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The Final Time These Comedy Geniuses Were Seen On Camera Before They Died
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00:00No matter how immortal the comic, no one lives forever. From Richard Pryor to Robin Williams,
00:06these are final performances from many of comedy's greatest icons.
00:11John Belushi first tried out his manic, sarcastic comedy style in a Chicago-area anti-establishment
00:17coffeehouse in 1969. Shortly after that first appearance, he was invited to join the famous
00:22Chicago-based improv group The Second City. But it wasn't until 1975 when Lorne Michaels
00:28offered him a spot on his new sketch comedy series called Saturday Night Live that Belushi
00:33became known to a wider audience. Belushi spent four seasons on the series, leaving in 1979
00:39at the height of his popularity to begin a string of film projects with fellow cast member
00:43Dan Aykroyd, including mega-hits like The Blues Brothers. Other notable films on his resume
00:49include The Steven Spielberg Flop 1941 and the classic National Lampoon's Animal House.
00:55Ouch! I'm a zit. Get it?
00:59In 1982, Belushi was found dead at the Chateau Marmont from a drug overdose. He was 33. The
01:06last project he ever filmed was an episode of Police Squad. Unfortunately for fans, his
01:11scene was cut before the episode aired, and the footage has either been lost or completely
01:15destroyed. As a result, his last publicly released on-screen appearance was in the film Neighbors,
01:21which had come out just three months prior to his death.
01:24Chris Farley and John Belushi had eerily similar lives, careers, and fates. Both Midwesterners,
01:31Farley and Belushi got their start in the Chicago branch of The Second City, would go on to be
01:35SNL cast members, and would die at the age of 33 from drug overdoses. They also shared an
01:41edgy style of comedy that more prudish audiences were quick to dismiss as inappropriate. Farley,
01:46who joined the SNL cast in 1990, eight years after Belushi's death, frequently collaborated
01:52with fellow castmates Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Tim Meadows, and David Spade, forming a clique
01:57that would come to be known as the bad boys of SNL.
02:01It was this group of funny men that would help Farley bring some of his best-known characters,
02:05like Matt Foley, the over-the-top motivational speaker, to life. After SNL, Farley would go on
02:10to star in movies like Tommy Boy, Airheads, and Black Sheep.
02:14I'm just dandy! I got a bowl of chocolate pudding in my underpants!
02:21We didn't have any pudding in there, buddy.
02:25Following his death in 1997, Farley appeared in two more theatrical films, Dirty Work and
02:30Almost Heroes, neither of which was very successful. However, both of those films were completed
02:35months before his death, making his final filmed appearance the October 25th, 1997 episode
02:41of SNL, which he hosted less than two months before his death.
02:45Robin Williams broke into the stand-up comedy scene in San Francisco back in the 1970s. He
02:51performed at many of the Bay Area's biggest clubs, perfecting his irreverent, lightning-quick
02:55and quippy style, as well as his impeccable impressions of everyone from heads of state to
03:00cartoon characters. In 1977, he made his first TV appearance on an episode of Laugh-In,
03:05and released his first special, Off the Wall, a year later. From there, Williams went on
03:10to land a starring role on Mork and Mindy, and the rest, as they say, is history.
03:16Over the course of his decades-long career, Williams starred in a number of box office
03:19hits like Aladdin and Mrs. Doubtfire, proving along the way that he also had a serious side
03:24in projects like Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society.
03:28But in 2014, the seemingly happy-go-lucky Academy Award-winning actor shocked the world when
03:33he died by suicide. It would later be revealed that he had been suffering from Lewy body dementia,
03:38which affected his sense of well-being, among other things.
03:42At the time of his death, Williams had several unreleased projects, including Night at the
03:46Museum, Secret of the Tomb, which would be his final on-screen appearance as museum exhibit
03:51Teddy Roosevelt come to life.
03:52The film's director, Shawn Levy, told USA Today,
03:55"...it's tremendously, poignantly ironic that the movie's central theme is about letting
03:59go of something you love. I never expected it would also be about letting go of this actor
04:04we all love."
04:06The queen of character comedy, Gilda Radner, was the first cast member creator Lauren Michaels
04:12signed to Saturday Night Live. Michaels, who had seen Radner's work with the improv troupe
04:16The Second City and on the National Lampoon Show, told The New York Times,
04:20"...I felt there was a remarkable quality to her, a goodness which came through whatever
04:24she was doing."
04:25She spent five years on the series, writing many of her own skits and creating iconic characters
04:30like Roseanne Rosanna Dana and winning an Emmy in 1978.
04:35She also spent quite a bit of time in the theater, including her own Broadway show called
04:38Gilda Live. However, her thriving career came to an abrupt halt in 1986, when she was diagnosed
04:45with stage 4 ovarian cancer. Her last on-screen appearance was as a guest star on Buddy Gary
04:50Shandlin's sitcom It's Gary Shandlin's Show. The 1988 episode was filmed just months before
04:56she found out that the cancer, which had been in remission for some time, had returned.
05:00She told The Washington Post,
05:01"...It was my first time going back on television, and I gotta tell you, I loved it. I was so
05:06happy. Once I got there, I couldn't get enough. I wasn't worried about myself physically or
05:11health-wise."
05:12A little over a year after the episode aired, Radner died of ovarian cancer.
05:17Yet another comedian with ties to The Second City, John Candy honed his comedic timing in
05:22the Toronto branch's training program before landing a spot on its Second City television series.
05:27He won two Emmy Awards for his work on the series between 1981 and 1983, which opened doors
05:33for him in Hollywood. And he was quickly cast in a number of successful films like Uncle
05:37Buck and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. During his lifetime, much was made of his physical
05:42appearance. He was 6'3", and often weighed in excess of 275 pounds. At the time of his death,
05:48in 1994, the New York Daily News reported that he actually weighed more than 350 pounds. It
05:54is believed that his size was a factor in the heart attack that led to his death at the
05:57age of 43.
05:59When he died, Candy was actually in the midst of shooting his final film, Wagons East.
06:04The movie, which was finished with the use of stunt doubles and special effects, was a
06:07critical flop. Fans would see him one more time, though, as the 1995 film Canadian Bacon
06:13had actually been completed in 1993, prior to the shooting of Wagons East.
06:18A woman ahead of her time, Lucille Ball was the star of her own show, a studio executive
06:23and a producer, at a time when the best many women could hope for was a decent role in someone
06:28else's project. She began her career as a contract player at RKO, taking bit parts and
06:33roles in B-movies. Before throwing all her energy into a TV pilot idea, she developed alongside
06:39her husband, Desi Arnaz. It took CBS some convincing to pick up the show, but once they
06:44did, I Love Lucy became an overnight success, with millions of Americans tuning in to watch
06:49each week.
06:50A national institution, Ball's comedy style was born from an impeccable sense of timing,
06:55an incredible ability to pantomime, and a gift for making even the most outrageous scenarios
07:00feel believable for her audience. In 1938, the New York Times wrote that Ball, quote,
07:05Ball's last scripted on-screen appearance was in an episode of Life with Lucy, an ill-fated
07:17reboot of the I Love Lucy franchise that lasted for only eight episodes. But her true last
07:22on-screen appearance was at the televised 1989 Oscars, where she appeared alongside Bob
07:28Hope to introduce a song and dance segment called The Stars of Tomorrow.
07:33Bill Hartman began to hone the more technical aspects of his comedy routine when he unexpectedly
07:37joined the Groundlings, a California-based improv group. The story goes like this — Hartman
07:43was in the audience at one of their shows and was invited up on stage to participate.
07:47Accepting the invitation, he almost immediately stole the show. Tracy Newman, a founder of the
07:52group, told ABC News,
07:53"'I never saw an audience member come up with that kind of excitement and energy. It was like
07:57a hurricane hit that stage, and I mean in a good way.'"
08:00It wasn't long until Hartman joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, becoming one of the
08:04show's most beloved cast members. He followed SNL with roles on the sitcom News Radio and
08:09The Simpsons. While his professional life was flourishing, his personal life wasn't faring
08:14quite as well. By 1987, he was on his third marriage to model Bryn Ohmdahl, who reportedly
08:20struggled with substance addiction. In May 1998, Hartman was murdered by his wife, who then
08:25took her own life. The last time Hartman physically appeared on screen before his death was on
08:30a 1998 episode of Third Rock from the Sun, called Eat, Drink, Dick, Marry, but would
08:35appear as Mr. Fimple in the family movie Small Soldiers shortly after his death.
08:40However, his last project to ever be released was a 1999 episode of Happily Ever After, Fairy
08:46Tales for Every Child, where he lent his voice to a character simply credited as game show host.
08:52In the early 1970s, Tony Award-winning actress Madeleine Kahn made the jump from Broadway shows
08:57to the movies, becoming a household name with the release of films like What's Up, Doc?,
09:01Paper Moon?, Blazing Saddles?, Young Frankenstein?, and High Anxiety. Mel Brooks, who directed
09:06some of Kahn's most famous films, told The New York Times,
09:09"...she's one of the most talented people that ever lived. I mean, either in stand-up comedy
09:13or acting or whatever you want, you can't beat Madeleine Kahn."
09:17Tragically, in 1999, shortly after finishing a voiceover role in A Bug's Life, Kahn was
09:22diagnosed with ovarian cancer, dying in December of that year.
09:26Her last onscreen project was an indie movie called Judy Berlin. Given the budget of the
09:30film, it didn't receive as much publicity or attention as Kahn's previous projects.
09:34Still, critics from outlets like All Movie generally praised her performance as lending
09:39the proceedings a funny, infectious sense of wonder as a loopy mom.
09:43Don Knotts once called John Ritter, quote, "...the greatest physical comedian on the planet."
09:48Born into a Hollywood dynasty, his mother Dorothy Faye was an actress, and his father
09:53was the singing cowboy Tex Ritter. Ritter's connections helped him land his first film
09:57role in the Disney film The Barefoot Executive. Then in 1977, he really made it big when he
10:02landed a starring role on the sitcom Three's Company, which the Chicago Tribune credits
10:07with bringing, quote, "...a new level of risqué humor to TV."
10:10The success of the series helped Ritter land more than 100 roles in TV series, films, and
10:15stage productions, from 1990's Stephen King miniseries It to his final live-action film
10:21Bad Santa. At the time of his death, he was working on his second successful sitcom, Eight
10:26Simple Rules, which wrote his death into the plot and carried on for another full season.
10:31In fact, it was on the set of the series in 2003 where he first began to experience chest
10:36pains before being transported to a hospital and dying of an undetected heart problem.
10:41A number of Ritter's projects were released posthumously, including several episodes of
10:45Clifford the Big Red Dog, several episodes of both Eight Simple Rules and King of the Hill,
10:50and the aforementioned Bad Santa. The very last of these projects to be released was an
10:54animated children's movie called Stanley's Dinosaur Roundup, which came out in 2006.
11:00Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Bernie Mac only dabbled in comedy while plugging
11:05away at various jobs. He performed at clubs where nobody else would work, telling the Washington
11:10Post,
11:11"...I had to do clubs where street gangs were, had to do motorcycle gangs, and things of
11:14that nature."
11:15Eventually, his work paid off. He began to win comedy contests and earned small roles in
11:21a variety of movies. It was the original Kings of Comedy tour, as well as the Spike Lee film
11:26of the same name that really made him a star. A stint on Moesha and then his own series,
11:31The Bernie Mac Show, quickly followed. But it all came to an end in 2008, when Mac died
11:36of complications from pneumonia that stemmed from sarcoidosis disease.
11:40His final on-screen appearance was in a movie called Old Dogs that also starred John Travolta
11:45and Robin Williams. Bernie Mac played a children's puppeteer in the film, which was tactfully described
11:50as chaos by the times. The film was released in 2009.
11:55Joan Rivers was one of comedy's most divisive figures. You either loved her or you hated
12:00her. Her sharp, acerbic style certainly wasn't for everyone. But it did help her become a
12:04pioneer for women in comedy and made her, as one New York Times critic put it, quote,
12:09"...the most intuitively funny woman alive."
12:12From stand-up routines and Greenwich Village Comedy Clubs to her red-carpet hosting partnership
12:16with E!, Rivers never lost her edge or gave in to the pressure to tone her voice down.
12:21She also never lost her urge to work, saying yes to seemingly every project that came her
12:26way, from QVC clothing and jewelry lines to commercials and sponsorships to book deals.
12:31She worked all the way up until the age of 81, when in September 2014, she died following
12:36complications stemming from a routine outpatient surgery.
12:39Her final on-camera appearance was in an episode of her web series In Bed With Joan. Hosting the
12:44show from her literal bed, Rivers would engage in no-holds-barred conversations with some of the biggest
12:49celebrities and comedians of the era. Leigh-Anne Rimes and Eddie Cibrian were guests on the
12:54last episode, which aired one day before she went in for surgery.
12:59Phyllis Diller didn't get her start until the age of 37. Still, from her first performance
13:03in a San Francisco comedy club in 1955 to her last on a 2012 episode of The Bold and Beautiful,
13:10Diller earned more laughs than other comics who started at half her age. Her self-deprecating
13:15style and over-the-top appearance helped her shine in a time when very few female comics
13:19were finding success in the stand-up scene.
13:22Diller shared a close friendship with Bob Hope, and the two worked together on several
13:26films, including Boy Did I Get a Wrong Number. Diller also released a number of comedy albums,
13:31had her own variety show called The Phyllis Diller Show, did a run on Broadway in Hello Dolly,
13:36took guest roles in a number of popular sitcoms, and lent her voice to a host of animated series.
13:41In 2012, CNN reported that Diller, quote, "...died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 95,"
13:48as related by her manager. According to Entertainment Weekly, her final on-screen appearance wasn't
13:52as a character or even the stand-up caricature she'd crafted over the years, but as herself
13:58on a 2013 episode of Bravo's Dukes of Melrose reality show. During the episode, host Cameron
14:03Silver quipped that Diller's closet, quote, "...represents a life well lived and shopped."
14:10Richard Pryor was one of the biggest and most influential stand-up comedians of all time,
14:14with a groundbreaking career that spanned four decades. He got his start performing in New
14:19York comedy clubs before being offered guest spots on late-night shows and tours in Las
14:23Vegas. Over the next 40 years, he recorded a number of comedy albums, worked as a sitcom
14:29writer, and starred in movies like Stir Crazy and See No Evil, Hear No Evil. One thing that
14:34set Pryor apart from his fellow comedians was the way he leaned into his cultural identity.
14:39He frequently used street slang in his acts and told stories about life as a black man,
14:44always including insightful social commentary.
14:46Keenan Ivory Wayans told The Times,
14:48Pryor started it all. He made the blueprint for the progressive thinking of black comedians,
14:53unlocking that irreverent style. In 2005, CNN reported that Pryor, who had been diagnosed
14:58with multiple sclerosis years prior, had died of a heart attack. His last on-screen appearance
15:04was on the show Norm, where he appeared in the cold open as a wheelchair-bound elderly
15:08man who had been kicked out of his nursing program for hitting the nurses.
15:13Although Andy Kaufman hated being called a comedian, it seems almost impossible to classify
15:17him as anything else. He once told an interviewer at The New York Times,
15:21I am not a comic. I have never told a joke. The comedian's promise is that he will go out
15:26there and make you laugh with him. My only promise is that I will try to entertain you
15:30as best I can."
15:32Best known for playing latke on Taxi, he guest-starred on SNL a number of times, got into a staged
15:37fight on the variety show Fridays, and he dabbled in professional wrestling opposite Jerry Lawler
15:42for a number of years. His work was often so bizarre and out there that when he died of
15:47lung cancer in 1984, many of his closest friends assumed it was a hoax. According to IMDb, Kaufman's
15:54last on-screen appearance was in My Breakfast with Blassie. The Los Angeles premiere of the
15:58film was Kaufman's last public appearance.
16:01If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the
16:06Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National
16:10Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP .
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