In Memorium

[Natalka]

^ that is so cool!

[Natalka]

RIP, Bob - I loved their kind of comedy.

Veteran Canadian comedian Bob Robertson has died at 71

His wife and business partner, Linda Cullen, confirmed to CBC News he passed away in Nanaimo, B.C., on Sunday.
Robertson and Cullen had been called the funniest married couple in Canada after spending decades in the entertainment business together.

Together, Robertson and Cullen created the popular CBC Radio series Double Exposure, which launched in 1987 and ran for over 10 years.
It was known for its dead-on impersonations of celebrities and public figures, particularly Canadian politicians.

In 1997, Double Exposure became a weekly comedy series on CTV and the Comedy Network. Robertson pulled triple duty as writer, performer and executive producer for the three-year duration of the program.



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...dead-1.4033337

[Natalka]

[Natalka]

Chuck Barris, Wacky Host and Creator of 'The Gong Show,' Dies at 87



On The Gong Show, which aired on NBC and in syndication in daytime and primetime from 1976-80, amateurs took to the stage to demonstrate their so-called talent in front of three celebrity judges. Quite often, they made fools of themselves.

Barris first made his mark in the game show arena when he created The Dating Game, which bowed as an ABC daytime program in December 1965.
ABC's The Newlywed Game, produced by Barris and hosted by the cheeky Bob Eubanks, premiered in July 1966.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...source=twitter

[Natalka]

Oh, how I adored Front Page Challenge!

Journalist and broadcaster Betty Kennedy dead at 91




Journalist and television personality Betty Kennedy, famed for her work on CBC's long-running current affairs quiz show Front Page Challenge, has died at 91.

Kennedy hosted her own show at Toronto's CFRB for 27 years. She interviewed politicians, community leaders and celebrities
But it was her appearances as a panellist on CBC-TV's Front Page Challenge that's she's perhaps best known for. She started with the show in 1962 and lasted until its cancellation in 1995.


Gordon Sinclair (left), Betty Kennedy (second from left), guest panellist Lister Sinclair (second from right) and Pierre Berton, along with mystery guest Charlotte Whitton (top) take part in an episode of CBC's Front Page Challenge in November 1963.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment...obit-1.4034660

[SharonMe]

The Gong show was silly mindless fun. I loved it. The unknown comic, Gene,Gene the dancing machine.
Good days.
R.I.P.

[Darth Penguin]

Colin Dexter, creator of Inspector Morse

Colin Dexter, the author behind detective Inspector Morse and his adventures solving mysteries in Oxfordshire, has died at the age of 86, with the top names in crime writing lining up to pay tribute to a “a kind, generous man”.
Dexter’s death at his home in Oxford was announced by his publisher Macmillan on Tuesday. Val McDermid, who was a good friend of Dexter, described him as “a lovely, lovely man” and not as grumpy as his creation – “though he did share Morse’s love of music”.






“Early on in my career I told him I was nervous about how to write police procedurals and he said, ‘Well, my dear, I had written five Morse novels before I had even set foot in a police station.’ He had great sense of humour,” McDermid told the Guardian.
Author Lee Child described Dexter as “revolutionary”. “He wrote a character without any concessions at all to likely popularity – Morse was bad tempered, cantankerous, esoteric and abstruse – and thereby showed us that integrity and authenticity work best,” Child said. “His literary descendants are everywhere. When our genre’s family tree is drawn, he’s the root of a huge portion of it.”
Author Peter James said “all of us who love crime fiction owe Colin Dexter a very great debt”.
“There are few writers of whom it can be genuinely said that they changed – or indeed created – a genre. But Colin Dexter did. Morse was unique, both in the pages of the novels and in the subsequent television adaptations,” James said. “In many ways he mirrored characteristics of Sherlock Holmes, with his fierce brain and quiet nature, and. like Holmes, he came off the page and stepped out of our screens to become a living person, someone any of us could imagine meeting for a drink in a pub.”

[gryphon]

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/don-...as-1202025068/

RIP Don Rickles

[Natalka]

RIP to an awesome comedian - and, interestingly my son recently discovered this type of insult humour.
I've liked him back to the Johnny Carson days - lots of those bits are on YouTube.

[Natalka]

John Geils Jr, founder of J Geils Band, dies at 71

John Geils Jr, the US guitarist who founded The J Geils Band and had a global hit with the song Centrefold, has died at the age of 71.
The musician was found dead at his home in Groton, Massachusetts, on Tuesday.
Local police, who had been called to the property to check on his welfare, attributed his death to natural causes.
Founded in 1967, The J Geils Band released 11 studio albums, among them the US chart-topping Freeze-Frame, before breaking up in 1985.
Centrefold, their biggest hit, topped the US charts for six weeks in 1982 and reached number three in the UK.

[walkonby]

Not sure how many Chappelle Show fans there are here, but Charlie Murphy ( Eddie's older brother ) passed away last night losing his battle with Leukemia, he was 57. He was featured on Dave's show as a regular and was quite funny. R.I.P. Charlie.










http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...ailyNewsletter

[walkonby]

my heart skipped a beat while reading the crawl on the tv....I thought I read that Cuba Gooding Jr had died, but when I came on the computer to check it turns out it was his poor father ( Cuba Gooding Sr ) who was found dead in his car!

http://variety.com/2017/music/news/c...er-1202391859/

I had no idea that his father was a singer ( lead singer of the group The Main Ingredient ) and was known for the hit song " Everybody Plays the Fool "

[redhdlois]

Erin Moran, the former child star who played Joanie Cunningham in the sitcoms "Happy Days" and "Joanie Loves Chachi," died Saturday at age 56.
A statement from the sheriff's department in Harrison County, Indiana, said the dispatcher "received a 911 call about an unresponsive female. Upon arrival of first responders, it was determined that Erin Moran Fleischmann was deceased. An autopsy is pending."
The dispatcher confirmed to The Associated Press that the woman was the actress, who had been married to Steven Fleischmann.
A Burbank, California native, Moran began acting in TV and movies before she was 10 years old. She had nearly a decade's worth of experience when she was cast in 1974 in "Happy Days" as Joanie Cunningham, the kid sister to high school student Richie Cunningham, played by Ron Howard.
Debuting at a time of nostalgia for the seemingly innocent 1950s, the sitcom was set in Milwaukee and soon became a hit. Howard and Henry Winkler, who played tough guy Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli, were the show's biggest stars, but Moran also became popular. In 1982, she was paired off with fellow "Happy Days" performer Scott Baio in the short-lived "Joanie Loves Chachi."
Her more recent credits included "The Love Boat" and "Murder, She Wrote," but she never approached the success of "Happy Days" and was more often in the news for her numerous personal struggles.
"OH Erin... now you will finally have the peace you wanted so badly here on earth," Winkler tweeted. "Rest In It serenely now.. too soon."

[Natalka]

Gee, just saw this. RIP Joanie/Erin... gone so very young. (same age as me...)

Great voice, too - they are really singing, pre-recorded track

[gryphon]

French media is reporting that Prince Phillip has died age 95