This person died in 2023 at age 70. A turning point in his career came shortly after a disappointing and unsuccessful audition for “Saturday Night Live” in 1980. He once said “Today, it’s a lot more difficult to stand out. You know, if you want to be weird, good luck.” He had scores of acting credits, including roles on “Murphy Brown,” “The Blacklist” and many other television series and in movies like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Blow”. He was in a feature film directed by Tim Burton in 1985, after which he created a highly successful, live action Saturday morning kid’s series, both in character as his quirky alter-ego. The film followed him on a “Big Adventure” while the series took you inside a magical Playhouse. Today’s dead celebrity is Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 80 “Super Funkhouser” (Bob Einstein) and Episode 26 “Wild Thing” (Maurice Sendak)

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Megan Palmer.

LINKS:

Transcript of this episode

New York Times Obituary for Paul Reubens

“Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” official film trailer

Opening sequence for “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” TV series

Flight of the Navigator CGI Spaceship with Paul’s voice

Cheech and Chong “I’m sorry” scene with Paul

A conversation with Paul Reubens at SXSW

The origins of Pee-wee Herman article in ‘The New Yorker’

Dead or Alive quiz game

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Famous & Gravy official website

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This person died in 2010 at age 84. His elder brother was deputy prime minister of Canada. Before his 18th birthday, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and trained as an aerial gunner during World War II. He had a matinee-idol profile, and was often cast as a serious and earnest hero throughout much of his film career. His big break came in 1980 when he played a clueless doctor in the low-budget, disaster-movie parody “Airplane!” His line that became a catchphrase was “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.” His subsequent comedic acting successes included the very non-serious and highly successful movie trilogy “The Naked Gun” as well as the “Police Squad!” television series. Today’s dead celebrity is Leslie Nielsen.

Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Megan Palmer. Visit our website at famousandgravy.com and also enjoy our free mobile quiz game at deadoraliveapp.com

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like Episode 61 Dame Detective (Angela Lansbury) and Episode 16 Quintessential Quizmaster (Alex Trebek).

LINKS:

Transcript of this episode

New York Times Obituary for Leslie Nielsen

“Don’t call me Shirley” clip from Airplane!

Arctic location of Nielsen’s log cabin home

Leslie Nielsen’s SNL Monologue in 1989

ESPN’s satirical obituary for Enrico Palazzo

Dead or Alive quiz game

Famous & Gravy on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

Famous & Gravy official website

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.