Gary Owens with Emerson College

In his two-hour interview for the American Comedy Archives at Emerson College, Gary Owens (1934-2015) talks about his early career beginning on radio and later drawing a comic strip. He describes working on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, and working with that cast including Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn. He recounts various comedians with whom he worked in his career, including Bob Newhart, Mort Sahl, Jackie Mason, Jonathan Winters, and Tim Conway. Owens discusses comedians’ mental health, as well as heath challenges he’d faced in his later years. He concludes by speaking of the importance of imagination in comedy, and summing up his career. Bill Dana and Jenni Matz conducted the interview on March 14, 2005 in beautiful downtown Burbank, CA.