Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 6, 2023 | 1 comment

A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE by the host of The Batcave Podcast…

By JOHN S. DREW

There is always the debate of whether or not Batman ’66 is a comedy or an attempt at a comedy. Indeed, there are TV Guide listings that categorize the show as a comedy. Putting the actual arguments aside, though, there are funny moments on the show and some of them come from our birthday boy, Burt Ward, who was born 78 years ago on June 6, 1945.

When you see the man in person, you can tell he enjoys a good laugh. I’ve been fortunate enough to have interviewed Burt on the Batcave Podcast three times now. Each time, he brought Dan Greenfield and me to tears with his humor.

So it makes sense that he would present that humorous side in his performance as Robin. And while there are quite a number of gut-busting bits with both him and Adam West as Batman, here’s a look at BURT WARD’S TOP 13 FUNNIEST MOMENTS AS ROBIN — RANKED:

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13. Surf’s Up! Joker’s Under! Dick Grayson acting as judge of the surfing contest. He’s so earnest in his delivery, and in his earth-tone beach ensemble, that you can’t help but laugh.

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12. Caught in the Spider’s Den. Burt plays the straight man to Adam as he tries to break Black Widow’s spell over him by having the Caped Crusader sing “Buttercup.”

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11. The Joker’s Last Laugh. Some of the humor in Robin is when he is just being a square. Here, he gets me laughing as he shows up, alone, at Joker’s hideout and reports to Batman that while on a routine crime patrol, he spotted Joker with Bruce Wayne. Mind you, this is reminiscent of the comics, but we’ve never seen Robin go off on his own before.

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10. The Joker’s Hard Times. I love watching Burt Ward trying to revive a knocked out man while Venus is purring all over Batman. The cutting back and forth as Burt is tapping on the man’s wrist and lifting the arm to his ear is hysterical.

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9. The Yegg Foes of Gotham. We’ve all heard the story of how the crew took out some of their frustrations on Burt by dumping more than the allotted eggs on his head during the final fight at Old McDonald’s Farm. But it is a sign of Burt’s professionalism that he didn’t yell out to stop, and because of that, it makes for a funny moment as Robin fights with egg on his face.

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8. The Greatest Mother of Them All. Here is another one where Burt plays straight man to Adam, in a sense. Ma Parker is heading to the end of a hallway on a rocket powered wheelchair and Robin exclaims she isn’t going to make it. There is a crash and, deadpan, Batman says, “She didn’t.”

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7. The Foggiest Notion. Robin is kidnapped by the lovely ladies of Lady Peasoup’s finishing school. The look on his face as they take him away is priceless.

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6. The Cat and the Fiddle. Robin goes in disguise as Zubin Zucchini and affects a pretty good old man gruff voice as he bickers with Julie Newmar as Catwoman.

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5. The Cat and the Fiddle. In the same episode, Robin uses poor grammar and Batman has to correct him. It’s a nice comedic moment between the two.

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4. It’s How You Play the Game. Batman has Alfred disassemble an entire car that was stolen by Shame. He finds only one clue, a smear of guacamole on the steering wheel. And what does that tell us? Robin: “That he’s a sloppy eater!” Brilliant timing.

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3. A Horse of Another Color. Dick Grayson, man of many languages as we have seen throughout the series, can only say “Si, senor” to Lola Lasagne as he poses as a jockey. Beside the fact it’s the only two words he says but she’s a senora.

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2. The Contaminated Cowl. Batman and Robin enter an art studio and Batman warns Robin to be on his toes. Without missing a beat, Burt lifts himself by his toes. It is so graceful and yet so funny at the same time.

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1. He Meets His Match, The Grisly Ghoul. Dick Grayson is needed to go undercover in order to infiltrate Joker’s gang, the Bad Pennies. He does this by donning a leather jacket, putting on a tough guy voice, and trying to smoke. It’s the cigarette bit that makes it funny: He holds the cigarette backward, quickly realizes it and switches to the correct end, just as the fire is being brought to the tip.

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MORE

— Why BURT WARD is the Greatest of ALL Robins. Click here.

— Dig This UP-CLOSE LOOK at an Original ROBIN Costume. Click here.

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John S. Drew has been a doorman, restaurant manager, writer, teacher, podcaster and hostage negotiator at one point or another in his life. He has written prose in the Star Trek, Doctor Who and Spider-Man universes. He podcasts about pop culture, in particular television adventures of the ’60s and ’70s, including The Batcave Podcast, The Shazam/Isis Podcast, The OSI Files (about the Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman), The World’s Greatest Super Friends Podcast (with Dan Greenfield), and The Doctor’s Beard (about Doctor Who, with Jim Beard). You can find all these podcasts on any reputable or less than reputable podcast platform.