Editing Arte Johnson (section)

===''Laugh-In''===
Johnson is best known for his work on ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]'' from 1968 to 1973, on which he played many characters, including "Wolfgang," a cigarette-smoking German soldier oblivious to the fact that [[World War II]] was long over, as he skulked while hidden behind a potted plant. He would then invariably comment on a preceding gag with the catchphrase "Very interesting ...," which Johnson claimed was inspired by a [[Nazi]] character who spoke the line during an interrogation scene in the film ''[[Desperate Journey]]'' (1942).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/community/chat/2002-04-05-oldfaces.htm |work=[[USA Today]] |title='Old Faces of 2002': Peter Marshall and Arte Johnson |date=2002-04-05 |access-date=April 25, 2010}}</ref> Often toward the show's close, he (as the German) would offer words of affection to "Lucy and Gary" ([[Lucille Ball]] and her second husband [[Gary Morton]]). ''[[The Lucy Show]]'' and later ''[[Here's Lucy]]'' on CBS were in [[1967–68 United States network television schedule|direct competition]] with NBC's ''Laugh-In'' on [[1968-69 United States network television schedule|Monday night]]. Johnson reprised the role briefly on ''[[Sesame Street]]'' in the early 1970s,<ref>Classic Sesame Street - Arte Johnson talks about the letter Q, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZrpfckBVJ0</ref> and while voicing the Nazi-inspired character [[Virman Vundabar]] on an episode of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/84814/Berlin-Correspondent/overview |title=Berlin Correspondent (1942) |access-date=October 12, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105023740/https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/84814/Berlin-Correspondent/overview |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |author=Hal Erickson |author-link=Hal Erickson (author) |date=2012 |archive-date=2012-11-05}}</ref>
[[File:Lucille Ball Arte Johnson Glen Campbell Hour.jpg|thumb|right|Johnson as "Tyrone F. Horneigh" approaching [[Lucille Ball]] in a sketch on ''[[The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour]]'' (1971)]]
His other prominent ''Laugh-In'' character was "Tyrone F. Horneigh" (pronounced "horn-eye," a "clean" variant of the vulgar term "horny"), the white-haired, [[trench coat]]-wearing "dirty old man" who repeatedly sought to seduce "Gladys Ormphby," ([[Ruth Buzzi]]'s brown-clad "spinster" character) on a park bench. Tyrone would enter the scene, muttering a song (usually "[[The Fountain in the Park|In the Merry, Merry Month of May]]"), and, spying Gladys on the bench, would sit next to her. He would ask her a question, and regardless of the answer, turn it into a double entendre. She would then start hitting him with her purse and he would fall off the bench, sometimes with a plea for help.

To boost ratings in the third season, Tyrone successfully courted Gladys which led to an on-air wedding on the March 16, 1970, episode during the spring ratings sweep. [[Tiny Tim (musician)|Tiny Tim]] played best man, with [[Carol Channing]] as the bridesmaid, and [[Henry Gibson]] officiating.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} Alas, both bride-to-be and groom-to-be walk out of the church just before the wedding vows are spoken.

Years after ''Laugh-In'' ended, the two characters were the subject of an animated Saturday-morning children's show, ''[[Baggy Pants and the Nitwits]]'', with Tyrone as a helpful, muttering "superhero."

Johnson and his brother Coslough earned [[Emmy Awards]] while working on ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In#Emmy Awards|Laugh-In]]{{Broken anchor|date=2024-09-04|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In#Emmy Awards|reason= The anchor (Emmy Awards) [[Special:Diff/503559346|has been deleted]].}}''.<ref name=emmy>{{cite web |url=http://www.emmys.com/bios/arte-johnson |title=Arte Johnson / Television Academy |work=[[Emmys.com]] |publisher=[[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]] |access-date=2017-11-02}}</ref><ref name="emmy_Coslough">{{cite web |url=http://www.emmys.com/bios/coslough-johnson |title=Coslough Johnson / Television Academy |work=Emmys.com |publisher=[[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]] |access-date=2017-11-02}}</ref>