Come on, you know the only way they could make Zappa laugh would be to say things they couldn't put on television. Zappa is the Kobayashi Maru of "Make Me Laugh" contestants.
Comedy Central did bring this show back, about 8 years ago. It was even less funny, if you can believe it. Complete bargain-basement starving comedians. I remain firmly convinced that the comedians on that show were paid with a sandwich and coke. (If they made the contestant laugh, they threw in a bag of chips.)
Yeah, I was gonna also mention CC brought this back for a short time and it was awful. You could literally see the comedians dying inside when they could never make anyone laugh. Pained expressions of embrassment and failure trying to hide behind forced smiles.
I'd like to see Make Me Laugh, the .98 Beauty Show and the Gong Show completely replace American Idol and shows of its ilk.
More populism and opportunities to see freaks on TV, basically.
What you have to remember is that humour was different in the seventies. Did you hear that audience? There were people CRYING with laughter. They threw their best comedians at Zappa.
For that woman, watching a man stare down two full minutes of prop comedy was an unnatural and disturbing thing, like watching a sparrow stalk and kill a horse.