In the late 1960s, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–73) was at the cutting edge of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) comedy. Hosted by the popular comedy team of Dan Rowan (1922–1987) and Dick Martin (1922–), this trend-setting, fast-paced, hour-long NBC show featured zany comedy skits, corny jokes, and clever visual humor performed by a cast of regulars. Millions of viewers loved the show's suggestive humor and sense of playful, goofy chaos.

The structure of Laugh-In was highly unconventional. Comedy-variety shows of the time generally featured extended comic skits, but Laugh-In did not. Rowan and Martin themselves began each program with a comic conversation in which Martin would misinterpret and mangle the simplest statements or questions put forth by Rowan. The humor that followed centered on a series of set pieces, standard skits done every week, including "The...