‘Laugh-In’ announcer shaped long career

Bleak childhood diagnosis led to frantic pace.

LOS ANGELES — “From beautiful downtown Burbank,” Gary Owens vaulted to fame playing the zany announcer in the landmark TV comedy series “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.” And he never stopped working after that, doing commercials, variety specials, cartoons, radio shows and even theme park announcements in his deep voice that was one of the most famous in show business.

He could have slowed down, but his frantic pace was set early in life. At 9, he was diagnosed with diabetes.

“I overheard a doctor tell my parents he didn’t expect me to live past my teens,” Owens said in 1980. “So from that time on, I engaged in all kinds of one-upmanship to prove I was as good or better than anyone else.”

Owens, 80, died Thursday at home in Encino in the San Fernando Valley. The cause was complications from the longfought diabetes, said his son Chris.

In 1967, when he had a popular Los Angeles radio show, a chance meeting in the Smoke House restaurant in Burbank led to “Laugh-In.”

Hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and featuring short comedy bits — sometimes just a few seconds long — the show was in development at nearby NBC.

Producer George Schlatter was in the men’s room when Owens walked in. “He said, ‘Hello, George!’ in that voice of his,” Schlatter said. “‘The acoustics are great in here.’

“And I said to him, ‘That’s what I want you to do!’”

To the bewildered Owens, Schlatter explained that for the fast-paced TV show, he needed someone to say lines that would provide a break between bits.

“It was the shortest audition in show business,” Schlatter said.

It was a good fit for Owens, who as a radio disc jockey likewise used a variety of resources to create a wacky on-air atmosphere.

“You can take music, sound effects, some good voice people and some good writing, and it all happens,” he told The Chicago Tribune in 1995. “And you can do it within seconds just off the top of your head.”

The irreverent “LaughIn,” which premiered as a weekly show Jan. 22, 1968, became a national sensation, making stars of previously little-known performers such as Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin and Jo Anne Worley.

For his bits, Owens would be shown with his hand cupped behind one ear like an old-time announcer.

“He would say things like, ‘Meanwhile, later that evening,’ just to get us to the next bit,” Schlatter said.

But Owens would add his own lines, too. The best known example is “beautiful downtown Burbank,” later adopted by Johnny Carson.

On radio, which he continued to do all through “Laugh-In” and beyond, he used such lines as:

“What do pirates wear on Halloween?”

“My actual life has been so dull that when I almost drowned the other day, Pat Boone’s life passed before my eyes.”

“Laugh-In,” which went off the air in 1973, had a high turnover in performers. Only the two hosts, comedian Ruth Buzzi and Owens, were in it for the full run.

“Those were some of the greatest times of my life,” Owens said in 1995.

AP 2008 Gary Owens died Thursday from diabetes complications, his son said. Owens landed the job as announcer for “Laugh-In” during a chance meeting in 1967.