# OK, famous people: STOP DYING!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 6, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090 "2005-04-06T20:37:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/21 "2005-04-07T14:24:27Z")
**Rysler** Sammy Davis Jr died in 1990 and Reagan in 2004. You seem to think those are coincidental deaths? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/22 "2005-04-07T14:34:28Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Maybe we could designate one day out of every year as “National Celebrity Kick the Bucket Day”. That’s not a bad idea. You don’t necessarily need them all to die on the same day. You just don’t talk about it, until you’ve saved up like 10 of them, and then just get it all out at once. We could have been spared the last two weeks, and then just had a big old, Schiavo, Pope, Bellow, Perdue, Rainier party. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/23 "2005-04-07T18:05:00Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > We could have been spared the last two weeks, and then just had a big old, Schiavo, Pope, Bellow, Perdue, Rainier party. Don’t forget Johnny Cochran. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/24 "2005-04-07T18:50:15Z")
I knew I was forgetting one. On Howard Sterm this morning, they had audio from his funeral. Jesse Jackson rhymed “Mandela” with “fella”. And Stevie Wonder sang a song that would not have got him through an American Idol audition. Seriously. His voice cracked so bad. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/25 "2005-04-07T18:59:50Z")
So you’re saying we need a moratorium? Anyway, it would make for an interesting joke for somebody who had the patience and wherewithall to do it: “So Johnnie Cochran, The Pope, Prince Rainier, Terri Schiavo and Saul Bellow walk into a bar at the gates of heaven…” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/26 "2005-04-07T19:08:05Z")
Frank Perdue runs along beside them yelling “Hey, what about me?” I pity the world’s Death Pool moderators. They’ve had to deal with the complete churn of their lists. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/27 "2005-04-07T19:14:47Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > If you don’t like CNN or whatever the hell sound bytes you’re watching, do the following: > > 1. Turn off the TV. > 2. Go to the nearest newsstand/7-11/library/etc. > 3. Pick up a newspaper. > 4. Read the news you want to. > > Granted, this does take a miniscule amount of effort, as you have to buck the trend of being spoon-fed pureed ‘information’, but you’ll be glad you did it. I’m very sorry to hear about your sense-of-humorectomy. You might want to consider a transplant. The anti-rejection drugs are a bitch, but the quality of life improvement is worth it. ---
**Author:** ![GraphicsGal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@GraphicsGal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraphicsGal)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/28 "2005-04-07T20:35:21Z")
And Mitch Hedberg died last week, too. I’m still really bummed about that. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/29 "2005-04-07T21:07:42Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > I pity the world’s Death Pool moderators. They’ve had to deal with the complete churn of their lists. Tell me about it…when I saw the thread title, I just assumed that **a35362** started it. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/30 "2005-04-07T21:08:58Z")
_You_ might consider John Paul II and Prince Rainier and all those others to be Famous People, but I always saw them as the sort that I could sit and have a bier with. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/31 "2005-04-07T21:10:36Z")
Fred Korematsu died recently as well, to little fanfare, despite his story being far more powerful and interesting than Perdue or even Rainers. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/32 "2005-04-07T22:15:50Z")
Our garbage disposal just died. It was not famous outside the kitchen, but it will be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/33 "2005-04-07T22:24:13Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > _You_ might consider John Paul II and Prince Rainier and all those others to be Famous People, but I always saw them as the sort that I could sit and have a bier with. Are you german? I you are, then you are spelling the word for beer perfectly. If not, :eek: bier (bîr) n. 1. A stand on which a corpse or a coffin containing a corpse is placed before burial. 2. A coffin along with its stand: followed the bier to the cemetery. [Alteration (influenced by French bière, coffin) of Middle English ber, from Old English bēr.]The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition ---
**Author:** ![pervert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@pervert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pervert)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/34 "2005-04-07T22:25:32Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > I want to know what’s going on in Congress, in Iraq and the rest of the world. I just don’t care how many famous people are dying (or brought up on criminal charges, either)!!! Then you have to turn off the news. Seriously. There is not one channel or paper with the sort of information you crave. I will except CSPAN, but they don’t always cover exactly the issues you want either. They are, however, the _only_ channel which _covers_ news instead of trying to make it. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/35 "2005-04-07T23:08:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Same thing happened when Mother Theresa kicked off the same weekend as Princess Di. Nitpick: They died the same week, but not the same weekend. Diana died Sunday night, but Mother Theresa died the next Friday. I have a theory about the necessity of the change of the wedding site, the Queen’s decision not to attend, the announcement that Camilla will be Queen after all (leaving Charles with egg on his face), the two state deaths, the security problems at Windsor Castle, and the snide comments about a “white wedding” weather forecast of snow and sleet. I think of it as Diana’s Revenge ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/36 "2005-04-07T23:39:51Z")
> [@Scott\_plaid](#): > > Are you german? I you are, then you are spelling the word for beer perfectly. If not, :eek: bier (bîr) > n. 1. A stand on which a corpse or a coffin containing a corpse is placed before burial. > 2. A coffin along with its stand: followed the bier to the cemetery. > [Alteration (influenced by French bière, coffin) of Middle English ber, from Old English bēr.]The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Whoosh! (Read the definition you posted, think about the subject of this thread, and consider the form of wordplay that is called a “pun.”) ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/37 "2005-04-08T00:01:55Z")
::Announcer Voice:: Scott Plaid, you’ve been **Pun** – erm, **Whoosh’d!** ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/38 "2005-04-08T00:39:13Z")
Well, you know what they say. “A man who would make a pun would pick a pocket.” {pats Scott affectionately} ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/39 "2005-04-08T00:40:58Z")
> [@GraphicsGal](#): > > And Mitch Hedberg died last week, too. > > I’m still really bummed about that. Me too. Moreso than any of those others. Mitch made me laugh, and he was young and as cute as a button. That’s enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090/40 "2005-04-08T00:53:46Z")
Speaking of famous deaths, legendary origami master [Akira Yoshizawa](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-45-1546162,00.html) died this past month as well. However, given that he was 94, his death wasn’t nearly as surprising to me as that of Mitch Hedberg, whose death I hadn’t seen coming anytime soon. But I did learn from the obituary what a fascinating life the man lived, folding origami in extreme poverty for 15 years before his rise to fame, and eventually becoming known as a Japanese national treasure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-famous-people-stop-dying/298090.md?page=3)