Comic Gallagher, best acknowledged for his watermelon-smashing comedy program and a lot of well-liked specials in the 1980s, died Friday early morning, in accordance his supervisor Craig Marquardo. He was 76.
According to a statement furnished to CNN by Marquardo, the comedian died “after a limited health and fitness battle” and “passed absent surrounded by his loved ones in Palm Springs, California.”
Gallagher, born Leo Gallagher, grew to become a house title in the early ’80s with a comedy special titled “An Uncensored Night,” the initially comedy stand up exclusive at any time to air on cable tv, in accordance to an obituary shared by Marquardo.
Gallagher’s most well known bit concerned a hand-designed sledgehammer he known as the “Sledge-O-Matic,” which he would use to smash foods on stage, spraying the viewers.
“That was anything else he preferred to assert credit history for, which was bodily participating the audience in that way,” the obituary reported.
Gallagher, a Fort Bragg, North Carolina indigenous, acquired a chemical engineering diploma from the College of South Florida just before relocating to Los Angeles and acquiring his comedy act at legendary venue The Comedy Keep, positioned on the Sunset Strip, in accordance to his biography on the website for Selak Leisure, a booking company.
People today started to get detect in 1975 when he performed his brand name of prop comedy on Johnny Carson’s famed “The Tonight Exhibit.”
Television set was very good to him and in 1978, he produced an look on “The Mike Douglas Show” and the up coming calendar year appeared on “The Merv Griffin Demonstrate.”
But it was his Showtime 1980s comedy specials that firmly cemented him in pop society, and he would go on to do extra than a dozen for the community around 27 yrs.
He was also an early staple of MTV and Comedy Central.
“While his counterparts went on to do sitcoms, host chat displays and star in flicks, Gallagher stayed on the highway touring America for decades,” the obituary reported. “He was rather absolutely sure he held a record for the most stand up dates, by attrition by yourself.”
Gallagher toured steadily till the Covid-19 pandemic hit and employed the crack to commit time with his son, Barnaby, and daughter Aimee, the latter of whom experienced appeared with him on his specials when she was a youngster.
