The king is dead.
Like him or not, he was a comedic icon of his time and inspired many comedians including Billy Crystal.
Awww . . . I’m old enough to remember when Alan King, Bill Cosby, Joan Rivers and even Erma Bombeck were funny.
Comics seem to have a five-year span till they run out of material; in the '60s, Alan King was a damn funny guy. Don’t know much about him personally–anyone here ever meet him?
That’s hardly a recommendation, dear–unless you meant it as a Friar’s Club Roast slam?
King was a fine comic of the old school. He started impossibly long ago: his first Friar’s Club Roast was of Maurice Chevalier - in 1949! He combined the older joke-joke-joke schtick with the newer storytelling-personal lives sensibility and a bit of confrontational anger and made the transition to the modern world better than just about any other stand up from that prehistoric era.
This Hollywood Reporter article appears to be the best summary of his life on Google news right now that doesn’t require registration.
Billy Crystal?
The words “inspire” and “Billy Crystal” don’t belong in the same sentence, just like the words “Alan King” and “celebrity.”
Sigh. I mostly know him from the recent Comedy Central Friars’ Club Roasts, but it’s sad. I guess we know the right way to remember him, right?
“I’ve seen younger faces on cash.” [Jeffrey Ross]
"It’s sad when a man’s face is as wrinkled as his balls. [Jim David]
“Alan, your prostate is as big as your ego.” [Brett Butler, maybe]
Anybody else have one?
What I most remember him for was the bit he did on Sullivan about a particular airline that lost his luggage. Named the airline. Hell broke lose. Comics weren’t supposed to do that back then. He really broke a lot of ground open for later comics. He was a key transition figure between the old Borscht Belt comics and the later Carlin types. Highly respected for that.
What caused problems in later years is that he knew that certain comics weren’t really funny and wasn’t afraid to tell them that. So he wasn’t a shmoozer, I can identify with that.
He was a good comedian and I am sad to hear that he is gone. I think the only thing lacking in his career was that he did not have a role in Good Burger. Beyond that, he had a good career and was a good entertainer.
I love King;'s stuff. I first discovered him through a couple of books he wrote in the 1960s (how many comedians were riting books then?) – Help! I’m a Prisoner i a Chinese Bakery and Anybody who owns his own home Deserves It. The former contains one of the most intellectual jokes as a chapter title I’ve ever encountered – The very first chapter, on the modern experience of getting up in the morning, is entitled Morning Becomes Electric. Another chapter, on architects, is entitled Harry K. Shaw, you shot the wrong Architect!.If these aren’t funny to you, you have to read more widely.
Plus he was scary during the “Quitters, inc.” segment of Catseye.
King’s books were written by professionals, who got their names on the covers as co-authors. This put them a step ahead of Bob Hope’s writers who never got their name on the books they wrote for Bob.
But they followed a number of books in the 1950s, several of which were done without co-writers, from show biz funny people like Fred Allen, Steve Allen, Eddie Cantor, Groucho Marx, Art Linkletter and Peter Lind Hayes. Others close to the business like Alexander King, Oscar Levant, and Peter Ustinov were writing humorous bestsellers about their show biz experiences. I would argue there were more of these books in the 1950s and early 1960s than there were the decade post-Beatles.