"Your voice was the soundtrack to much of my early childhood..."

February 13, 2015 3:27 PM

Gary Owens, Announcer of ‘Laugh-In’ Fame, Dies at 80. Here's Corey Snow's Thank you, Gary - A Tribute to Gary Owens
posted by mikelieman (45 comments total)

.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 3:36 PM on February 13, 2015

.
posted by Michele in California at 3:39 PM on February 13, 2015

Mark Evanier remembers Gary Owens.
posted by beowulf573 at 3:42 PM on February 13, 2015 [4 favorites]

.
posted by eriko at 3:44 PM on February 13, 2015

.
The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate points at everyone eventually.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:50 PM on February 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Sesame Street - Ten little Greeblies
posted by mikelieman at 3:53 PM on February 13, 2015 [3 favorites]

Sesame Street - Astronaut Drawing
posted by mikelieman at 3:54 PM on February 13, 2015 [3 favorites]

Now who will take care of Morgul the Friendly Drelb?

.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:55 PM on February 13, 2015 [4 favorites]

".. mellifluous baritone ..."

No better way to describe it, I think.

You can often hear a smile on a face.
posted by the Real Dan at 4:18 PM on February 13, 2015

Mark Evanier remembers Gary Owens.

Evanier's become a George Jessel of the Internet. A much less schmaltzy Jessel, but there he is, writing eulogies from a personal perspective.

Anyway, nobody put a smile in their voice quite like Gary Owens, and I daresay nobody will.


.
posted by Spatch at 4:23 PM on February 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

.
posted by Gelatin at 4:26 PM on February 13, 2015

Aw man.

.
posted by mykescipark at 4:28 PM on February 13, 2015

Goodnight, from Beautiful Downtown Burbank


.
posted by El Brendano at 4:33 PM on February 13, 2015 [9 favorites]

Good night, Blue Falcon. And may flights of Dynomutts sing thee to thy rest.

.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 4:34 PM on February 13, 2015 [3 favorites]

.

A hero. He's another Gary and I aspired for a voice like his. Authoratively mischievious.

Thanks Mr Owen.
posted by myopicman at 4:44 PM on February 13, 2015

Powdered Toast Man!
posted by myopicman at 4:46 PM on February 13, 2015

This one hurts. A lot.

N.I.P (Nurney In Peace) Mr. Krelb.

.
posted by Quasimike at 4:47 PM on February 13, 2015

Aww.

.
posted by yhbc at 4:56 PM on February 13, 2015

I remember meeting 'The Garish One' at a Radio Convention in L.A. and to my shock and delight, he actually KNEW WHO I WAS (a former sidekick to the 'wacky morning guy' at a second-tier station). This led to him PAYING me for my jokes, encouraging me to publish my "Wendell's Weakly" radio comedy newsletter, then giving me a big funny two-paragraph plug in a column he was writing for a radio biz trade paper with the greatest 'faint praise' ever: "Wendell is funnier than Lorne Greene and Jack Lord combined". An endorsement I will always treasure. Then, when KMPC changed format to All-Talk, he tried get the station to hire ME as a sidekick to help fill the parts of the show that had previously contained music. Sadly, the station management was so cheap it couldn't even afford ME and never even notified me I hadn't been hired; so Gary himself called me with an unnecessary and totally sincere apology. I did throw him some extra schtick "at no extra charge" in the few months before he gave up on the new format and left the station where he'd put in 20 years. And about that 'sincere apology'... I liked to refer to his Official Announcer delivery as "perfectly sincere insincerity", but this was so heartfelt that it blew me away. I think of it more fondly than any radio job I ever DID get. Everything Mark Evanier or any other eulogizer says about him I say double; he was the single nicest person in or around Hollywood I had ever met. (And, as I noted in a previous obit thread, I've been yelled at by Casey Kasem)

One "memory flogger" I must share, a piece of live radio that made the rounds as one of the few times that Gary Owens, the perfect unflappable announcer who could read the most absurd script without flinching, totally lost it. (In fact, there is a longer tape somewhere in which, after a one-minute recorded spot, it returned to him live and he was still laughing) Merry Christmas from Preparation H, and Stay Insegrevious.

With his Superheroic delivery, he deserves more of a "!" than a "."

Nerny nerny nerny, fnork.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:03 PM on February 13, 2015 [26 favorites]

Jeez, what a day.

.
posted by valkane at 5:03 PM on February 13, 2015

Very sad to hear that the Garyosaurus has gone extinct...
posted by pxe2000 at 5:48 PM on February 13, 2015

He narrated the soundtrack to my childhood.

.
posted by tommasz at 6:04 PM on February 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:06 PM on February 13, 2015

.
posted by Fibognocchi at 6:34 PM on February 13, 2015

.
posted by reedcourtneyj at 6:54 PM on February 13, 2015

.
posted by allthinky at 7:03 PM on February 13, 2015

AM and FM.

.
posted by jonp72 at 7:59 PM on February 13, 2015

.
posted by MrBadExample at 8:08 PM on February 13, 2015

They don't make voices like that anymore.

*googles Johnny Gilbert*
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:13 PM on February 13, 2015

.
posted by lapolla at 8:25 PM on February 13, 2015

Godspeed Tad Ghostal.
You were enjoyed.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 8:38 PM on February 13, 2015

.
posted by luckynerd at 9:51 PM on February 13, 2015

I first heard/saw him on Laugh-In. One hand cupped over his ear. And that perfect announcer voice. I'd never heard of "Burbank," beautiful, downtown or otherwise.

A television icon.

aav.

.
posted by the sobsister at 9:56 PM on February 13, 2015

.
posted by aryma at 10:34 PM on February 13, 2015

In which Space Ghost summons Gary Owens forth from a cauldron and takes him to task for impersonating him.
posted by contraption at 11:46 PM on February 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

I only ever knew Gary Owens through Rowan and Martin... I used to love that show. Living in suburban London, I had no idea where Burbank was, but it sure sounded exotic.

I just Googled, and the last Laugh In episode was in 19... Jeez. Suddenly I feel really old.

So... verrrrry interesting, but sad.

.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 2:36 AM on February 14, 2015

.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 4:16 AM on February 14, 2015

.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:34 AM on February 14, 2015

⌾
posted by radwolf76 at 4:55 AM on February 14, 2015

Say goodnight, Dick.

.
posted by briank at 7:47 AM on February 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

.
posted by Catblack at 8:46 AM on February 14, 2015

.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 9:29 AM on February 14, 2015

Rondu, head of Galactic Patrol, requests that all sentient beings observe a moment of silence, and that flags be flown at half staff in beautiful downtown Burbank.
.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 9:30 AM on February 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

.
posted by Sphinx at 9:51 AM on February 14, 2015

.

His 1972 comedy LP Put Your Head On My Finger (MGM-Pride)? Fun-ny!!
posted by On the Corner at 1:41 AM on February 17, 2015