American comic Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr., identified by his stage identify Gallagher, has died from organ failure, his household instructed NBC News. He was 76.
His longtime and former supervisor, Craig Marquardo, additionally confirmed the information to HuffPost.
The funnyman and sledgehammer fanatic handed away Friday whereas in hospice care in his Palm Springs, California, house, his son-in-law instructed NBC. Before his dying, he had spent years combating critical well being situations, together with a number of coronary heart assaults.
Gallagher turned a family identify in 1980 together with his comedy particular “An Uncensored Evening,” directed by Mike Nesmith of The Monkees fame, Marquardo instructed HuffPost in an emailed assertion. “This was the first comedy stand-up special ever to air on cable television.”
The prop comic deployed his observational humor in a number of HBO specials and 14 specials that aired on Showtime and MTV. According to his website, he was the top-rated comic in ticket gross sales and scores for 15 years and carried out 3,500 stay exhibits all through his decades-long profession.
Toward the top of his profession, the comic starred in his first film, “The Book of Daniel,” and had a collection of very acceptable Geico business s.
Gallagher was greatest identified for his signature comedy bit, “Sledge-O-Matic,” by which he’d take a big mallet and launch his anger by smashing numerous meals and objects. He’d typically purpose his props bits towards a stay viewers — forcing them to protect themselves with plastic and goggles.
Although Gallagher shattered every thing from pound cake (heh) to a newspaper vending machine, his followers had been most keen about his love for obliterating watermelons.
Marquardo instructed HuffPost that Gallagher toured for his loyal viewers steadily till the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gallagher’s humorousness stopped resonating with youthful audiences in his later years. A 2011 assessment of a present he did in Florida by the Miami New Times described the comic as “aging, confused, defensive, [and] slightly bigoted.”
C Flanigan through Getty Images
“Though it’d be sort of pompous to call Gallagher an actual bigot, let’s just say, it was more than a challenge for me to even get his knocks on gays, Blacks, Mexicans, Jews, and women,” the reviewer wrote.
Lindy West of Seattle’s “The Stranger” expressed an analogous opinion in a 2011 assessment of one among his gigs in Washington state. West described being shocked to find that Gallagher was “a paranoid, delusional, right-wing religious maniac” after a joke he made about former President Barack Obama’s pores and skin tone.
“Gallagher was known for his edgy style, brilliant wordplay, and inventive props,” Marquardo instructed HuffPost.
“While Gallagher had his detractors, he was an undeniable talent and an American success story.”
