Behind The ‘Laugh In’ Joke Wall, Photo & Video

Ultra Rare…Behind The ‘Laugh In’ Joke Wall, Photo & Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFksUB9gWyk
First, there is an “extra special” blooper at the 1:30 mark of this great ‘Laugh In’ joke wall blooper reel. By the way, the first person you see is Producer George Schlatter, with the bead.

This is the only known photo of this famous ending portion of the show that gives us a look at how it was staged. I think ‘Laugh In’ came from NBC Burbank Studio 3, but over the years, could have been done in more than one location there.

Although this was a color show, notice the blooper reel is in black and white and here’s why. This was one of the first weekly shows to be shot and edited on color videotape, but it was still a hand splicing task back then. The best way to edit the show was to also make a kinescope of the live taping and first, edit the kine film. The cuts were very fast and it took the editors about five or six weeks to get each episode ready for air. Enjoy and share!

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9 Comments

  1. I so loved that show!

  2. Mike Mecartea July 15, 2014

    Having worked on the Burbank NBC lot for 35 years ( retired in 2012 ) and the last 22 doing camera on Days Of Our Lives in studios 2 & 4, it was common knowledge that Laugh-In was done in Studio 2.

  3. Peter W Marshall July 14, 2014

    Years ago I worked at TAV (Merv Griffin’s facility in Hollywood) with an editor, i think his name was Bobby Schneider(?), who’s dad was an editor on Laugh In, told us about cutting it by hand…

  4. Dennis Degan July 14, 2014

    ‘Laugh-In’ had always originated from Studio 4.

  5. Alan Maretsky July 14, 2014

    This had to be one crazy-ass show to do!

  6. Christopher Nagel July 14, 2014

    You bet your sweet bippy!

  7. Phil Mastman July 14, 2014

    It’s great seeing the backside of that wall. When I was a kid watching, I pictured each one of those little doors leading into a nicely furnished room. Looks like I might have got that wrong. 🙂

  8. David Graves July 14, 2014

    You bet your bibby.

  9. Eyes Of A Generation.com July 14, 2014

    Another Rarity…this screen capture from a DVD collection is the only shot I’ve seen that shows a camera on the set. I think this is Studio 3 at Burbank.