[2] Viewers saw sights that included baboons, beautiful girls, collapsing stages, explosions, leopard men, midgets, and wild costumes.
[6] In his book "From Beautiful Downtown Burbank": A Critical History of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, 1968-1973, Erickson described the opening sequence of one episode: An attractive singing ensemble, suddenly enveloped by smoke, begins screaming as the stage trembles earthquake-style.
When the smoke clears, the curtain rises (carrying a struggling chorus girl with it) to reveal a brick wall, which in turn is smashed down by Olsen and Johnson, who shout belligerently "All right — who locked the front door?
[6]Erickson attributed the program's lack of success to Olsen and Johnson's failure to adapt their comedy style to the constraints of television receivers of that era.
He wrote that Milton Berle "learned early on to scale his performance down to television level without losing any of his essential raw energy" but Olsen and Johnson did not do so.