Audio Vault: Laugh-In Closing (3/8/1971) [Updated]

Friday, March 31st, 2017 Update: You can now listen to the complete audio from the closing credits, ending with the NBC chimes.

Here’s audio from the closing credits to the March 8th, 1971 episode of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In on NBC:

The audio starts with the famous “Say goodnight, Dick” exchange and ends with the NBC chimes.

During the credits, Ed McMahon voices a network promotional spot for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson with guest host Joey Bishop and the crew of Apollo 14, among others. The promo can be heard at the 1:39 mark.

Here’s a transcript:

Hello, this is Ed McMahon. Later tonight, Joey Bishop starts the week right as guest host of The Tonight Show. He welcomes Robert Young, Corbett Monica, singers Abbe Lane and Hal Frasier, and special guests, the crew of Apollo 14: Captain Alan B. Shephard, Jr., Air Force Major Stuart Roosa, and Navy Commander Edgar Mitchell. That’s all on The Tonight Show, right here on NBC.”

About This Recording

Source: Reel-to-reel audio tape
Date: Monday, March 8th, 1971
Network: NBC
Station: Unknown


Related Posts

Become a Patron Today

Are you a fan of obscure television? Please support Television Obscurities on Patreon by becoming a patron today.

14 Replies to “Audio Vault: Laugh-In Closing (3/8/1971) [Updated]”

  1. If that seems like a large list of guests, you have to remember that in 1971 “The Tonight Show” ran 90 minutes. Also, to put this episode in context, it should be noted that between the Joke Wall and Arte Johnson’s “Very Interesting” segment, George Shlatter did visual jokes in order to allow NBC to promote other shows.

    1. Also, I should have added that the final credits were printed over the Joke Wall segment, not after.

    2. You also have to remember that Laugh-In had a lot of quick cameos cut in. They might spend a day filming bits with one person then cut those into the whole season. But Laugh-In did have a fairly large cast of regulars.

      1. I was referring to “The Tonight Show” in my first post, but you are right about Laugh-In. George Schlatter was proably the first producer to edit video tape that way, although Ernie Kovacs did something similar at the end of his career. Remember that both of them had to cut and splice tape. Digital editing didn’t exist in the ’60’s.

  2. I was hoping that this would contain the actual close, with one person clapping, ending with the NBC chimes. Always thought that was cool.

  3. I went back and pulled out the complete audio from the closing credits, roughly 3.5 minutes. You can now hear everything from the “Say goodnight, Dick” exchange to the NBC chimes–with the clapping.

    1. Thanks for adding those extra minutes. A couple of thoughts: [1] That female impersonator joke takes on added irony in the era of Kaitlyn Jenner. [2] Arte Johnson must have left since there was no “Very Interesting” joke. [3] Those noises before the chimes were the 2 vanity logos: First George Schlatter, then Rowan & Martin. BTW, did you know that R&M forced Schatter out before the last season? He never forgave them either for that or suing him when he tried to revive Laugh-In in 1977.

      1. One more thing: Yes, the 1977 version introduced Robin Williams to a national audience. He also worked with Richard Pryor before becoming Mork.

      1. I remember NBC was re-running the failed revival of “LAUGH-IN” after “MORK & MINDY” debuted on ABC and every time they showed a promo for it they made a point of mentioning that Robin Williams was on it.

  4. I was hoping to transcribe the joke wall segment before McMahon’s voiceover, but the jokes go too fast for me, and I’d probably miss a few ad-libs. Here are the voices that I think I recognize, though I could be wrong about a couple of these:
    Ruth Buzzi (female impersonator joke)
    Johnny Brown (Watts joke)
    Barbara Sharma (bathtub joke)
    Alan Sues (chihuahua joke)
    Dennis Allen (Rooney joke)
    Ann Elder (Shadow joke)
    Arte Johnson (responds to Sues’ dandruff joke)
    Lily Tomlin (Moby Duke joke)

    I love the kazoos near the end, though I have no idea what was going on in the visual segments after the joke wall. It would be neat to find this episode on You Tube.

    1. Kazoos were used quite frequently on Laugh-In. Also, I was clearly wrong about Arte Johnson being gone. I now remember he stopped “Very Interesting” after season 3, reportedly because NBC didn’t like him saying “good night Lucy and Marshal Dillon”, which of course were referring to the other network.

  5. Who was responsible for the musique concrète sounds at the very ending, just before the NBC chimes ending just before the creaky door sound FX? But is isn’t heard in this clip.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.