original show’s director and producer George Schlatter who will also be attendance, along with lineup of comedians, actors, and musicians paying homage to the iconic show with modern takes on timeless moments.

The Netflix special will take quintessential sketches and acts from the original hit series and add a contemporary flair that will prove even 50 years later, “Laugh-In” never gets old.

In Variety‘s review of the 25th anniversary special which aired in 1993, writer Todd Everett commented...

Debbie Reynolds died Wednesday afternoon as a result of a stroke, a family source confirmed to Deadline. She was 84 and had been taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center complaining of difficulty breathing, just a day after her daughter Carrie Fisher died at 60 after a heart attack.

A teenage beauty queen, Reynolds had moved to MGM after some unproductive years at Warner Bros., where her only film of note was The Daughter Of Rosie O’Grady. She will forever be remembered as Kathy Selden, the fledgling actress of serious intent who wins the heart of Gene Kelly’s Don Lockwood in the 1952 Freed Unit classic Singin’ In The Rain. The infectious musical comedy tracked the end of the silent film era and the emergence of sound through the romance between Lockwood, who makes the transition effortlessly, and Kathy, who ends up voicing Don’s erstwhile co-star, Jean Hagen’s New Yawkish-pitched Lina Lamont.

Oscar-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams (1951-2014) has left behind a legacy of memorable entertainment in stand-up comedy, television and film following in the aftermath of his tragic passing on Monday, August 11, 2014. Indeed, Williams will be remembered for his versatile presence in show business running the course of over four decades.

In a rather unconventional tribute of recognizing the late and gifted actor/comedian Robin Williams let us engage in The Top 10 Trivial Tidbits About Robin Williams (1951-2014) highlighting the performer’ s arcane facts and revelations pertaining to his film and television work.

So just how well do you know Robin Williams and his esteemed Hollywood career throughout the years in the media? Just sit back and enjoy this brain-teasing trivia-minded column about the dearly departed manic artist whose devotion to his craft of off-kilter comedic and shockingly dramatic showmanship on the small and big screen has and will always...

Tony Sokol Oct 21, 2019

While variations on the Dracula legend are among the most oft-told tales in movies and television, some stand out from the pack.

Dracula, the name is legendary. The First Vampire of both literature and film, he also rose to dominate pages of history. Dracula has been vilified for years. Vlad Tepes is painted as a cruel tyrant who impaled people who defied him, nailed hats onto the heads of monks who didn’t deify him, and who dipped his bread in the blood of armies defeated by him.

Cruel? Maybe. But not when you remember that after Spartacus’ slave rebellion was put down, Rome lined miles of roads with crucified dissidents. There was no internet back then and when you wanted to send a message you had to make it big. The Turks knew enough not to fuck with Vlad the Impaler or they’d get a...

The CBS/CW/Showtime panels are wrapping up at the Television Critics Association press junket in Beverly Hills, and to celebrate their interesting bevy of new shows, we quizzed a bunch of the networks’ stars and asked them to name their favorite gay entertainers of all time. We caught Robin Williams (who stars in the new sitcom The Crazy Ones with Sarah Michelle Gellar), Tyra Banks (whose next season of America’s Next Top Model will feature eight competing male models), Arsenio Hall (whose new talk show debuts September 9), LL Cool J, Aisha Tyler, Toni Collette (of the new drama Hostages), and my beloved Julie Chen. Check out their gay idols of choice below.

Robin Williams

Years ago I worked with Wayland Flowers and Madame. We did Laugh-In together, the second Laugh-In. Wayland himself was such a sweet guy, and Madame was the most vicious c*nt in the world.

The Wasteland:

Television is a gold goose that lays scrambled eggs;

and it is futile and probably fatal to beat it for not laying caviar.

Lee Loevinger

When people argue over the quality of television programming, both sides — it’s addictive crap v. underappreciated populist art — seem to forget one of the essentials about commercial TV. By definition, it is not a public service. It is not commercial TV’s job to enlighten, inform, educate, elevate, inspire, or offer insight. Frankly, it’s not even commercial TV’s job to entertain. Bottom line: its purpose is simply to deliver as many sets of eyes to advertisers as possible. As it happens, it tends to do this by offering various forms of entertainment, and occasionally by offering content that does enlighten, inform, etc., but a cynic would make the point that if TV could do the same job televising fish aimlessly swimming around an aquarium,...

This story first appeared in the Aug. 23-Sept. 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Her Friends Remember George Schlatter, Laugh-In executive producer: "It's impossible to say the name Phyllis Diller and not smile. She was an original. She was one of the first truly liberated females who stood for women's rights. Phyllis was more than a comedienne: She was a writer, a brilliant musician and a feminist before there was a word for feminism. She never said anything mean about anyone other than her husband, Fang: All of her jokes were about herself. She not only created

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Actor Digby Wolfe has died at the age of 82.

He lost his battle with lung cancer at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico on 2 May, according to the Associated Press.

Wolfe, who was born in London, began performing comedy in England in the 1950s. He later moved to the U.S., where he landed roles in a number of hit TV shows, including I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Munsters and The Monkees.

The actor also voiced roles in animated movie The Jungle Book and Carey Grant's 1964 classic Father Goose, while his writing credits include Emmy Award-winning variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.

Wolfe went on to launch a 12-year teaching career at the University of New Mexico, specialising in screenwriting.