The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Richard Bain has left a hole in the Los Angeles comedy scene by leaving us all over the weekend. Bain died at 37. Bain, born July 20, 1982, began his career in North Carolina but only began making a name for himself in comedy after moving to Portland, Ore., in …
With the 15th season of America’s Got Talent about to premiere on NBC under the new abnormal circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, It’s also time to memorialize a beloved contestant from years passed who has passed on. Grandma Lee, who didn’t start her stand-up career until her 60s, but made …
When I sat down with Fred Willard in February 2020 inside his home in Southern California, he was noticeably weak — I held his microphone for him throughout our conversation — but his mind and his sense of humor was quite intact, and he was still working. In fact, Fred …
Did you hear the one about the Brooklyn Jew who married an Irish Catholic, performed with a legendary improvisational troupe, went on to have a successful multi-decade career as a comedy duo, give birth to more comedy legends, and also have a late-career resurgence on not one but two mega-hit …
John Marshall, a comedian and writer who earned an Emmy nomination for writing on HBO’s The Chris Rock Show, and who executive-produced multiple annual ceremonies for the Writers Guild Awards, has died from cancer. Raised in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., Marshall studied playwriting at the University of Pennsylvania. The bio for his …
Other MAD magazine illustrators may have been flashy or more memorable for their eccentricities (see Sergio Aragonés and his “Spy vs. Spy” or Al Jaffee for his Fold-In features), but Mort Drucker may have been the most accessible of them all. A New Yorker through and through, Drucker was born …
Michael Clayton McCarthy achieved the comedy dream and proved you could do it going in the opposite direction. McCarthy (no relation) became a staff writer for Saturday Night Live at age 24 in 1983, followed that up with two years writing for Sesame Street, and then went to Chicago, where …
Hal Willner, the longtime musical guru behind Saturday Night Live who also brought musicians together for cross-genre tributes and movie soundtracks, and who won a Grammy for his efforts, died on April 7. Although he was never formally diagnosed with COVID-19, a spokesperson confirmed that Willner died at home suffering …
Eddie Large, the bigger, brasher half of the British comedy duo Little and Large, died on April 2 from coronavirus. He had been in the hospital in Bristol, England, receiving treatment due to heart failure. He was 78. Born Edward Hugh McGinnis in Glasgow on June 25, 1941, his family moved …
Ken Shimura, Japan’s most famous comedian, died on March 29 from a pneumonia brought upon by coronavirus. He had tested positive for COVID-19 on March 24. Shimura was 70. Born Feb. 20, 1950, Shimura was a fixture on Japanese television for decades, known for his mugging and facial expressions. He …
