The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Ruth Buzzi From Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Dies At 88

**Posted by RadioActive** May 2, 2025 10:43 am

There are a shrinking number of cast members from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, a groundbreaking NBC show in the late 60s, left alive.

Now we've lost another one - Ruth Buzzi, who famously played spinster Gladys Ormphby among other characters on the show, has died. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's and had been sick for some time.

Perhaps her most famous encounter with Tyrone F. Horneigh, played by the late Arte Johnson, is in the video below.

Buzzi was 88.

Ruth Buzzi Dies: The ‘Rowan & Martin Laugh-In’ Star Was 88

**Posted by RadioActive** May 2, 2025 11:16 am

For some reason, I've never forgotten this completely bizarre moment from the show, where Buzzi laughs her way through "Holiday For Strings." It looks easy, but I'm guessing it wasn't.

**Posted by Binson Echorec** May 2, 2025 11:26 am

Prior to reading this, I would've easily put $20 down on Ruth already being dead.

Last edited by Binson Echorec (May 2, 2025 11:28 am)

**Posted by RadioActive** May 2, 2025 11:28 am

Because of her Alzheimer's and the stroke that eventually killed her, she's been out of the spotlight for years. I'm sure you're not the only one who thought that.

**Posted by Leslieville Bill** May 2, 2025 11:41 am

I think Lily Tomlin, Goldie Hawn, and Jo Anne Worley are only cast members still alive.

**Posted by newsguy1** May 2, 2025 3:36 pm

Judy Carne was my favourite Laugh In girl.
But her career got cut short by drug addiction.
Still she lived to be 75 and died in 2015 of pneumonia.

**Posted by RadioActive** May 2, 2025 4:03 pm

Another of those cultural touchstone shows that spawned a plethora of catchphrases.

"It's sock it to me time."
"Look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls."
"Very interesting."
"You bet your sweet bippy."
"Is that a chicken joke?"
"Beautiful downtown Burbank."
"And that's the truth."
"Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?"
"I wonder if you might like to hear something my aunt once said to me?"
"Here come da judge!"
"I'll drink to that."
"Go to your room, Alan."
"One ringy dingy, Two ringy dingys."
"Blow in my ear and I'll follow you anywhere."
"By Henry Gibson."

The Top 100 TV Catch Phrases Of All Time Revealed

Even the CHUM Chart wasn't immune, as this edition from Jun 21st, 1969 shows.

Chart courtesy The CHUM Tribute Site.

**Posted by Binson Echorec** May 2, 2025 4:21 pm

RadioActive wrote:
Another of those cultural touchstone shows that spawned a plethora of catchphrases.

"It's sock it to me time."
"Look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls."
"Very interesting."
"You bet your sweet bippy."
"Is that a chicken joke?"
"Beautiful downtown Burbank."
"And that's the truth."
"Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?"
"I wonder if you might like to hear something my aunt once said to me?"
"Here come da judge!"
"I'll drink to that."
"Go to your room, Alan."
"One ringy dingy, Two ringy dingys."
"Blow in my ear and I'll follow you anywhere."
"By Henry Gibson."

Use any one of these catchphrases on a sub-50 year old and they might make a note to lock you up lol.

**Posted by RadioActive** May 2, 2025 4:44 pm

Binson Echorec wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
Another of those cultural touchstone shows that spawned a plethora of catchphrases.

"It's sock it to me time."
"Look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls."
"Very interesting."
"You bet your sweet bippy."
"Is that a chicken joke?"
"Beautiful downtown Burbank."
"And that's the truth."
"Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?"
"I wonder if you might like to hear something my aunt once said to me?"
"Here come da judge!"
"I'll drink to that."
"Go to your room, Alan."
"One ringy dingy, Two ringy dingys."
"Blow in my ear and I'll follow you anywhere."
"By Henry Gibson."
Use any one of these catchphrases on a sub-50 year old and they might make a note to lock you up lol.

It was definitely a show of its time and I doubt there could be any catchphrases from TV programs today - the audience is too fragmented for anything to really catch on now.

But Laugh-In was a pioneer that presaged the coming of MTV or MuchMusic videos - quick cuts throughout the entire show, inventing something entirely new. It was a game changer and the very first show where you didn't dare leave the screen to go to the bathroom or the fridge because you'd miss 10 jokes, and where the comedy continued after the end credits. Nobody had ever done that before.

**Posted by dieter** May 3, 2025 2:23 pm

RadioActive wrote:
Binson Echorec wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
Another of those cultural touchstone shows that spawned a plethora of catchphrases.

"It's sock it to me time."
"Look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls."
"Very interesting."
"You bet your sweet bippy."
"Is that a chicken joke?"
"Beautiful downtown Burbank."
"And that's the truth."
"Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?"
"I wonder if you might like to hear something my aunt once said to me?"
"Here come da judge!"
"I'll drink to that."
"Go to your room, Alan."
"One ringy dingy, Two ringy dingys."
"Blow in my ear and I'll follow you anywhere."
"By Henry Gibson."
Use any one of these catchphrases on a sub-50 year old and they might make a note to lock you up lol.
It was definitely a show of its time and I doubt there could be any catchphrases from TV programs today - the audience is too fragmented for anything to really catch on now.

But Laugh-In was a pioneer that presaged the coming of MTV or MuchMusic videos - quick cuts throughout the entire show, inventing something entirely new. It was a game changer and the very first show where you didn't dare leave the screen to go to the bathroom or the fridge because you'd miss 10 jokes, and where the comedy continued after the end credits. Nobody had ever done that before.

Monty Python's jokes also continued after the credits. Not sure if they did it before Laugh-In.

Ruth Buzzi had a long career with Sesame Street, voiceover work and other jobs.

Tyrone: "Do you believe in the hereafter?"
Gladys: "Of course I do."
Tyrone: "Then you know what I'm here after."

**Posted by newsguy1** May 3, 2025 4:10 pm

Don't forget the catchphrases spawned by The Simpsons, the long running cartoon sitcom might have slowed down on the creativity in recent years, but its Golden Age (when there was a slew of Canadian writers) crafted many laughable lines.
To this day people still say,
Don't have a cow, man
Eat my shorts,
Cowabunga.
Ay Caramba!
D'oh!
Okely Dokely
Eeeeehxcelent!
And I for one welcome our ant overlords
Thank you, come again.
That's a paddlin
Hi everybody!
and i'm sure some I'm missing.

**Posted by betaylored** May 4, 2025 7:55 am

And of course the sentence every Python fan utters the moment something quite terrible or merely mildly annoying happens "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition."

Last edited by betaylored (May 4, 2025 8:25 am)

**Posted by mic'em** May 4, 2025 9:10 am

Reading the phrases from Laugh in, I could hear each voice in my head saying them. Yeah, I guess I am old.

**Posted by RadioActive** May 4, 2025 9:17 am

mic'em wrote:
Reading the phrases from Laugh in, I could hear each voice in my head saying them. Yeah, I guess I am old.

Here's one I forgot:

"Say goodnight Dick"
"Goodnight Dick."

**Posted by RadioActive** May 6, 2025 4:05 pm

Leslieville Bill wrote:
I think Lily Tomlin, Goldie Hawn, and Jo Anne Worley are only cast members still alive.

Turns out, there are others, but they weren't quite as prominent.

Who’s Still Alive From ‘Laugh-In’?

**Posted by Binson Echorec** May 6, 2025 6:11 pm