Dick Martin Passes

May 25, 2008 10:36 AM

Say good night, Dick. Best known for the highly successful Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Dick Martin was the silly, almost child-like counterpart to straight-man Dan Rowan.

Dick "accompanies" Tiny Tim.
Another Laugh-In intro.
In the Cocktail Party scenes, Dick's specialty was delivering pick-up lines.

Good night, Dick.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner (40 comments total)

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posted by quonsar at 10:49 AM on May 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

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posted by Falling_Saint at 10:53 AM on May 25, 2008

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posted by fixedgear at 11:03 AM on May 25, 2008

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posted by doctor_negative at 11:04 AM on May 25, 2008

Martin did the bumbling delivery better than just about any other comedian. His delivery was so good that he could make me laugh even with a mediocre or even bad punchline.

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posted by Slack-a-gogo at 11:13 AM on May 25, 2008

. I forgot how funny bad jokes could be when told right. I wonder how much of that show was improvised and how much was scripted?
posted by octothorpe at 11:18 AM on May 25, 2008

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posted by Thorzdad at 11:36 AM on May 25, 2008

My day just got a little suckier. Good night, sweet prince.
posted by figment of my conation at 12:01 PM on May 25, 2008

Loved R&ML-I, to a great extent for Martin's good-natured leering at just about everything said to him by Rowan. Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls, &c., &c.

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posted by the sobsister at 12:42 PM on May 25, 2008

Dick passed away? I didn't know that!

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posted by ZachsMind at 12:48 PM on May 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Dick was still alive? I didn't know that either!

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posted by ZachsMind at 12:51 PM on May 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

The show ran from when I was about 7 to 12 years old. We watched it every week. Well, except when my dad declared it "too stupid" and changed the channel. Of course I didn't get half of the jokes, but I had no problem asking my older brother to explain every one of them to me, which he usually did unless it would have been too embarrassing.

Laugh-in was done so differently from any other show, that I felt like I had a back-stage pass. I loved it when they showed the flubbed lines and multiple takes of a joke, returning to it until they got it "right."
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 12:52 PM on May 25, 2008

Aw. Damn.

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posted by scody at 1:51 PM on May 25, 2008

I really want a walnetto right now.

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posted by threadbare at 1:58 PM on May 25, 2008

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posted by jlkr at 2:23 PM on May 25, 2008

The world is a less wacky place without him. The very end of every episode of Laugh-In featured the sound of one person clapping (with two hands). I'm doing that right now.

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posted by wendell at 2:36 PM on May 25, 2008

I remember watching the show with my mother as a child. ... and my crush on Goldie.

Goodnight, Dick.
posted by terrapin at 3:12 PM on May 25, 2008

shit.

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posted by CitizenD at 3:25 PM on May 25, 2008

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posted by briank at 3:30 PM on May 25, 2008

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posted by OolooKitty at 3:42 PM on May 25, 2008

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posted by annieb at 3:47 PM on May 25, 2008

Loved that show when I was a kid. Then a few years later... psychedelics! It all came together!

RIP, Dick Martin.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:02 PM on May 25, 2008

Perhaps TCM will now broadcast Once Upon A Horse....

Pity they didn't make more of these.
posted by IndigoJones at 4:03 PM on May 25, 2008

Mr. Martin was one of his generations most gifted comedians. His timing and rhythm were exquisite. You can learn a whole bunch about delivery from studying clips of his routines with Mr. Rowan.

Congratulations, Mr. Martin, on a life well lived.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:04 PM on May 25, 2008

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posted by waraw at 4:31 PM on May 25, 2008

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posted by mike3k at 4:54 PM on May 25, 2008

I didn't know he was still alive, either.

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posted by yhbc at 5:06 PM on May 25, 2008

Fuzzy Skinner writes: The show ran from when I was about 7 to 12 years old. We watched it every week.

We must be about the same age. We watched it too ... I remember all of us, even my parents, watching with disbelief that a show could be so funny and still be on the air saying such outrageous things.

It occurs to me that I'm now the age that Dick Martin was when the show started, and single again. I should start trying some of his lines ;-).

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posted by Araucaria at 5:48 PM on May 25, 2008

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posted by Slithy_Tove at 7:04 PM on May 25, 2008

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posted by subaruwrx at 7:06 PM on May 25, 2008

And the 1960's not that slowly fades away...

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posted by BrooklynCouch at 7:39 PM on May 25, 2008

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posted by matty at 8:04 PM on May 25, 2008

AM & FM, brought to you by Grendle the Friendly Drell...

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posted by jonp72 at 8:49 PM on May 25, 2008

I recall being rather torn when this show was on. I liked it well enough as a kid, but I traded Goldie Hawn for Diana Rigg when they started showing "The Avengers" here in the states. Of course, "Laugh-In" ultimately pummeled them in the ratings.
posted by RavinDave at 9:11 PM on May 25, 2008

More laughs around the family TV: Dick Martin directed a dozen or so episodes of the Bob Newhart show.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 9:14 PM on May 25, 2008

Classic Television Showbiz
posted by hortense at 10:56 PM on May 25, 2008

When I was a kid, I insisted on staying up late so I could watch Laugh In on Nick at Nite.

I must not've gotten most of it, but it somehow still amused me.

Thanks, Dick.

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posted by flaterik at 1:55 AM on May 26, 2008

Sock it to me!

Good night, Dick, and thanks.

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posted by Goofyy at 3:29 AM on May 26, 2008

Goofyy, your delivery is off.

Sock it... to me?
/Nixon

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posted by Faint of Butt at 3:39 AM on May 26, 2008

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posted by Dreama at 3:53 PM on May 26, 2008