1968 saw a number of wildly inventive sets come out of the increasingly underground-centric New Product Development Department at Topps. Woody Gelman's gang of hirsute pranksters sure look like they got a green-light from the company's top brass to go wild once the move of production facilities to Duryea was fully wrapped up, as many of the designs coming out of Brooklyn thereafter were in sync with the hippie and psychedelic zeitgeist of the next half-decade or so. Their most zeitgeist-iest set of all, with the possible exception of Nasty Valentine Notes in 1972, was 1968's Laugh-In. At a time when Be-Ins and Love-Ins were becoming daily television news fodder, the creation of a TV show that embraced the counterculture turned out to be a master stroke by NBC and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, while very much a product of its times, was the (sometimes) quite funny result.
Dan Rowan and Dick Martin's blackout-centric sketch comedy show premiered on NBC in January 1968 but had been preceded by a September 1967 special that did so well the network placed a fourteen episode order. It replaced The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (covered mostly here Topps-wise, and which was a Mid-Century Modern visual wonderland) and took off immediately. By the time Laugh-In ended six seasons later in 1973, 140 episodes had aired. The show spawned a pair of stars (Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin most prominently) and featured a handful or two of well-known secondary cast members such as Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzi, Jo Anne Worley and Flip Wilson, with a fluid supporting cast that kept things somewhat fresh from season-to season. Early on several catchphrases (memes today kids) such as "Here Comes Da Judge" and "Your Bet Your Sweet Bippy" quickly made their way into hip conversations.
High-profile guest celebrities of all ages and eras, including Richard Nixon, Jack Benny, Ringo Starr plus many others were the norm. The top-rated network show during its first two full seasons, it snagged seven Emmy Awards before things ran their course as viewer fatigue waxed and the influence of the Sixties on popular culture inevitably waned.
Merchandising opportunities presented themselves immediately and among the tie-ins was a gloriously irreverent and colorful 77 subject set issued by Topps that featured six distinct subsets and 24 bonus subject sticker inserts. Taking past influences into account for some of the designs and foreshadowing several others that would soon be unleashed, Laugh-In is a thoroughly fun romp through a very strange time.
33 Color Photo Cards, with a kitschy joke added via word balloon, kicked things off, each with an equally colorful puzzle piece on the reverse (more on those in a bit). Here's Goldie:
Four puzzles can be made, three consisting of nine pieces and another with a mere six. They feature what are pretty much the aboriginal catchphrases from the show. A really killer proof of all four exists:
Why poor Dan Rowan didn't get puzzled will have to remain a mystery. The 33 photo cards would have been proofed separately at this point and while I don't have the appropriate front scan, it's clear this isn't a mix-and-match situation as its each photo front card was backed by one distinct and discrete puzzle piece.
These were followed by 12 Knock-Knock cards that incorporate elements of another subset (more on this is a minute):
11 Necklace cards follow and these were designed to be chained together. It's an idea whose time came and went immediately I'd say:
Topps soldiered on, next adding 6 Finger Puppet cards. These are almost always found with the holes punched out:
9 Funny Door cards come next and these are somewhat similar to the Knock-Knocks. This might be the most gloriously far out design in the entire set:
The set concludes with 7 Foldee cards, bringing back a design first used in 1963 and 1966, but stretched back to a forebear in 1949's Funny Foldees. Here's Arte Johnson and Ruth Buzzi:
Laugh-In cards were issued in 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" standard size and the subsets were all grouped together consecutively in the main numbering scheme.
Elements from this set would be repeated in the 1969 Topps Pak o' Fun set, 1970's Funny Doors (post coming soon) and a smattering of others, including 1988's Pee Wee's Playhouse.
There is a proof sheet known for the 44 card block of the "other" designs, all lined up nice and neat:
I cannot find images of any press sheets so can't say whether Topps composed all 33 color cards across 132 slots (in a 4x array), then all 44 cards across another 132 card slots (3x array), or if they mixed and matched. Given that the 44 non-photo subjects all feature either metamorphic or die-cut cards, I suspect the latter.
24 yellow insert stickers, which measure 1 15/16" x 2 15/16" came in the packs. The were dubbed Goldie's Laugh-Ons and they continue the themes found on the cards:
The stickers were blank-backed:
The wrapper is a little staid to my eye, given the riotous treatment given the cards:
That chemical magic set was also offered on the Bazooka Toppscience boxes.
The retail box though, is a thing of groovy Pop-Art beauty:
A black color process proof of the box exists (sold from the Topps Vault some time ago) and it's a true marvel:
One oddity I have noticed with this set is a non-random intermixing of Topps and OPC cards in many lots when offered for sale. I have no idea why this would be a thing, it's so far beyond the US/Canadian osmosis in any other vintage Topps set I've encountered that there must be a story there.
Laugh-In is really out there as Topps, which was basically run by middle-aged Jewish guys from Brooklyn, leaned into the freakier side of things at a time when it was not necessarily safe for them to do so from a business standpoint.
