Tom Hanks Reveres This 'Pope of Comedy,' and Lionel Richie 'Called Him God.’ He Also Made Goldie Hawn a Star (Exclusive)
Tom Hanks Reveres This 'Pope of Comedy,' and Lionel Richie 'Called Him God.’ He Also Made Goldie Hawn a Star (Exclusive)
Jeremy HelligarTue, March 31, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC
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Goldie Hawn on 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In' in 1968.Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty -
George Schlatter created the groundbreaking TV variety series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
The show, which ran from 1968 to 1973, made Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin stars
The upcoming documentary Sock It to Me: The Legend of George Schlatter premieres April 13 at the Beverly Hills Film Festival
George Schlatter might be the greatest name in entertainment that most people probably have never heard of.
For those not in the know — i.e., anyone of a certain age who didn't stick around for the credits to the landmark 1968–73 series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In — the legendary TV producer and director was the man who invented the sketch-comedy variety series as we know it. Without Laugh-In, there might not have been a Saturday Night Live or an In Living Color, and possibly no Eddie Murphy, no Adam Sandler, no Kristin Wiig and no Jim Carrey or Jennifer Lopez (who both got their starts on In Living Color).
And without Laugh-In, there might be no Goldie Hawn. But more on that later.
Schlatter, 96, gets his flowers in the upcoming documentary Sock It to Me: The Legend of George Schlatter (named after the famous Laugh-In catchphrase he incorporated into the show), which premieres April 13 at the Beverly Hills Film Festival. PEOPLE can exclusively debut the trailer for the upcoming film, which was directed by Chris Coronado for George Schlatter Productions and narrated by Oscar winner Hawn, 80, who calls her former boss "a dreamer... a rebel... the guru of joy."
"For a long time, people have been asking me to write an autobiography," Schlatter says at the beginning of the clip, immediately setting the tone. "And I've always said, 'Have somebody else write it.' And then they explained to me that would not be an autobiography. So that was a dead end."
George Schlatter in 'Sock It to Me: The Legend of George Schlatter'Credit: GSP Originals
The heavyweights line up to sing his praises.
First, Lionel Richie: "I called him God. I think his masterful tool was humor."
Then Billy Crystal: "The genius of George was to take people who weren't really funny and put them in the middle of the madness."
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Later, Tom Hanks pops up with a daring metaphor: "George, like Charlton Heston and Moses, parted the Red Sea, and George was named 'The Pope of Comedy.' "
Indeed, if the clips sprinkled throughout are any indication — they feature Laugh-In regulars like Lily Tomlin and Hawn, as well as appearances by stars and legends like Reverend Billy Graham, Charo, Frank Sinatra, Lou Rawls, Nipsey Russell, Richard Nixon (in a cameo filmed two months before the 1968 presidential election, saying, "Sock it to me?"), Robin Williams and Sammy Davis Jr. — this isn't just hyperbole.
George Schlatter (left) and Frank Sinatra.Credit: GSP Originals
"You know, back when television was black and white, when everything felt just a little too tidy, too polite, there was one man who looked at all of it and thought, 'Why not shake things up?' That man was George Schlatter," Hawn says in voiceover,
"George shaped how we see television, how we see each other. He didn't just influence TV. He was the original influencer," she continues.
She then goes on to list the ways Schlatter helped change the look and feel of television: "George didn't just make television; he reimagined it with color and chaos and a whole lot of laughter. With Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, George took a simple idea, a comedy show, and turned it into a movement. Fast cuts, wild sketches, punchlines flying like confetti. It was unpredictable, outrageous, and somehow it all made perfect sense. He took chances when others played it safe. He gave voices to the unheard, faces to the unseen, and built a revolution one catchphrase at a time."
The cast of 'Laugh-In'Credit: GSP Originals
"George believed that laughter could do what politics couldn't, bring people together," Hawn adds. "He gave us permission to laugh at ourselves. And somehow, in the middle of all that beautiful madness, he found one funny blonde who couldn't stop giggling. Yes, that was me."
In addition to his work on Laugh-In, Schlatter executive produced the 1979–84 series Real People, an early precursor to reality TV. He also produced the first five Grammy Award ceremonies and TV specials for such showbiz luminaries as Cher, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, John Denver, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Muhammad Ali, Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley MacLaine and Hawn, as well as directed the 1976 feature film Norman... Is That You?, starring Redd Foxx and Pearl Bailey. He won three Emmys out of 25 nominations.
George Schlatter in 1981.Credit: Alan Berliner/BEI/Shutterstock
“Of all the work I’ve done, I am perhaps most proud of my involvement in the early careers of performers like Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Roseanne, Robin Williams, Ellen DeGeneres, and others who have gone on to greater heights," Schlatter has said. "Working with stars is rewarding, but helping to create stars is the most fulfilling of all accomplishments.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
