Actor Jonathan Winters dies at 87
- Thread starter Shaka Zulu
- Start date
My favorite Jonathan Winters role, bar none, was Pike the furniture van driver in Mad, Mad World.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ9N7oCKC1E[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ9N7oCKC1E[/yt]
^I'm just looking at it right now, the man's a one person wrecking crew.
No main stream comics were doing what Winters did in the 60's. He got laughs not from setups and punchlines but from allowing his set of weird characters to simply be "themselves".
He loved creating the "ackward moment". No one was doing that back then. He would have one of his characters say something really weird and then watch the reaction he'd get, then he would go from there.
I thought he was at his best doing sketches on variety shows and the talk shows. He was great with Carson. In fact Carson's "Aunt Blabby" character was a direct cop on "Maude Frikert".
Winters, like Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, and a scant few others changed American comedy with their presence.
RIP, Elwood, Maude, Lamar, and the rest.
He loved creating the "ackward moment". No one was doing that back then. He would have one of his characters say something really weird and then watch the reaction he'd get, then he would go from there.
I thought he was at his best doing sketches on variety shows and the talk shows. He was great with Carson. In fact Carson's "Aunt Blabby" character was a direct cop on "Maude Frikert".
Winters, like Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, and a scant few others changed American comedy with their presence.
RIP, Elwood, Maude, Lamar, and the rest.
^Most likely, he is, and he's winning every time.
One of the funniest people to ever walk the face of the Earth.
Always loved the bit he'd do where he was just on a set/stage and they'd roll out a box of stuff. Hats, odds and ends, etc. And winters would just start grabbing items from the box and riffing/imroving with them. Pure genius.
Gonna miss him.
Always loved the bit he'd do where he was just on a set/stage and they'd roll out a box of stuff. Hats, odds and ends, etc. And winters would just start grabbing items from the box and riffing/imroving with them. Pure genius.
Gonna miss him.
RIP Jonathan 
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q08L6POKJsE[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q08L6POKJsE[/yt]
I first knew about him as a guest star on Scooby Doo! Then Mork and Mindy before the rest.
He was one of the greats. Rest in peace, Jonathan Winters.
R.I.P.
Thank you for the laughs.
I was thinking as this happens a lot there should a be
sticky or a "In Memoriam/Memorial" type thread for all such postings?
Thoughts?
Thank you for the laughs.
I've seen two threads on his passing here.
I was thinking as this happens a lot there should a be
sticky or a "In Memoriam/Memorial" type thread for all such postings?
Thoughts?
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It would be just as easy for the moderator to come along and merge the memorial threads. I think it also makes more sense to let people create a unique thread for each person rather than have a ginormous pinned "mourning" thread.
A central "mourning" thread would also generate some potentially confusing overlap, especially when you have a string of celebrities die in close succession, such as this past week with Roger Ebert, Margaret Thatcher, Annette Funicello, and now Jonathan Winters. These threads fall off quickly enough (the Ebert thread, derailed by political discussions, notwithstanding).
A central "mourning" thread would also generate some potentially confusing overlap, especially when you have a string of celebrities die in close succession, such as this past week with Roger Ebert, Margaret Thatcher, Annette Funicello, and now Jonathan Winters. These threads fall off quickly enough (the Ebert thread, derailed by political discussions, notwithstanding).
RIP, Jonathan Winters. First thing I ever saw him in was his entertaining performance in Mad, Mad, Mad World. Although I remember him best for appearing in one of my favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone, A Game of Pool. I watched it the other day and it still holds up. He was excellent in a dramatic role.
I remember when he would do the Football Follies videos. He'd have six or seven different roles in each one. True comedy genius, that one. 