The RIP Thread

[Vodkaman]

Just goes to show cancer doesn't care how rich you are even money can't save someone. I remember when I was going through the cancer deal Godfather said "you got this". That line stuck in my head going through the treatment and when I was on the operating table before being put under.

[Frothy Afterbirth]

Richard Lewis, stand-up comic and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ star, dies at 76
By Nardine Saad, Alexandra Del Rosario
FEB. 28, 2024 UPDATED 3:49 PM PT


(Daniel Prakopcyk / For The Times

Comedian Richard Lewis built a career on making himself a punchline, but in HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” sincerity was his specialty.

As a fictionalized version of himself, Lewis often injected the long-running cynical comedy with wholesome lines about the decades-long friendship he shared with co-star Larry David. “When I die, I want you to know how much I care about you,” Lewis tells David in a minor squabble about his will during the show’s final season. “You’re my best friend.”

For more than 20 years, Lewis — often appearing in his signature dark clothing and round sunglasses — channeled his bond with David and his self-deprecating humor to become a beloved fixture on the comedy classic. Lewis died Tuesday “peacefully at his home in Los Angeles.” He was 76.

Lewis’ publicist Jeff Abraham confirmed to The Times that the comedian died after suffering a heart attack. “His wife, Joyce Lapinsky, thanks everyone for all the love, friendship and support and asks for privacy at this time,” Abraham said.

HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is just a part of Lewis’ legacy, which included a stand-up comedy career spanning decades, a memoir about his sobriety and appearances in Mel Brooks’ “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” and “Leaving Las Vegas.”

In April 2023, Lewis detailed his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, which derailed his decades-long stand-up comedy career. “After 50 years almost, I’m gonna just call it quits,” he said at the time.

“R.I.P. to a true original @TheRichardLewis,” comedian Bill Burr wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “An absolutely fearless comedian who did and said what he wanted.”

“His comedic brilliance, wit and talent were unmatched,” HBO said in a statement shared with Variety. “Richard will always be a cherished member of the HBO and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ families, our heartfelt condolences go out to his family, friends and all the fans who could count on Richard to brighten their days with laughter.”

Lewis began his career in his 20s performing at New York’s Improv and was taken under the wing of David Brenner, who was known as the king of observational comedy. He found his footing in dark comedy, bringing his struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction and his broken family to the stage.

“It’s great to be here, it’s great to be in a city that means more to me than my family, quite frankly,” he said to welcome audiences during a set in 1990.

Aptly known as the “Prince of Pain,” Lewis wasn’t shy about letting audiences know about his afflictions. His TV specials played into this persona, including “I’m Doomed,” “I’m In Pain,” “I’m Exhausted,” preceding his days on “Curb.”

Lewis gained popularity following appearances on several shows including “Late Night with David Letterman” and “The Howard Stern Show” in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Before he was on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” in 2000, Lewis appeared as a fictionalized version of himself in “Diary of a Young Comic,” a TV movie about the L.A. comedy scene, and films “That’s Adequate,” “Once Upon a Crime...” and “Game Day.”

In “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Lewis is a loyal friend to David, constantly going along with his petty grievances against those around him. However, in real life, that friendship took time. Lewis and David first met as preteens in a childhood sports camp, Lewis said in a 2023 interview with the Spectator. “I disliked him intensely. He was cocky, he was arrogant,” he said.

“We were arch rivals. I couldn’t wait for the camp to be over just to get away from Larry. I’m sure he felt the same way,” he said.

Reconnecting in the New York comedy scene years later, Lewis and David gave friendship another shot — paving the way for decades of on-screen bickering and memorable exchanges.

“Richard and I were born three days apart in the same hospital and for most of my life he’s been like a brother to me,” David said in a statement shared with the Associated Press. “He had that rare combination of being the funniest person and also the sweetest. But today he made me sob and for that I’ll never forgive him.”

Lewis also appeared in 2012’s “Vamps” and 2014’s “She’s Funny That Way,” as well as the TV series “Anything But Love,” “Daddy Dearest,” “Hiller and Diller,” “7th Heaven,” “’Til Death” and “Blunt Talk.”

“I went into this for psychological reasons,” Lewis told The Times in 2014. “My family — it wasn’t an abusive family — they meant well, but they were in their own world.”

Lewis grew up in New York and his father died at a young age. He said he felt isolated by his mother and disconnected from his two siblings: His sister had four children before Lewis turned 19. He also had a brother, whom he said “was off in the Village reading ‘Howl’ on the street corners.”

He began his stand-up career after graduating from Ohio State University in 1969. He entered the comedy circuit around the same time that Jay Leno, Freddie Prinze and Billy Crystal did.

“I was 23, and all sorts of people were coming in and out and watching me, like Steve Allen and Bette Midler. David Brenner certainly took me under his wing. To drive home to my little dump in New Jersey often knowing that Steve Allen said, ‘You got it,’ that validation kept me going in a big, big way,” Lewis said.

As he wrote in “The Other Great Depression: How I’m Overcoming on a Daily Basis at Least a Million Addictions and Dysfunctions and Finding a Spiritual (Sometimes) Life,” Lewis was 44 when he was hospitalized after suffering from a lethal mix of alcohol and drugs. He decided to get sober in 1995, which according to his biography, he was “especially grateful for.”

In 2015, he published his second book, “Reflections from Hell: Richard Lewis’ Guide On How Not To Live,” with his longtime friend, artist Carl Nicholas Titolo, who provided the illustrations.

Stars including “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, Albert Brooks and Jamie Lee Curtis, comedian Paul Feig and “Curb” co-star Ben Stiller paid tribute to Lewis, remembering his contributions to the comedy scene.

“RIP Richard Lewis. A brilliantly funny man who will missed by all. The world needed him now more than ever,” wrote “Curb” co-star Brooks.

“Sleep well Richard…I’ll try to take good care of our face,” celebrity lookalike Stewart tweeted.

Curtis, who led the TV series “Anything but Love” with Lewis, shared two tributes on Instagram, remembering the “deep and freaking funny comedian.”

“He also is the reason I am sober. He helped me. I am forever grateful for him for the act of grace alone,” she wrote. “He found love with Joyce and that, of course, besides his sobriety, is what mattered most to him. I’m weeping as I write this.”

“I never met a kinder, more empathetic comedy genius. He was so funny. And deep,” tweeted actor-director Ben Stiller, who said Lewis was a friend to him and his parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. “As a kid i remember seeing him at the Improv and how nice he was to me and my sister. Over the years he would always reach out with support and love or a kind word - sometimes out of the blue. It always felt special to hear from him. I feel very lucky to have known him over all these years. I’m sad I won’t see him again.”

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[amtronic]

Porn Star Kagney Linn Karter Killed Herself with Shotgun. She gave it the BJ to end all BJs.




~!

[Frothy Afterbirth]

Akira Toriyama, ‘Dragon Ball’ Manga Creator, Dies at 68
By J. Kim Murphy Mar 7, 2024 8:18pm PT


STR/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images


Akira Toriyama, the highly influential Japanese manga artist who created the medium-defining franchise “Dragon Ball” in the 1980’s and shepherded its growth as it became a global phenomenon, died March 1 due to an acute subdural hematoma. He was 68.

Toriyama’s death was confirmed by the official “Dragon Ball” website, which posted a statement honoring the creator on Thursday evening.

“It’s our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm. Also, he would have many more things to achieve,” reads the statement from Bird Studio, which includes the disclaimer that it has been machine-translated. “He has left many manga titles and works of art to this world. Thanks to the support of so many people around the world, he has been able to continue his creative activities for over 45 years. We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come.”

Toriyama found early success in the manga industry with the creation of the popular “Dr. Slump” series in the late ’70s, winning a Shogakukan Manga Award in 1981 and supervising two subsequent anime adaptations. However, that acclaim was nothing compared to “Dragon Ball,” a continuation of his kung fu movie-influenced “Dragon Boy” one-shot. First published as a serial in 1984, “Dragon Ball” has grown to become one of the best-selling manga series ever. It’s also credited as popularizing the medium of manga across the globe, further bolstered by its various anime adaptations’ enduring audience in Western countries.

An artist who largely worked outside the public spotlight, Toriyama’s work extended beyond “Dragon Ball” throughout his life, especially after taking a smaller creative role with the property in the ’90s. His other credits include various one-shot manga runs, as well as character designs for video game classics like “Chrono Trigger” and the “Dragon Quest” series.

Toriyama returned to “Dragon Ball” in the 2010’s, with the manga artist receiving a screenplay credit on the film “Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods,” then the first “Dragon Ball” feature adaptation in nearly 20 years. He has stayed involved with the property throughout its recent run of film productions, including the most recent, 2022’s “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.”

A private funeral service has already been held for Toriyama’s family. He is survived by his wife, Yoshimi Katō, and their two children.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Steve Lawrence, Grammy-winning singer and partner of Eydie Gormé, dies at 88
In addition to being half of Steve & Eydie, Lawrence was an actor with credits including "The Blues Brothers" and "The Nanny."
By Shania Russell published on March 7, 2024


PHOTO: Harry Langdon/Getty

Steve Lawrence, the Grammy- and Emmy-winning performer who dazzled as a nightclub and concert singer with his late wife, Eydie Gormé, died Thursday from complications due to Alzheimer's disease. He was 88.

"My dad was an inspiration to so many people," the couple's son David said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. "But, to me, he was just this charming, handsome, hysterically funny guy who sang a lot. Sometimes alone and sometimes with his insanely talented wife."

David continued, "I am so lucky to have had him as a father and so proud to be his son. My hope is that his contributions to the entertainment industry will be remembered for many years to come."

Born Sidney Liebowitz in 1935, Lawrence expressed an interest in singing from a young age. His start in show business came after winning a talent competition on Arthur Godfrey's CBS show, leading him to sign with King Records as a teenager.

Lawrence was 17 when he first crossed paths with Gormé in New York, but it wasn't until 1953 that they became friends while performing duets on the Steve Allen's talk show, Tonight. Performing together as Steve & Eydie, they quickly garnered acclaim.

At the height of their popularity throughout the '60s and '70s, they appeared on various variety programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Carol Burnett Show, The Danny Kaye Show, The Judy Garland Show, and The Julie Andrews Hour.

They married in 1957 in Las Vegas, a city where they would become nightlife staples, headlining Caesars Palace, the Sands, the Sahara and more. Over the course of their career, they were named Musical Variety Act of the Year by the Las Vegas Entertainment Awards on four separate occasions.

With and without Gormé, Lawrence released dozens of albums in his lifetime. He topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963 with the ballad "Go Away Little Girl," and later made the top 10 with songs including "Party Doll," "Pretty Blue Eyes" and "Portrait of My Love."

Also an actor, Lawrence earned a Best Actor nod at the 1964 Tony Awards for his performance as Sammy Glick in What Makes Sammy Run? He later played Maury Sline in The Blues Brothers, a role he reprised in the sequel, Blues Brothers 2000. He played the father of Fran Drescher‘s titular character on CBS' The Nanny and guest-starred on various other shows, including Sanford and Son, Frasier, Hot in Cleveland, and Two and a Half Men.

With Gormé, Lawrence made several records, including the 1960 album We Got Us, which won them a Grammy. The duo also produced and starred in several television specials, winning an Emmy for 1979's Steve & Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin. In the '80s, they staged a series of sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts.

Despite also pursuing solo projects and gigs, the duo continued performing together until Gormé died in 2013.

"Her range was better than three octaves," Lawrence told the Los Angeles Times of his late wife in 2014. "She could sing with almost anybody. But she enjoyed singing with me. We were attached at the hip — Steve-and-Eydie. It was like we were one person — to be married that long."

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PHOTO: Martin Mills/Getty

[Frothy Afterbirth]

Eric Carmen, the Raspberries frontman and 'All By Myself' singer, dies at 74
He also penned hits including “Hungry Eyes,” “Almost Paradise,” and “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again.”
By Shania Russell Published on March 12, 2024


Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Eric Carmen, the musician who became a ‘70s icon as the frontman of the Raspberries and singer of hits “All By Myself” and “Hungry Eyes,” has died. He was 74.

News of the singer-songwriter's death was announced Monday on his official website, with a statement from his wife, Amy Carmen.

“It is with tremendous sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of Eric Carmen,” she wrote. “Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep, over the weekend. It brought him great joy to know, that for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy.”

She added, “Please respect the family’s privacy as we mourn our enormous loss. ‘Love Is All That Matters… Faithful and Forever.'”

The final quote is a callback to “Love is all That Matters,” a track from his 1977 solo album “Boats Against the Current.” No cause of death was disclosed.

Born Aug. 11, 1949, Carmen was raised in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio where he forged a love for music at such a young age, that his parents enrolled him at the Cleveland Institute of Music at just 2 and a half. He began taking violin lessons at 6. As a teenager, he taught himself to play the guitar and joined his first band.

After bouncing between bands, Carmen eventually landed with the Raspberries in 1967, a pop rock band in the style of The Beatles and The Who, that quickly rose to acclaim. Members of the classic lineup include Wally Bryson, Jim Bonfanti, and Dave Smalley. Their hits would include “Go All the Way,” “I Wanna Be With You,” “Let’s Pretend,” “Tonight” and “Overnight Sensation." Despite finding their fanbase, the group earned some ire for being too pop-centric.

"Critics liked us, girls liked us, but their 18-year-old, album-buying brothers said ‘no,’” Carmen wrote in his website biography. “We got frustrated and imploded. Looking back, we might have been the very first ‘alternative’ band. We were the alternative to long boring flute solos and all the other stuff people thought was so ‘heavy’ back then… but alas, we collapsed under the pressure.”

After the band split in the mid-’70s, Carmen took steps to establish himself as a solo artist finding success with songs such as “All by Myself"— which Celine Dion would bring to even greater heights with her 1996 cover. Along with being a radio hit, the song was featured in films including Clueless, Almost Famous, and Bridget Jones's Diary. Carmen’s additional hits include “Make Me Lose Control,” “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again,” “Hey Deanie” (penned for Shaun Cassidy), and the Dirty Dancing song “Hungry Eyes.”

Another of Carmen’s memorable tunes was written for a movie soundtrack too: he co-wrote the Footloose love theme “Almost Paradise,” which earned him his sole Grammy nomination when the soundtrack competed for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture.

While Carmen declined to join the Raspberries when they reunited in 1999 with the EP, Raspberries Refreshed, he did share the stage with them in 2004 for a performance at Cleveland’s House of Blues.

“People used to ask me ‘Why don’t you guys get together and just play one gig?’ Because it takes the same amount of preparation for one good show as a six-month tour,” Carmen told EW at the time. “I never wanted to be the guy to put this band back on a stage and pop everyone’s bubble and have them go home saying ‘Oh, they weren’t that good.’”

Together, the Raspberries briefly toured again in 2005. The group’s final performance together was at Cleveland’s KeyBank State Theatre in December 2007.

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PHOTO: Bobby Bank/WireImage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh_2i8IiwxQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ssCL292DQA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQlKa1IeZF8

Edit: Who knew this guy went full magatarded

[Frothy Afterbirth]

Adult film star Sophia Leone dead at 26
Story by Richard Pollina



Adult film star Sophia Leone has died after she was found “unresponsive” in her New Mexico apartment on March 1 as police investigate her cause of death, according to family.

She was 26 years old.

“Sophia was a beloved Daughter, Sister, granddaughter, Niece, and Friend,” Leone’s stepfather Mike Romero wrote on a GoFundMe page, set up to honor the actress.

“She had a deep love for all animals, specifically her 3 pets. She enjoyed traveling and always found ways to make everyone around her smile.”

The Los Angeles-based modeling agency, 101 Modeling, which handles some of Leone’s bookings, said that the adult film star’s death was being investigated as a “robbery and homicide.”

“To be clear, Sophia death is being investigated as a robbery and homicide,” @101modelinginc wrote on X Saturday.

Romero also noted on her GoFundMe page that the family was “Seeking Justice for Sophia.”

The Post has reached out to the Albuquerque police for comment.

Brian Berke, who runs Leone’s Florida-based agency, AMA Modeling, expressed his heartbreak over Leone’s death

“At 18 years old you started with me at AMA and now at 26 I have to say goodbye,” Berke wrote on X.

“We had such an Amazing Bond. Always reminding each other how much we cared. I was supposed to be your guardian angel. A piece of me is gone. I love you, Sophia.”

The Miami-born porn star broke into the industry in 2014 and has starred in over 80 films, her IMDb page shows.

“I’m speechless & heartbroken I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” Adult film star Gina Valentine wrote on X.

“I can’t understand why you out of all people .. and I can only hope you we’re strong and brave your last moments here .. I pray that you weren’t in pain.”

“REST IN PEACE SOPHIA LEON,” wrote adult film actress Valeri Casteele. “You were so so kind to me just one of the most all around absolutely stunning people with a beautiful heart. we will miss you so dearly.”

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Louis Gossett Jr., 1st Black man to win supporting actor Oscar, dies at 87
By BETH HARRIS
Updated 6:48 AM PDT, March 29, 2024


Amy Sussman/Invision/AP

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 87.

Gossett’s first cousin Neal L. Gossett told The Associated Press that the actor died in Santa Monica, California. A statement from the family said Gossett died Friday morning. No cause of death was revealed.

Gossett’s cousin remembered a man who walked with Nelson Mandela and who also was a great joke teller, a relative who faced and fought racism with dignity and humor.

“Never mind the awards, never mind the glitz and glamor, the Rolls-Royces and the big houses in Malibu. It’s about the humanity of the people that he stood for,” his cousin said.

Louis Gossett always thought of his early career as a reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him from an early age and propelling him forward, toward his Academy Award for “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

Gossett broke through on the small screen as Fiddler in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries “Roots,” which depicted the atrocities of slavery on TV. The sprawling cast included Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton and John Amos.

Gossett became the third Black Oscar nominee in the supporting actor category in 1983. He won for his performance as the intimidating Marine drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman” opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger. He also won a Golden Globe for the same role.

“More than anything, it was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor,” he wrote in his 2010 memoir, “An Actor and a Gentleman.”

He had earned his first acting credit in his Brooklyn high school’s production of “You Can’t Take It with You” while he was sidelined from the basketball team with an injury.

“I was hooked — and so was my audience,” he wrote in his memoir.

His English teacher urged him to go into Manhattan to try out for “Take a Giant Step.” He got the part and made his Broadway debut in 1953 at age 16.

“I knew too little to be nervous,” Gossett wrote. “In retrospect, I should have been scared to death as I walked onto that stage, but I wasn’t.”

Gossett attended New York University on a basketball and drama scholarship. He was soon acting and singing on TV shows hosted by David Susskind, Ed Sullivan, Red Buttons, Merv Griffin, Jack Paar and Steve Allen.

Gossett became friendly with James Dean and studied acting with Marilyn Monroe, Martin Landau and Steve McQueen at an offshoot of the Actors Studio taught by Frank Silvera.

In 1959, Gossett received critical acclaim for his role in the Broadway production of “A Raisin in the Sun” along with Sidney Poitier,Ruby Dee and Diana Sands.

He went on to become a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964.

Gossett went to Hollywood for the first time in 1961 to make the film version of “A Raisin in the Sun.” He had bitter memories of that trip, staying in a cockroach-infested motel that was one of the few places to allow Black people.

In 1968, he returned to Hollywood for a major role in “Companions in Nightmare,” NBC’s first made-for-TV movie that starred Melvyn Douglas, Anne Baxter and Patrick O’Neal.

This time, Gossett was booked into the Beverly Hills Hotel and Universal Studios had rented him a convertible. Driving back to the hotel after picking up the car, he was stopped by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s officer who ordered him to turn down the radio and put up the car’s roof before letting him go.

Within minutes, he was stopped by eight sheriff’s officers, who had him lean against the car and made him open the trunk while they called the car rental agency before letting him go.

“Though I understood that I had no choice but to put up with this abuse, it was a terrible way to be treated, a humiliating way to feel,” Gossett wrote in his memoir. “I realized this was happening because I was Black and had been showing off with a fancy car — which, in their view, I had no right to be driving.”

After dinner at the hotel, he went for a walk and was stopped a block away by a police officer, who told him he broke a law prohibiting walking around residential Beverly Hills after 9 p.m. Two other officers arrived and Gossett said he was chained to a tree and handcuffed for three hours. He was eventually freed when the original police car returned.

“Now I had come face-to-face with racism, and it was an ugly sight,” he wrote. “But it was not going to destroy me.”

In the late 1990s, Gossett said he was pulled over by police on the Pacific Coast Highway while driving his restored 1986 Rolls Royce Corniche II. The officer told him he looked like someone they were searching for, but the officer recognized Gossett and left.

He founded the Eracism Foundation to help create a world where racism doesn’t exist.

Gossett made a series of guest appearances on such shows as “Bonanza,” “The Rockford Files,” “The Mod Squad,” “McCloud” and a memorable turn with Richard Pryor on “The Partridge Family.”

In August 1969, Gossett had been partying with members of the Mamas and the Papas when they were invited to actor Sharon Tate’s house. He headed home first to shower and change clothes. As he was getting ready to leave, he caught a news flash on TV about Tate’s murder. She and others were killed by Charles Manson’s associates that night.

“There had to be a reason for my escaping this bullet,” he wrote.

Louis Cameron Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York, to Louis Sr., a porter, and Hellen, a nurse. He later added Jr. to his name to honor his father.

“The Oscar gave me the ability of being able to choose good parts in movies like ‘Enemy Mine,’ ‘Sadat’ and ‘Iron Eagle,’” Gossett said in Dave Karger’s 2024 book “50 Oscar Nights.”

He said his statue was in storage.

“I’m going to donate it to a library so I don’t have to keep an eye on it,” he said in the book. “I need to be free of it.”

Gossett appeared in such TV movies as “The Story of Satchel Paige,” “Backstairs at the White House, “The Josephine Baker Story,” for which he won another Golden Globe, and “Roots Revisited.”

But he said winning an Oscar didn’t change the fact that all his roles were supporting ones.

He played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of “The Color Purple.”

Gossett struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction for years after his Oscar win. He went to rehab, where he was diagnosed with toxic mold syndrome, which he attributed to his house in Malibu.

In 2010, Gossett announced he had prostate cancer, which he said was caught in the early stages. In 2020, he was hospitalized with COVID-19.

He also is survived by sons Satie, a producer-director from his second marriage, and Sharron, a chef whom he adopted after seeing the 7-year-old in a TV segment on children in desperate situations. His first cousin is actor Robert Gossett.

Gossett’s first marriage to Hattie Glascoe was annulled. His second, to Christina Mangosing, ended in divorce in 1975 as did his third to actor Cyndi James-Reese in 1992.

This story has been corrected, based on a family statement, to report that Gossett died Friday morning and not Thursday night.
___

Associated Press journalists Mark Kennedy in New York and Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed reporting.

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Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

[Frothy Afterbirth]

Joe Flaherty, Original ‘SCTV’ Castmember, Dies at 82
He drew laughs as Guy Caballero, Count Floyd, Big Jim McBob and others on the famed sketch comedy show after Second City stints in Chicago and Toronto.
April 2, 2024 9:09am


NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

Joe Flaherty, the two-time Emmy-winning writer and Second City alumnus who sparkled as Guy Caballero, Count Floyd, Big Jim McBob and Sammy Maudlin as an original castmember on the landmark Canadian sketch comedy series SCTV, has died. He was 82.

His daughter, Gudrun Flaherty, told the Canadian Press he died Monday after a brief illness.

“Dad was an extraordinary man, known for his boundless heart and an unwavering passion for movies from the ’40s and ’50s,” she said in a statement. “His insights into the golden age of cinema didn’t just shape his professional life; they were also a source of endless fascination for me. In these last few months, as he faced his health challenges, we had the precious opportunity to watch many of those classic movies together — moments I will forever hold dear.”
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A native of Pittsburgh, Flaherty also was known for his stint as A-1 Sporting Goods owner Harold Weir (the father of Linda Cardellini and John Francis Daley’s characters) on the 1999-2000 NBC series Freaks and Geeks and for his turn as a Western Union man in Back to the Future Part II (1989).

And on the 1990-93 Canadian-American sitcom Maniac Mansion, created by SCTV teammate Eugene Levy, he played the scientist dad Fred Edison while writing and directing for the show as well.

A master of sketch and improv comedy, Flaherty got his start with the Second City comedy troupe at its Chicago flagship before moving to Toronto in 1973 to help open a new outpost in Canada.

From there, he segued to SCTV, which debuted on the Global network in Canada in 1976 and featured other original players Levy, Catherine O’Hara, John Candy, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas and Harold Ramis.

Flaherty thrived on all six seasons of the show through 1984, playing such characters as Caballero, the shady, shameless owner of the fictional SCTV station; Floyd Robertson, the serious anchor of the Melonville Nightly News, and Count Floyd, the vampiric host of Monster Chiller Horror Theatre; the flashy talk-show host Maudlin; and McBob, the Farm Report host and movie reviewer who, with Candy’s Billy Sol Hurok, made celebrities “blow up real good.”

Meanwhile, Flaherty shared nine Emmy nominations for outstanding writing in a variety or music program on SCTV, winning in 1982 and ’83.

“We didn’t have a producer, nobody told us what to write, who to appeal to, we just wrote for ourselves,” he said in a 1999 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We were the inmates running the asylum. We created our own little world and it paid off. … I wish we could do it again.”

The son of a production clerk at Westinghouse Electric, Flaherty was born on June 21, 1941, and raised in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh. As a teenager, he studied acting at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.

“I definitely think of myself as more of an actor than a comic — my training was in drama, I only fell into comedy accidentally,” he told the Globe and Mail in 2002. “And I think people are surprised when they meet me, because they expect me to be entertaining and funny, like a stand-up. I’m just not that way.”

Flaherty left Westinghouse High School to spend four years in the U.S. Air Force, attended Point Park College for a year and worked as a draftsman before moving to Chicago to take a job as a stage manager for Second City in 1969.

In the wings, “I watched it and just loved it,” he told Jen Candy (John Candy’s daughter) on a 2020 installment of her Couch Candy show. “Little sketches, funny bits, satiric bits, and then afterward they would improvise. I thought, ‘Wow, this is great. I’ve got to be a part of this.’ “

Flaherty was promoted to writer and performer and worked alongside the likes of Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis and John Belushi. Four years later, he, Doyle-Murray and others headed to Toronto to set up shop there, and he had a hand in hiring Candy, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd and others.

Flaherty also did the National Lampoon Radio Hour in 1973-74 with Belushi, Radner, Bill Murray and Chevy Chase and spent a year in Los Angeles helping to open a Second City in Pasadena before returning to Toronto.

The success of NBC’s Saturday Night Live, which had bowed in October 1975, made satire a hot commodity and helped SCTV get a green light.

“Politically, it was charged. Saturday Night Live just took off. It helped us. The producers at Second City decided to start up a TV show. They wanted to keep the actors happy and give us a chance to do more,” Flaherty said in 2004.

While he was working on the first season of SCTV, he did double duty on another Canadian TV program, The David Steinberg Show.

On SCTV, Flaherty did impressions of Bing Crosby, Alan Alda, Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck, Peter O’Toole and others. And when Count Floyd wasn’t teasing such Monster Chiller Horror Theatre flicks as Dr. Tongue’s 3-D House of Slave Chicks and Blood-Sucking Monkeys From West Mifflin Pennsylvania, he was being thanked on Alice Cooper’s Special Forces album and introducing Rush’s “The Weapon” on the Canadian band’s 1984 Grace Under Pressure tour.

Flaherty and other SCTV performers reunited in 2008 for the first time in 24 years at Second City Toronto for a charitable fund-raiser, then got together a decade later at the Elgin Theater for An Afternoon With SCTV, a live event hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

He famously heckled Adam Sandler‘s character in Happy Gilmore (1996), had recurring roles on Police Academy: The Series and The King of Queens and taught comedy writing at Humber College in Toronto.

He also appeared on the big screen in Tunnel Vision (1976), 1941 (1979), Used Cars (1980), Stripes (1981), Heavy Metal (1981), Going Berserk (1983), Follow That Bird (1985), One Crazy Summer (1986), Innerspace (1987), Who’s Harry Crumb? (1989), Stuart Saves His Family (1995), Detroit Rock City (1999) and Freddy Got Fingered (2001).

Survivors include his younger brother, Paul Flaherty, who wrote for SCTV and other shows like Muppets Tonight, and his children, Gabriel and Gudrun. He was married to Judith Flaherty for 20 years until their 1996 divorce.

Mike Barnes contributed to this report.

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Courtesy Everett Collection

[Frothy Afterbirth]

The first foreign-born grand champion of sumo, Akebono Taro, dies at age 54
April 11, 202411:52 AM ET
By The Associated Press


Koji Sasahara/AP

TOKYO — Hawaii-born Akebono Taro, one of the greats of sumo wrestling and a former grand champion, has died. He was 54. He was the first foreign-born wrestler to reach the level of yokozuna — or grand champion — in Japan.

"It is with sadness that we announce Akebono Taro died of heart failure earlier this month while receiving care at a hospital in the Tokyo area," the family said in a statement.
World
Retired wrestler Akebono's view on sumo wrestling scandals

His wife Christine Rowan, in an email to The Associated Press, said he died "within the past week" but declined to give details.

"I had to tend to personal matters that needed to be done prior to publicly announcing my husband's death," she said.

Akebono grew up on the rural side of the Koolau mountains from Honolulu and was born Chad George Ha'aheo Rowan.

He moved to Tokyo in the late 1980s and won his first grand championship in 1993.

At the prime of his career he was a real giant, reported at the time to weigh 500 pounds (225 kilos) and stand 6-feet-8 — or 2.03 meters.

The United States ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, sent his condolences on social platform X.

"I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Akebono, a giant in the world of sumo, a proud Hawaiian and a bridge between the United States and Japan," Emanuel posted.

"When Akebono became the first-ever foreign-born grand champion, sumo's highest rank, in 1993, he opened the door for other foreign wrestlers to find success in the sport. Throughout his 35 years in Japan, Akebono strengthened the cultural ties between the United States and his adopted homeland by uniting us all through sport."

Akebono was an 11-time grand tournament winner and he retired in 2001.

The family's statement said friends and family will hold a "private celebration of his life." He is survived by his wife, Christine, daughter and two sons.

"The family kindly asks for privacy during this time of mourning," the statement said.

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Kyodo