text:
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (often simply referred to as Laugh-In) is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for six seasons from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network. The show, hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967, and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8 pm (ET). It quickly became the most popular television show in the United States.

The title of the show was a play on the 1960s hippie culture "love-ins" or the counterculture "be-ins", terms derived from the "sit-ins" common in protests associated with civil rights and antiwar demonstrations of the time. In the pilot episode, Dan Rowan explained the show's approach: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to television's first Laugh-In. Now for the past few years, we have all been hearing an awful lot about the various 'ins'. There have been be-ins, love-ins, and sleep-ins. This is a laugh-in and a laugh-in is a frame of mind. For the next hour, we would just like you to sit back and laugh and forget about the other ins."

Laugh-In had its roots in the humor of vaudeville and burlesque, but its most direct influences were Olsen and Johnson's comedies (such as the free-form Broadway revue Hellzapoppin'), the innovative television works of Ernie Kovacs, and the topical TV satire That Was the Week That Was. The show was characterized by a rapid-fire series of gags and sketches, many of which were politically charged or contained sexual innuendo. The co-hosts continued the exasperated straight man (Rowan) and "dumb guy" (Martin) act which they had established as nightclub comics.

The show featured Gary Owens as the on-screen announcer, and an ensemble cast. Ruth Buzzi was part of the ensemble throughout the show's six year run, while others who appeared in at least three seasons included Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley, Alan Sues, Lily Tomlin, Dennis Allen and Richard Dawson.

In 2002, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was ranked number 42 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Episodes
Laugh-In was designed to be very lightly structured and consisted mainly of short comedic sketches. Some of these would reappear multiple times throughout an episode with variations on a theme, while others involved reoccurring characters created by the cast. In others, cast members and guest stars would simply appear as themselves, delivering jokes or reacting to a previous sketch. In addition to the announced guest star or stars of the evening, some recurring guest stars would appear unannounced multiple times through a season (which was easy to accomplish given the show's non-linear taping sessions). A trademark of the series was its (even shorter) blackout sketches, often involving rapid-fire cuts between two or more scenes or camera angles, set to a six-note musical sting (or at times, an elongated 16-note version). These were used as transitions into and out of commercials, among other places.

The show started with a batch of sketches leading into Gary Owens' introduction segment, in which the cast and announced guest star(s) would appear behind open doors of the show's iconic, psychedelically painted "Joke Wall". Owens would also insert offbeat lines in his monotone, deadpan style, in the introductions and occasionally throughout the episode, generally facing a microphone to his side with one hand cupped to his ear (Owens's character loosened up and became "hipper" in later seasons).

After more short sketches leading into and out of the first commercial break, Rowan and Martin would walk in front of the show's homebase set to introduce the show and have a dialogue, generally consisting of Martin frustrating Rowan by derailing his attempt to do a proper introduction via misunderstandings or digressions.

Eventually, Rowan would end the introduction and invite the audience to the "Cocktail Party". This live to tape segment comprised all cast members and occasional surprise celebrities dancing before a 1960s "mod" party backdrop, delivering one- and two-line jokes interspersed with a few bars of dance music. (This was similar in format to the "Word Dance" segments of A Thurber Carnival, and would later be imitated on The Muppet Show.)

Another weekly segment was "Laugh-In Looks At The News", which began with the female cast members singing the segment's opening theme in a different costumed set piece each week, often with the help of the guest star. The news varied in presentation over the years, but in the earlier seasons started with Martin reading the "News of the Present", with Rowan providing "News of the Future" and sketches depicting the "News of the Past". Alan Sues, as his "Big Al" character, would provide a typically clueless sports report.

"Mod, Mod World" was a group of sketches introduced by Rowan and Martin that fit into an announced theme. This segment is notable for being interspersed with film clips of some of the female cast members (most frequently Carne and Hawn) performing go-go dancing in bikinis to the segment's burlesque-inspired theme, with the camera periodically zooming into jokes or images that had been painted onto their bodies. The segment also usually included an additional musical number based on the topic, performed by cast members at the beginning and end of the segment, as well as in short bridges between sketches.

At the end of every show, after a final dialogue, Rowan turned to his co-host and said, "Say good night, Dick", to which Martin replied, "Good night, Dick!", leading into the final Joke Wall segment, in which the cast popped out of their doors and told jokes to the camera, each other, or Rowan and Martin, who stood in front. This would lead into and continue under the closing credits. One final batch of skits, including a closing appearance from Owens, and often an appearance from Arte Johnson's character, German soldier Wolfgang ("veeeeery eeenteresting!"), brought the episode to a conclusion.

Other segments and recurring characters, listed below, would come and go throughout the years.

Pilot and season 1
The pilot featured Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Larry Hovis, Arte Johnson, and Jo Anne Worley, all of whom continued as season one regulars (and, except for Hovis, several seasons thereafter), along with future guest stars Ken Berry, Pamela Austin, and Barbara Feldon.

Gary Owens joined the cast in the proper first episode, as did Goldie Hawn in the third episode, who was under contract to Good Morning World at the time of the pilot.

Seasons 2 and 3
The second season had a handful of new regulars, including Alan Sues, Dave Madden, and Chelsea Brown. All of the new cast members from season two left at the end of that season except Sues, who stayed on through 1972. At the end of the 1968–69 season, Carne chose not to renew her contract, although she did make some appearances during 1969–1970.

Arte Johnson insisted on star billing, apart from the rest of the cast. The producer mollified him by having announcer Gary Owens read Johnson's credit as a separate sentence: "Starring Dan Rowan and Dick Martin! And Arte Johnson! With Ruth Buzzi ..." This maneuver gave Johnson star billing, but made it sound as though he was still part of the ensemble cast.

The third season had several new performers who only stayed on for that season, including Teresa Graves and Jeremy Lloyd. Lily Tomlin joined in the middle of the season and remained until the series ended. Johnny Brown made two appearances late in the third season and remained through seasons 4 and 5.

Jo Anne Worley, Goldie Hawn, and Judy Carne left after the third season.

Seasons 4 and 5
The 1970–71 season brought new additions to the cast, including tall, lanky, sad-eyed Dennis Allen, who stayed until the end; writer-actress Ann Elder; and tap dancer Barbara Sharma.

Arte Johnson and Henry Gibson left the show after/during the fourth season, with former third season regular Teresa Graves making two consecutive appearances toward the end.

The fifth season saw the return of former Hogan's Heroes stars Richard Dawson and Larry Hovis, both of whom had appeared in the first season; Dawson remained until the series ended.

The Joke Wall was briefly retired to start the season, with introductions moving to the Cocktail Party set, and the cast telling their show-closing jokes surrounded by celebrity and historical figure cutouts; after only a few episodes, the Joke Wall returned for the closing jokes.

The show celebrated its 100th episode in its fifth season, with former regulars Carne, Worley, Johnson, Gibson, Graves, and frequent guest star Tiny Tim returning for the festivities; John Wayne was also on hand for his first cameo appearance since 1968.

Season 6
For the show's final season (1972–73), Rowan and Martin assumed the executive producer roles from George Schlatter and Ed Friendly. Along with returnees Dawson, Owens, Buzzi, Allen, and occasional appearances from Tomlin, a new cast was brought in. This final season featured comedian Patti Deutsch, folksy singer-comedian Jud Strunk, ventriloquist act Willie Tyler and Lester, giddy Goldie Hawn lookalike Sarah Kennedy, wide-eyed brunette Donna Jean Young, and character comedian Brian Bressler. Sound-effects artist Frank Welker also made numerous appearances. Former regular Jo Anne Worley returned for two guest appearances, including the final episode.

This last season, which was not a George Schlatter property, was not included in the edited half-hour rerun package that was syndicated (through Lorimar Productions) to local stations in 1983 and later on Nick at Nite in 1987, ultimately appearing for the first time since its original run when the series began airing on Decades in 2017.

Of the more than three dozen entertainers to join the cast, only Rowan, Martin, Owens, and Buzzi were there from beginning to end. However, Owens was not in the 1967 pilot and Buzzi was not present in two first-season episodes.

Cast tenures

 * All seasons: Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, Gary Owens, and Ruth Buzzi
 * Season 1 (1968): Judy Carne, Arte Johnson, Pamela Austin, Eileen Brennan, Henry Gibson, Flip Wilson, Goldie Hawn, Larry Hovis, Roddy Maude-Roxby, Jo Anne Worley, Inga Neilsen, Paul Winchell, Tiny Tim
 * Season 2 (1968–69): Judy Carne, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Jo Anne Worley, Dave Madden, Alan Sues, Chelsea Brown, "Sweet Brother" Dick Whittington (through episode 14), Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall ("the Fun Couple"; through episode 11), Pigmeat Markham (through episode 14), Jack Riley (episodes 4, 7, 12, 13, 16), Muriel Landers (episodes 11 and 20), J.J. Barry (episodes 15–19), Stu Gilliam (as Byron Gilliam, dancer only), Barbi Benton (dancer only)
 * Season 3 (1969–70): Judy Carne (through episode 11), Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Alan Sues, Jo Anne Worley, Teresa Graves, Jeremy Lloyd, Pamela Rodgers, Byron Gilliam (through episode 11, but continued as a dancer and in occasional cameos), Lily Tomlin (from episode 15), Stu Gilliam (episodes 14, 16, 19, 20, 26), Johnny Brown (episodes 22 and 24, originally introduced as "John Brown")
 * Season 4 (1970–71): Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson (through episode 10), Alan Sues, Lily Tomlin, Dennis Allen, Johnny Brown, Nancie Phillips (through episode 17), Barbara Sharma, Ann Elder, Harvey Jason (episodes 2 and 4), Glen Ash (episodes 10 and 11), Byron Gilliam (dancer only)
 * Season 5 (1971–72): Alan Sues, Lily Tomlin, Dennis Allen, Johnny Brown, Ann Elder, Barbara Sharma, Larry Hovis, Richard Dawson, Moosie Drier, Byron Gilliam (dancer only), Barbi Benton (dancer only)
 * Season 6 (1972–73): Lily Tomlin, Dennis Allen, Richard Dawson, Patti Deutsch, Sarah Kennedy, Jud Strunk, Willie Tyler and Lester, Donna Jean Young, Moosie Drier, Tod Bass, Frank Welker, Brian Bressler (through episode 10), Kathy Speirs (episodes 11 and 12), Lisa Farringer (from episode 13). Not all cast members appear in all episodes this season; apparently, as an economic measure, producers Rowan and Martin gave individual performers the occasional week off, so there are absences from show to show. Only Ruth Buzzi and Gary Owens were considered essential to the weekly schedule and appeared in every episode.

Regular guest performers

 * Jack Benny (seasons 2–4, 6)
 * Johnny Carson (seasons 1–6)
 * Carol Channing (seasons 3–5)
 * Tony Curtis (seasons 2–3, 5)
 * Sammy Davis, Jr. (seasons 1–4, 6)
 * Phyllis Diller (seasons 2–4, 6)
 * Barbara Feldon (seasons 1–2)
 * Zsa Zsa Gabor (seasons 2–3)
 * Peter Lawford (seasons 1–4; Lawford became Dan Rowan's son-in-law in 1971)
 * Rich Little (seasons 2, 4, 6)
 * Jill St. John (seasons 1, 3, 5–6)
 * Tiny Tim (seasons 1–3, 5)
 * John Wayne (seasons 1–2, 5–6)
 * Flip Wilson (seasons 1–4)
 * Henny Youngman (seasons 2, 5–6)

Series writers
The writers for Laugh-In were: George Schlatter, Larry Hovis (pilot only), Digby Wolfe, Paul W. Keyes, Hugh Wedlock, Jr. and Allan Manings, Chris Bearde (credited as Chris Beard), Phil Hahn and Jack Hanrahan, Coslough Johnson (Arte Johnson's twin brother), Marc London and David Panich, Dave Cox, Jim Carlson, Jack Mendelsohn and Jim Mulligan, Lorne Michaels (before he became the producer of Saturday Night Live) and Hart Pomerantz, Jack Douglas, Jeremy Lloyd, John Carsey, Dennis Gren, Gene Farmer, John Rappaport and Stephen Spears, Jim Abell and Chet Dowling, Barry Took, E. Jack Kaplan, Larry Siegel, Jack S. Margolis, Don Reo and Allan Katz, Richard Goren (also credited as Rowby Greeber and Rowby Goren), Winston Moss, Gene Perret and Bill Richmond, Jack Wohl, Bob Howard and Bob DeVinney. Script supervisors for Laugh-In included Digby Wolfe (comedy consultant, season 1), Phil Hahn and Jack Hanrahan (season 2), Allan Manings (season 3), Marc London and David Panich (seasons 3–6), and Jim Mulligan (season 6).

Musical direction and production numbers
The musical director for Laugh-In was Ian Bernard. He wrote the opening theme music, "Inquisitive Tango" (used in Season 1 and again permanently from season 4), plus the infamous "What's the news across the nation" number. He wrote all the musical "play-ons" that introduced comedy sketches like Lily Tomlin's character, Edith Ann, the little girl who sat in a giant rocking chair, and Arte Johnson's old man character, Tyrone, who always got hit with a purse. He also appeared in many of the cocktail scenes where he directed the band as they stopped and started between jokes. Composer-lyricist Billy Barnes wrote all of the original musical production numbers in the show, and often appeared on-camera, accompanying Johnson, Buzzi, Worley, or Sues, on a golden grand piano. Barnes was the creator of the famous Billy Barnes Revues of the 1950s and 1960s, and composed such popular hits as "I Stayed Too Long at the Fair", recorded by Barbra Streisand and the jazz standard "Something Cool" recorded by June Christy. For the entire 141-episode series of Laugh-In, including the pilot, the show's musical coordinator was West Coast bebop jazz pianist and composer Russ Freeman.

Post-production
The show was recorded at NBC's Burbank facility using two-inch quadruplex videotape. As computer-controlled online editing had not been invented at the time, post-production video editing of the montage was achieved by the error-prone method of visualizing the recorded track with ferrofluid and cutting it with a razor blade or guillotine cutter and splicing with adhesive tape, in a manner similar to film editing. This had the incidental benefit of ensuring the preservation of the master tape, as a spliced tape could not be recycled for further use. Laugh-In editor Arthur Schneider won an Emmy Award in 1968 for his pioneering use of the "jump cut" – the unique editing style in which a sudden cut from one shot to another was made without a fade-out.

When the series was restored for airing by the Trio Cable Network in 1996, the aforementioned edits became problematic for the editors, as the adhesive used on the source tape had deteriorated during 20+ years of storage, making many of the visual elements at the edit points unusable. This was corrected in digital re-editing by removing the problematic video at the edit point and then slowing down the video image just before the edit point; time-expanding the slowed-down section long enough to allot enough time to seamlessly reinsert the audio portion from the removed portion of video.

Sketches
Frequently recurring Laugh-In sketches included:
 * "Sock it to me"; Judy Carne was often tricked into saying the phrase ("It may be rice wine to you, but it's sake to me!"), which invariably results in her (or other cast members) falling through a trap door, being doused with water, or playfully assaulted in various other manners. The phrase was also uttered by many of the cameo guest stars, most notably Richard Nixon, though they were almost never subjected to the same treatment as Carne.
 * "The Farkel Family", a couple with numerous children, all of whom had bright red hair and large freckles similar to their "good friend and trusted neighbor" Ferd Berfel (Dick Martin). The sketch employed diversion humor, the writing paying more attention to the lines said by each player, using alliterative tongue-twisters ("That's a fine-looking Farkel flinger you found there, Frank"). Dan Rowan played father Frank Farkel the Third, Jo Anne Worley, Barbara Sharma, and Patti Deutsch played his wife Fanny Farkel, Goldie Hawn played Sparkle Farkel, Arte Johnson played Frank Farkel the Fourth, and Ruth Buzzi played Flicker Farkel, who would only say "HIIIIII!" in a very high-pitched voice. Two of the children were twins named Simon and Gar Farkel, played by cast members of different races (Teresa Graves and Pamela Rodgers in the third season, Johnny Brown and Dennis Allen in the fourth season). By the final season the Farkel offspring had dwindled to only two children, played by Ruth Buzzi and the puppet Lester. All of the Farkel skits were written or co-written by David Panich.
 * "Here Comes the Judge". The judge, originally portrayed by British comic Roddy Maude-Roxby, was a stuffy magistrate with a black robe and oversized judge's wig. Each sketch featured the judge trading barbs with a defendant brought before him. On delivery of the punchline, he would strike the defendant with an inflated bladder balloon tied to the sleeve of his robe. Guest stars Flip Wilson or Sammy Davis Jr. would introduce the sketch saying "Here come da judge!", which was a venerable catchphrase by nightclub comedian Pigmeat Markham. Surprised that his trademark had been appropriated, Markham asked producer George Schlatter to let him play the judge himself; Schlatter agreed and Markham presided for the first half of the second season. After Markham left, the sketch was briefly retired until Sammy Davis Jr. donned the judicial robe and wig during his guest appearances, making the role his own. The character was introduced as "The Right Honorable Samuel Davis, Junior" (or "Right Hon." for short). Davis introduced each sketch with a spoken verse like "If your lawyer's sleepin', better give him a nudge! Everybody look alive 'cause here come de judge!" Davis would then strut off stage chanting "Here come de judge! Here come de judge!"
 * "Laugh-In Looks at the News", a parody of network newscasts, introduced by the female cast members in a highly un-journalistic production number. The sketch was originally called the Rowan and Martin Report (a take-off on the Huntley-Brinkley Report). The sketch itself featured Dick humorously reporting on current events, which then segued into Dan reporting on "News of the Past" and "News of the Future". The latter of these segments, on at least two occasions, correctly predicted future events, one being that Ronald Reagan would be president in 1988, and another that the Berlin Wall would finally come down in 1989. This segment was influenced by the BBC's That Was the Week That Was, and in turn inspired Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" segments (SNL creator Lorne Michaels was a Laugh-In writer early in his career). The News segments were followed by "Big Al" (Alan Sues) and his sports report in seasons 2–5. After Sues left the show, Jud Strunk took over the sports segment ("reporting from the sports capital of Farmington, Maine") by featuring films of oddly-named events which were actual sports films played backwards.  An example is the "Cannonball Catch", featuring a backwards film of a bowling tournament where the "cannonballs" (bowling balls) are caught one-handed by the catcher (the bowler) after rolling up the alley.
 * "New Talent Time" also called "Discovery of the Week" in later seasons. Introduced oddball variety acts (sometimes characters played by regular cast members)
 * Tin Pan Alley musician Tiny Tim – The most notable of these acts was introduced in episode 1 and shot to fame. Returned in the Season 1 finale and made several guest appearances after.
 * Actor Paul Gilbert (adoptive father of actress Melissa Gilbert) appeared in three episodes as an inept French juggler, introduced as "Paul Jill-bare".
 * 6'2" actress Inga Neilsen made appearances as a bugle/kazoo player who could only play one note of "Tiger Rag" and had to deal with Martin's advances. Martin, who hated all of the other New Talent acts, would enthusiastically cheer her on despite the obvious lack of talent.
 * Ventriloquist Paul Winchell appeared three times as "Lucky Pierre", whose puppets would fall apart or die on him.
 * Arte Johnson would appear as his Pyotr Rosmenko character looking for big American break, singing gibberish in a Russian accent.
 * Murray Langston, who later achieved fame as the Gong Show's "Unknown Comic".
 * Laugh-In writer Chris Bearde took the "New Talent" concept and later developed it into The Gong Show.
 * "The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award" sardonically recognized actual dubious achievements by public individuals or institutions, the most frequent recipients being members or branches of the government. The trophy was a gilded left hand mounted on a trophy base with its extended index finger adorned with two small wings.
 * "The Wonderful World of Whoopee Award" was a counterpart to the "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award", described by Rowan as a citation "for the little man who manages to outfight or outfox the bureaucracy"; the statue was similar to the Finger of Fate, only it was a right hand (without wings on the index finger) pointing straight up, and with a hidden mechanism that, when activated, waved the finger in a circular motion.
 * "The C.F.G. Automat"; a vending machine whose title was an inside joke for cast members who referred to producer Schlatter as "Crazy (F'ing) George". The vending machine would distribute oddball items that were a play on the name. Examples: The 'pot pie' produced a cloud of smoke when the door was opened, then the pie floated away. The 'ladyfingers' was a woman's hand reaching out and tickling Arte's face while another 'ladyfingers' door opened and picked his pocket.
 * Many episodes were interspersed with a recurring, short wordless gag in which an actor repeatedly tried to accomplish some simple task like entering an elevator, opening a window or door, watering a plant, etc., which would fail each time in a different, surprising way (the object would move unexpectedly, another part of the wall or room would move, water would squirt the actor in the face from the object, etc.)
 * Another recurring wordless gag involved one or more actors walking around the street in a jerky fashion (using stop-motion or low shutter speed filming) holding and turning a bare steering wheel, as if they were driving a car or actually were a car, with various sound effects to simulate honking, back-ups, collisions with each other, etc.
 * From season four on, a variety of sketches or jokes used the word "Foon", usually as part of the name of imaginary products or persons (e.g., Foon detergent, Mr. Foonman). (They did this with "Nern" in earlier seasons.)
 * "Questions From The Audience / Dick's Costumes"; In the sixth season, Dan Rowan would ask the audience if anybody had any questions about the show or otherwise. As he was doing so (in which nobody in the audience ever spoke up), Dick Martin would come out wearing some kind of costume which Rowan would ask about, leading to a humorous exchange on the costume's subject matter.

Characters

 * Dan Rowan, in addition to hosting, provided the "News Of The Future" and also appeared as General Bull Right, a far-right-wing representative of the military establishment and outlet for political humor.
 * Dick Martin, in addition to hosting would also play the drunken Leonard Swizzle, husband of an equally drunk Doris Swizzle (Ruth Buzzi); and a character always buzzing for an elevator on which the doors never closed in a normal way
 * Announcer Gary Owens regularly stands in an old-time radio studio with his hand cupped over his ear, making announcements, often with little relation to the rest of the show, such as (in an overly-dramatic voice), "Earlier that evening ..."
 * Arte Johnson:
 * Wolfgang the German soldier – Wolfgang would often peer out from behind a potted palm and comment on the previous gag saying "Verrry in-te-res-ting", sometimes with comments such as "... but shtupid!" He eventually closed each show by talking to Lucille Ball and her husband Gary Morton, as well as the cast of Gunsmoke — both airing opposite Laugh-In on CBS; as well as whatever was on ABC. Johnson later repeated the line while playing Nazi-themed supervillain Virman Vundabar on an episode of Justice League Unlimited. Johnson also reprised his Wolfgang character in a series of skits for the second season of Sesame Street (1970–1971), and in 1980 for a series of small introductory skits with a plant on 3-2-1 Contact, during the "Growth/Decay" week.
 * Tyrone F. Horneigh (pronounced "hor-NIGH", presumably to satisfy the censors) was a dirty old man coming on to Gladys Ormphby (Ruth Buzzi) seated on a park bench, who almost invariably clobbers him with her purse. Both Tyrone and Gladys later became animated characters (voiced by Johnson and Buzzi) in "The Nitwits" segments of the 1977 Saturday morning animated television show, Baggy Pants and the Nitwits.
 * Pyotr Rosmenko, a Russian man, stands stiffly and nervously in an ill-fitting suit while commenting on differences between America and "the old country", such as "Here in America, is very good, everyone watch television. In old country, television watches you!" This type of joke has come to be known as the Russian reversal.
 * Rabbi Shankar (a pun on Ravi Shankar) was an Indian guru who dresses in a Nehru jacket dispensing pseudomystical Eastern wisdom laden with bad puns. He held up two fingers in a peace sign whenever he spoke.
 * An unnamed character in a yellow raincoat and hat, riding a tricycle and then falling over, was frequently used to link between sketches. The character was portrayed by many people besides Johnson, including his brother Coslough (a writer for the show), Alan Sues, and Johnny Brown.
 * The Scandinavian Storyteller – spoke gibberish, including nonsensical 'Knock Knock' jokes in the Joke Wall. No one could ever understand him. Possibly inspiration for the Muppets' Swedish Chef character.
 * Ruth Buzzi:
 * Gladys Ormphby – A drab, relatively young spinster, she is the eternal target of Arte Johnson's Tyrone; when Johnson left the series, Gladys retreated into recurring daydreams, often involving marriages to historical figures, including Christopher Columbus and Benjamin Franklin (both played by Alan Sues). She typically hit people repeatedly with her purse. The character was recreated, along with Tyrone, in Baggy Pants and the Nitwits. Buzzi also performed as Gladys on Sesame Street and The Dean Martin Show, most notably in the Celebrity Roasts.
 * Doris Swizzle – A seedy barfly, she is paired with her husband, Leonard Swizzle, played by Dick Martin.
 * Kim Hither – An exceedingly friendly hooker, commonly seen in sketches or at the cocktail party propositioning people while leaning against a lamppost.
 * Busy Buzzi – A cold and heartless old-style Hedda Hopper-type Hollywood gossip columnist.
 * Kathleen Pullman – A wicked parody of televangelist Kathryn Kuhlman. This always helpful but overdramatic woman is always eager to help people.
 * Laverne Blossom - A former silent movie star with dark make-up around the eyes. She often attends the cocktail party in the later seasons.
 * Henry Gibson:
 * The Poet held an oversized flower and nervously read offbeat poems. (His stage name was a play on the name of playwright Henrik Ibsen.)
 * The Parson – A character who makes ecclesiastical quips. In 1970, he officiated at a near-marriage for Tyrone and Gladys.
 * Would frequently just pop up and utter the phrase "Marshall McLuhan, what are you doin'?".
 * Also played a cub reporter for Busy Buzzi.  While she was looking for a scoop, Gibson would come in with one (usually about Steve McQueen) which Buzzi would completely garble up to sound like something out of left field.
 * Goldie Hawn is best known as the giggling "dumb blonde", stumbling over her lines, especially when she introduced Dan's "News of the Future". In the earliest episodes, she recited her dialogue sensibly and in her own voice, but as the series progressed, she adopted a Dumb Dora character with a higher-pitched giggle and a vacant expression, which endeared her to viewers. Frequently did a Donald Duck voice at inappropriate times, such as when she was expected to sing or doing ballet.
 * Lily Tomlin:
 * Ernestine/Miss Tomlin – An obnoxious telephone operator, she has no concern at all for her customers and constantly mispronounced their names. Her close friend is fellow telephone operator, Phenicia; and her boyfriend, Vito. She would boast of being a high school graduate. Tomlin later performed Ernestine on Saturday Night Live and Happy New Year, America. She also played the Ernestine character for a comedy album called This Is A Recording and also made guest appearances as the character on shows and TV specials, such as Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Free to Be... a Family, and Sesame Street Stays Up Late!, in the last of which Oscar calls the operator and harangues her into hooking him up with five of his Grouch relatives. At the suggestion of CFG, Ernestine began dialing with her middle finger in Season 4, sometimes blatantly flipping "the bird" to the camera as a result. Censors never caught on – "we know she's doing something wrong, we just can't put our finger on it!"
 * Edith Ann – A $5 1/2$-year-old child, she ends each of her short monologs with: "And that's the truth", followed by blowing a raspberry. Tomlin performs her skits in an oversized rocking chair that makes her appear small. Tomlin later performed Edith Ann on children's shows such as Sesame Street and The Electric Company.
 * Mrs. Earbore (the "Tasteful Lady") – A prim society matron, Mrs. Earbore expressed quiet disapproval about a tasteless joke or remark, and then rose from her chair with her legs spread, getting doused with a bucket of water or the sound of her skirt ripping.
 * Dotty – A crass and rude grocery checker who tended to annoy her customers at the store where she worked.
 * Lula – A loud and boisterous woman with a Marie Antoinette hair-do who always loved a party.
 * Suzie Sorority of the Silent Majority – clueless hippie college student who ended each bit with "Rah!"
 * The Babbler – A character given to speaking exuberantly and at great length while digressing after every few words and never staying on one subject, producing an unbroken, incomprehensible monolog.
 * Judy Carne had two characters known for their robotic speech and movement:
 * Mrs. Robot in "Robot Theater" – A female companion to Arte Johnson's "Mr. Robot".
 * The Talking Judy Doll – She is usually played with by Arte Johnson, who never heeded her warning: "Touch my little body, and I hit you!"
 * The Sock-It-To-Me Girl in which she would usually end up being splashed with water and/or falling through a trap door and/or getting conked on the head by a large club or mallet and/or knocked out by a boxing glove on a spring.
 * Jo Anne Worley sometimes sings off-the-wall songs using her loud operatic voice or displaying an advanced state of pregnancy, but is better remembered for her mock outrage at "chicken jokes" and her melodic outcry of "Bo-ring!". At the cocktail parties, she would talk about her never-seen married boyfriend/lover "Boris" (who, according to her in a Season 3 episode, was finally found out by his wife).
 * Alan Sues:
 * Big Al – A clueless and fey sports anchor, he loves ringing his "Featurette" bell, which he calls his "tinkle".
 * He would dress in drag as his former co-star, Jo Anne Worley, including skits where he appeared as a "fairy godmother". imitating Worley's boisterous laugh and offering help or advice to a Cinderella-type character in a conversation full of double entendres.
 * Uncle Al, the Kiddies' Pal – A short-tempered host of a children's show, he usually goes on the air with a hangover: "Oh, kiddies, Uncle Al had a lot of medicine last night." Whenever he got really agitated, he would yell to "Get Miss Twinkle on the phone!"
 * Grabowski – a benchwarmer football player obviously not cut out for the sport. Example lines included "He pushed me! He pushed me!... they all pushed me!" and "No, you can't wear your ballet slippers on the field, Grabowski!"
 * Boomer – A self-absorbed "jock" bragging about his athletic exploits.
 * Ambiguously gay saloon patron – while Dan and Dick ordered whiskey, he would saunter up to the bar and ask for a fruit punch or frozen daiquiri.
 * In the last season where he was a regular, he would be the one who got water thrown on him after a ticking alarm clock went off (replacing Judy Carne as the one who always got drenched).
 * Pamela Rodgers – "Your man in Washington"; she would give 'reports' from the Capitol that were usually double entendres to give the impression that the Congressmen were fooling around with her.
 * Jeremy Lloyd – scrunched himself into an ultra-short character a la Toulouse-Lautrec.
 * Dennis Allen:
 * Lt. Peaches of the Fuzz – a stumble-bum police officer.
 * Chaplain Bud Homily – a droll clergyman who often falls victim to his own sermons.
 * Eric Clarified (a play on news commentator Eric Sevareid) – a correspondent for Laugh-In Looks at the News who further muddles up obfuscatory government statements he has been asked to clarify. Rowan would often throw to another correspondent (played by Sues) to analyze Eric Clarified's statements in turn.
 * Barbara Sharma:
 * The Burbank Meter Maid – a dancing meter maid who tickets anything from trees to baby carriages.
 * An aspiring actress who often plays foil in cocktail-party segments to another "high-society" character (Tomlin).
 * In season four, a Ruby Keeler-esque dancer (and arch-nemesis of Johnson's Wolfgang) who often praises Vice President Spiro Agnew.
 * Johnny Brown lent his impersonations of Ed Sullivan, Alfred Hitchcock, Ralph Kramden and the Kingfish from Amos 'n' Andy.
 * Ann Elder as Pauline Rhetoric (a play on NBC reporter Pauline Frederick), the chief interviewer for the Laugh-In News segments.
 * Moosie Drier and Todd Bass – Drier did the "kids news for kids" segment of the Laugh-In news. Bass teamed with Drier in Season 6 to read letters from a treehouse
 * Larry Hovis – the Senator, the Texan, David Brinkley, Father Time
 * Richard Dawson – W.C. Fields, Groucho Marx, Hawkins the Butler, who always started his piece by asking "Permission to ...?" and proceeded to fall over.
 * Roddy Maude-Roxby, Pigmeat Markham – Here Come Da Judge (Roxby for Season 1, Markham for Season 2)
 * Dave Madden – would always throw confetti after "a naughty thought", usually a punch line that was a double-entendre. Once while kissing Carne, confetti erupted around him

Memorable moments
The first season featured some of the first music videos seen on network TV, with cast members appearing in films set to the music of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Bee Gees, the Temptations, the Strawberry Alarm Clock, and the First Edition.

During the September 16, 1968, episode, Richard Nixon, running for president, appeared for a few seconds with a disbelieving vocal inflection, asking "Sock it to me?" Nixon was not doused or assaulted. An invitation was extended to Nixon's opponent, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, but he declined. According to George Schlatter, the show's creator, "Humphrey later said that not doing it may have cost him the election", and "[Nixon] said the rest of his life that appearing on Laugh-In is what got him elected. And I believe that. And I've had to live with that." In an episode of the ill-fated 1977 revival, Rich Little as Nixon says, "I invited the American people to sock-it-to-me.... you can stop now".

After winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Cactus Flower, Goldie Hawn made a guest appearance in the third episode of the fourth season. She began the episode as an arrogant snob of an actress; however, a bucket of water thrown at her transformed her back to her giggling dumb blonde persona.

On multiple occasions, producer George Schlatter attempted to get William F. Buckley Jr. to appear on the show, only to be refused each time until he suddenly agreed to an appearance. In the episode that aired December 28, 1970, Buckley appeared in an unusual sit-down segment (portions of which were scattered throughout the episode) flanked by Rowan and Martin and fielding questions from the cast (which included Lily Tomlin doing her Babbler and Ernestine shticks) and giving humorous answers to each. Near the end, when Rowan asked Buckley why he finally agreed to appear on the show, Buckley explained that Schlatter had written him "an irresistable letter" in which he promised to fly Buckley out to Burbank "in an airplane with two right wings". At the end, Rowan thanked him for appearing: "You can't be that smart without having a sense of humor, and you have a delightful one."

The 100th episode featured John Wayne, Tiny Tim and the return of several former cast members. Wayne, with his ear cupped, read the line "and me, I'm Gary Owens" instead of Owens himself. Wayne also shook Tiny Tim's hand, pretending that his grip was too overpowering.

Catchphrases
In addition to those already mentioned, the show created numerous catchphrases:
 * "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls! (a lesser-known set of reference books whose phonetically funny name helped both Laugh-In and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to poke fun at NBC censors)
 * "You bet your sweet bippy!" (Dick Martin)
 * "Ring my chimes!" (Flip Wilson)
 * "Beautiful downtown Burbank" (various actors/characters, referring tongue-in-cheek to the Los Angeles suburb in which the NBC studios (and thus the program) were located; the same term was frequently used by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson).
 * "One ringy-dingy ... two ringy-dingys ..." (Ernestine's mimicking of the rings while she was waiting for someone to pick up the receiver on the other end of the telephone lines)
 * "A gracious good afternoon. This is Miss Tomlin of the telephone company. Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?" Ernestine's greeting to people whom she would call. She would then mispronounce the names of famous people: Gore Vidal was "Mr. Veedle", William F. Buckley was "Mr. F'buckley". Richard Nixon was simply "Milhouse".
 * "I just wanna swing!" Gladys Ormphby's catchphrase
 * "Was that another chicken joke?" – Jo Anne Worley's outraged cry, a takeoff on Polish jokes
 * "Sock it to me!" experienced its greatest exposure on Laugh-In, although the phrase had been featured in songs such as Aretha Franklin's 1967 "Respect" and Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels' 1966 "Sock It To Me, Baby!"
 * "Blow in my ear and I'll follow you anywhere."
 * "Now, that's a no-no!"
 * "Morgul the Friendly Drelb" – a pink Abominable Snowman-like character that was introduced in the second episode and bombed so badly, his name was used in various announcements by Gary Owens for the rest of the series (usually at the end of the opening cast list – "Yours truly, Gary Owens, and Morgul as the Friendly Drelb!") and credited as the author of a paperback collection of the show's sketches. On the spin-off show, "Letters to Laugh-In," Morgul would reach out of the podium and hand Owens the card containing the next category in a manner similar to Thing on The Addams Family.
 * "Want a Walnetto?" was a pickup line Tyrone would try on Gladys, which always resulted in a purse drubbing.
 * "Here come de Judge"
 * "Verrry in-te-res-ting" (Wolfgang the soldier)
 * "And that's the truth – PFFFFT!" (Edith Ann)
 * "Go to your room!" – "Big kid" Dan's response to a particularly bad joke, as if to put that cast member in time-out like a child.
 * "He pushed me!" – usually said by Sues when another cast member would bump him.
 * "Marshall McLuhan, what are you doin – uttered by Gibson randomly between sketches.
 * "How does that grab you?" JoAnne Worley
 * "Oh... that Henny Youngman" – preceded by cast members quoting a series of his punchlines in succession, but without the jokes leading up to them.
 * "He was a much better person for that" – as "Sock it to me!" was phased out following Carne's departure, this became the line used for similar sketches
 * "Well, I'll drink to that", "I did not know that!", "Whatever turns you on" and "That's funny, so did she" – Dick Martin
 * "Goodnight, Lucy" – During the first three seasons, Laugh-In was scheduled opposite Lucille Ball's third television series, Here's Lucy. At the end of the show, one or more cast members would say, "Goodnight, Lucy."  Dick Martin had been a regular cast member in the first season of Ball's second series, The Lucy Show.
 * "Goodnight, Dick" – the closing portion of each episode of Seasons 1 and 2 and began with the guest star and numerous cameos all saying "Goodnight, Dick". Occasionally, one of the cameo actors would say "Who's Dick?". This shtick was revived in the sixth season, usually after the end credits.
 * "Gotcha!"
 * "Wr-r-r-ong!" – spoken in a cameo by Otto Preminger, subsequent cameo actors would repeat the line, mimicking Preminger's delivery of it.
 * "How would I know? I've never been out with one"
 * "I think I've got it too" – running gag where the person would say this and start scratching themselves for no particular reason.
 * "Blah! Blah!" – staff writer Chet Dowling would appear at random in various episodes throughout the fourth season, wearing a tux and this was all he'd ever say.
 * "That's not funny"
 * "Wacker!" – this name became used often in sketches after the Bobby Darin episode of Season 2. Darin had done a sketch with Martin and hilariously proceeded to call him 'Wacker' throughout the rest of the show
 * "I've Got A Secret" – paying homage to the game show, a running gag during the first two seasons was to have celebrity cameos claiming to be a celebrity of the opposite gender "...and I've REALLY got a secret!". Examples were Joey Bishop stating "My name is Joey Heatherton...", James Garner as Loretta Young, Jill St. John as Jack Jones and each of the female cast members as Tiny Tim.

Merchandise tie-ins and spin-offs
A chain of Laugh-In restaurants opened in several states during 1968–69; primarily in Michigan, Ohio and Florida. Psychedelically-themed like the show, they offered such menu items as Bippy Burgers, Is That A Chicken Joke Chicken, Fickle Finger Of Fate Fries, Beautiful Downtown Burbank Burgers, Fickle Finger Franks, Verrrry Interesting Sandwiches, I'll Drink To That beverages, Sock It To Me soups, Laugh-In Fortune Cookies and Here Come Da Fudge sundaes. Staff often rode around on red tricycles wearing yellow raincoats and hats. All locations were closed by the mid-1970's. Menus, french fry bags, sandwich wraps, napkins, salt and pepper shakers and other memorabilia are still sold on EBay.

A humor magazine tie-in, Laugh-In Magazine, was published for one year (12 issues: October 1968 through October 1969—no issue was published December 1968), and a 1968-1972 syndicated newspaper comic strip was drawn by Roy Doty and eventually collected for a paperback reprint.

The Laugh-In trading cards from Topps had a variety of items, such as a card with a caricature of Jo Anne Worley with a large open mouth. With a die-cut hole, the card became interactive; a finger could be inserted through the hole to simulate Worley's tongue. Little doors opened on Joke Wall cards to display punchlines.

On Letters to Laugh-In, a short-lived spin-off daytime show hosted by Gary Owens, cast members read jokes sent in by viewers, which were scored by applause meter. The eventual winning joke was read by actress Jill St. John: "What do you get when you cross an elephant with a jar of peanut butter? A 500 pound sandwich that sticks to the roof of your mouth!"

A cross-promotional episode of I Dream of Jeannie ("The Biggest Star in Hollywood", February 1969) features Judy Carne, Arte Johnson, Gary Owens, and producer George Schlatter playing themselves in a story about Jeannie being sought after to appear on Laugh-In.

In 1969, a Laugh-In View-Master packet was issued by General Aniline and Film (GAF); The packet featured 21 3D images from the show.

The horror spoof film The Maltese Bippy (1969,) starring Dan Rowan and Dick Martin as low-budget moviemakers, was loosely related to the series. Pamela Rodgers was the only Laugh-In cast member to co-star in the film. The film received only a token release by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer—it never even appeared in many key cities—and its disappointing performance resulted in no further Rowan & Martin films.

In 1969, Sears, Roebuck and Company produced a 15-minute short, Freeze-In, which starred series regulars Judy Carne and Arte Johnson. Made to capitalize on the popularity of the series, the short was made for Sears salesmen to introduce the new Kenmore freezer campaign. A dancing, bikini-clad Carne provided the opening titles with tattoos on her body.

Two LPs of material from the show were released: the first on Epic Records (FXS-15118, 1968); the second, which did not feature Rowan or Martin, was entitled Laugh-In '69 and released on Reprise Records (RS 6335, 1969).

DVD releases
On June 24, 2003 and then February 24, 2004, Rhino Entertainment Company (under its Rhino Retrovision classic TV entertainment brand), under license from the rightsholder at the time, SFM Entertainment, released two respective The Best Of releases of the show, each containing six episodes presented in its original, uncut broadcast version. In 2003, Rhino, through direct-response marketing firm Guthy-Renker, also released a series of DVDs subtitled The Sock-It-To-Me Collection, with each DVD containing two episodes.

On June 19, 2017, Time Life, another direct-response marketer, released Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1, in a deal with current rightsholder Proven Entertainment. The 38-disc set contains all 140 episodes of the series, complete and uncut, restored and remastered as well as many bonus features and a special 32-page collector's book.

On September 5, 2017, Time Life began releasing individual complete season sets on DVD, beginning with the first season. This was followed by the second season on January 9, 2018, and the third season on March 6, 2018. The fourth season was released on May 8, 2018. Season 5 was released on July 10, 2018. Finally, Season 6 was released on September 4, 2018.

Ratings
TV season, ranking, average viewers per episode
 * 1967–1968: #21 (21.3)
 * 1968–1969: #1 (31.8)
 * 1969–1970: #1 (26.3)
 * 1970–1971: #13 (22.4)
 * 1971–1972: #22 (21.4)
 * 1972–1973: #51 (16.7)

Revival
In 1977, Schlatter and NBC briefly revived the property as a series of specials – titled simply Laugh-In – with a new cast. The standout was a then-unknown Robin Williams, whose starring role on ABC's Mork & Mindy one year later prompted NBC to rerun the specials as a summer series in 1979. Also featured were Wayland Flowers and Madame (as well as his other puppet, "Jiffy"), former child evangelist Marjoe Gortner, former Barney Miller actress June Gable, Good Times actor Ben Powers, Bill Rafferty of Real People and comedian Ed Bluestone. Barry Goldwater appeared in three episodes. Rowan and Martin, who owned part of the Laugh-In franchise, were not involved in this project. They sued Schlatter for using the format without their permission, and won a judgment of $4.6 million in 1980.

In 1987, George Schlatter attempted a revival of the program called George Schlatter's Comedy Club, the weekly half-hour program that appeared in syndication through King World Productions during the 1987-1988 television season. Featuring stand-up comedy routines alongside quick comedy sketches similar to Laugh-In, the series was hosted by Schlatter himself.

In 2019, Netflix produced a special tribute to the original series entitled, Still Laugh-In: The Stars Celebrate. Tomlin, Buzzi and Worley appeared in the special.

Retrospective criticism
Critics' views in retrospect, while noting it being groundbreaking, have also indicated that it has not aged well. Various aspects of the show at the time come across as racist in current times. Other aspects stereotyped gay people and women. While the humor was appreciated by some at the time of release, it is not seen as humorous in the context of modern day.

While the show included black actors, and made some comments on racism about black people, at the same time, it was noted the show featured white actors portraying Asians in yellowface.

Awards and honors
Emmy Awards
 * Won:
 * 1968: Outstanding Musical or Variety Program, George Schlatter (for the September 9, 1967, special)
 * 1968: Outstanding Musical or Variety Series, George Schlatter
 * 1968: Outstanding Writing Achievement in Music or Variety, Chris Bearde, Phil Hahn, Jack Hanrahan, Coslough Johnson, Paul Keyes, Marc London, Allan Manings, David Panich, Hugh Wedlock, Jr., Digby Wolfe
 * 1968: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Electronic Production – Arthur Schneider (tape editor)
 * 1969: Outstanding Musical or Variety Series – Paul Keyes (producer), Carolyn Raskin (producer), Dick Martin (star), Dan Rowan (star)
 * 1969: Special Classification Achievements – Individuals (Variety Performances), Arte Johnson
 * 1971: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety or Music, Mark Warren (episode #4.7 with Orson Welles)
 * Nominated:
 * 1968: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety or Music, Bill Foster (pilot episode)
 * 1968 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety or Music, Gordon Wiles
 * 1968: Outstanding Writing Achievement in Music or Variety, – Larry Hovis, Paul Keyes, Jim Mulligan, David Panich, George Schlatter, Digby Wolfe (pilot episode)
 * 1969: Special Classification Achievements – Individuals (Variety Performances), Ruth Buzzi
 * 1969: Special Classification Achievements – Individuals (Variety Performances), Goldie Hawn
 * 1969: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music – Gordon Wiles (For episode on February 3, 1969)
 * 1969: Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music – various writers (For episode on February 3, 1969)
 * 1969: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music – Billy Barnes (special material)
 * 1969: Special Classification Achievements – Individuals (Variety Performances) – Ruth Buzzi
 * 1969: Special Classification Achievements – Individuals (Variety Performances) – Goldie Hawn
 * 1969: Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction and Scenic Design – Ken Johnson
 * 1969: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Electronic Production – John Teele and Bruce Verran (video tape editors)
 * 1969: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Electronic Production – Arthur Schneider (tape editor)
 * 1970: Outstanding Variety or Musical Series – George Schlatter (executive producer), Carolyn Raskin (producer), Paul Keyes (producer), Dan Rowan (star), Dick Martin (star)
 * 1970: Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music – various writers (For episode on November 3, 1969, with Buddy Hackett)
 * 1970: Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music – various writers (For episode on December 20, 1969, with Nancy Sinatra)
 * 1970: Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement – Individuals, Goldie Hawn
 * 1970: Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement – Individuals, Arte Johnson
 * 1970: Outstanding Achievement in Music, Lyrics and Special Material – Billy Barnes (composer) (For episode with Carol Channing)
 * 1970: Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design – Michael Travis
 * 1971: Outstanding Variety Series, Musical – George Schlatter (executive producer), Carolyn Raskin (producer), Paul Keyes (producer), Dan Rowan (star), Dick Martin (star)
 * 1971: Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement – Individuals – Arte Johnson
 * 1971: Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement – Individuals – Lily Tomlin
 * 1971: Outstanding Achievement in Technical Direction and Electronic Camerawork – Marvin Ault (cameraman), Ray Figelski (cameraman), Louis Fusari (technical director), Jon Olson (cameraman), Tony Yarlett (cameraman)
 * 1972: Outstanding Achievement by a Performer in Music or Variety, Ruth Buzzi
 * 1972: Outstanding Achievement by a Performer in Music or Variety, Lily Tomlin
 * 1972: Outstanding Achievement in Music, Lyrics and Special Material – Billy Barnes (For episode with Liza Minnelli)
 * 1973: Outstanding Achievement by a Supporting Performer in Music or Variety – Lily Tomlin
 * 1978: Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Variety or Music, Bea Arthur (for episode on October 25, 1977)
 * 1978: Outstanding Achievement in Video Tape Editing for a Series – Ed. J. Brennan (editor) (For show #February 6–8, 1978)

Golden Globe Award
 * Won:
 * 1973: Best Supporting Actress – Television, Ruth Buzzi
 * 1969: Best TV Show
 * Nominated:
 * 1972: Best Supporting Actress – Television, Lily Tomlin
 * 1971: Best Supporting Actor – Television, Henry Gibson
 * 1970: Best TV Show – Musical/Comedy
 * 1968: Best TV Show

International and U.S. re-broadcasts

 * 🇬🇧 The first four seasons were broadcast on BBC2 from January 1969 to November 1971. Some episodes from seasons 1, 2 and 3 were retransmitted during late 1983 and early 1984. Early broadcasts had to be shown with a black border, as technology was not available to render the 525-line NTSC video recording as a full-screen 625-line PAL picture. This issue was fixed for later broadcasts.
 * 🇮🇪 The series was broadcast on RTÉ One.
 * 🇦🇺 The series originally aired on the 0-10 Network in the 1960s and 1970s. It later appeared in re-runs on the Seven Network in the early 1980s.
 * 🇨🇦 CTV aired the series at the same time as the NBC run.

1983 saw the first 70 one-hour shows syndicated to broadcast stations (the pilot, first three seasons and the first four episodes of season 4). Alternate recut half-hour shows (seasons 1-5, not including the pilot) were syndicated through Lorimar Television to local stations in 1983 and later on Nick at Nite in 1987 through August 1990.

The Vivendi Universal-owned popular arts/pop culture entertainment cable network Trio started airing the show in its original one-hour form in the early 2000s; the same abbreviated 70 episode package was run.

In September 2016, digital sub-network Decades started airing the show twice a day in its original one-hour format, complete with the NBC Peacock opening and 'snake' closing. The entire 6 season run was supplied by Proven Entertainment.

In 2018, the original series became available in full on Amazon Prime Video.

In 2020, the complete series became available on-demand on Tubi.

, four episodes air per weeknight on the Z Living channel.

title: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In


text:
Poh (disambiguation)

Poh, POH or pOH may refer to:
 * Poh, Hokkien pronunciation of a Chinese surname, a variant of Fu (surname)
 * Poh, tenth month in the Nanakshahi calendar
 * Poh Ling Yeow (born 1973), a Malaysian-Australian artist and chef
 * Pok Oi Hospital, a Hong Kong hospital
 * Power-on hours, the length of time, in hours, that electrical power is applied to a device
 * POH, Amtrak station code for Port Henry (Amtrak station), New York, United States
 * Pilot's Operating Handbook, a standardized aircraft flight manual for a specific aircraft
 * A Player-Owned House in RuneScape, which is created by the Construction skill
 * pOH, a measure of the concentration of hydroxide ions

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Poh (disambiguation)


text:
Chilperic I

Chilperic I (c. 539 – September 584) was the king of Neustria (or Soissons) from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund.

Life
Immediately after the death of his father in 561, he endeavoured to take possession of the whole kingdom, seized the treasure amassed in the royal town of Berny and entered Paris. His brothers, however, compelled him to divide the kingdom with them, and Soissons, together with Amiens, Arras, Cambrai, Thérouanne, Tournai and Boulogne fell to Chilperic's share. His eldest brother Charibert received Paris, the second-eldest brother Guntram received Burgundy with its capital at Orléans, and Sigebert received Austrasia. On the death of Charibert in 567, Chilperic's estates were augmented when the brothers divided Charibert's kingdom among themselves and agreed to share Paris and the territory around it.

Not long after his accession, however, he was at war with Sigebert, with whom he would long remain in a state of—at the very least—antipathy. This started when Sigebert marched against the Avars and defeated them possibly in Thuringia and possibly pushed them out of the Elbe. Chilperic, seeing that his brother was far from his lands, attacked Reims and took it. Soon Sigebert returned however and took Reims and marched to Soissons, where he defeated, seized the city, and imprisoned Chilperic's eldest son, Theudebert. The war flared in 567, at the death of Charibert. Chilperic immediately invaded Sigebert's new lands, but Sigebert defeated him. Chilperic later allied with Guntram against Sigebert (573), but Guntram changed sides due to fear of a large army Sigebert gathered past the Rhine and he crossed through Burgundy to bypass Chilperic’s strong defenses. Chilperic again lost the war.

When Sigebert married Brunhilda, daughter of the Visigothic sovereign in Spain (Athanagild), Chilperic also wished to make a brilliant marriage. He had already repudiated his first wife, Audovera, and had taken as his concubine a serving-woman called Fredegund. He accordingly dismissed Fredegund, and married Brunhilda's sister, Galswintha. But he soon tired of his new partner, and one morning Galswintha was found strangled in her bed. A few days afterwards Chilperic married Fredegund.

This murder was the cause of more long and bloody wars, interspersed with truces, between Chilperic and Sigebert, usually ending in a status quo in Tours and Poitiers. In early December 575, Sigebert was struck down by two assassins working for Fredegund, who were clerks promised that their parents would be very wealthy as she knew this was move was very risky. At the very moment when he had Chilperic at his mercy, as he was besieged in Tournai and Rouen and Thibert, a son of Chilperic was killed near Paris while Sigebert illegally entered and seized the city. Chilperic then made war with the protector of Sigebert's wife and son, Guntram. Chilperic got the loyalty from the nobles who’ve sided with Sigebert, took from Austrasia Tours and Poitiers and some places in Aquitaine like Saintes and the territory in Auvergene which a large battle was done against Mummol, who was serving under Guntram., and fostered discord in the kingdom of the east during the minority of Childebert II.

In 578, Chilperic sent an army to fight the Breton ruler Waroch II of the Bro-Wened along the Vilaine. The Frankish army consisted of units from the Poitou, Touraine, Anjou, Maine and Bayeux. The Baiocassenses (men from Bayeux) were Saxons and they in particular were routed by the Bretons. The armies fought for three days before Waroch submitted, did homage for Vannes, sent his son as a hostage, and agreed to pay an annual tribute. He subsequently broke his oath but Chilperic's dominion over the Bretons was relatively secure, as evidenced by Venantius Fortunatus's celebration of it in a poem.

Most of what is known of Chilperic comes from The History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours. Gregory detested Chilperic, calling him "the Nero and Herod of his time" (VI.46): he had provoked Gregory's wrath by wresting Tours from Austrasia, seizing ecclesiastical property, and appointing as bishops counts of the palace who were not clerics. Gregory also objected to Chilperic's attempts to teach a new doctrine of the Trinity, although some scholars dispute the extent to which Gregory disliked Chilperic.

According to Gregory of Tours, Chilperic also engaged in forced conversion of Jews.

Chilperic's reign in Neustria saw the introduction of the Byzantine punishment of eye-gouging. Yet, he was also a man of culture: he was a musician of some talent, and he wrote verse (modelled on that of Sedulius); he attempted to reform the Frankish alphabet; and he worked to reduce the worst effects of Salic law upon women. In September 584, while returning from a hunting expedition at his royal villa of Chelles, Chilperic was stabbed to death by an unknown assailant. He was buried in the Saint Vincent Basilica of Paris, later incorporated in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Family
Chilperic I's first marriage was to Audovera. They had five children:

 * Theudebert (killed in battle, 573)
 * Merovech (killed by a servant at his request in 577),p – married the widow Brunhilda (his aunt by marriage) and became his father's enemy
 * Clovis (assassinated by Fredegund in 580)
 * Basina (d. aft. 590) – a nun; led a revolt in the abbey of Poitiers
 * Childesinda (died young from dysentery)

His short second marriage to Galswintha produced no children.

His concubinage and subsequent marriage to Fredegund in about 568 produced six more legitimate offspring:

 * Rigunth (c. 569 – after 589), betrothed to Reccared but never married
 * Chlodebert (c. 570/72 – 580), died young
 * Samson (c. 573 – late 577), died young
 * Dagobert (c. 579/80 – 580), died young
 * Theuderic (c. 582 – 584), died young
 * Chlothar II (before September 584 – 18 October 629), Chilperic's successor in Neustria, later sole king of the Franks

Etymology
Chilperic's name in Frankish meant "powerful supporter", akin to German hilfreich "auxiliary" (cf. German Hilfe "help, aid" and reich "rich, orig. powerful")

Cultural references
An operetta on the subject, Chilpéric, was created by Hervé, first performed in 1864.

title: Chilperic I


text:
Chlothar I

Chlothar I, sometime called "the Old" (French: le Vieux), (died c. December 561) also anglicised as Clotaire, was a king of the Franks of the Merovingian dynasty and one of the four sons of Clovis I.

With his eldest brother Theuderic (c. 485 – 533/34) being the son of Clovis I and his first wife, Chlothar followed his two elder brothers Chlodomer (495–524) and Childebert I (496–558) as third surviving son of Clovis I and his second wife Queen Clotilde, lastly followed by their sister Clotilde (500–531). The name 'Chlothar' means "glory".

In 511, Clothar I and his three brothers Theuderic, Chlodomer and Childebert inherited their shares of their father's kingdom. Chlothar spent most of his life in a campaign to expand his territories at the expense of his relatives and neighbouring realms in all directions.

His brothers avoided outright war by cooperating with Chlothar's attacks on neighbouring lands in concert or by invading lands when their rulers died. The spoils were shared between the participating brothers. By the end of his life, Chlothar had managed to reunite Francia by surviving his brothers and seizing their territories after they died. But upon his own death, the Kingdom of the Franks was once again divided between his own four surviving sons. A fifth son had rebelled and was killed, along with his family.

Customs and inheritance
Chlothar's father, Clovis I, had converted to Nicene Christianity, but Chlothar, like other Merovingians, did not consider that the Christian doctrine of monogamy should be expected of royalty: he had five wives, more from political expediency, for the purpose of forming alliances, than for personal motives. Although at the instigation of his queens he gave money for several new ecclesiastical edifices, he was a less than enthusiastic Christian and succeeded in introducing taxes on ecclesiastical property.

Frankish customs of the day allowed for the practice of polygamy, especially among royalty. So it was not uncommon for a king to have multiple wives and several competing heirs upon his death. This was a major deviation from the monogamy of late Roman customs, influenced by the Church. Frankish rulers followed this practice mainly to increase their influence across larger areas of land in the wake of the Roman empire's collapse. The aim was to maintain peace and ensure the preservation of the kingdom by appeasing local leaders. In the Germanic tradition succession fell, not to sons, but to younger brothers, uncles, and cousins. But under Salic law, Clovis I instituted the custom of sons being the primary heirs in all respects. However, it was not a system of primogeniture, with the eldest son receiving the vast majority of an inheritance, rather the inheritance was split evenly between all the sons. Therefore, the greater Frankish Kingdom was often splintered into smaller sub-kingdoms.

Marriages and children
According to Gregory of Tours, "The King Chlothar had seven sons of various women, namely: with Ingund he had Gunthar, Childeric, Charibert, Guntram, Sigebert, and a daughter named Chlothsind; of Aregund, sister of Ingund he had Chilperic; and of Chunsine he had Chram." Chlothar's first marriage was to Guntheuc, widow of his brother Chlodomer, sometime around 524. They had no children. His second marriage, which occurred around 532, was to Radegund, daughter of Bertachar, King of Thuringia, whom he and his brother Theuderic defeated. She was later canonized. They also had no children. His third and most successful marriage was to Ingund, by whom he had five sons and two daughters:
 * Gunthar, predeceased father
 * Childeric, predeceased father
 * Charibert, King of Paris
 * Guntram, King of Burgundy
 * Sigebert, King of Austrasia
 * Chlothsind, married Alboin, King of the LombardsSoissons, musée,Tête de Clotaire Ier en pierre calcaire, XIIIe siècle, 01.jpg

Chlothar likely had an illegitimate son named Gondovald with an unnamed woman, born sometime in the late 540s or early 550s. Since Chlothar had sown children all throughout Gaul this was not unlikely. The boy was given a literary education and allowed to grow his hair long, a symbol of belonging to royalty. Although Chlothar would offer no more aid or privilege to the boy, his mother took him to the court of Childebert, who recognized him as his nephew and agreed to keep him in court.

His next marriage was to a sister of Ingund, Aregund, with whom Chlothar had a son, Chilperic, King of Soissons. His last wife was Chunsina (or Chunsine), with whom he had one son, Chram, who became his father's enemy and predeceased him. Chlothar may have married and repudiated Waldrada.

A false genealogy found in the Brabant trophies, made in the ninth century during the reign of Charles the Bald, invents a daughter of Chlothar's named Blithilde who supposedly married the saint and bishop Ansbert of Rouen. The Duke Arnoald, father of Arnulf of Metz, was said to have been born of this marriage, thus connecting the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties and creating the appearance that the Carolingian ruled by right of inheritance. It also linked them to the Romans by their affiliation with the senatorial family Ferreoli.

Marriage with Guntheuc
Chlothar married Guntheuc, Queen of Orléans and widow of Chlodomer, his brother. This union gave Chlothar access to Chlodomer's treasury and ensured Guntheuc's position as sole heiress to King Godegisel lands; Frankish law allowed a woman to inherit land if she had no sons.

Marriage with Aregund
Chlothar's wife Ingund requested that he find a husband worthy of her sister, Aregund. Finding no one suitable, Chlothar took Aregund as one of his own wives. The year was c. 533–538. She remained his wife until the death of her sister, Ingund, in 546, after which she fell out of favor with Chlothar.

Princess Radegund
In 538, Radegund was brought to Soissons to marry Chlothar, as "not illegitimate but legitimate queen," who could help consolidate his dominance over Thuringia.

While her title and status were necessary for Chlothar to attain authority over Thuringia, Radegund remained in simple clothing and was not treated in the customary manner of a queen. This was largely due to her Christian faith; she did not want to appear luxurious.

Radegund did not eat to excess. She insisted that much of her food be given to the poor. She spent most of her time praying and singing psalms but spent very little time with the king. Her allegiance was to God first and to Chlothar second. Chlothar became irritated and had many disputes with her.

She retired to a convent and went on to found the abbey in Poitiers St. Croix, the first nunnery in Europe. She was canonized Saint Radegund.

Accession
Upon his father's death on 27 November 511, he received as his share of the kingdom: the town of Soissons, which he made his capital; the cities of Laon, Noyon, Cambrai, and Maastricht; and the lower course of the river Meuse. He was very ambitious and sought to extend his domain.

Because of the rights of mothers, queens were granted a portion of their son's kingdom. Clovis I, who had two wives, divided his kingdom into two for each of his wives, then parceled out pieces to his respective sons. The eldest, Theuderic, son of the first wife, had the benefit of receiving one half of the kingdom of Francia, Reims. Chlothar shared the second half of the kingdom with his brothers Childebert and Chlodomer. Chlothar received the northern portion, Childebert the central kingdom of Paris, and Chlodomer the southern Kingdom of Orléans. The domain inherited by Chlothar consisted of two distinct parts: one in Gaulic Belgium, corresponding to the kingdom of the Salian Franks, where he established his capital at Soissons and included the dioceses of Amiens, Arras, Saint-Quentin and Tournai; and the other in Aquitane including the dioceses of Agen, Bazas, and Périgueux.

First Burgundian war
In 516, Gundobad, king of Burgundy, died, and the throne passed to his son Sigismund, who converted to Catholicism. Sigismund adopted an extreme anti-Arian policy, going so far as to execute his Arian son Sigeric, who was the grandson of the Ostrogoth King Theoderic the Great. Sigismund also nearly prompted the Franks to launch an offensive against him, but he avoided a conflict by giving one of his daughters, Suavegotha, in marriage to Chlothar's older half-brother, Theuderic I.

In 523, at the instigation of their mother, Clotilde, Chlothar, Childebert, and Chlodomer joined forces in an expedition against the Burgundians. The Burgundian army was defeated, and Sigismund was captured and executed. Sigismund's brother Godomar replaced him on the throne, with the support of the aristocracy, and the Franks were forced to leave.

In 524, Chlothar, his brothers and Theuderic, began a new campaign, advancing to the Isère Valley. But on 25 June 524, they suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Vézeronce, and Chlodomer was killed. The Franks left Burgundy, and Godomar resumed his rule until 534.

Thuringian conquest
In 531, Hermanafrid, king of the Thuringians, promised to give Chlothar's half-brother, Theuderic, part of the Kingdom of Thuringia if he would help to depose Baderic, Hermanafrid's rival and brother. Theuderic accepted. However, having been injured after a victory, he appealed to Chlothar to continue the war. Hermanafrid died around this time, and the goal became simply to conquer Thuringia.

The alliance, along with the aid of his nephew Theudebert I, conquered Thuringia, and it became a part of the Frankish domain. During the division of the spoils, Chlothar and Theuderic argued fiercely over the hand of Princess Radegund, but eventually Chlothar won the dispute on the grounds that it had been his men who had captured her.

Acquisition of the kingdom of Orléans
Chlothar was the chief instigator in the murder of his brother Chlodomer's children in 524, and his share of the spoils consisted of the cities of Tours and Poitiers. Chlothar's brother, Chlodomer was killed on 25 June 524 during an expedition against the Burgundians at the Battle of Vezeronce. Upon Chlodomer's death, his three sons, Theodebald, Gunther, and Clodoald, were entrusted to care of their grandmother, hence the young princes were raised in Paris by Chlodomer's mother, Chlotilde.

To prevent the kingdom of Orleans from returning to his nephews, Chlothar joined with his brother Childebert in 532 to threaten the young heirs with death unless they agreed to join a monastery. They sent Arcadius, grandson of Sidonius Apollinaris, to their mother, Clotilde, with a pair of scissors and a sword. He gave the queen an ultimatum: the boys could either live as monks or die.

Germanic traditions gave Queen Clotilde, as the mother, the right as head of her household. However, among kings the lineage passed to younger brothers before it passed to the next generation. Due to tribal politics, shearing of the boys' hair could lead to a civil war; long hair was a symbol of Frankish royalty, and to remove it was considered a grave insult. But Theodebald, Gunthar, and Clodoald could someday lay claim to the throne, and it was Chlothar and Childebert's duty to pass authority on to them.

Clotilde was disgusted and shocked at the demands relayed by Arcadius and stated that she would rather see her grandsons dead than see their hair shorn.

The two uncles went through with their plan to murder the children. Chlothar stabbed Theodebald in the armpit. Gunthar threw himself at the feet of Childebert, who began to cry and almost gave in to the pleas of his nephew. Chlothar, however, demanded that Childebert carry through with the murder, stating that it was the only way to consolidate power. Childebert gave Gunthar up to Chlothar, who stabbed him. Theodebald and Gunthar were ten and seven years old respectively.

Clodoald remained alive by managing to escape, hidden by loyal supporters. He renounced all claims and chose a monastic life. Childebert and Chlothar could then freely share their acquired territory. Meanwhile, Theuderic captured a parcel consisting of Auxerrois, Berry and Sens.

Second Burgundian war
In 532, Childebert and Chlothar seized Autun. They hunted for Godomar III, brother of Sigismund, with the help of his father and ally, the king of the Ostrogoths Theoderic the Great.

The death of Athalaric, the grandson and successor of Theodoric the Great, in 534, generated a succession crisis in the Ostrogothic kingdom, the Burgundian ally. Chlothar, Theudebert, and Childebert took the opportunity to invade the Burgundian kingdom, now devoid of Ostrogothic protection. The Burgundian kingdom was overtaken and divided between the three Frankish rulers. Chlothar received Grenoble, Die and many of the neighbouring cities.

First Visigoth war
Over the years, the Spanish Visigoths had made many incursions into Frankish territories and had taken lands. Clovis had reconquered them and even made further conquests of Gothic territories. Chlothar sent his eldest sons to reclaim lost territories. Although there was some success, for some unknown reason Gunthar, his second eldest, ended his campaign and returned home. Theudebert, the eldest, continued the war and took the strongholds of Dio-et-Valquières and Cabrières. Most of the lost Frankish lands were recovered.

Civil war
Chlothar attempted to take advantage of Theuderic's illness during this time, trying to attain his kingdom with the help of Childebert. However Theudebert, who was busy securing Arles, rushed back to his father Theuderic's aid. Theuderic died a few days later. And Theudebert, supported by his vassals, managed to keep his kingdom and restrained his uncles from taking over.

Childebert and Theudebert joined forces and declared war on Chlothar. They initially defeated him, forcing him to take refuge in a forest for protection against the alliance. While Chlothar was besieged, a storm ravaged equipment, roads, and horses and disorganized the allied army. Childebert and Theudebert were forced to abandon the siege and make peace with Chlothar.

Ceding of Provence
In 537, a conflict broke out between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogothic kingdom. To ensure Frankish neutrality in the conflict, King Vitiges offered Provence, which the Frankish Kings shared between them, along with the northern Alps with sovereignty over the Alemanni, by grabbing the upper Rhine valley, Main, and high Danube. When the Ostrogoths ceded Provence to the Franks, he received the cities of Orange, Carpentras, and Gap.

Second Visigoth war
In spring 542, Childebert and Chlothar, accompanied by three of his sons, led an army into Visigoth Hispania. They seized Pamplona and Zaragoza but were finally forced to abandon after conquering most of the country. Since most of the king's army was still with Theudis and there was still enough power to be shown, they were ceded some major lands beyond the Pyrénées, although not as much as they had occupied.

Tuscan tribute
The murder of Amalasuntha, the daughter of Theodoric the Great, and of Audofleda, sister of Clovis I, at the hands of King Theodahad of Tuscany caused Chlothar to threaten invasion if he did not receive a payment. The agreement that averted the war was for the Tuscan king to offer gold and land. However, Childebert and Theudebert cheated Chlothar, Childebert taking the money and Theudebert the land that Theodahad's successor, Vitiges turned over. Chlothar's treasury was still much larger than either Childebert's or Theudebert's.

Acquisition of Metz
Theudebald, Chlothar's great-nephew and the grandson of the late Theuderic, died childless in 555. So Chlothar immediately went to Metz to take possession of the kingdom from his late nephew, but under Salic Law he had to share it with his brother. So he married Waldrada, Theudebald's widow and the daughter of the Lombard king Wacho. This ensured the smooth succession to the kingdom of Metz, as well as an alliance with the Lombards, established since the reign of Theudebert. But the bishops condemned this incestuous marriage and forced Chlothar to divorce her. They gave her in marriage to the Bavarian Duke Garibald. To compensate for the breakdown of the marriage with Vuldetrade (Waldrada), Chlothar gave Chlothsind, his daughter, to the Lombard prince and future king, Alboin. Condat the Domesticus, great administrator of the palace of King Theudebald, retained his position after the annexation of the kingdom of Metz.

Saxon war
In 555, Chlothar attacked and conquered the Saxons, who had revolted, in the upper valley of the Weser, Elbe, and the coast of the North Sea. As a submission, Chlothar required them to pay a substantial annual tribute and for some time exacted from the Saxons an annual tribute of 500 cows.

Between 555 and 556, the Saxons revolted again, perhaps instigated by Childebert. Faced with the Saxon revolt and threat of a massacre, Chlothar preferred peace talks. He offered to forego battle if they would accept his demand to continue to pay him tribute, despite a previous rejection. But his men, aggressive, eager for battle, contested the decision. Talks were cut short when the soldiers forced him, with insults and death threats, to take on the Saxons. After an incredibly bloody battle, the Saxons and Franks made peace.

Submission of Auvergne
Auvergne, a once prosperous Roman province, which had resisted the Visigoths and Franks, had hoped they could avoid destruction by offering their loyalty. Theuderic had devastated much of the land, and Theudebert pacified the land by marrying a Gallo-Roman woman of Senatorial descent. In anticipation of the death of Theodebald, Chlothar sent his son Chram to take possession of the area. In time, Chram came to control a larger area and desired to break away from his father entirely. To achieve this, he joined politically with Childebert who encouraged his dissent. In time his influence was expanded over Poitiers, Tours, Limoges, Clermont, Bourges, Le Puy, Javols, Rodez, Cahors, Albi, and Toulouse.

War with Chram
Chlothar again engaged in war with the Saxons. He sent his sons Charibert and Guntram to lead an army against Chram. They marched to Auvergne and Limoges and finally found Chram in Saint-Georges-Nigremont. Their armies met at the foot of a "black mountain" where they demanded that Chram relinquish land belonging to their father. He refused, but a storm prevented the battle. Chram sent a messenger to his half-brothers, falsely informing them of the death of Chlothar at the hand of the Saxons. Charibert and Guntram immediately marched to Burgundy. The rumor that Chlothar had died in Saxony spread throughout Gaul, even reaching the ears of Childebert. It is possible that Childebert was behind the rumor as well. Chram then took the opportunity to extend his influence to Chalon-sur-Saône. He besieged the city and won. Chram married Chalda, daughter of Wiliachaire (Willacharius), Count of Orléans, which was under Childebert's authority.

Unification of all Francia
On 23 December 558, Childebert died childless after a long illness. This allowed Chlothar to reunite the Greater Frankish Kingdom, as his father Clovis had done, and seize the treasure of his brother.

The news of Childebert's death had caused many kingdoms to unify under Chlothar. Paris, which had fought against him, submitted to his rule. Chram therefore called on the Bretons to allow him refuge. He had made such an agreement with his father-in-law Willacharius, Count of Orléans, although he was currently taking refuge himself in the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours. He was caught and subsequently burned "for the sins of the people and the scandals that were perpetrated by Wiliachaire and his wife." Chlothar then restored the Basilica.

Between 1 September and 31 August 559, with the help of the Bretons, Chram plundered and destroyed a large number of places belonging to his father. Chlothar, accompanied by his son Chilperic, advanced to Domnonée and arrived there in November or December of 560. During the battle, located near the coast, Conomor was defeated and killed when he attempted to flee. Conomor owned land on both sides of the Channel, and Chram perhaps intended to flee from Chlothar to take refuge in England with the support of Conomor. Chram fled for the sea, but first attempted to rescue his wife and daughters. He was then captured and immediately sentenced to death. He and his wife and daughters were locked in a shack and were strangled and burned. Overwhelmed with remorse, Clothar went to Tours to implore forgiveness at the tomb of St Martin and died shortly afterwards at the royal palace at Compiègne.

Relations with the church
In 561, Chlothar attempted to raise taxes on churches, despite the exemption granted by Roman law which had been routinely confirmed by past kings. Indeed, Childeric I had granted immunities to ecclesiastics. The Bishop of Tours, Injuriosus refused, left his diocese, and abandoned Chlothar. At the death of the bishop, the king replaced him with a member of his household named Baudin. Similarly, Chlothar exiled the bishop of Trier, Nizier, because of its inflexibility on canon law. Thus the tax on churches held.

Ingund and Chlothar made many additions to churches, including the decorations of the tomb of Saint-Germain Auxerre; the basilica are preserved with a given royal chalice.

Female monasticism
Chlothar financed the construction of the monastery of Sainte-Croix in Poitiers, which folds Radegund. He transferred reliquaries that the queen had accumulated during her stay with the king to the monastery of St. Croix.

Death
At the end of his reign, the Frankish kingdom was at its peak, covering the whole of Gaul (except Septimania) and part of present-day Germany. Chlothar died at the end of 561 of acute pneumonia at the age of 64, leaving his kingdom to his four sons. They went to bury him at Soissons in the Basilica of St. Marie, where he had started to build the tomb of St. Médard.

Succession

 * Charibert received the ancient kingdom of Childebert I, between the Somme and Pyrénées, with Paris as its capital, and including the Paris Basin, Aquitaine and Provence.
 * Guntram received Burgundy with a part of the Kingdom of Orléans, where he established his capital.
 * Sigebert received the Kingdom of Metz with its capital Reims and Metz.
 * Chilperic received the territories north of the Kingdom of Soissons.

title: Chlothar I


text:
Talk:Chilperic I

Untitled
Can anybody expand upon his adding letters to the Latin alphabet? -- Zoe

Which Herod?
The article says:
 * Chilperic was stigmatized as the Nero and the Herod of his time.

Which Herod is meant? Gdr 21:14, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Accent aigu
Why is it used on his name (the acute accent on the e, that is) in an English encyclopaedia? I would not have called it standard in English. Srnec 04:52, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

 * It depends on the naming rules. - Pernambuco 22:50, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Chilperic's verse
The article says that Chilperic's verse is well-regarded. It certainly was not well regarded by Gregory of Tours (though of course he despised the king on other grounds). More importantly: as far as I am aware none of Chilperic's verses survive-- so we have no real basis for forming any opinion as to its quality. A footnote in an English translation of the Historia (Penguin, 1974) says explicitly that "None of the poems of King Chilperic has survived". I think that unless someone can point to the poems, the sentence stating that they are well-regarded should be deleted.

Mjhrynick (talk) 22:42, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

New Letters
This is in response to Zoe's enquiry at the top of the page. As far as I know, the only contemporary reference to the King's new letters is in Gregory (v.44), and runs as follows:

Addit autem et litteras litteris nostris, id est w, sicut Graeci habent, ae, the, uui, quarum caracteres hi sunt: Et misit epistulas in universis civitatibus regni sui, ut sic pueri docerentur ac libri antiquitus scripti, planati pomice, rescriberentur.

I think the "w" was an omega, that is to say, a long o, and I suspect that in manuscript (I have never seen one) exemplars of the four characters were to be found in the place where some editor has placed a colon. Bischoff (Latin Palaeography, Cambridge, 1990, p. 194) seems to say that the first was a circle with a central dot, the second a figure like a psi, the third a figure like our capital Z, and the fourth a triangle, like a big delta.

Perhaps the following would suit in the article:

"Chiperic tried in his kingdom to force the use of four new letters of the alphabet; but his innovations never caught on."

Mjhrynick (talk) 22:54, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Hi, one of the best reasons one can give regarding the reason as why the revolution failed despite Chilperic wanting to interfere with the Latin alphabet in use in the Frankish realm at the time is that he got murdered. Dead men do not talk, and kings barely 4 months old have better things to do than discuss linguistics. I know he must have been assassinated by other reasons; but clearly he had enemies and against him all the Gallo-Roman intelligentsia which was swarming the administration and bishoprics. The letters he wanted to introduce were Germanic friendly and to an expert in Old Englisc very friendly. Interestingly, his letters will find asylum in Britain when the first Law Codex is written in Kent in vernacular Saxon barely 20years later after his death. Having seen the proposed letters in their context, it is clear French would have been a lot different had the king lived longer! see p 254-255 KRUSCH LEVINSON Gregorii Episcopi 1937-1951. Taking responsibility of this paragraph. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.176.105.148 (talk) 17:22, 6 June 2014 (UTC)

Gregory's bias
It's clear that all, or at least very nearly all of the inormation for this article is taken from Gregory's Historiae. This is problematic, as Gregory had every reason to portray Chilperic in the poorest of lights. At the very least, Gregory's bias should be mentioned. A caveat near the top of the article would do nicely, no?Eltheodigraeardgesece (talk) 19:49, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

The big problem is that naturally all comes from Gregrory prior to his death in 594 or from Fredegar Chronicle. It is just like wishing a non-Northumbrian bias in Bede. We are given only one bell and only one toll because we only have one document to cover this period.

What needs to be done is to look at what is missing, what we can define as bias. In short, we can guess the known unknown; but the unknown unknown, we shall never know. Unless documents spring from so far undisclosed locations. Let's say we get a copy of St Eligius memoirs? Until then Chilperic will have his wife strangled and Fredegund will be a she-wolf. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TSMorangles (talk • contribs) 17:39, 6 June 2014 (UTC)

title: Talk:Chilperic I


text:
Pär Lagerkvist

Pär Fabian Lagerkvist (23 May 1891 – 11 July 1974) was a Swedish author who received the 1951 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Lagerkvist wrote poetry, plays, novels, short stories, and essays of considerable expressive power and influence from his early 20s to his late 70s. One of his central themes was the fundamental question of good and evil, which he examined through such figures as Barabbas, the man who was freed instead of Jesus, and Ahasuerus, the Wandering Jew. As a moralist, he used religious motifs and figures from the Christian tradition without following the doctrines of a church.

Biography and works
Lagerkvist was born in Växjö (Småland). He received a traditional religious education – he would later say, with little exaggeration, that he "had had the good fortune to grow up in a home where the only books known were the Bible and the Book of Hymns". In his teens he broke away from Christian beliefs, but, unlike many other writers and thinkers in his generation, he did not become vehemently critical of religious beliefs as such. Though he was politically a socialist for most of his life, he never indulged in the idea that "religion is the opium of the people". Much of his writing is informed by a lifelong interest in man and his symbols and gods, and in the position of Man (both as individual and mankind) in a world where the Divine is no longer present, no longer speaking.

In his early years Lagerkvist supported modernist and aesthetically radical views, as shown by his manifesto Ordkonst och bildkonst (Word Art and Picture Art, 1913) and the play Den Svåra Stunden ("The Difficult Hour").

One of the author's earliest works is Ångest (Anguish, 1916), a violent and disillusioned collection of poems. His anguish was derived from his fear of death, the World War, and personal crisis. He tried to explore how a person can find a meaningful life in a world where a war can kill millions for very little reason. "Anguish, anguish is my heritage / the wound of my throat / the cry of my heart in the world." ("Anguish", 1916.) "Love is nothing. Anguish is everything / the anguish of living." ("Love is nothing", 1916.) This pessimism, however, slowly faded, as testified by his subsequent works, Det eviga leendet (The Eternal Smile, 1920), the autobiographical novel Gäst hos verkligheten (Guest of Reality, 1925) and the prose monologue Det besegrade livet (The defeated Life, 1927), in which the faith in man is predominant. From The Eternal Smile on, his style largely abandoned the expressionist pathos and brusque effects of his early works and there was a strong striving for simplicity, classical precision and clean telling, sometimes appearing close to naivism. The content, however, was never truly naive. A Swedish critic remarked that "Lagerkvist and John the Evangelist are two masters at expressing profound things with a highly restricted choice of words".

Ten years after Ångest, Lagerkvist married for the second time, a union which was to provide a pillar of safety in his life until the death of his wife forty years later. Hjärtats sånger (Songs of the Heart) (1926) appeared at this time, bearing witness to his pride and love for his consort. This collection is much less desperate in its tone than Ångest, and established him as one of the foremost Swedish poets of his generation.

His prose novella Bödeln ("The Hangman", 1933), later adapted for the stage (The Hangman, 1933; play, 1934), shows his growing concern with the totalitarianism and brutality that began to sweep across Europe in the years prior to World War II. Nazism was one of the main targets of the work and Der Stürmer responded with a very dismissive review. Criticism against Fascism is also present in the play Mannen utan själ (The Man Without a Soul, 1936).

In September 1940 Lagerkvist was elected a member of the Swedish Academy, succeeding Verner von Heidenstam on chair 8 in December the same year.

Lagerkvist's 1944 novel Dvärgen (The Dwarf), a searching, ironic tale about evil, was the first to bring him positive international attention outside of the Nordic countries. The work was followed in 1949 by the unusual, lyrical play Låt människan leva (Let Man Live).

Barabbas (1950), which was immediately hailed as a literary masterpiece (by fellow Nobel laureate André Gide, among others) is probably Lagerkvist's most famous work. The novel is based on a Biblical story. Jesus of Nazareth was sentenced to die by the Roman authorities immediately before the Jewish Passover, when it was customary for the Romans to release someone convicted of a capital offense. When the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate offers to free either Jesus or Barabbas (a convicted thief and murderer), a Jerusalem mob demands the release of Barabbas, who later watches Jesus as he bears the cross to Golgotha, witnesses the crucifixion, and then spends the rest of his life trying to understand why he was chosen to live rather than Jesus. A movie based upon the novel was filmed in 1961, with Anthony Quinn playing the title role.

In 1951 Pär Lagerkvist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for the artistic vigour and true independence of mind with which he endeavours in his poetry to find answers to the eternal questions confronting mankind.". He had first been proposed for the prize in 1947. Following the publication of Barabbas, Lagerkvist had been one of the favourites to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950. In 1951 the Nobel committee for literature received nine nominations for Lagerkvist, including nominations from the French authors and previous laureates André Gide and Roger Martin du Gard, and the Swedish Academy decided to award him the prize.

Lagerkvist died in Stockholm in 1974 at the age of 83, his wife having died in 1967.

Short Story Collections

 * Människor (People) (1912)
 * Två sagor om livet (2 Tales of Life) (1913)
 * Järn och människor (Iron and People) (1915)
 * Det eviga leendet (The Eternal Smile) (1920) - 3 stories
 * Onda sagor (Wicked Tales) (1924)
 * Kämpande ande (Fighting Spirit) (1930)
 * I den tiden (In the Terms) (1935)

Novels

 * Gäst hos verkligheten (Guest of Reality) (1925)
 * Den svåra resan (The Difficult Journey) (written c. 1926, published 1985)
 * Själarnas maskerad (The Masquerade of Souls) (1930)
 * Bödeln (The Executioner) (1933)
 * Dvärgen (The Dwarf) (1944)
 * Barabbas (1950, filmed in 1953, 1961, and 2012)
 * Sibyllan (The Sibyl) (1956)
 * Ahasverus död (The Death of Ahasuerus) (1960)
 * Pilgrim på havet (Pilgrim on the Sea) (1962)
 * Det heliga landet (The Holy Land) (1964)
 * Mariamne (1967)

Prose and poetry

 * Ordkonst och bildkonst (1913)
 * Motiv (1914)
 * Ångest (1916)
 * Kaos (1919)
 * Den lyckliges väg (1921)
 * Hjärtats sånger (1926)
 * Det besegrade livet (1927)
 * Vid lägereld (1932)
 * Den knutna näven ("The Clenched Fist", 1934)
 * Genius (1937)
 * Den befriade människan (1939)
 * Sång och strid (1940)
 * Hemmet och stjärnan (1942)
 * Aftonland ("Evening Land", 1953)
 * Antecknat (diaries and notes, 1977)

Theatre

 * Sista mänskan, play ("The Last Man", 1917)
 * Den svåra stunden, three one-act plays ("The Difficult Hour", 1918)
 * Teater (1918)
 * Himlens hemlighet, play ("The Secret of Heaven", 1919)
 * Den osynlige, play ("The Invisible One", 1923)
 * Han som fick leva om sitt liv, play ("The Man Who Lived his Life Over", 1928)
 * Konungen, play ("The King", 1932)
 * Bödeln, play ("The Hangman", 1933)
 * Mannen utan själ, play ("The Man Without a Soul", 1936)
 * Seger i mörkret, play ("Victory in the Dark", 1939)
 * Midsommardröm i fattighuset, play ("Midsummer's Dream in the Workhouse", 1941)
 * De vises sten, play ("The Philosopher's Stone", 1947)
 * Låt människan leva, play ("Let Man Live", 1950)

English translations

 * "Literary Art and Pictorial Art" [Ordkonst och bildkonst], Rainbow Press, 1991, ISBN 0-9518535-0-3.
 * "The Dwarf" [Dvärgen], Hill and Wang, 1958, ISBN 0-374-52135-2.
 * "Barabbas", Vintage, 1989, ISBN 0-679-72544-X.
 * "The Sibyl" [Sibyllan], Vintage, 1963, ISBN 0-394-70240-9.
 * "The Death of Ahasuerus" [Ahasverus död], Vintage, 1982, ISBN 0-394-70820-2.
 * "Evening Land" [Aftonland], translated by W. H. Auden and Leif Sjöberg; Wayne State University Press, 1975; Souvenir Press, London, 1977, ISBN 0814315429.

title: Pär Lagerkvist