Legendary “Laugh-In” creator George Schlatter, plus Doug and Emmy Jo (creators and stars of “The New Zoo Revue”), joined host Kenneth Womack for a special “Super ’70s” bonus episode of “Everything Fab Four,” a podcast co-produced by me and Womack (a music scholar who also writes about pop music for Salon) and distributed by Salon.
Doug Momary and Emily Peden, better known as Doug and Emmy Jo, met while in summer stock theater and got married just prior to filming the pilot episode of their classic children’s TV show “The New Zoo Revue” (1972-’77). Still together today, the couple was surprised to learn that the show was the reason our host, now a world-renowned Beatles author and historian, discovered the band all those years ago. Doug was honored. “The Beatles were a big influence on me,” he explained to Womack. “When I composed songs for the show, I didn’t want to compose down to the kids. I wanted to lift them up. The compositions were really quite complicated. We experimented. All the stuff the Beatles were doing, I tried to do . . . Every song and album was different, and that’s exactly what I wanted.”
A self-taught musician, Doug composed over 600 songs for “The New Zoo Revue” and, as Emmy Jo said, he also created the characters (such as Freddie the Frog and Henrietta Hippo), worked on the costumes with Sid and Marty Krofft of “H.R. Pufnstuf” fame, and designed the sets. The show had such an impact that Doug, Emmy Jo and the cast were twice invited to perform for children at the White House during the Nixon administration. And as they’ve found, it still holds a profound influence on its fans today. “The stories we’ve heard – they bring tears to my eyes,” said Emmy Jo. “Some of these kids had had very difficult home lives, and they relied on us.”
Another show of the era that had an effect, albeit in different ways, was the irreverent sketch comedy “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” (1968-73). “It was an accident,” creator George Schlatter explained to Womack. “NBC needed something to put on the air opposite ‘Lucy’ and ‘Gunsmoke.’ So I said, ‘I’ve got something.’ I had all these young character people, and we used bright colors – the audience was hungry for something that wasn’t the usual.” The show ended up launching the careers of such stars as Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin, both of whom contributed to Schlatter’s 2023 autobiography, “Still Laughing: My Life in Comedy.” As he said, “When you come up with something that’s not the same, you’ve got a good chance of success.”
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Part of that unusual formula included the show’s array of guest stars – including a bewildered Richard Nixon uttering the catchphrase “sock it to me” – and in 1970, a drummer named Ringo Starr. “He is a magical personality,” said Schlatter. “People of all ages identify with him because he’s an outrageous character, a treasure.” And today, he’s found himself a neighbor of Starr’s in Los Angeles. “He moved in about a half mile away. I rarely see him, but when I do, we laugh. I’m crazy about Ringo.” And that laughter has seen Schlatter through many decades. “Humor will be our answer. That’s it. If you can make people laugh, you can get by with anything.”
Listen to the entire conversations with these television icons on “Everything Fab Four” and subscribe via Spotify, Apple, Google or wherever you’re listening.
“Everything Fab Four” is distributed by Salon. Host Kenneth Womack is the author of a two-volume biography on Beatles producer George Martin and the bestselling books “Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles” and “John Lennon, 1980: The Last Days in the Life.” His latest book is the authorized biography of Beatles road manager Mal Evans, “Living the Beatles Legend,” out now.
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