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Tonight Show favourite David Brenner dead at 78 following cancer battle
Daily Mail ^ | 3/16/14

Posted on 03/16/2014 9:24:00 AM PDT by Impala64ssa

Legendary comedian David Brenner has died at the age of 78.

The funnyman, who is best known for his work on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, slipped into a coma this week before passing away on Saturday afternoon at his home in New York.

His publicist confirmed to the Associated Press that Brenner, who had been fighting an agressive form of cancer, died peacefully with his family at his side.

David was a favourite of the Tonight Show host Johnny Carson and appeared on the programme 158 times .

He also hosted the show several times.

The Philadelphia native was a regular on Howard Stern's radio show as well.

'David Brenner was a huge star when I met him and he took me under his wing. To me, historically, he was the godfather of hip, observational comedy,' comedian Richard Lewis said in a statement.

'He mentored me from day one. ... His passing leaves a hole in my life that can never be replaced.'

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: davidbrenner; tonightshow
I remember his appearances on Johnny Carson. Had me ROTFLMAO, RIP
1 posted on 03/16/2014 9:24:00 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
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To: Impala64ssa
RIP


2 posted on 03/16/2014 9:29:26 AM PDT by mylife (Ted Cruz understands the law, and is not afraid of the unlawful.)
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To: Impala64ssa

He also was nice not foul.


3 posted on 03/16/2014 9:41:08 AM PDT by Williams (No Obama)
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To: Williams

101st Airborne vet. (cryptographer). Honors graduate from Temple University. More to him than his stage persona.


4 posted on 03/16/2014 10:25:01 AM PDT by InABunkerUnderSF (Pray for the owners and staff of Ares Armor)
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To: InABunkerUnderSF

ole comedy sayin........” if ya ain’t funny,they won’t laugh at ya”

that said....comedy that works had truth in the body

That takes brains, Brenner had buckets of brains


5 posted on 03/16/2014 10:32:20 AM PDT by advertising guy
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To: Prov1322; All

This man epitomized everything to love about people from Philadelphia (before the Marxists took the city over 20 years ago). He was warm, funny, open, familiar, hip without being a snob about it, comfortable in his ethnicity and just all-around loveable. I am shocked how sad I feel that he will no longer be around; almost as shocked as I am to hear he was 78.

So many comedians owe their success to this guy who blazed a trail for the humor in everyday life. Seinfeld could not have succeeded without Brenner first having shown the way.


6 posted on 03/16/2014 10:39:14 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (The less a man knows, the more certain he is that he knows it all.)
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To: Impala64ssa

Jimmy Fallon ought to do a Tonight Show special on David.


7 posted on 03/16/2014 10:40:53 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (The less a man knows, the more certain he is that he knows it all.)
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To: Impala64ssa

I remember this routine he and his buddies did as teens: David would get on a city bus carrying a mop, pail, broom and other cleaning stuff. He’d cause a commotion trying to find a seat and then he’d exit the bus. His buddies would have been following the bus in their car all the time and they’d pick David up and speed way ahead of the bus to the next bus stop. David would then get on that same bus again. It was a pretty funny story when David told it.

God Bless David and his family and speed this funny comedian on to heaven!


8 posted on 03/16/2014 10:41:21 AM PDT by zbogwan2
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To: Impala64ssa

There is a picture of Brenner in his autobio that I have never forgotten that was taken when Brenner was maybe 14, by an itinerant photographer. The face is pure city kid distracted for a moment by something; a moment in fleeting time that is captured and preserved eternally. In this age of the camera this phenomenon is rarer than one would expect.


9 posted on 03/16/2014 10:42:12 AM PDT by TalBlack (Evil doesn't have a day job.)
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"Brenner was born in 1936 and raised in poor areas of South and West Philadelphia. His father, Louis, was a vaudeville comedian, singer and dancer performing under the stage name of Lou Murphy. He gave up his career, and a film contract, to please his rabbi father who objected to his working Friday nights.

After high school, Brenner spent two years in the U.S. Army, serving in the 101st Airborne and as a cryptographer of the 595th Signal Corps in Böblingen, Germany. After being discharged, he attended Temple University, where he majored in mass communication and graduated with honors."

Source: Wikipedia

10 posted on 03/16/2014 10:48:47 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Williams

“He also was nice not foul.”

Apparently you have not seen any of his HBO specials when he tried to make his ‘comeback’. He was down and dirty in the gutter with the rest of them.


11 posted on 03/16/2014 10:57:24 AM PDT by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (What we need is to sucker the fedthugs into a "Tiananmen Square"-like incident on the National Mall!)
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To: spel_grammer_an_punct_polise

I read Alison Arngrim’s book about her Little House on the Prairie Days (She was Nellie). It’s actually quite funny, although she seems to have had a life I never would have wanted. She did a turn in standup comedy.

One thing she said was that she was invited to do some standup but the requirement was that she be very raunchy. This was not anything she had ever done but I guess the nature of the culture nowadays was that she did not see this as anything creepy. So she filled her act with four letter words and extremely nasty jokes, and got a good reception.

I don’t know how the culture ever got so twisted. I laugh when people tell me there is no devil.


12 posted on 03/16/2014 11:59:58 AM PDT by I still care (I miss my friends, bagels, and the NYC skyline - but not the taxes. I love the South.)
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To: spel_grammer_an_punct_polise

Hey, that is what you get on the HOBO channel.

Buddy Hackett was raunchy on that channel too, but he was a great guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5Y8kB824E


13 posted on 03/16/2014 1:17:56 PM PDT by mylife (Ted Cruz understands the law, and is not afraid of the unlawful.)
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To: spel_grammer_an_punct_polise

Jackie Mason on marriage...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aJ63JhvpTA


14 posted on 03/16/2014 1:24:24 PM PDT by mylife (Ted Cruz understands the law, and is not afraid of the unlawful.)
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To: zbogwan2

I have some of jokes on VHS... memorized. He was so good.


15 posted on 03/16/2014 1:41:54 PM PDT by eccentric (a.k.a. baldwidow)
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To: spel_grammer_an_punct_polise

Well on Carson at his best he was a clean act. I’d guess he was dirtier in Vegas too.


16 posted on 03/17/2014 1:59:30 PM PDT by Williams (No Obama)
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To: Impala64ssa; AllAmericanGirl44; Armen Hareyan; B4Ranch; Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi; bayareablues; ...
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This is a ping list for cancer survivors and caregivers to share information. If you would like your name added to or removed from this ping list, please tell us in the comments section at this link (click here). (For the most updated list of names, click on the same link and scroll to the end of the comments.)

17 posted on 03/17/2014 6:15:20 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: eccentric

I agree!


18 posted on 08/24/2014 10:08:22 AM PDT by zbogwan2
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