Letters to Laugh-In

In 1968, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In debuted on NBC and became a groundbreaking hit that launched the career of many comedians. More than a year and a half after its debut, a spin off came to the network's daytime lineup Letters to Laugh-In, hosted by announcer Gary Owens. The show featured a panel of four comics )including two Laugh-In regulars) who read viewer-submitted jokes and the audience rated them. Thw winning joke won a prize and the lowest scoring joke earned the home viewer "seven days in Beautiful Downtown Burbank."

I remember watching the show when I came home from school and thought it was really funny.Unfortunately, the show suffered from low ratings, probably caused by viewer desertion after the abrupt cancellation of the show it replaced,the original Match Game. The show also went against tough competition,Dark Shadows and Gomer Pyle reruns. It wasn't much of a game, since there were no civilian contestants and relied more on comedic material. Owens wasn't a bad host, he kept the show moving and joined in the spirit of the festivities. But Letters to Laugh-In couldn't capitalize on the success of the prime time hit and after 13 weeks, it was out. You bet your bippy.

In the network's attempt to entice viewer participation from the tremendously popular Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In, this short-lived game show's concept was to have celebrities read jokes from viewers and have the audience rate the joke from +100 to -100. At the end of the show, the sender of the highest (best) and lowest (worst) joke would win a prize. Being that I was twelve years old at the time, I mailed in a handful of jokes on post cards (remember those?). Two of which were read - even though they were duplicates from other viewers - one receiving a +12 and the other a +20. No prize for me. But, lots of fun watching.