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"Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" was a great show. Just ask the guy who created it.

"It was TV without a net," said executive producer George Schlatter. "It was a groundbreaking show. It was the writing. It was editing. It was the energy. It was the subject matter. It was that cast — that wonderful, delightful, crazy cast of characters."

He'd like you to watch the "Best of Laugh-In" special on PBS, by the way.

"Laugh-In" certainly was influential, inspiring everything from "Saturday Night Live" to "Sesame Street." It was wildly fast-paced, even frantic, jumping from one gag to the next. "I believe maybe we shortened the attention span," Schlatter said.

And that was in a pre-Internet era, kids.

In addition to hosts Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, the cast included Lily Tomlin, Gary Owens, Ruth Buzzi, Henry Gibson, Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley, Judy Carne, Alan Sues, Flip Wilson and Goldie Hawn. "Oh, we had fun," Buzzi said. "I loved every second of it."

Tomlin seconded that. "Laughter is contagious, and so if you have a bunch of people acting crazy on television every Monday night and really having fun, it just translates," the comic said.

The show unspools as rather tame by today's standards, but in the late '60s and early '70s "Laugh-In" was pushing boundaries and testing the patience of the NBC censors.

"There's nothing in it that's dirty," Schlatter said, adding: "It's just bawdy. It felt more progressive than it was."

If you're old enough to remember "Laugh-In," you'll enjoy the "Best of" special. Worley and Schlatter said they think "Laugh-In" is timeless; others might disagree.

It's not without laughs, but America has changed a lot in the 40 years since "Laugh-In" was the No. 1 show on TV for two seasons (1968-70).

"Did a lot of people watch this?" my teenage son asked.

"About 60 million people a week," I replied as his jaw dropped.

But back then, I explained, there were only three networks, and VCRs, DVRs, cable channels, DVDs and the Internet were still a long way off.

"Laugh-In" tapped into the zeitgeist of the younger generation of the late '60s and early '70s, in form, if not in substance. It created a whole slew of catch phrases, including "Here come da judge," "Sock it to me," "Veeery interesting," "You bet your sweet bippy," "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls" and "beautiful downtown Burbank" — a phrase kept alive by Johnny Carson.

"Laugh-In" expressed the mood of the counterculture while, for the most part, remaining a part of the establishment. The guests weren't exactly a subversive crowed, leaning toward celebrities such as John Wayne, Dinah Shore, Bob Hope, Perry Como and Bing Crosby.

Richard Nixon credited the show with helping to put him in the White House. In 1968, he appeared on "Laugh-In" just long enough to say, "Sock it to me?" And, perhaps, change his image enough to give him a narrow victory over Hubert Humphrey.

"That was my biggest mistake," Schlatter said. "And I've had to live with that ever since he announced that that may have gotten him elected." —

'Best of Laugh-In'

The hourlong special airs Tuesday, March 22, at 7 p.m., and Friday, March 25, at 9 p.m. on KUED-Channel 7.