Happy Birthday, George Schlatter! The legendary creator of ‘Laugh-In’ turns 94

Ray Richmond
·3 min read
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With the recent death of Norman Lear, we were reminded this year that precious few comedy legends remain with us who were around in the 1960s and ’70s. One of those is George Schlatter, the legendary creator-producer of the iconic 1960s NBC comedy-variety series “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.” Taking its title from the “love-in” and “sit-in” of the hippie counterculture of the time, “Laugh-In” ran from January 1968 to March 1973 and was a giant hit, introducing the world to regulars Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn (among many others).

Schlatter turns 94 today (New Year’s Eve), and he still goes into the office every day, looking to produce the next big thing in TV comedy. And this past week, with the death at 86 of Tom Smothers, Schlatter said, “I loved Tommy. Tommy and I were great friends. Tommy took the rap for a lot of what I did, y’know. See, we’ve gotta find room for the rebels. We’ve gotta find room for the people for whom there is no room. And Tommy’s one.”

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To be sure, Schlatter was himself one of those rebels back in the late 1960s when he created “Laugh-In” for hosts Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. It was a collection of quick-cut, politicized, sexualized, energetic comedy sketches, a proud collection of topical puns and pizzazz. It took  primetime by storm in the late Sixties, and it’s hard to believe that the man who gave life to it is still with us. But indeed, Schlatter is still sharp and making the interview rounds for the memoir he published this past summer, “Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy.” Tomlin wrote the book’s foreword and Hawn the afterword.

“Still Laughing” finds Schlatter weaving together colorful anecdotes culled from his showbiz past, from his early nightclub days in Las Vegas, to rubbing elbows with mob figures Mickey Cohen and John Stompanato, to his close friendships with Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra (for whom he was asked to deliver a eulogy at his funeral). The book provides an inside look at the Golden Age of Hollywood following the cultural upheaval of the Sixties and Seventies, including how he convinced Ronald Reagan to do an act in Vegas with a troupe of chimps and convinced Richard Nixon – then the Republican candidate for President – to appear on “Laugh-In” saying “Sock it to me.”

In hindsight, Schlatter thinks the brief clip on “Laugh-In” made Nixon seem so regular and charming that it helped him win the 1968 Presidential Election. “It’s something I’ve had to live with,” he acknowledges.

Despite that little blip, here’s wishing Schlatter a happy 94th birthday.

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