CNN
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Comic Gallagher, greatest identified for his watermelon-smashing comedy routine and lots of in style specials within the Eighties, died Friday morning, in accordance his supervisor Craig Marquardo. He was 76.
In line with a press release offered to CNN by Marquardo, the comic died “after a brief well being battle” and “handed away surrounded by his household in Palm Springs, California.”
Gallagher, born Leo Gallagher, turned a family title within the early ’80s with a comedy particular titled “An Uncensored Night,” the primary comedy get up particular ever to air on cable tv, in keeping with an obituary shared by Marquardo.
Gallagher’s most well-known bit concerned a hand-made sledgehammer he known as the “Sledge-O-Matic,” which he would use to smash meals on stage, spraying the viewers.
“That was one thing else he appreciated to assert credit score for, which was bodily participating the viewers in that method,” the obituary mentioned.
Gallagher, a Fort Bragg, North Carolina native, earned a chemical engineering diploma from the College of South Florida earlier than transferring to Los Angeles and growing his comedy act at legendary venue The Comedy Retailer, situated on the Sundown Strip, in keeping with his biography on the web site for Selak Leisure, a reserving company.
Individuals started to take discover in 1975 when he carried out his model of prop comedy on Johnny Carson’s famed “The Tonight Present.”
TV was good to him and in 1978, he made an look on “The Mike Douglas Present” and the subsequent 12 months appeared on “The Merv Griffin Present.”
But it surely was his Showtime Eighties comedy specials that firmly cemented him in popular culture, and he would go on to do greater than a dozen for the community over 27 years.
He was additionally an early staple of MTV and Comedy Central.
“Whereas his counterparts went on to do sitcoms, host speak reveals and star in motion pictures, Gallagher stayed on the highway touring America for many years,” the obituary mentioned. “He was fairly certain he held a report for essentially the most get up dates, by attrition alone.”
Gallagher toured steadily till the Covid-19 pandemic hit and used the break to spend time along with his son, Barnaby, and daughter Aimee, the latter of whom had appeared with him on his specials when she was a baby.