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It’s always sad to lose a part of your childhood, and to me, those that I saw on TV and on film were legends, all of them. One of our staples in the last 60s was watching Laugh-In every week, so to learn that funny guy Dick Martin died this weekend, to me it’s losing a legend, one of my personal legends.

Dick Martin of course had a very successful comedy career before sharing hosting duties with Dan Rowan on Laugh-In, but to me, this was all he ever did. I started Kindergarten in the space of this show, so I knew of nothing of his career before Laugh-In and never really heard anything after other than a few things here and there.

But for a little girl like myself that would race home to watch Mike Douglas after school and see who his guest stars were that day, Laugh-In was a staple. I didn’t understand much of it, but the things I did understand, I enjoyed. I loved the dancing, and Lily Tomlin, and the play between Ruth Buzzi, Henry Gibson, and Arte Johnson.

But most of all, I loved Dan Rowan and Dick Martin’s signoff every week. I loved the whole slapstick comedy thing behind Rowan saying, “Say Goodnight, Dick.” and Martin answering, “Goodnight … Dick.” It was part of the humor I enjoyed that shaped the humor I use in my daily life and even in my writing.

Being that Rowan passed away more than twenty years ago, I couldn’t help but think that he was up there somewhere smiling, and as Martin slipped away of respiratory failure, I imagine Rowan simply said, “Say goodnight, Dick.”

“Goodnight, Dick.”

Photo courtesy of timvp.com

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