I wonder if Gladys ever accepted that Walnetto?
RIP, Mr Johnson.
I have a few audio books read by Arte Johnson. They’re a joy to listen to.
I’ll bet his last words were “… Would you call me an ambulance?”
Sorry, I couldn’t resist it!
RIP, Artie.
Circa 1970, he was a regular on Can You Top This?, a game show that featured comedians telling jokes which competed for laughter/applause in decibels with jokes sent in by viewers.
A running meme featured one Moe Noodleman, which was mainly a cue for Yiddish dialect.
Arte Johnson told a joke about a circus promising a show by the great daredevil Moe Noodleman, for which people stood in line and packed the place.
At the appointed hour, a stooped, sickly old man appeared on the diving board, and introduced himself as the great Moe Noodleman.
“Do you people want to see me dive 150 feet into that shallow pool?”
“No! No!”, shouted the crowd.
“Thank you”, said Moe. “Next show, nine o’clock”.
RIP Arte.
RIP Mr. Johnson. You were a funny man. You made me smile very often.
Seriously. The guy cracked me up with little head movements and that gleam in his eye; he always looked like he was having a fantastic time and like he thought it was so cool he was gonna make you laugh.
RIP Mr. Johnson; you done [del]good[/del]funny.
RIP, I always liked his humor, and remember seeing him perform at the 1975 Calgary Stampede.
Before Yakov Smirnoff, Johnson told “old country” jokes on Laugh-In in the familiar format of, “In old country, television watches YOU!”
I’m sure those jokes were old even back then.
I loved watching Laugh-In as a child. RIP, Arte, you dirty old man.
I can’t believe he was 90.
RIP, Arte.
His brother Coslough was a writer for Laugh-In and a bunch of other shows. Mainly variety but also The Monkees and The Partridge Family.
I was looking up the cast of Laugh-In not long ago to see who is still alive. A high percentage of the women but not too many men. Johnny Brown and Moosie Drier are now the most famous males still left. Moosie and Lily Tomlin are the most active of the bunch.
Netflix has a salute to Laugh-In that is pretty lousy. The best parts were the clips from the old show, and there Arte shone as bright as always. RIP, Mr. Johnson.
I thought he was 90 in the 70s. Nobody could tip over a tricycle like him.
Loved him as Renfield in “Love at First Bite.” How can you not enjoy a movie where the * vampire* has a deeper tan than the rest of the cast?