Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was a ground-breaking show that ran on NBC from January of 1968 to March of 1973. It changed network television and launched a lot of careers and now somehow manages to look incredibly dated but also ahead of its time. The show was hosted by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, and produced by George Schlatter's company. There was later much bad blood and squabbling between the hosts and Schlatter over proceeds and credit for the show.
Four years after Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In left NBC, Schlatter produced a series of specials just called Laugh-In with no mention of Mssrs. Rowan and Martin…or of anyone who'd been in the cast of the original version. Instead, he assembled a new cast of largely unknown performers, many of whom remained that way. Robin Williams was obviously the breakout star but I'm more interested in the first name among the regular players: Sergio Aragonés. Could that possibly be my friend and partner, the world-famous cartoonist from MAD and Groo the Wanderer?
Yes. Sergio did the cartoon graphics throughout the show and was a writer-performer in many of the pantomime blackouts. He's the guy with the Sergio Aragonés mustache, dressed as a Karate expert and a Mexican general among other guises. There's a bit in there with a cartoon Sergio studying the navel of a lady in a swimming pool and he not only drew himself but they shot that at the home he had back then in the Hollywood Hills. He was in all the other episodes of this Laugh-In and turned up on some other shows produced by George Schlatter. You can spot him here and there in the margins, too.
A few years ago here, I posted a link to a video of the first episode, which aired on September 5, 1977. That video was apparently unauthorized by the copyright holder (Mr. Schlatter) and was soon taken down. Now, he has authorized a much clearer copy to be posted to YouTube and you can watch it below. And if any of the above text seems familiar, I posted some of it before also…