The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Garry Marshall, the writer/director responsible for creating a slew of classic TV sitcoms in the 1970s-1980s, then followed that up by helming several hit comedy movies over a generation, died Tuesday following complications from a series of strokes. Marshall was 81. Among his TV creations: The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne …
Anyone who came through Hyenas, and later Laffs, came to know and love “Hoodie.” Gary Hood, a comedy mentor and the booker at Laffs Comedy Caffe in Tucson, has died. He was 66. Born Aug. 18, 1949, Hood’s old comedy club bios for him say that he was a former …
Dan Mer wanted nothing to do with me at first. What’s in a name, anyhow? I moved to Tempe, Ariz., at the end of June 2001, into an apartment only a few blocks from the Tempe Improv and all of Arizona State University. Found out the day I moved in that …
He was the first comedian ever to perform at Just For Laughs and mentored a teen-age Jim Carrey into stardom. He was Wayne Flemming. Friend to many comedians in Toronto and across Canada. Flemming died earlier this week from lung disease. Flemming’s promotional materials described himself as “the Canadian father of …
Garry Shandling, a great comedy writer who became a greater stand-up and begat two of the greatest most influential TV sitcoms, has died suddenly. Shandling was 66. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the sad news today. Shandling had just done some major interviews with other comedians at the start …
Long before Portlandia was jokingly keeping the dream of the 1990s alive in Portland, Dave Anderson was keeping the Rose City weirdly comfortable for dreamers of all stripes. A quick-witted amiable voice for a generation who woke up watching him on TV, drove home from work listening to him on …
Joe Alaskey‘s celebrity impersonations made him stand out as a stand-up in the 1980s comedy boom, then ultimately led to a fruitful career in voiceover work when that boom went bust for so many other comedians. Alaskey took over vocal duties for the late great Mel Blanc and Jackie Gleason, …
To children of the 1970s or 1980s, he was “Schneider,” the building superintendent for nine seasons on the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time. But to children of the late 1950s and 1960s, Pat Harrington Jr. inhabited an even more unlikely character, as the Irish son of an comedian …
Let us take one more look back at the comedians we still love and miss so dearly, who left us in the past year. Jason R. Chin (died Jan. 8, 2015), 46 Taylor Negron (died Jan. 10), 57 Harris Wittels (died Feb. 19), 30 Jenna McMahon (died March 2), 89 …
Andy Ritchie, a stand-up comedian and improviser known for his big heart and impressively unique presence both onstage and off, died from complications related to his brain tumor on Thanksgiving. Ritchie was 39. Born March 27, 1976, in Canada but raised in Minneapolis, where he started performing onstage at Academy …
