THERE IS LAUGHTER IN HEAVEN TONIGHT!

HENRY GIBSON passed away on Monday in Malibu.  He was 73.
He is known most recently for playing the cantankerous judge on BOSTON LEGAL.
 
When I was about 6 years old, my Aunt Millie and Uncle Jesse bought a COLOR TV!!!
One of the first shows I saw was Rowan & Martin's LAUGH-IN in "living color" on NBC. 
It was the winter of 1968 and I would curl up in front of the TV and laugh my head off.
I knew somewhere deep inside myself that I wanted to join those people in the TV and do what they do.  Make you laugh.

If you click on the Laugh-In link you will witness one of Henry's famous poems. 
This one is about an alligator.  He would come out each week and recite or sing a poem with a big flower in his hand. 

I LOVED Laugh-In.  Everybody did Laugh-In!  All the big stars showed up to do Laugh-In.  Sonny & Cher, Jerry Lewis, Harry Belafonte, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Carol Channing and even Richard Nixon!  (Think Saturday Night Live but more political and funnier!)  It was one of the biggest TV shows of it's time.  I use to sit in front of the TV and listen to announcer Gary Owens say,
"From the heart of beautiful downtown Burbank.  Famous for it's fruits and nuts."

Today I live only a few miles from the old NBC studios that use to rock in the late sixties with Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show, Bob Hope Specials and Laugh-In.  I would sit and watch Henry each week along with Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzie, Jo Anne Worley, Judy Carne, Alan Sues, Goldie Hawn, Flip Wilson and my comic acting hero Lily Tomlin.  They would chew up the scenery and deliver some of the funniest sketches I have ever seen.  And they still make me laugh.  Henry will be remembered as one of the fun men in this business that worked his whole life entertaining us.
He will be missed.

Much Love, G