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Saddest Deaths In Comedy?

Started by MortSahlFan, September 08, 2019, 01:28:35 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

petril

Quote from: Cheesewogg on September 08, 2019, 06:13:26 PM
"... and I make sure she gets a regular servicing!"

Gary Olsen! He was a top fella too by all accounts. Incredible a the antagonist in 'Paul Calf's Video Diary'

always fondly remember the post credits "Hi, I'm Gary Olsen, I play Ben" bit where they explained how they did the killing the goldfish bit without actually killing a goldfish, to set up the obvious follow up gag where they pretend to fuck it up and kill the goldfish anyway

chveik


up_the_hampipe

Does John Ritter count? I remember being very sad about that and the episode of 8 Simple Rules that followed.


H-O-W-L

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on September 08, 2019, 08:40:45 PM
Does John Ritter count? I remember being very sad about that and the episode of 8 Simple Rules that followed.

The whole season and a half of 8SR after his death was just miserable honestly.

Twed


NurseNugent

Linda Smith, Jeremy Hardy, Marty Feldman.

studpuppet

#37
Quote from: wosl on September 08, 2019, 07:16:33 PM
That reaction is almost guaranteed when entertainers collapse dying on stage.  See also: Sid James, Tommy Cooper, Bruce Hampton, and just recently, Ian Cognito.

Was going to say Cooper's death was genuinely sad, because it basically happened live in front of millions of us (I was watching with parents and grandparent), but we didn't become aware that he'd died until the next day.

(warning: snuff movie): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpZq3ul1ld4

Tony Yeboah

Richard Beckinsale- Died unexpectedly in hs sleep. Only 31 and had already done Porridge and Rising Damp as well as acclaimed stage work. Left behind a wife and two young daughters.

Ade carrying Rik's coffin was the saddest image I've ever seen.

Brundle-Fly

Jerry Desmonde, who is mainly remembered for playing authority figures in Norman Wisdom films. Once, after watching Trouble In Store (1953), I overheard my father telling my brother that the actor who played Augustus Freeman had taken his own life because 'he was sad all the time'. I had no concept of suicide before then. One of those 'loss of innocence' moments that afternoon. Luckily he didn't add that the bloke who played Mr Grimsdale was a bit of git in real life (although it was different times etc)*

Not forgetting James Beck, Private Walker from Dad's Army. He was one of my first brushes with being very sad about favourite current telly people dying.



*After Sir John Gielgud was arrested for "persistently importuning male persons for immoral purposes", Edward Chapman started a petition to force him to resign from Equity. Sir Laurence Olivier reportedly threw Chapman out of his dressing room when he solicited his signature for the petition.

gatchamandave

Douglas Adams for me, along with another vote for Rik. Both of those just seem wrong, somehow.

Puce Moment

Rik and Felix.

I would say Patrice O'Neal but looking through his stand-up you become very aware that he knew he was going to die early, and just couldn't really be arsed to do all the things required to lose weight and live longer. He even makes it into a bit.

wosl

Of ones not yet mentioned, those of Mitch Hedberg and James Beck immediately spring to mind. That Beck died such a long time ago (in the same year as Jack MacGowran, who also deserves a mention for his turn in How I Won The War alone), having just started to branch away from 'Walker' in - the admittedly fairly dire - Romany Jones is poignant. The already mentioned Victoria Wood made it into her early sixties, but her death was still very hard to make sense of and absorb.  Ralph Bates only really qualifies here by dint of being in Dear John, but the age he was when he went, and the fact that part of him will forever be preserved in a rather washed-out, of-its-time sitcom is affecting.

gatchamandave

Quote from: wosl on September 09, 2019, 02:50:31 PM
Of ones not yet mentioned, those of Mitch Hedberg and James Beck immediately spring to mind. That Beck died such a long time ago (in the same year as Jack MacGowran, who also deserves a mention for his turn in How I Won The War alone), having just started to branch away from 'Walker' in - the admittedly fairly dire - Romany Jones is poignant. The already mentioned Victoria Wood made it into her early sixties, but her death was still very hard to make sense of and absorb.  Ralph Bates only really qualifies here by dint of being in Dear John, but the age he was when he went, and the fact that part of him will forever be preserved in a rather washed-out, of-its-time sitcom is affecting.

...And part of him was Sister Hyde!

I loved Ralph Bates and I know what you mean, he died too young, but he did have a good career and left us some splendid performances, though Dear John is hard going now, for some reason .


Gulftastic

Nic Colasanto from 'Cheers'. I adored Cheers back then and was really cut up. They didn't give him an on screen farewell, his death was mentioned during a scene in the following season, and I remember shedding a tear.

Thursday

Quote from: Fried Egg Sandwich on September 09, 2019, 08:21:34 AM
Ade carrying Rik's coffin was the saddest image I've ever seen.

Oh god that more than anything brought it home. Felt fudamentally wrong to process that image.

alan nagsworth


Twed

Quote from: Thursday on September 09, 2019, 10:31:48 PM
Oh god that more than anything brought it home. Felt fudamentally wrong to process that image.
The way I make the sad go away is imagining it like a fight scene from Bottom that really went overboard. That turns the sad into funny.

Dusty Substance

Quote from: NurseNugent on September 08, 2019, 10:06:21 PM
Linda Smith

That's who I'd choose. Although she'd been performing comedy since the late 80s She seemed just on the brink of becoming properly household name famous when she died. She'd conquered Radio 4 comedy and was great on Qi (probably would have been a more likable replacement for Fry than Toksvig). Very sad when she died. Can't believe it's been 13 years.

Jockice

Quote from: Dusty Substance on September 10, 2019, 12:22:31 AM
That's who I'd choose. Although she'd been performing comedy since the late 80s She seemed just on the brink of becoming properly household name famous when she died. She'd conquered Radio 4 comedy and was great on Qi (probably would have been a more likable replacement for Fry than Toksvig). Very sad when she died. Can't believe it's been 13 years.


One of my proudest moments was when I was using a cashpoint in Sheffield once and she walked past me and said hello. I'd seen her live a couple of times but I didn't know her. She was great.

Jockice

Recent one, Michael Sleggs from This Country. He was great.

Big Mclargehuge

Frank Sidebottom (Chris Sievey) was a heavy hitter for me. took me quite a few weeks to get over that one...and even then when that documentary came out about him a couple of months ago it bought it all back again. Only had the pleasure of seeing him live once but it was an absolute delight (His opening act was Charlie Chuck so it was a properly anarchic night)

Chalk me down as another Rik Misser too...that one hurt.

H-O-W-L

Ade's statement on Rik's death was what broke me when it came to Rik dying. "Now he's gone and left me alone... the selfish bastard."  I don't know why, but that level of bitter comedy interspliced with a genuine send-off broke me.

oy vey

Shiiiiiit, Rik still hasn't sunk in. He was young at heart that's why it seems out of whack that he should be dead.

Peter Cook's passing sucked on the back of the missed potential Why Bother 2. That's still my fav cook. A few spooky references in there to Sr. Arthur's impending death. "You find the prospect of my dying amusing?" Actually yes and no.

chveik


bigfatheart

Quote from: Gulftastic on September 09, 2019, 06:53:57 PM
Nic Colasanto from 'Cheers'. I adored Cheers back then and was really cut up. They didn't give him an on screen farewell, his death was mentioned during a scene in the following season, and I remember shedding a tear.

That's a good (well, not good, but you know) one. Those first few series of Cheers are astounding for how they managed to strike the perfect balance of comedy and drama, managing to be sentimental without being mawkish. When Colasanto died they never quite managed to get the heart back. It was still good but it was never the same.

Noodle Lizard

Absolutely Brody Stevens for me.  I still haven't quite got my head around that one.

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on September 10, 2019, 11:42:06 PM
Absolutely Brody Stevens for me.  I still haven't quite got my head around that one.

Ive seen next to nothing of Brodys comedy, but happened to listen to him on Ari Shaffirs podcast a coupla years ago where he talked about his experiences in mental health facilities...he then started talking about how he'd caused some friends in the comedy scene to distance themselves from him, cant remember the specifics but he started crying and I got a lump in my throat, to hear someones pain and regret so earnestly

Hardly ever effected by celebrity deaths but for some reason I felt terribley sad when Caroline Aherne died. I didnt even know she was ill and as far as i was concerned she was still very young