Arte Johnson (born January 20, 1929), full name Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson, is an American comic actor.
He was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan and attended the University of Illinois, graduating in 1949 after working on the campus radio station and the U of I Theater Guild with his brother, Cos.
He initially sought employment in Chicago working for advertising agencies but left for New York to work for Viking Press. His first "show business" job came when he impulsively stepped into an audition line and was cast in a revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
He is best known for his work on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, an American television show (1968–1973), on which he played various characters including "Wolfgang", a smoking Nazi soldier apparently observing the show's proceedings in order to obtain covert intelligence regarding the US and invariably commenting on the preceding sketch with the catch phrase "Very interesting ..." followed by either a comic observation or misinterpretation, or simply "but stupid!" Johnson indicated later that the phrase came from Desperate Journey, a 1942 World War II film with Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan playing Royal Air Force pilots shot down in Nazi Germany; they managed to cross much of the country without speaking German or knowing the territory but, when captured, their Nazi interrogator doubts their story with the phrase. Johnson reprised the role while voicing the Nazi-inspired character Virman Vunderbarr on an episode of Justice League Unlimited.
His other iconic Laugh-In character was "Tyrone F. Horneigh" (the last name pronounced "horn-eye" – a "clean" variant of the vulgar term "horny"), the white-haired, trenchcoat-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, and, spying Gladys on the bench, would sit next to her. He would ask two related 'leading questions,' each earning him a hard whack from a shocked Gladys using her purse. His third statement would be an appeal for medical assistance, at which time he would fall off the bench. Some examples:
Two 'non-medical' examples:
The character of Tyrone is also thought to be part of the inspiration for the gravelly voice used in the song, "Gimme Dat Ding" by the Pipkins.
Years after Laugh-In ended its run, the two characters were made into an animated Saturday-morning children's show, Baggy Pants & The Nitwits with Tyrone as a helpful, muttering 'superhero.'
Arte and his brother, Cos, earned their Emmy Awards while working on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.
In 1976, Johnson voiced the cartoon character "Misterjaw", a blue German-accented shark (with a bow tie and top hat) who liked to leap out of the water and shout "HEEGotcha!" or "Gotcha!" at unsuspecting folks on the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises produced The Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show.
Later in the 1970s, he hosted the NBC game show Knockout.
In 1979 he played Renfield, the comic sidekick of George Hamilton's Dracula in 'Love At First Bite'.
In 1985 he played "Uncle Buckle-Up" in an episode of The A-Team.
In 1990 Arte appeared in an episode of Night Court.
In the 1990s Johnson voiced "Newt", a hunting dog on the cartoon Animaniacs, who futilely became enamored of his target, a sexy female mink named Minerva.
Arte has performed some memorable audiobook readings, including Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan (2006) and more than 80 other books.
In 2005, he appeared in an episode of Justice League Unlimited as the voice of Virman Vundabar.
