MetaFilter posts tagged with obituary and comedy

RIP Carl Ballantine

ObscureReferenceMan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:53:37 -0800

Carl Ballantine passed away at age 92. He was probably most famous for his role in McHales Navy. And with appearances in TV and movies too numerous to mention - a favorite of mine was a cute movie called "Just You and Me, Kid" (George Burns, and a young Brooke Shields) as Reinhoff the Remarkable. But I loved him as the bumbling magician, "Ballantine The Great" (I hope that YT link works - I'm at work and can't tell).

Bad news, seekers...

Grangousier — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:35:56 -0800

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. on the big bang ... Brainspotting (it all seems to be on there in ten-minute chunks. Have a root around) ... DIY Seance 1 2 3 ... on Robert Anton Wilson (there's a lot more of that there, as well).

Bernie Mac Dead at 50

Duck_Lips — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 05:55:02 -0800

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. .

He has all the fruit cups he wants now.

WolfDaddy — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:14:36 -0800

RIP, Harvey Korman The link I provided is how I will always remember him, trying not to crack up on live television no matter how hard Tim Conway tried to. But there's also this. And a million others. Good night, Harvey.

Master of the TV Theme Tune

fearfulsymmetry — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:56:21 -0800

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... He wrote the theme tunes to, among others, Are You Being Served?, Last Of The Summer Wine, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (where the title is spelled out in Morse Code), To The Manor Born, Yes Minister, Sorry!, The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin (brief blurry nudity), Three Up, Two Down, The Two Ronnies, Blankety Blank and Wogan. And he arranged the themes for Butterflies, Only Fools And Horses and Just Good Friends. He was also heavily involved with the Eurovision Song Contest, being the musical director of the event three times when it was held in the UK and conducting the UK entry for seven years (one year conducting the German entry as well)... most notably on this occasion. Oh and, ahem, he co-wrote 'Reach' for S Club 7 as well. BBC Tribute.

Mr. Humphries has measured his last inside leg.

amberglow — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 06:58:57 -0800

John Inman, RIP --better known as the campy stereotype Mr. Humphries on Are You Being Served? (a gay icon?)

Andy Kaufman - Dead or Alive?

ric — Sun, 09 May 2004 13:21:26 -0800

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."

groundhog — Sat, 25 May 2002 12:06:24 -0800

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?

aflakete — Wed, 11 Apr 2001 15:51:24 -0800

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.