The first three seasons of this show encapsulated the sheer energy of social and sexual revolution of the late 1960's.On the surface it was patchy,often very funny,satirical and not afraid to poke fun at the US involvement in the Vietnam war and the Nixon administration.It launched the careers of many of todays Film and Tv stars and inspired many a generation with it's trademark "Sock it to me", "Fickle Finger of Fate" and those epilepsy-instigating Party Sequences each episode. True, as with all shows of their time, a lot of the references and humour may have dated badly, but for a Pre-PC generation, it was naughty and not what your parents would want you to watch.Perfect. Many contemporary reviewers dismiss the show as vulgar and irrelevant, but for people who actually watched it at the time, it was breaking the formula of the TV variety show.It was the epitome of groovy and psychadelia for Network TV-very fast, energetic, colorful and loud which really hadn't been seen before. By 1970,most of the original cast had gone and the show started to look back on itself and died. It lasted another 3 years, but it could never recapture the excitement of the first three years.I think this holds true for society in general.Maybe today's politically correct generation really cannot appreciate the enjoyment gained by watching Laugh In for the first time.
Review of Laugh-In
