Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In for "Laugh-In" was Ian Bernard. He wrote the opening theme music, "Inquisitive Tango", plus the infamous "What's the news across the nation" number. He wrote all the musical "play-ons" that introduced comedy sketches like Lily Tomlin's character, Edith Ann, the little girl who sat in a giant rocking chair, and Arte Johnson's old man character, Tyrone, who always got hit with a purse. He also appeared in many of the cocktail scenes where he directed the band as they stopped and started between jokes. Composer-lyricist Billy Barnes wrote all of the original musical production numbers in the show, and often
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (often simply referred to as Laugh-In) is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. "Laugh-In" originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967, and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." on Mondays at 8 pm (ET). The title of the show was a play on the "love-ins" or "be-ins" of the 1960s