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
The Funniest Joke in the World as his German captors die laughing, with one German officer (Cleese) insisting the joke isn't funny before finally cracking up and then uttering a Woody Woodpecker-style laugh before expiring. The Germans attempt counter-jokes. For example, film is shown of Adolf Hitler supposedly saying "My dog has no nose", then a German soldier asking "How does he smell?", with Hitler replying "Awful!" Eventually their best "V-joke" (in reference to the V-1 flying bomb) is attempted on a radio broadcast: "Der ver zwei peanuts, valking down der strasse, und von vas assaulted...peanut. Ohohohoho!" Although the joke is followed triumphantly by the German