Jonathan Winters passes at 87

[waltky]

Loved his show back in the 70's...

Groundbreaking improv comic Jonathan Winters dies at age 87
12 Apr.`13 — Jonathan Winters, the cherub-faced comedian whose breakneck improvisations and misfit characters inspired the likes of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey, has died. He was 87.

The native of the Midwestern state of Ohio died Thursday evening at his Montecito, Calif., home of natural causes, said Joe Petro III, a longtime friend. He was surrounded by family and friends. “He was just a great friend and I was very lucky to be able to work with him for all the years I did,” said Petro, an artist and printmaker who collaborated with Winters for decades on numerous art projects. “We’ve lost a giant and we’re really going to miss him.”

Winters was a pioneer of improvisational standup comedy, with an exceptional gift for mimicry, a grab bag of eccentric personalities and a bottomless reservoir of creative energy. Facial contortions, sound effects, tall tales — all could be used in a matter of seconds to get a laugh. “Beyond funny, He invented a new category of comedic genius,” comedian Albert Brooks tweeted Friday.

On Jack Paar’s television show in 1964, Winters was handed a foot-long stick and he swiftly became a fisherman, violinist, lion tamer, canoeist, U.N. diplomat, bullfighter, flutist, delusional psychiatric patient, British headmaster and Bing Crosby’s golf club. “As a kid, I always wanted to be lots of things,” Winters told U.S. News & World Report in 1988. “I was a Walter Mitty type. I wanted to be in the French Foreign Legion, a detective, a doctor, a test pilot with a scarf, a fisherman who hauled in a tremendous marlin after a 12-hour fight.”

The humor most often was based in reality — his characters Maude Frickert and Elwood P. Suggins, for example, were based on people Winters knew growing up in Ohio. A devotee of Groucho Marx and Laurel and Hardy, Winters and his free-for-all brand of humor inspired Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Tracey Ullman and Lily Tomlin, among many others. But Williams and Carrey are his best-known followers. Carson in particular lifted Winters’ Maude Frickert character almost intact for the long-running Aunt Blabby character he portrayed on “The Tonight Show.”

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[eflatminor]

He made us tingle AAAALLLLLL over...

 

[rightwinger]

Winters was one of the most creative comedians of the 60s. Roll on the floor funny

Thanks for the laughs Jonathan

 

[trams]

RIP You were incredible.

 

[JakeStarkey]

One of the great pleasures in my life was the first time I watched his art. RIP.

 

[jon_berzerk]

Winters was one of the most creative comedians of the 60s. Roll on the floor funny

Thanks for the laughs Jonathan

yup

 

[Sallow]

One of the greatest improv comedians ever.