Rowan & Martin's Laugh In (1968): Cast: Where Are They Now? | What Really Happened to Them?

Great comedy team, I predict. Yes, I can see record pops, supermarket openings. I see people cheering, laughing, smiling, booing. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In looked like a silly sketch show full of dancers, jokes, and sudden blackouts. But under the flowers and the catchphrases, it was a story about a changing America learning to laugh at itself. Nearly 60 years after its premiere in January 1968, the cast behind that famous joke wall tells its own story. Some became household names, and some kept working for decades. Others are no longer with us, but their laughter lives on. Together, they showed television how to move fast, take risks, and have fun while doing it. Here is where they are today. 1. Dan Rowan Say goodnight, Dick. With those words, Dan Rowan closed almost every episode of Laugh-In. Rowan was born in 1922 in Beggs, Oklahoma, so he was 45 when the series premiered in January 1968. He passed away in 1987 at age 65. He played the straight man, the calm voice beside Dick Martin's wild ideas, and he remains memorable because he was calm, funny, dry, steady, patient, sharp, and quietly clever. Rowan and Martin met in 1952 and worked nightclubs for years. In 1966, they hosted the Dean Martin Summer Show, and a special in 1967 led to the series. Laugh-In became a national hit. And Rowan won the 1969 Emmy for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series. They also made a movie, The Maltese Bippy, in 1969. But it did not catch on. After the show ended in 1973, Rowan retired to Florida, and the pair shared a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2002. His straight man endures because comedy needs balance. Every wild joke worked better because Rowan stayed calm beside it. He died of lymphoma in 1987. But that quiet skill is why the show worked and why his closing line is still remembered. Two, Dick Martin. Picture a man in a nice suit giving very serious advice that makes no sense at all. That was Dick Martin. Martin was born in 1922 in Battle Creek, Michigan. So he was 45 when Laugh-In premiered in January 1968. He passed away in 2008 at age 86. He remains memorable because he made nonsense confident Goofy, charming, slippery, bold, and completely sure of itself. The team began almost by accident. In 1952, Martin watched Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform and thought it looked like fun. Nine days later, he and Rowan tried their own act at a supper club, and they played nightclubs across America for years. When Laugh-In ended, Martin built a second career as a director, starting in 1976 with The Bob Newhart Show. and later Newhart, Archie Bunker's Place, and Family Ties. His host role endures because he made being wrong look like fun. Martin showed that a man can say ridiculous things with a straight face and still be loved by millions. He died of respiratory complications in Santa Monica, and fans still repeat his lines. 3. Goldie Hawn One giggle changed her life. Goldie Hawn was born in 1945 in Washington, D.C. So she was 22 when Laugh-In premiered in January 1968. In 2026, she will be 80. She started as a dancer, taking ballet and tap lessons at age three. On the show, she danced in a bikini, flubbed her jokes, and giggled through it all. And she remains memorable because she made silliness bubbly, sweet, quick, sunny, playful, and impossible to dislike. Her film career began fast. After a small part in the one and only, genuine original family band in 1968, she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Cactus Flower in 1969. Later hits included Shampoo, Overboard, and The First Wives Club, and Private Benjamin earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She returned to the screen in Snatched in 2017, and in 2003, she started the Hahn Foundation, which helps children learn. Her giggle endures. Because the ditzy act was only an act. Han showed she was smart, funny, and ready for big roles. Laugh-In gave her the start, but she built the rest herself. 4. Lily Tomlin One ringy dingy, two ringy dingy. That is how a phone call with Ernestine began. The rude operator played by Lily Tomlin. Tomlin was born in 1939 in Detroit. She joined Laugh-In in December 1969 at age 30. And in 2026, she is 87. She also created Edith Ann, a five-year-old who sat in a huge rocking chair and explained life. And she remains memorable because she made characters sharp, silly, brave, human, odd, and full of heart. After Laugh-In, she won a Grammy for the comedy album This Is a Recording in 1971 and wrote TV specials with Jane Wagner. She made her film debut in Nashville in 1975. Then starred in 9 to 5 in 1980 and Shortcuts in 1993. She also appeared in Murphy Brown and The West Wing. From 2015 to 2022, she starred with Jane Fonda in Grace and Frankie, earning four Emmy nominations. Her characters endure because they feel like real people. Tomlin never made fun of Ernestine or Edith Ann from above. She played them with love, and that is why audiences still quote them. 5. Ruth Buzzy Imagine a hairnet, a purse, and a very angry woman. That was Gladys Ormfby, Ruth Buzzy's most famous role. Buzzy was born in 1936 in Westerly, Rhode Island, so she was 31 when Laugh-In premiered in January 1968. She passed away in 2025 at age 88. She remains memorable because she made frumpy, funny, tough, stubborn, sad, silly, and oddly dear, swinging her purse at anyone who bothered her. Buzzy studied at the Pasadena Playhouse with classmates Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, and she appeared on Broadway in Sweet Charity. Producer George Schlatter got a photo of her in costume, sitting in a trash barrel, and hired her as one of his first cast members. She stayed for the whole run, one of only four people who did, and she won a Golden Globe. Later, she voiced Mama Bear on The Berenstain Bears. Gladys endures, because she stands for people who get overlooked. Buzzy once said the character represents the downtrodden and the struggling. She gave them a purse, a voice, and a way to fight back. Arte Johnson. Very interesting. Those words came from a German soldier hiding behind a potted plant. He was Wolfgang, Arte Johnson's best-known character, a man who believed World War II was still going on. Johnson was born in 1929 in Benton Harbor, Michigan. So he was 39 when Laugh-In premiered. In January 1968, he passed away in 2019 at age 90. He remains memorable because he made oddness sly, fast, nutty, sharp, strange, and endlessly quotable, and he won an Emmy in 1969. Johnson played more than 60 characters, including Tyrone F. Horny, a dirty old man who flirted with Ruth Buzzy's Gladys, and he often made up lines on the spot. After he left in 1971, he did a lot of Including Pac-Man, DuckTales, The Smurfs, and Animaniacs. He also played Dracula's servant in Love at First Bite. His final acting credit was a voice in Justice League Unlimited in 2005, and he retired in 2006. His Wolfgang endures because a catchphrase can outlive an era. Johnson gave people a line to repeat at work and at school. Actor John Cryer once called him the catchphrase king of his youth. 7. Joanne Worley. You could hear her before you saw her. Joanne Worley's wild laugh and big voice made her stand out in a huge cast. Worley was born in 1937 in Lowell, Indiana, so she was 30 when Laugh-In premiered in January 1968. In 2026, she will be 89. She remains memorable because she made energy loud, brassy, silly, operatic, fearless, and full of joy, often pointing a a finger into her cheek in 1964. She stood in on the original Broadway production of Hello Dolly and built her own nightclub act in Greenwich Village. Merv Griffin discovered her in 1966, and producer George Schlatter saw her on his show. After leaving in 1970, she performed in The Pirates of Penzance and Annie Get Your Gun, and in 2008, she played Madame Morrible. In the Los Angeles production of Wicked, she also appeared on game shows like Hollywood Squares and did voice work for Disney's Bell's Magical World. Her laugh endures because joy is hard to fake. Worley has served on the board of actors and others for animals since 2007. Nearly 90, she is still a reminder that loud can be lovable. 8. Judy Karn, Sock It To Me. She said it with a smile, then a bucket of water landed on her head. Judy Karn became famous for that gag. Karn was born in 1939 in Northampton, England. So, she was 28 when Laugh-In premiered in January 1968. She passed away in 2015 at age 76. She remains memorable because she made being splashed look bright, brave, bubbly, cute, playful, and good-humored. She was born Joyce Audrey Botterill, and her parents ran a greengrocer shop. On TV, she appeared in Fair Exchange, and the Baileys of Balboa, and starred in Love on a Rooftop in 1966. She met Burt Reynolds while promoting Fair Exchange, and they were married from 1963 to 1965. After leaving Laugh-In in 1970, she starred in a Broadway revival of The Boyfriend, and later wrote an autobiography, Laughing on the Outside, Crying on the Inside. She spent her later years in the village of Pittsford, near Northampton. Her catchphrase endures because it was simple and fun. Karn gave a nation a line to say and a splash to expect. Fans still remember her as the original socket-to-me girl. 9. Henry Gibson He bowed, held a giant flower, and said, A poem by Henry Gibson. That was the whole joke, and it worked every time. Gibson was born in 1935 in Philadelphia, so he was 32 when Laugh-In premiered in January 1968. He passed away in 2009 at age 73. He remains memorable because he made gentleness, quiet, odd, polite, sweet, dry, and wickedly funny. His real name was James Bateman, and he took his stage name as a joke on the playwright Henrik Ibsen. He wrote the poems himself, and they earned him a Golden Globe nomination. He began acting at age eight, and after Laugh-In, he voiced Wilbur the Pig in Charlotte's Web in 1973 and played country star Haven Hamilton in Nashville. in 1975, writing most of his own songs. He was also the Illinois Nazi leader in the Blues Brothers and Judge Clark Brown on Boston Legal. His poet endures because he balanced the show's edgy humor with warmth. Gibson used a flower and a bow to win laughs. Producer George Schlatter said he brought whimsy and charm to the cast. 10. Alan Suess. Meet Uncle Al, the kiddie's pal, a children's host who who always seem tired and cranky. He was one of the funniest ideas on Laugh-In, and Alan Suess made him real. Suess was born in 1926 in Ross, California, so he was 41 when the show premiered in January 1968. He passed away in 2011 at age 85. He remains memorable because he showed off fearless, flashy, wild, theatrical, silly, and delightfully over-the-top. Suess joined in the second season and stayed until 1972. He also played Big Al. a prissy sportscaster and became the spokesman for Peter Pan Peanut Butter appearing in ads as an outrageously flamboyant Peter, his career lasted six decades with parts in The Twilight Zone and The Wild Wild West, Ruth Buzzi called him the funniest person she ever worked with and producer George Schlatter called him one of his favorite accidents his characters endure because he never Never feared looking silly, Suess committed to every joke with full energy. And fans still smile at his wild faces. He died at his home in West Hollywood while watching television. Nearly 60 years later, Laugh-In still reminds us that television can be fast, fearless, and fun. Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Judy Karn, Henry Gibson, Alan Seuss, and Gary Owens live on through their work, while others are still with us. Please like, subscribe, and join our channel.