{"id":2059,"date":"2022-11-11T21:16:52","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T21:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/?p=2059"},"modified":"2022-11-11T21:16:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T21:16:52","slug":"remembering-the-life-of-gallagher-the-comedian-best-known-for-smashing-watermelons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2022\/11\/remembering-the-life-of-gallagher-the-comedian-best-known-for-smashing-watermelons.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Life of Gallagher, The Comedian Best Known For Smashing Watermelons"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2068\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2068\" style=\"width: 397px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/399\/2022\/11\/Gallagher-v02_credit-Gallagher-YouTube-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2068\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/399\/2022\/11\/Gallagher-v02_credit-Gallagher-YouTube-350x263.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"397\" height=\"298\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2068\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gallagher\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Comedian Gallagher, best known for his watermelon-smashing comedy routine and numerous popular specials in the 1980s, died from organ failure Friday morning, according to his manager Craig Marquardo at 76. Gallagher had been in hospice care in California after suffering multiple heart attacks in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement given to CNN by Marquardo, Gallagher died \u201cafter a short health battle\u201d and \u201cpassed away surrounded by his family in Palm Springs, California.\u201d Gallagher, born Leo Gallagher, became a household name in the 1980s with a comedy special called \u201cAn Uncensored Evening.\u201d According to an obituary shared by Marquardo, this special was the first to air on cable television.<\/p>\n<p>Gallagher\u2019s most famous joke involved a hand-made sledgehammer he called the \u201cSledge-O-Matic,\u201d used to smash food on stage, spraying the audience. His obituary said, \u201cThat was something else he liked to claim credit for, which was physically engaging the audience in that manner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gallagher, a<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Fort Bragg, North Carolina native, earned a chemical engineering degree from the University of South Florida before moving to Los Angeles and developing his comedy act at legendary venue The Comedy Store, located on the Sunset Strip. After college, Gallagher started working as Jim Stafford\u2019s road manager. He went to California in 1969, where he decided to perform himself. People began noticing Gallagher in 1975 after he performed his prop comedy on Johnny Carson\u2019s \u201cThe Tonight Show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Nxls1KnKCA4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In 1978, he appeared on \u201cThe Mike Douglas Show,\u201d and the following year, he appeared on \u201cThe Merv Griffin Show.\u201d However, his Showtime comedy specials in the 80s cemented him in pop culture. Gallagher would do more than a dozen comedy specials for the network over 27 years. He was also a staple on Comedy Central and MTV.<\/p>\n<p>Gallagher\u2019s obituary continued, \u201cWhile his counterparts went on to do sitcoms, host talk shows, and star in movies, Gallagher stayed on the road touring America for decades. He was pretty sure he held a record for the most stand-up dates, by attrition alone.\u201d Gallagher toured heavily until the COVID-19 pandemic. He spent the break with his children, Barnaby and Aimee. Aimee appeared with him on his specials when she was younger.<\/p>\n<p>The comedian, who often wore a Tam o\u2019Shanter hat, appeared on many talk shows throughout his career, including David Letterman\u2019s NBC and CBS shows, \u201cThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,&#8221; \u201cMatch Game,&#8221; \u201cThe Hollywood Squares\u201d and Howard Stern\u2019s TV and radio programs. He also appeared in episodes of \u201cWTF with Marc Maron,&#8221; \u201cTosh.0,\u201d and \u201cCelebrity Big Brother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He had a health scare back in 2011 when he collapsed onstage during a performance in Minnesota. In 2012, he suffered a heart attack in Texas moments before a performance. Gallagher\u2019s comedic styling was innovative and one we\u2019ll likely never see again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comedian Gallagher, best known for his watermelon-smashing comedy routine and numerous popular specials in the 1980s, died from organ failure Friday morning, according to his manager Craig Marquardo at 76. Gallagher had been in hospice care in California after suffering multiple heart attacks in recent years. In a statement given to CNN by Marquardo, Gallagher&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":2068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[173,121],"tags":[324,640],"class_list":["post-2059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artist","category-celebrity","tag-comedian","tag-gallagher"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Remembering the Life of Gallagher, The Comedian Best Known For Smashing Watermelons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gallagher, the comedian best known for smashing watermelons, passed away from organ failure at 76 years old. He was surrounded by family.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2022\/11\/remembering-the-life-of-gallagher-the-comedian-best-known-for-smashing-watermelons.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remembering the Life of Gallagher, The Comedian Best Known For Smashing Watermelons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gallagher, the comedian best known for smashing watermelons, passed away from organ failure at 76 years old. He was surrounded by family.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2022\/11\/remembering-the-life-of-gallagher-the-comedian-best-known-for-smashing-watermelons.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Where Hope Lives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-11T21:16:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/399\/2022\/11\/Gallagher-v02_credit-Gallagher-YouTube-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren McKeithen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Remembering the Life of Gallagher, The Comedian Best Known For Smashing Watermelons","description":"Gallagher, the comedian best known for smashing watermelons, passed away from organ failure at 76 years old. 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