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Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy
Already a well-regarded producer of television specials and variety shows by 1967, George Schlatter pitched to NBC an idea that was a radical a TV comedy special inspired by the hippie counter-culture, one which would take the idea of sit-ins, love-ins, and be-ins, and manifest that politicized, sexualized, consciousness-raising energy into comedic sketches. The special, Laugh-in, was so successful it became a regular television series. Soon, it was the #1 show on American TV.
Still Laughing features never-before-told backstories from the creation of one of the most beloved shows in television history. It also recounts the coming-of-age of one of television’s great producers, from his early nightclub days in Vegas, rubbing elbows with iconic mob figures like Mickey Cohen and John Stompanato, to his influential friendships with Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, for whom George was asked to deliver a eulogy at his funeral.
The book is an inside look at the Golden Age of Hollywood in the wake of the cultural upheaval of the Sixties and Seventies. It demonstrates the crucial role a working producer plays in bringing a show to life, and reveals the actual people (Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Milton Berle, Liza Minnelli, among many others) cloistered inside their iconic celebrity. With spit-fire humor and tireless wit, Still Laughing captures this adventurous and CURIOUS time.
Still Laughing includes never before seen photographs of Hollywood’s biggest stars, accompanying untold stories, such
Frank Sinatra’s travel habits– a Jack Daniels over ice and a Camel cigarette always in tow How George bought a house for Sammy Davis Jr. The time George sang “Over the Rainbow” to an irate Judy Garland Riding a party bus to see Frank Sinatra with Martin Short and Chevy Chase How George produced the first-ever all-Black variety show with Redd Foxx and Pearl Bailey
Still Laughing features never-before-told backstories from the creation of one of the most beloved shows in television history. It also recounts the coming-of-age of one of television’s great producers, from his early nightclub days in Vegas, rubbing elbows with iconic mob figures like Mickey Cohen and John Stompanato, to his influential friendships with Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, for whom George was asked to deliver a eulogy at his funeral.
The book is an inside look at the Golden Age of Hollywood in the wake of the cultural upheaval of the Sixties and Seventies. It demonstrates the crucial role a working producer plays in bringing a show to life, and reveals the actual people (Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Milton Berle, Liza Minnelli, among many others) cloistered inside their iconic celebrity. With spit-fire humor and tireless wit, Still Laughing captures this adventurous and CURIOUS time.
Still Laughing includes never before seen photographs of Hollywood’s biggest stars, accompanying untold stories, such
Frank Sinatra’s travel habits– a Jack Daniels over ice and a Camel cigarette always in tow How George bought a house for Sammy Davis Jr. The time George sang “Over the Rainbow” to an irate Judy Garland Riding a party bus to see Frank Sinatra with Martin Short and Chevy Chase How George produced the first-ever all-Black variety show with Redd Foxx and Pearl Bailey
300 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 11, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 6, 2023
A collection of anecdotes from the 93 year old producer of Laugh-In, Real People, and numerous awards and variety shows. They read as if they were told directly by your ribald, sexist, egotistical grandfather, with countless rimshots and constant name-dropping. I wish there were more pages devoted to Laugh-In, the 1960s hippy culture comedy TV show (where Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin and others got their start), and fewer about Schlatter's relationship with Mafia buddy Frank Sinatra, but overall it was a quick, entertaining memoir. YMMV if you are easily offended by 225 pages of politically incorrect schtick.
August 17, 2023
Wish there had been more Laugh-In stories, but enjoyed it a lot!
June 27, 2026
What should have been an amazing book filled with well-written stories instead is messed up by the extremely crude TV producer's admission that he regularly lied to everyone, committed crimes, worked for the Mafia and had no trouble being an a-hole to stars he worked with. There are plenty of small anecdotes but the book is rambling and poorly organized. There are also minor editing and printing errors (misspelled words, missing punctuation) that detract from something that could have been great since the author was involved in some major television productions.
The problems begin right up front when Schlatter says he isn't going to do a conventional storyline: "I could not write this book the way so many of the other career books have been written, where it traces a person's life and career in a strict chronological and very linear manner." instead it's a bunch of pasted together remembrances that skip all over the place and can be difficult to follow since he fails to provide timelines. He insists on making a lot of unfunny side comments (including a lot of unnecessary dirty jokes that are politically incorrect) and assumes we know what he's talking about without filling in needed details.
It also skips over many of the projects he was involved with and it all kind of ends in the 1980s. What this guy has been doing the past forty years is hard to say, beyond a few mentions of specials he was part of.
At his age Schlatter just goes ahead and admits to his crimes saying that no one will do anything about it, including a lot of sexual harassment and drugs--but after hearing his illegal activities I have to wonder why is no one charging him?
Schlatter was a money runner for one of the biggest Mob bosses in Vegas and he was good pals with a Teamster's lawyer who twisted all sorts of laws to support the godfathers. It's disconcerting that by page 30 the writer brags about being a criminal who was never caught.
The #MeToo movement should be upset over many of his stories and "jokes." He reveals totally inappropriate things like talking with Richard Pryor in a dressing room while the comic was doing illegal drugs and getting a blowjob or forcing one male star's hand to Schlatter's crotch to bring the ego into submission.
So you have to take his stories skeptically and tolerate the diversions Schlatter tosses in. There are plenty of great memories of a few of his shows but don't expect most of them to have depth. Some are a couple paragraphs, while others are ungodly long in making a single point. He tells one about Ronald Reagan performing a Vegas act (which should have been fascinating) but it was seven repetitive pages about the chimps that could have been summarized in a couple paragraphs.
You'll discover that "sock it to me" came from his wife's reference to the Aretha Franklin song "Respect," which had just come out a few months before the pilot of Laugh-In. And that many of the comedy's segments came from ideas seen originally on the Ernie Kovacs show (Schlatter admits to stealing creative ideas as much as he supported the Mafia).
He skips through his other productions starting in the early days, from some barely mentioned (Dinah Shore, Danny Thomas, Tim Conway, Bill Cosby) to over-dwelling on others (Judy Garland, Steve Lawrence, and way too much on his love of the terrible Frank Sinatra). I loved hearing about his producing Cher's solo TV variety show, but again he focused on her negative attitude instead of giving specifics about how the series was put together.
How do you produce one of Bill Cosby's TV series and barely mention it? Oh, right, Cosby was an egotistical womanizing creep that secretly did illegal things...just like Schlatter shows himself to be in the book!
His random stream-of-consciousness storytelling often makes no sense. In a single chapter he goes from his variety series with Cher in 1973 to a black TV special he produced in 1968 (which he wrongly states was 1969) to a 1976 movie he did with Redd Foxx (that was slammed by critics for its gay stereotyping) to a charity dinner for Robin Williams 1988 and the 1990 Jerry Lewis telethon--none occurred near each other timewise and had nothing to do with each other. He just stuffs them in whenever he wants, making hasty sexist, racist and ethnic comments while falsely bragging about how successful his projects were.
The hour-long pilot called Soul was an all-black version of Laugh-In (which had premiered as a series to huge numbers nine months earlier). Schlatter claims Soul also was "enormously successful"--but there is zero evidence of it since the network didn't order it as a series. When you watch the video on YouTube you can see how racially offensive the stereotypes were (blacks calling each other "colored"?). The author must be trying to make up for it by being woke when he incorrectly capitalizes black as a person's skin color but doesn't capitalize white (even the awkward sentence where he points out that the very profane anti-white racist African-American Clarence Avant was "a show business legend in both the Black (sic) and the white communities."
Laugh-In gets about 25 pages that don't come until three-fourths of the way through the book. There are some revelations (especially about the horrible Rowan and Martin) but there could have been more--in a single sentence he mentions Lorne Michaels worked on the series but doesn't say anything else! Schlatter also makes a quick reference to the reboot of Laugh-In that he claims was a "hit show" with huge ratings--look it up online, words used are "disastrous original ratings," "panned by critics," and "swift cancellation" after six episodes.
Then Schlatter mentions the copycat half-hour show he did for ABC called Turn-On, which was the greatest single flop in the history of television. It was cancelled while the first episode aired and I saw it when it happened. It was disgusting. Sadly, Schlatter twists his love of the show he created into some false information and propaganda, slamming a single TV station owner who had the guts to pull the plug on the trash and filth that George paraded on the screen. Turn-On was pure crap, yet this author has the guts to call it "innovative television" and "everyone who saw it was absolutely blown away by it"--neither of which were true. The response was immediately negative from stations across the country that wanted it gone instantly.
Namely, don't believe anything this author is trying to sell you.
He also doesn't hold back slamming many people, living and dead (Jerry Lewis, Regis Philbin). One of the oddest is that this disgusting liberal sex-hungry producer who praises people like Bill Clinton agreed to oversee the inauguration programs for the Bush presidencies. It only could be due to the money he earned, but I will say that despite his repeated slams of anything conservative or Republican, he does a fair job dealing with Bush 41 (not so much with Bush 43).
Schlatter takes credit for a whole lot of things, some deserved and some not-so-much. His show made Goldie Hawn a star but he's wrong in taking credit for discovering her--he says that when she auditioned for Laugh-In that she was a dancer and not an actress. But that's not true--Hawn had already been a regular on the sitcom Good Morning World a year before!
I was surprised how he underplays his discovery of Robin Williams and creating the show Real People, which really should be pegged as television's first commercial reality TV show. It only gets six pages but was a huge hit, the precursor that led to America's Funniest Home Videos, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition and reality docuseries. The guy should praise himself about that but instead he brags about the pretty blonde he hired for it ("Sarah Purcell became a big star" he says, ignoring that she did a few game and talk shows after Real People but is largely unknown today) and then chooses to claim Turn-On was groundbreaking?
Most frustrating is that he'll make an aside that covers up what could be a great story. For example, he said Sammy Davis Jr. was "always in trouble with unsavory people" and into "drugs, booze, broads, cars, cons, hood, celebrities, porn stars and politicians...Sammy and I had fun with all of the above, often at the same time." Then he says no more! How about some specifics about the partying ways of him and the famous people he knew?
Bottom line is that most everything is poorly told and that may be the fault of the co-author. While all sorts of woke asides are tossed in that have nothing to do with Schlatter's history, it would have been much better had there been a sense of order and purpose to the storytelling. Instead, we just get a guy who thinks he's hilarious and is still laughing at himself.
The problems begin right up front when Schlatter says he isn't going to do a conventional storyline: "I could not write this book the way so many of the other career books have been written, where it traces a person's life and career in a strict chronological and very linear manner." instead it's a bunch of pasted together remembrances that skip all over the place and can be difficult to follow since he fails to provide timelines. He insists on making a lot of unfunny side comments (including a lot of unnecessary dirty jokes that are politically incorrect) and assumes we know what he's talking about without filling in needed details.
It also skips over many of the projects he was involved with and it all kind of ends in the 1980s. What this guy has been doing the past forty years is hard to say, beyond a few mentions of specials he was part of.
At his age Schlatter just goes ahead and admits to his crimes saying that no one will do anything about it, including a lot of sexual harassment and drugs--but after hearing his illegal activities I have to wonder why is no one charging him?
Schlatter was a money runner for one of the biggest Mob bosses in Vegas and he was good pals with a Teamster's lawyer who twisted all sorts of laws to support the godfathers. It's disconcerting that by page 30 the writer brags about being a criminal who was never caught.
The #MeToo movement should be upset over many of his stories and "jokes." He reveals totally inappropriate things like talking with Richard Pryor in a dressing room while the comic was doing illegal drugs and getting a blowjob or forcing one male star's hand to Schlatter's crotch to bring the ego into submission.
So you have to take his stories skeptically and tolerate the diversions Schlatter tosses in. There are plenty of great memories of a few of his shows but don't expect most of them to have depth. Some are a couple paragraphs, while others are ungodly long in making a single point. He tells one about Ronald Reagan performing a Vegas act (which should have been fascinating) but it was seven repetitive pages about the chimps that could have been summarized in a couple paragraphs.
You'll discover that "sock it to me" came from his wife's reference to the Aretha Franklin song "Respect," which had just come out a few months before the pilot of Laugh-In. And that many of the comedy's segments came from ideas seen originally on the Ernie Kovacs show (Schlatter admits to stealing creative ideas as much as he supported the Mafia).
He skips through his other productions starting in the early days, from some barely mentioned (Dinah Shore, Danny Thomas, Tim Conway, Bill Cosby) to over-dwelling on others (Judy Garland, Steve Lawrence, and way too much on his love of the terrible Frank Sinatra). I loved hearing about his producing Cher's solo TV variety show, but again he focused on her negative attitude instead of giving specifics about how the series was put together.
How do you produce one of Bill Cosby's TV series and barely mention it? Oh, right, Cosby was an egotistical womanizing creep that secretly did illegal things...just like Schlatter shows himself to be in the book!
His random stream-of-consciousness storytelling often makes no sense. In a single chapter he goes from his variety series with Cher in 1973 to a black TV special he produced in 1968 (which he wrongly states was 1969) to a 1976 movie he did with Redd Foxx (that was slammed by critics for its gay stereotyping) to a charity dinner for Robin Williams 1988 and the 1990 Jerry Lewis telethon--none occurred near each other timewise and had nothing to do with each other. He just stuffs them in whenever he wants, making hasty sexist, racist and ethnic comments while falsely bragging about how successful his projects were.
The hour-long pilot called Soul was an all-black version of Laugh-In (which had premiered as a series to huge numbers nine months earlier). Schlatter claims Soul also was "enormously successful"--but there is zero evidence of it since the network didn't order it as a series. When you watch the video on YouTube you can see how racially offensive the stereotypes were (blacks calling each other "colored"?). The author must be trying to make up for it by being woke when he incorrectly capitalizes black as a person's skin color but doesn't capitalize white (even the awkward sentence where he points out that the very profane anti-white racist African-American Clarence Avant was "a show business legend in both the Black (sic) and the white communities."
Laugh-In gets about 25 pages that don't come until three-fourths of the way through the book. There are some revelations (especially about the horrible Rowan and Martin) but there could have been more--in a single sentence he mentions Lorne Michaels worked on the series but doesn't say anything else! Schlatter also makes a quick reference to the reboot of Laugh-In that he claims was a "hit show" with huge ratings--look it up online, words used are "disastrous original ratings," "panned by critics," and "swift cancellation" after six episodes.
Then Schlatter mentions the copycat half-hour show he did for ABC called Turn-On, which was the greatest single flop in the history of television. It was cancelled while the first episode aired and I saw it when it happened. It was disgusting. Sadly, Schlatter twists his love of the show he created into some false information and propaganda, slamming a single TV station owner who had the guts to pull the plug on the trash and filth that George paraded on the screen. Turn-On was pure crap, yet this author has the guts to call it "innovative television" and "everyone who saw it was absolutely blown away by it"--neither of which were true. The response was immediately negative from stations across the country that wanted it gone instantly.
Namely, don't believe anything this author is trying to sell you.
He also doesn't hold back slamming many people, living and dead (Jerry Lewis, Regis Philbin). One of the oddest is that this disgusting liberal sex-hungry producer who praises people like Bill Clinton agreed to oversee the inauguration programs for the Bush presidencies. It only could be due to the money he earned, but I will say that despite his repeated slams of anything conservative or Republican, he does a fair job dealing with Bush 41 (not so much with Bush 43).
Schlatter takes credit for a whole lot of things, some deserved and some not-so-much. His show made Goldie Hawn a star but he's wrong in taking credit for discovering her--he says that when she auditioned for Laugh-In that she was a dancer and not an actress. But that's not true--Hawn had already been a regular on the sitcom Good Morning World a year before!
I was surprised how he underplays his discovery of Robin Williams and creating the show Real People, which really should be pegged as television's first commercial reality TV show. It only gets six pages but was a huge hit, the precursor that led to America's Funniest Home Videos, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition and reality docuseries. The guy should praise himself about that but instead he brags about the pretty blonde he hired for it ("Sarah Purcell became a big star" he says, ignoring that she did a few game and talk shows after Real People but is largely unknown today) and then chooses to claim Turn-On was groundbreaking?
Most frustrating is that he'll make an aside that covers up what could be a great story. For example, he said Sammy Davis Jr. was "always in trouble with unsavory people" and into "drugs, booze, broads, cars, cons, hood, celebrities, porn stars and politicians...Sammy and I had fun with all of the above, often at the same time." Then he says no more! How about some specifics about the partying ways of him and the famous people he knew?
Bottom line is that most everything is poorly told and that may be the fault of the co-author. While all sorts of woke asides are tossed in that have nothing to do with Schlatter's history, it would have been much better had there been a sense of order and purpose to the storytelling. Instead, we just get a guy who thinks he's hilarious and is still laughing at himself.
July 30, 2024
Entertaining and quite breezy story of producer George Schlatter's life in TV. The creator of "Laugh-In", Schlatter spends most of his time telling stories about his other experiences in television from producing "The Judy Garland Show" to the Cher Show and Jonathan Winters specials, and a Sammy Davis Tribute as well as presidential inaugural shows. Great stuff about his relationships with Frank Sinatra, Tim Conway and many other shows.
He tells the story of how he started booking talent in Las Vegas casinos and how he got into television. He seems almost reluctant to talk about "Laugh-In" but then he finally gets to it with great stuff about how he found Goldie Hawn and Judy Carne and how Rowan and Martin resented the "regulars" success and could not get along with each other.
The only bad thing really for me is when out of nowhere Schlatter sours the milk by coming out of nowhere with his political beliefs and attacks conservatives and Trump in particular when it has nothing to do with the rest of the book. It's like a sucker punch for conservatives who may have been enjoying Schlatter's book and then suddenly getting hit with current day politics when you're reading about 1960's TV. But if you can ignore that or don't care because you agree with him, this is well worth the read and is a great door in to a fascinating career.
He tells the story of how he started booking talent in Las Vegas casinos and how he got into television. He seems almost reluctant to talk about "Laugh-In" but then he finally gets to it with great stuff about how he found Goldie Hawn and Judy Carne and how Rowan and Martin resented the "regulars" success and could not get along with each other.
The only bad thing really for me is when out of nowhere Schlatter sours the milk by coming out of nowhere with his political beliefs and attacks conservatives and Trump in particular when it has nothing to do with the rest of the book. It's like a sucker punch for conservatives who may have been enjoying Schlatter's book and then suddenly getting hit with current day politics when you're reading about 1960's TV. But if you can ignore that or don't care because you agree with him, this is well worth the read and is a great door in to a fascinating career.
July 30, 2026
You should read Still Laughing if you love vintage Hollywood gossip, the history of television, and fast-paced comedy lore. Written by legendary producer George Schlatter (with top comedy writer Jon Macks), the memoir offers an intimate, unfiltered look at seven decades in show business.Why This Book is Worth Your TimeThe Birth of Sketch Comedy: Discover how Schlatter fought NBC executives to create Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, the counterculture-inspired #1 hit that broke the rules of television and paved the way for Saturday Night Live.A-List Backstage Secrets: Read wild, never-before-told stories about Hollywood legends. Schlatter shares details from his close friendships with Frank Sinatra (for whom he gave a funeral eulogy) and Judy Garland, down to his early nightclub days rubbing elbows with infamous mob figures like Mickey Cohen.The Launch of Superstars: Learn how the show catapulted stars like Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn into massive celebrity. Tomlin even wrote the book's foreword, and Hawn wrote the afterword.Industry Tea: Get the inside scoop on famous showbiz dynamics—including the fact that the beloved duo Dan Rowan and Dick Martin actually hated each other off-camera.The Blueprint for Reality TV: Explore how Schlatter later created Real People, a massive hit that essentially served as the original precursor to modern reality television.
July 29, 2026
Laugh-In was my favorite show in its day so this book ws a no-brainer. Schlatter is an extremely humorous man and delivers anecdote after anecdote which just made me smile. He has lead an incredible life (93 when writing this memoir) and seems to still love his wife Jolene today as much as ever which is lovely. My 2 favorite anecdotes include when Judy Garland became too difficult and he started singing Somewher Over the Rainbow at full volume and she took great exception to it. He told her that if she was going to produce his show than he certainly was going to sing her songs. That quickly returned things to order. The second was when he was meeting with a foreign dignitary and somehow condoms came up. The dignitary suggested his country wa sin dire need of 100,000 condoms and asked George if that was something he could secure. The foreigner placed his order asking that the condoms be 10 inches long and 2 inches thick. Schlatter placed the order and asked the company to print on the packaging USA Medium; a truly genius retort.
March 12, 2024
Worth reading for some funny anecdotes, such as working with Judy Garland (fart tape) and Cher ("Hammer and Nails"). But Schlatter is a man of the era when "men were men" wink wink etc. I found myself chuckling, then feeling annoyed to be reminded what it was like back then to be a young woman in the 1960's and 1970's to have to live in the world of rampant sexism and male privilege in LaLa Land and everywhere. A lot of a**ho**s and crude behavior. Nevertheless, Schlatter did some wonderful things for comedians and T.V. entertainment and his career was brilliant. Kudos to Jolene!
August 13, 2024
If this book had been written at the height of “Laugh In,” the groundbreaking late 1960s party show, it probably would’ve become a best seller. As it is, the majority of people today probably never saw the show or have heard of it. But then the show’s creator — in his mid-90s today — wouldn’t have had all the additional stories about stars, specials and shows that failed. Many of the stories are interesting and show Hollywood luminaries in unexpected lights.
November 20, 2023
Wonderful Book
A very interesting and loving book about George Schlatter’s career. Great stories about working on Laugh-In, Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, Cher and numerous specials. He has a great section on Frank Sinatra. Forwards and Afterwards are written by Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn. A pleasure read.
A very interesting and loving book about George Schlatter’s career. Great stories about working on Laugh-In, Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, Cher and numerous specials. He has a great section on Frank Sinatra. Forwards and Afterwards are written by Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn. A pleasure read.
December 16, 2023
Quick witted and surprisingly contemporary for a 93 year old. A fun read.
This book surprised me. I did not expect it to be pacjed with A list names, with wonderful self-deprecating humor. Very enjoyable.
This book surprised me. I did not expect it to be pacjed with A list names, with wonderful self-deprecating humor. Very enjoyable.
December 28, 2023
This is a great showbiz memoir. George Schlatter worked with all kinds of Hollywood stars and, of course, gave us Laugh-in. I loved reading his stories and I think anyone who remembers or is interested in the old days of show business will love it, too.
June 3, 2024
However much I liked this book I couldnt like it as much as George who had the last laugh in every occasion and possibly comes only second to Mel Brooks for self-appreciatiom. Shame as he did some very interesting things at a time where TV was interesting.
September 3, 2023
A fast, very entertaining read. I hope there is a sequal in the works, I'm sure he has many more stories to tell.
Read
June 11, 2024Very Entertaining and reflections on a wonderful career with humor and especially the references to Laugh-In.
September 10, 2023
When I saw there was a new book by George Schlatter (Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy from the creator of Laugh-In) coming out I knew I wanted to check it out. I first and foremost know Schlatter as the creator and driving force behind the groundbreaking comedy Laugh-In (1968-1973). For those who grew up in the era of Laugh-In, you should know there was no bigger show on television. In fact, I don’t think there has EVER been as big of a show as Laugh-In was during its early years. You might be surprised at that observation if you watch it now. It’s a series of corny yet racy jokes, political jibes, Go-Go dancing galore, off-the-wall sketches, and the famous joke wall where cast members stick their head out of the wall and tell jokes where they are often lucky they get to close the wall panels behind them after they are done. We also have the Fickle Finger of Fate award which was presented by the show’s hosts, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. I can’t remember what that was exactly, but do remember that I thought Dick Martin was the funniest man in the world when I was six. There were also the catchphrases of the show, “Here Comes the Judge” (Sammy Davis and others), “Veeeery Interesting” (Arte Johnson), and ”Sock it to Me” (pretty much everybody said this one). Schlatter even credits Presidential hopeful Richard Nixon getting elected for coming on the show and saying “Sock It…to Me?” (Schlatter apologizes for that result.)
Then there were the stars: Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Arte Johnson, Alan Sues, Ruth Buzzi, JoAnne Worley and Henry Gibson among many others. Some went on to become famous outside of Laugh-In, while others are mostly known for being a part of Laugh-In.
Laugh-In was must-see TV before there was such a phrase for two or three years. The show began to sag after that partly because so much of the original cast had left and those jokes that seemed so fresh and naughty didn’t seem either by 1973.
Anyway, I knew I wanted to read Schlatter’s book to relive some of those memories.
There is a chapter on Laugh-In and the show is referred to throughout the book, but it isn’t the primary focus of the book. The focus is Schlatter’s looking back at his career as a producer mostly on television. And the career of the 93-year-old Schlatter goes back to the very early days of television for sure. As a history of the medium it’s a fascinating read. Even more so, it’s extremely funny and the stories are conveyed in an engaging way by the undeniably charming Mr. Schlatter. He talks about television executives, who usually know nothing in his eyes. He also talks about some specials and shows that have long been forgotten that he resuscitates through his anecdotes. He also talks about the people he worked with…seemingly almost everyone in show business. There are great stories about Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr.,Judy Garland (and her love of fart jokes) and several on Frank Sinatra. He also talks about his later success with the show Real People.
Lily and Goldie credit George for jump starting their careers and they contribute the forward and afterward of this book.
The bottom line is that you can picture old George telling these stories and it makes you wish he was next to you in a rocking chair telling them directly to you.
I decided to say a few words about this book because there aren’t any reviews of it yet on Goodreads! It certainly deserves to have some.
Then there were the stars: Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Arte Johnson, Alan Sues, Ruth Buzzi, JoAnne Worley and Henry Gibson among many others. Some went on to become famous outside of Laugh-In, while others are mostly known for being a part of Laugh-In.
Laugh-In was must-see TV before there was such a phrase for two or three years. The show began to sag after that partly because so much of the original cast had left and those jokes that seemed so fresh and naughty didn’t seem either by 1973.
Anyway, I knew I wanted to read Schlatter’s book to relive some of those memories.
There is a chapter on Laugh-In and the show is referred to throughout the book, but it isn’t the primary focus of the book. The focus is Schlatter’s looking back at his career as a producer mostly on television. And the career of the 93-year-old Schlatter goes back to the very early days of television for sure. As a history of the medium it’s a fascinating read. Even more so, it’s extremely funny and the stories are conveyed in an engaging way by the undeniably charming Mr. Schlatter. He talks about television executives, who usually know nothing in his eyes. He also talks about some specials and shows that have long been forgotten that he resuscitates through his anecdotes. He also talks about the people he worked with…seemingly almost everyone in show business. There are great stories about Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr.,Judy Garland (and her love of fart jokes) and several on Frank Sinatra. He also talks about his later success with the show Real People.
Lily and Goldie credit George for jump starting their careers and they contribute the forward and afterward of this book.
The bottom line is that you can picture old George telling these stories and it makes you wish he was next to you in a rocking chair telling them directly to you.
I decided to say a few words about this book because there aren’t any reviews of it yet on Goodreads! It certainly deserves to have some.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews