{"id":87579,"date":"2022-11-11T17:27:38","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T23:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=87579"},"modified":"2022-11-11T17:27:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T23:27:38","slug":"87579","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=87579","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Watermelon-smashing comedian Gallagher is dead at 76<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Comedian Gallagher, famous for smashing watermelons onstage with a hammer, passed away Friday morning at age 76. The prop comic\u2019s longtime manager confirmed his passing in\u00a0a statement to TMZ.<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the report, the comedian died of massive organ failure while at a hospice in Palm Springs, California. Gallagher had reportedly been sick for quite some time, having suffered multiple heart attacks over the years, starting in 2011, when he collapsed onstage in Minnesota. He also suffered a cardiac episode the\u00a0following year, right before<\/a>\u00a0he was supposed to perform in Texas.<\/p>\n

Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr. was born on July 24, 1946, in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He also lived in Ohio and Florida before enrolling at the University of South Florida, where he earned a degree in chemical engineering \u2014 and then, apparently, never looked back.<\/p>\n

The funnyman broke into the mainstream after a stint on the Johnny Carson show in 1975, followed by a string of comedy specials for the Showtime network. He quickly became one of the most recognizable comics in the US.<\/p>\n

\"Gallagher\"<\/a>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gallagher\u2019s signature stunt was the \u201cSledge-O-Matic,\u201d in which the performer used a giant mallet to pulverize vegetables, fruit and other objects to comedic effect. Initially starting as a spoof of the Ronco Veg-O-Matic commercials, it quickly became the entertainer\u2019s most legendary bit and a major subject of parody.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gallagher\u2019s irreverent antics would inspire his run for governor of California in 2003. \u201cI did it in order to get publicity,\u201d he\u00a0told the Vallejo Times Herald<\/a>\u00a0in 2019, with the promise of singing the national anthem in Spanish and employing military helicopters to clear traffic on Southern California freeways. As for his politics, he added, \u201cI have insults for both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallagher lost that race, placing 16th out of 135 candidates, with 5,466 votes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gallagher\u2019s reputation suffered in the early aughts, after audiences caught on to offensive undertones in his jokes.<\/figcaption>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The stand-up wasn\u2019t without controversy. In the 1980s, Leo gave permission to brother Ron to use his Sledge-O-Matic act, so long as he performed it under his own name. Eventually, Ron would assume the moniker Gallagher Too\/Two, causing confusion among fans as the siblings shared a strong likeness. This, as well as Ron\u2019s troubles offstage, would bring the brothers into conflict. In 2000, Leo sued Ron for trademark violations and false advertising, and won. Ron\u2019s career as Leo\u2019s impersonator then came to an end.<\/p>\n

Leo\u2019s reputation suffered further starting in 1999, after a show in Cerritos, California, made light of Mexican stereotypes. In years to come, critics\u00a0would note<\/a>\u00a0homophobic and racist themes in his jokes. Fellow comic Marc Maron challenged Gallagher in 2011 on Maron\u2019s \u201cWTF\u201d podcast. Gallagher ultimately\u00a0walked out on the interview<\/a>, and later blamed Maron for \u201ctaking the other side of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Leo<\/a>
Gallagher poses for a portrait with a giant prop joint and match at home in July 1980 in Los Angeles, California.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The prolific performer notched a whopping 17 comedy specials during his over-50-year career, as well as appearing on famous shows from \u201cHollywood Squares\u201d to \u201cTosh.0.\u201d He was also portrayed by fellow comedian\u00a0Paul F. Tompkins\u00a0in the new film \u201cWeird: The Al Yankovic Story.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2004, Gallagher placed last on Comedy Central\u2019s \u201c100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time\u201d list \u2014 and he was not pleased. Claiming he\u2019d never heard of anyone else on the list, he told the Oregonian<\/a>\u2018s Ed Condran at the time, \u201cI made 13 one-hour shows for Showtime, which are available on videotape. I invented the one-man show on cable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallagher is survived by his daughter Aimee and son Barnaby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watermelon-smashing comedian Gallagher is dead at 76. Comedian Gallagher, famous for smashing watermelons onstage with a hammer, passed away Friday morning at age 76. The prop comic\u2019s longtime manager confirmed his passing in\u00a0a statement to TMZ. According to the report, the comedian died of massive organ failure while at a hospice in Palm Springs, California. … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-passages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87579"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87580,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87579\/revisions\/87580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}