Young Edd Gould always enjoyed drawing comics of himself and his friends. Growing up in the internet age, his doodles evolved into Flash animations of increasing complexity, and in time Edd and pals Tom Ridgewell and Matt Hargreaves teamed up to produce an "Eddsworld" series of online webtoons and comics. At first crude and halting, the group's "eddisodes" progressed from surreal shorts and one-shots into full-fledged productions that pushed the boundaries of amateur web animation, with expressive characters, full soundtracks, complex effects, and a fast-paced, off-kilter sense of humor: MovieMakers - Spares - WTFuture - Rock Bottom - Hammer & Fail (2). At its height, the college co-op was producing shorts for Mitchell & Webb and the UN Climate Change Conference, fielding offers from Paramount and Cartoon Network, and racking up millions of hits on YouTube. Work slowed, however, when Gould was diagnosed with leukemia -- a relatively survivable form, though, and Gould carried on working gamely through his hospital stays. So it came as a shock last week when Matt and Tom announced that Edd had passed away, prompting an outpouring of grief and gratitude from all the fans he'd entertained and inspired in his short 23 years.
posted by Rhaomi on Apr 2, 2012 - 5 comments

Perhaps you remember him as the esteemed author of sure-fire flop Springtime for Hitler, or as an inspector with an artificial arm in Young Frankenstein, or maybe even for his impersonation of Henry Kissinger singing Bachman-Turner Overdrive's Takin' Care of Business ( I must hear this. I must.) Maybe you don't remember him at all, as he was a prolific voice actor and character actor. A That Guy. But if you do remember him, you probably remember him making you laugh really, really hard, which is a wonderful thing to be remembered for. I am sad to report that Kenneth Mars passed away on Saturday, February 12th, from pancreatic cancer.
posted by louche mustachio on Feb 14, 2011 - 45 comments

RIP Chris Sievey aka Frank Sidebottom. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Jun 21, 2010 - 33 comments

Carl Ballantine passed away at age 92. [more inside]
posted by ObscureReferenceMan on Nov 9, 2009 - 14 comments

The legendary Ken Campbell has died. Interested in everything, apparantly. Just as excited to visit Damanhur as he was to go to CERN, just down the road. Fluent in Bislama, the creole of Vanuatu, into which he translated Macbeth. Founder of the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool, which performed epic productions of The Warp, Illuminatus! and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Not quite Doctor Who (he was beaten to the role by former protogé Sylvester McCoy). A fount of knowledge on the theatre, comedy, Fortean strangeness and science and anything else you care to mention, all of which he spun together with extensive flights of imagination into glorious, hilarious one-man shows. Totally irreplaceable, and devastating loss. [more inside]
posted by Grangousier on Sep 1, 2008 - 16 comments

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Bernie Mac has died. Bernie Mac most recently seen at a Obam campaign event and King of Comedy has died at 50-years old. Known for his tv show based on his own life as caretaker of his sister's kids. .
posted by Duck_Lips on Aug 9, 2008 - 134 comments

RIP, Harvey Korman [more inside]
posted by WolfDaddy on May 29, 2008 - 80 comments

Ronnie Hazlehurst RIP. Who? Well if you've seen any of the BBC's sitcoms and light entertainment programmes from the 70s onwards, you would have probably heard his work... [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Oct 3, 2007 - 16 comments

John Inman, RIP --better known as the campy stereotype Mr. Humphries on Are You Being Served? (a gay icon?)
posted by amberglow on Mar 8, 2007 - 93 comments

Has it been 20 years already? "Andy himself stated that were he to fake his death, he would return 20 years later to the day. MAY 16TH 2004 IS THAT DAY."
posted by ric on May 9, 2004 - 24 comments

Mad Magazine cartoonist David Berg dies at 81. One of the "gang of idiots" that were part of the Mad '60's: Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, Antonio Prohias, Mort Drucker, et al.

Ah, well. Another piece of my childhood slips away. What stands out in my mind was that many of his characters bore an uncanny resemblance to my neighbors. But now I'm troubled: did I have a post-modern childhood?
posted by groundhog on May 25, 2002 - 8 comments

Harry Secombe passes at 79. I just saw the Peter Sellers bio on American Movie Classics the other day, and found out how important The Goon Show was in the history of comedy. A Hard Day's Night and Monty Python had their roots in this groundbreaking British radio show that ran from 1949-1960.
posted by aflakete on Apr 11, 2001 - 12 comments