Comedians who died during 2017

December 27, 2017 4:04 PM

Some well-known ones that most people have heard of (Don Rickles, Jim Nabors), some that you know if you followed standup (Ralphie May), and some you (well, I at least) had never heard of before (alas, Ken Shapiro). List with links to fuller bios.
posted by anothermug (13 comments total)

That’s not funny
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posted by growabrain at 4:40 PM on December 27, 2017

Good post. As a 47 year old guy who never understood Jerry Lewis, can anyone link to a great example of him being funny? I'm seriously not trying to be hateful, I simply don't get it.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 5:42 PM on December 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

Wait. Patty Deutsch died? How did I not know that? In my Matchgame 77 pubescent years, she was the sweet dessert topping atop the Brett Somers/Charles Nelson Reilly lime Jello...
posted by memewit at 6:17 PM on December 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Good post. As a 47 year old guy who never understood Jerry Lewis, can anyone link to a great example of him being funny? I'm seriously not trying to be hateful, I simply don't get it.

I also speak French, and I don't get it either.
posted by anothermug at 7:21 PM on December 27, 2017

You might want to look at the Jerry Lewis obit thread.

From that thread, I enjoyed smithsmith's favorite Jerry Lewis bit and I found munchingzombie's link perfectly cringeworthy. Eponysterical?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:20 PM on December 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Good God I had no idea that Sean Hughes died. I was never a huge fan of the man himself, but he was always involved in some brilliant thing or another.

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posted by elsietheeel at 9:27 PM on December 27, 2017

We saw Ralphie May live once. He did this bit where he mimed fingering a high-school girlfriend for endless minutes in the backseat of a car while the song "Living on a Prayer" played on the radio. His facial expressions were hysterical. It's been years and I still think of it and giggle whenever I hear that song.

So sad that he's gone, he was way too young.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 1:07 AM on December 28, 2017

Professor Irwin Corey grew up in an orphan asylum even though his parents were still alive. That merits a deeper dive.
posted by tommasz at 5:23 AM on December 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Jim Nabors obit thread

Don Rickles obit thread
posted by Melismata at 7:48 AM on December 28, 2017

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posted by karen in austin at 12:38 PM on December 28, 2017

Jeff-o-matic, check out The Bellboy. He's basically the American Jacques Tati in that film.
posted by cazoo at 2:13 PM on December 28, 2017

I was glad to see Ken Shapiro included here, as "The Groove Tube" was something of a leading indicator of how comedy would change in the 1970s. It was the first notable role for Chevy Chase, and I think a little bit of its DNA found its way into "Saturday Night Live" and its imitators.

Rewatched it recently for the first time in more than 30 years (it's on YouTube), and while a lot of it doesn't hold up well, there were still some laughs there. Also, Shapiro's closing song-and-dance routine set to "Just You, Just Me," which back in the day seemed like a weird tonal shift, and something sort of just tacked on to the rest of the film, actually comes across as kind of charming now.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 7:22 PM on December 28, 2017

A long time ago we saw Ralphie May perform (with his wife as his opener). It was riveting and since it was the late show at the club, he easily did an hour more of material than he was originally planning on doing.

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posted by mmascolino at 8:07 AM on December 29, 2017