Rip Taylor, confetti-throwing comic and TV host, dead at 84, publicist says

Closed as Old News (Dated 6 October) ~~ MJM

Rip Taylor, the zany comedian who was a television and nightclub mainstay for over six decades, has died, according to his publicist. Taylor was 84.

Publicist Harlan Boll said Taylor died Sunday in Beverly Hills. The cause of death was unclear.

Born Charles Elmer Taylor Jr. in Washington, D.C., he first worked as a congressional page before serving in the Army during the Korean War. His showbiz ascent started with spots on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” where he was known as the “crying comedian.”

“I sat on a stool telling jokes, and nobody was laughing,” he told UPI in 1992. “In desperation, I pretended to cry as I begged them to laugh. That killed ’em.”

He’d go on to make over 2,000 guest appearances on shows including “Hollywood Squares” and “The Gong Show,” and host the beauty pageant spoof “The $1.98 Beauty Show.”

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Article URL: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/rip-taylor-comic-tv-host-dead