Thomas Richard Martin (January 30, 1922[1] – May 24, 2008) was an American comedian and director. He was known for his role as the co-host (and comic foil of Dan Rowan) of the sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973.
Early life and career
Martin as Harry, Lucy's airline pilot neighbor, on The Lucy Show, 1962
Martin was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, to William, a salesman, and Ethel Martin, a homemaker. In the early 1930s, the family moved to Detroit, where his teenage years included a bout with tuberculosis, which kept him out of the military.[1]
Early in his career, Martin was a staff writer for Duffy's Tavern, a radio situation comedy. He and Dan Rowan formed the comedy team Rowan and Martin in 1952 and played in nightclubs throughout the United States and overseas. Martin played a drunk heckling a Shakespearean performer, a mainstay of their act for years. They could frequently be seen as host-performers on NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour, alternating with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and other more established names. In 1958, they starred in Hal Kanter's comedy Western Once Upon a Horse..., which was a box office failure. In 1960, they asked NBC to cancel their contract four years early and the network agreed.[2]
In 1962, Martin worked solo, playing the next-door neighbor to Lucille Ball during the first season of her comeback comedy The Lucy Show. He and Rowan returned to the nightclub circuit until 1966, when they were asked to host the summer replacement series for The Dean Martin Show. He co-starred in the 1966 Doris Day movie The Glass Bottom Boat.[3]
Laugh-In
The exposure led to an opportunity for Rowan and Martin to team up with producers Ed Friendly and George Schlatter and create Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–1973) on NBC. The comedy show was an immediate hit, becoming the number one American television program within two months of its debut. It was the top-rated show in its second and third seasons. Laugh-In had a uniquely fast-paced stream-of-consciousness style of blackout gags, double entendre, topical satire, and catchphrases, much of it delivered by a cast of then-unknowns such as Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Arte Johnson, and Ruth Buzzi.[citation needed]
At the center of the maelstrom stood the veterans Rowan and Martin, who bemusedly made no effort to slow down the program. Martin later said, "We designed it so that we are two relatively normal guys wandering through a sea of madness," and described his comic persona as "a kind of inept lech" who could be laughed at as well as laughed with. At the height of the show's popularity, Rowan and Martin starred in the 1969 film The Maltese Bippy, which was a notorious failure.[4] After Rowan retired from show business, Martin was a frequent panelist on game shows such as Match Game, Password Plus, and Tattletales, and he also hosted a parody game show called The Cheap Show in 1978, and the game show Mindreaders in 1979.
Martin died on May 24, 2008, of breathing complications in Santa Monica, California. He had lost the use of a lung due to tuberculosis as a teenager and suffered respiratory problems late in life.[1]
Dan Rowan and Dick Martin as caricatured for NBC by Sam Berman
^Torre, Marie (January 29, 1960). "Rowan and Martin Out, Call Contract a Mistake". New York Herald Tribune. p. 20. ProQuest325795169. Three years ago, when NBC put a television contract where its enthusiasm was and acquired the team's services on an exclusive seven-year basis, Rowan and Martin were said to be well on their way to matching the success of predecessors Martin and Lewis.[...] For the first time in three years, Rowan and Martin are able to perform on other channels and their first appearance since the break with NBC (a mutual agreement, incidentally), occurs Feb. 7 on CBS' 'Ed Sullivan Show.')
^Cassyd, Syd (August 16, 1965). "Hollywood Report". Boxoffice. p. 10. ProQuest1673774573. 'The Glass Bottom Boat,' starring Doris Day, Rod Taylor and Arthur Godfrey, is now before the cameras on location in Northridge in San Francisco Valley. [...] The Melchor-Freeman production also has an all-star supporting cast including John McGiver, Paul Lynde, Edward Andrews, Eric Fleming, Dom DeLuise and comedian Dick Martin.
