The Dean Martin Comedy World

The idea was that "roving reporters" would go around the world to find new comedy acts and show them on the air. That sounded quite promising.

The problem was that the producers were highly influenced by "Laugh-In." The comics were given very short segments -- no more than a minute. It was impossible to determine whether they were good or not after hearing about three jokes. And just as you began to get into the rhythm of the routine -- bang! -- off to another. Everyone was given a short shrift, and no one was memorable.

The show deserves a footnote for being one of the first US TV appearances of Monty Python's Flying Circus. But even that was handled incompetently, as the censors bleeped out the words "naughty bits" from the sketch (the actual words "naughty bits"). You'd think they could choose a segment of Python that wouldn't have anything the censors would frown on, but the producers most likely were only willing to choose chunks of skits that ran for less than 30 seconds, so they could move on to something else.

Ultimately, a complete waste.

In the summer of 1974, Jackie Cooper sat in a studio and announced that his roving reporters, Barbara Feldon and Nipsey Russell would be at the top comedy clubs looking for new talent. How many people remember seeing Andy Kaufmann on the show? It was the original Star Search, in that people such as David Brenner, Kip Addota , and others were introduced.