Rob and Laura sketch from '79 MTM variety show

[CHUCK T]

I read somewhere that Dick and Mary reprised Rob and Laura in a sketch of MTM's 1979 short-lived variety show. I'm interested in details. How was it? it was only 13 years after the DVD show at that time and obviously both were considerably younger. If you recall that sketch what were they like? did they fall easily into character? Did Mary seem more like the Laura we knew on the DVD show or was she still a bit like Mary Richards? Did Dick do any physical comedy?

[SawgrassSteve]

Chuck,
I vaguely remember that sketch. Even then I was a huge fan of the show, and watched it every day as a teen. Sorry I can't tell you much about it. My memory just isn't that good, without some jarring!
I must admit though, sadly, they've never appeard to fall back into the characters of Rob & Laura Petrie since the days of TDVDS, but it's always great to see them together again.

Steve

[vanilla_waif]

Dick and Mary actually did 2 Rob and Laura sketches on that episode of her variety show. The first one they did at their actual ages then (Mary in her early 40s and Dick early 50s) Alan Brady had died and I think Mel wanted Rob to do the eulogy, Laura owned a clothing botique and Ritchie had moved out and I think was in college. At the end of this sketch Rob told Laura that Ritchie was gay and living with his boyfriend and she let out a big "OH ROB" Mary seemed a lot more like Mary Richards than she did during DVD Revisited but considering she had just finished TMTMS. In the other sketch they did Rob and Laura 50 years later in full costume/makeup as very old senior citizens it was really cute they were celebrating like their 70th wedding anniversary and Rob kept falling asleep standing up. The whole premise of the variety show was Mary was a tv star named Mary Mckinnon and DVD was supposed to guest star on her show and Dick and her producers were sitting around thinking up ideas for sketches so these Rob/Laura sketches were actually fantasies within the show. If Alan Brady had actually died it would have messed up the whole DVD Revisited idea

This is what I can remember...if anyone else has more details/memories I'd love to hear.

[CHUCK T]

thank you both for the information. It actually sounds interesting. I kinda wish they would put those sketches on a DVD along with "Dick Van Dyke and the other Woman".

[vanilla_waif]

Originally posted by CHUCK T
thank you both for the information. It actually sounds interesting. I kinda wish they would put those sketches on a DVD along with "Dick Van Dyke and the other Woman".

I agree, even if they can't do "DVD and the other woman" b/c of the copyright issues they should've included these sketches on one of the DVDs since it was the first time Rob and Laura were seen since the series, even if it was just a fantasy. I forgot to mention that Dick and Mary also did a musical number with singing and dancing (out of character) And to answer your question about Dick doing physical comedy, he did quite a lot of it playing Rob as a very old man.

[jon123]

Originally posted by vanilla_waif
Dick and Mary actually did 2 Rob and Laura sketches on that episode of her variety show. The first one they did at their actual ages then (Mary in her early 40s and Dick early 50s) Alan Brady had died and I think Mel wanted Rob to do the eulogy, Laura owned a clothing botique and Ritchie had moved out and I think was in college. At the end of this sketch Rob told Laura that Ritchie was gay and living with his boyfriend and she let out a big "OH ROB" Mary seemed a lot more like Mary Richards than she did during DVD Revisited but considering she had just finished TMTMS. In the other sketch they did Rob and Laura 50 years later in full costume/makeup as very old senior citizens it was really cute they were celebrating like their 70th wedding anniversary and Rob kept falling asleep standing up. The whole premise of the variety show was Mary was a tv star named Mary Mckinnon and DVD was supposed to guest star on her show and Dick and her producers were sitting around thinking up ideas for sketches so these Rob/Laura sketches were actually fantasies within the show. If Alan Brady had actually died it would have messed up the whole DVD Revisited idea

This is what I can remember...if anyone else has more details/memories I'd love to hear.

Actually Mary had two short lived failed variety series in 78-79 but the DVD sketch was from the first one. She played Mary Mc Kinnon in the second one but there was no Rob/Laura sketch in that one. Since the premise was she was Mary Mc Kinnon, she was not playing Mary Tyler Moore so she could not have reprised her Laura role since Mary Tyler Moore played Laura. (Your head can explode trying to figure out that one!)

[vanilla_waif]

Originally posted by jon123
Actually Mary had two short lived failed variety series in 78-79 but the DVD sketch was from the first one. She played Mary Mc Kinnon in the second one but there was no Rob/Laura sketch in that one. Since the premise was she was Mary Mc Kinnon, she was not playing Mary Tyler Moore so she could not have reprised her Laura role since Mary Tyler Moore played Laura. (Your head can explode trying to figure out that one!)

Mary's first variety show featured David Letterman, Swoosie Kurtz, and Michael Keaton(who returned for the 2nd) You're right about her as Mary McKinnon on the second show, but that was the one which DVD guest starred on. Mary McKinnon was a fictional star of a variety show and Dick Van Dyke was an upcoming guest star on the Mary Mckinnon show. Dick and her writers and producer were coming up with ideas for him as a guest star and one of the writers was like "Hey Dick, doesn't Mary (McKinnon) look a lot like that girl who played Laura Petrie on your show?" And Dick said that he didn't see any resemblance and then he started to see it and the whole fantasy sketch thing started. So it was really a joke. Within that variety show MTM and Mary Mckinnon both existed even though Mary McKinnon was played by MTM. I know it's hella confusing I guess you'd have to see it. But at the end of the show Dick meets Mary McKinnon for the first time and she tells him that she auditioned for the original Dick Van Dyke show but didn't get the part and he said "aww that's too bad" and she's like "Yeah Rose Marie got the part" So the whole thing was a big joke....they had a lot of fun with it

[jon123]

Originally posted by vanilla_waif
Mary's first variety show featured David Letterman, Swoosie Kurtz, and Michael Keaton(who returned for the 2nd) You're right about her as Mary McKinnon on the second show, but that was the one which DVD guest starred on. Mary McKinnon was a fictional star of a variety show and Dick Van Dyke was an upcoming guest star on the Mary Mckinnon show. Dick and her writers and producer were coming up with ideas for him as a guest star and one of the writers was like "Hey Dick, doesn't Mary (McKinnon) look a lot like that girl who played Laura Petrie on your show?" And Dick said that he didn't see any resemblance and then he started to see it and the whole fantasy sketch thing started. So it was really a joke. Within that variety show MTM and Mary Mckinnon both existed even though Mary McKinnon was played by MTM. I know it's hella confusing I guess you'd have to see it. But at the end of the show Dick meets Mary McKinnon for the first time and she tells him that she auditioned for the original Dick Van Dyke show but didn't get the part and he said "aww that's too bad" and she's like "Yeah Rose Marie got the part" So the whole thing was a big joke....they had a lot of fun with it

Thank you for clearing that up-I stand corrected. Now that you have mentioned it my memory has been jogged and I do remember the Rose Marie line and the others-it was hilarious!

Your explanation also proves that the sketch was done totally for laughs and that stuff like Alan dying or Richie being gay are not part of Rob and Laura's reality and were correctly not referenced in the real reunion.