watching reruns of Laugh In on youtube these days....

[msongs]

certainly I watched it some back in the day but mostly was not into tv watching. too much going on.

The humor is topical, which may not wear well to people now. For its time it was controversial with its constant critique of politics, THe war, and cultural stuff. Quite bit of stuff slipped by the censors from the network and sponsors.
Strengths - the musical numbers were usually great and lyrics in those slipped in the most controversial statements, which were not obvious as they were being sung to a tune which was usually very bright and cheerful. The format broke up the staid variety show presentation with all the short bits in rapid fire.
lots of chuckels and smiles but not many burst out loud laffs.

Weaknesses - we thought all those characters were ooooooooooold lol, considering a few were under 20 maybe. Lots of boring bits but like a standup routine they kept moving and another bit usually followed quickly.

for its time it was quite radical tho it seems tame tame tame to today's standards

[wryter2000]

1. My favorite thing they did

The News from 1984. Mind you, back then 1984 was a novel about an oppressive society. It wasn't a year anyone had lived through.

And the best joke was, "The news from 1984. President Reagan said today..."

It was a total joke that Ronald Reagan would ever be president.

[msongs]

2. yeah he was CA governor at the time fighting with the hippies in berkely nt

[sl8]

3. They also predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989:

That, followed by the Reagan reference, starting at ~ 1:05 min..

[2naSalit]

4. Since we had...

Very little parental guidance, it was must see teevee in our house! Funny, last year a good friend, in her 40s, came to visit for a couple days and when we were talking about radical ideas in today's society and what is considered "out there" today, I decided to show her Laugh-in. We watched the premier show and then we watched some Smothers Brothers. She was amazed and we laughed t a lot of the jokes. I felt I had done my duty introducing someone much younger to precursors of things that were set in motion back then.

[wryter2000]

5. Smothers Brothers

I remember Marvin Gaye performing I Heard It Through the Grapevine on the show. He wore a fringed leather jacket that swayed with his movements.