Perhaps best (only?) know to a UK audience as the camp old lad who pops up at the end of the Jackass movies, Rip Taylor was television royalty on the other side of the Atlantic. Like many comedians of his generation, he got his first break while on military service and performing in USO shows. Upon his return to civilian life, he quickly made a name for himself in the dying days of burlesque and the early days of the Catskills circuit with a series of unpredictable stunts: breaking down in tears on stage, buying the entire audience champagne until they were drunk enough to laugh – even his signature bit, the tossing up of confetti, was a reaction to a poor set on The Merv Griffin Show. He was a mainstay of the golden age of US TV panel shows, regularly appearing on Hollywood Squares, Match Game and The Gong Show.
Rip Taylor
January 13, 1931 – October 6, 2019
Died aged 88 (two picks)