Make Me Laugh was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 game show

Game show

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 in which contestants watched three stand-up comedians

Stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...

 performing their acts, one at a time, earning one dollar for every second that they could make it through without laughing. Each comedian got sixty seconds to try to crack the contestant up. If a contestant succeeding in not laughing the full 3 minutes, their $180 winnings were doubled to $360.

The hosts

The original version, with Robert Q. Lewis

Robert Q. Lewis

Robert Q. Lewis was an American radio and television personality, game show host, and actor. Lewis added the middle initial "Q." to his name accidentally on the air in 1942, when he responded to a reference to radio comedian F. Chase Taylor's character, Colonel Lemuel Q...

 as host, aired for three months in 1958 on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

. Bobby Van hosted a syndicated revival during the 1979–80 season, and Ken Ober

Ken Ober

Ken Ober was an American game show host, comedian, and actor.- Early life and career :Born Kenneth Oberding in Brookline, Massachusetts, he was raised in Hartford, Connecticut. Ober hosted four game shows over the course of his career. He received his break after appearing as a contestant on Star...

 hosted a 1997 revival on Comedy Central

Comedy Central

Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

, replaced for the second season by Mark Cohen

Mark Cohen (comedian)

Mark Cohen is an American comedian best known for hosting Comedy Central's Make Me Laugh in 1998. Cohen also appeared in two episodes of the British version of Whose Line is it Anyway? and has had numerous guest roles on American sitcoms.-External links:...

.

Syndicated version

On Van's version, contestants (who were selected from the audience) that lasted the full three minutes had their winnings doubled to $360; also, a celebrity guest would play the last round of each episode, playing for an audience member who would receive a prize just for being chosen, and up to three more prizes based on how many comedians the celebrity could survive.

A number of then-unknown comics appeared on this version before going on to greater fame; among them were Bob Saget

Bob Saget

Robert Lane "Bob" Saget is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Although he is best known for his roles as Danny Tanner in Full House, host of America's Funniest Home Videos and Future Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother, Saget is also known outside of television for his blue...

, Howie Mandel

Howie Mandel

Howard Michael "Howie" Mandel is a Canadian stand-up comedian, television host, and actor. He is well known as host of the NBC game show Deal or No Deal, as well as the show's daytime and Canadian-English counterparts. Before his career as a game show host, Mandel was best known for his role on...

, Gallagher, Gary Mule Deer

Gary Mule Deer

Gary Mule Deer is an American comedian and country musician. During a career spanning four decades, he has performed on every major concert stage in the country, and made over 350 television appearances, including many on both The Tonight Show and The Late Show With David Letterman the hosts of...

, Yakov Smirnoff

Yakov Smirnoff

Yakov Naumovich Pokhis , better known as Yakov Smirnoff, is a Ukrainian-born American comedian, painter and teacher. He was popular in the 1980s for comedy performances in which he used irony and word play to contrast life under the Communist regime in his native Soviet Union with life in the...

, Bruce 'Babyman' Baum

Bruce Baum

Bruce Baum is an American comedian. His live act consists of prop comedy as well as more traditional stand-up material. One of his best-known stand-up routines is his diaper-wearing Babyman character...

 and Garry Shandling

Garry Shandling

Garry Emmanuel Shandling is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for his work in It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show....

.

The theme music for the '70s version was entitled Laugh, and was performed by Artie Butler and the Big Boffers.

Reruns of this version later aired on the USA Network

USA Network

USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...

from October 2, 1984 to September 26, 1986.

Comedy Central version

In the Comedy Central version, the game remained the same but with new additions. There were two formats to this version.

Round One

Three contestants competed, one at a time; rules were the same as the original version.

Round Two (The Toughest Room in America)

The three contestants now predicted if one of the three comedians can make another contestant laugh, and wagered any or all of their current scores, based on how strong they are about their prediction. A correct answer adds the wager but an incorrect answer deducts the wager. The players did it twice, and the one with the most money at the end of this round wins the game. The losing contestants won a joke consolation prize.

Bonus Round (Tag Team Round)

This round is called "The Tag Team Round", because the winning contestant now faced all three comics in this final round of the game. The contestant had the usual 60 seconds to face each one, and the comics alternated turns. If the winning contestant survived the full minute, he/she won $500, otherwise he/she earned $5 per second.

Round One

Three contestants, who were randomly selected from the studio audience, competed; each one came out one by one in round one, much like the 70s version.

Round Two (Tag Team Round)

This was played like "The Toughest Room in America Round" & the Bonus Round from the first season. But in the Cohen era, the three contestants now predicted if one of the three comedians can make another audience member laugh, and wagered any or all of their current scores, based on how strong they are about their prediction. What's different about this round is that the audience member had 90 seconds (1½ minutes) to face the comics (30 seconds per comic). A correct answer adds the wager but an incorrect answer deducts the wager. The players did it once instead of twice, and the one with the most money at the end of this round wins the game. The losing contestants instead of a joke prize won a real consolation prize.

Bonus Round (Mystery Comic)

The winning contestant this time instead of facing any of the three comics in this final round of the game, he/she now faced the mystery comic for up to $500. The contestant had 100 seconds (1 minute 40 seconds) instead of 60 to face that comic, earning $5 per second of no laughter.

External links

• Rules for Make me Laugh
• 1997 Make me Laugh rules