Sunday, May 25, 2008

Dick Martin

Dick Martin, half of Rowan & Martin, has just died. (Rowan died 20 years ago). Though Martin made a career for himself as a TV director starting in the late 70s, it's as the sillier, wilder, dumber half of R&W that he'll be remembered.

The two formed a comedy team in the early 50s, but didn't reach national fame until the late 60s. They did star in a pretty bad comedy western in 1958, Once Upon A Horse, but no one noticed. (If you ever do see it, check out a young Mary Tyler Moore as one of the showgirls.) Not unlike The Maltese Bippy (1969), made at the height of their celebrity, the film had them playing characters and all but ignored their stage personae. (A mistake never made by their original inspiration, Martin & Lewis.) Dick also had a recurring role on The Lucy Show in the early 60s, but mostly played it straight, and was little more than window dressing.

Then, in 1968, the duo started hosting Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In on NBC. (Good thing it was them or the title wouldn't have worked.) It was a national phenomenon, shooting to the top of the ratings. It's hard to describe the fast-moving, colorful, loosely-structured mix of sketches, sight gags, out-takes, go-go girls and production numbers. It captured the zeitgeist, somehow mixing the new and old, the hippies and the borscht belt. (The title was a nod to the Be-In.) It was "now" but it was palatable.

It also managed to be political without taking sides. In fact, the producer George Schlatter was a Nixon man, and many credit Nixon's humanizing appearance on the show as a decisive factor in his becoming President. (Meanwhile, the Smothers Brothers on CBS were truly political, and got canceled for their trouble.)

The show introduced a bunch of new stars, such as Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin, and a ton of new catchphrases: Sock It To Me, Here Comes The Judge, Look That Up In Your Funk And Wagnalls, You Bet Your Bippy, Very Interesting and others. Nothing like it had ever been on prime time.

It hasn't dated well. Not only is a lot of the comedy topical, but the hipness is long gone, revealing the jokes to be, generally, second-rate. What holds up best, in fact, are Rowan and Martin: Rowan, the suave, smart one--sort of a mix of Dean Martin and Bud Abbott--and Dick, a clear descendant of Gracie Allen ("Say Goodnight, Dick"), only a bit more sly. They did excellent cross-talk routines that make me wish I could have seen their nightclub act.

The show ended after six seasons and the two went their separate ways in 1977, with Rowan all but disappearing from show biz. Martin, however, in addition to taking up directing, kept working in front of the camera. In the 80s he was a regular on game shows and in the 90s did guest shots on shows such as Coach, 3rd Rock From The Sun and The Nanny. He was a genial presence, but I always felt someone was meant to be standing to his right.

8 Comments:

Blogger VermontGuy said...

Laugh-In was appointment TV, back when there was such a thing. I was especially fond of Ruth Buzzi and Arte Johnson's spinster and dirty old man routine.

4:59 AM, May 25, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, what a flashback. I was just a preschooler when Laugh-In first appeared, but my parents let me watch it anyway. I loved the Lily Tomlin characters, and would entertain my parents' friends at parties with my impersonations of Edith Ann and Ernestine the telephone operator (I even did an Edith Ann routine for a high school talent show later on--and that's the truthpthpth). I also loved the "verrry interesting--but schtupid!" guy. I remember Dick Martin most for his dumb-yet-clever banter with Dan Rowan, but also for his hilarious performances as half of the drunken couple opposite Ruth Buzzi, and for his lines in the closing segment when the cast would open windows and deliver rapid-fire jokes and one-liners. I have also recently seen some really funny performances of his on reruns of the old Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, which are also dated but still funny if you can project yourself back in time and cut some slack for blatant political incorrectness.

7:22 AM, May 25, 2008  
Blogger dino martin peters said...

Hey pallie, so appreciate your analogy of Rowen and our Dino...indeed Rowen reminded me much of Dino...the look, the mannerisms...

12:27 PM, May 25, 2008  
Blogger sheldon said...

Rowan & Martin did a nice job of anchoring that fast-paced potpourri. It IS too bad that more footage of their stage act is not captured somewhere. They had a wonderful chemistry. And Dick Martin had a genuinely winning smile.

3:29 PM, May 25, 2008  
Blogger New England Guy said...

The one joke that remains with me (for some reason)
Rowan and Martin discuss Martin dating a naked woman most of which I don't remember except for the end:

Rowan: So do you think you'll be seing anymore of her?

Martin: I don't think there's any more of her to see.

6:31 AM, May 26, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I saw Rowan on Love Boat.

10:48 AM, May 26, 2008  
Blogger LAGuy said...

Yes, both Dan and Dick appeared on Love Boat, and that appeared to be Dan's swan song. Maybe he jumped overboard.

10:58 AM, May 26, 2008  
Blogger kaotic chick said...

its really sad to read about Dick martins death..He and Dan Rowan gave comedy a whole new dimension. laugh in was something prime time had never seen..funnily enough a lot of the artists featured on this site i found remind me of Dick martin..
http://effinfunny.com/index.php
they're some of the most promising new names in stand up comedy today..must watch for true comedy enthusiasts

2:33 PM, May 27, 2008  

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