# Shecky Greene has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death, comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [December 31, 2023, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423 "2023-12-31T21:50:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/1 "2023-12-31T21:50:58Z")
> **[Shecky Greene, Legendary Las Vegas Headliner, Dies at 97](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/shecky-greene-dead-las-vegas-headliner-1235777187/)** > > The comedian, a regular on Carson's 'Tonight Show,' pioneered the hotel lounge act as he battled stage fright, alcoholism and prescription-drug abuse during his career. I can’t recall ever having seen his act, but I knew his name. If you had asked me, I would have thought he died decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/2 "2023-12-31T22:18:41Z")
Somewhat surprising he was still around. He was fairly funny, especially in his day. Has to be one of the last of his generation of lounge and nightclub comics. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/3 "2023-12-31T22:19:38Z")
“Remember, thou art mortal…” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/4 "2023-12-31T22:21:18Z")
Although at 97 he was far less mortal than most of us. Or at least far better at delaying the inevitable. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/5 "2023-12-31T22:41:43Z")
I saw him several times on the Tonight Show and probably on Sullivan. Pretty funny, even if not my style. Those old-timers had to be good to survive the drunks in their audiences at lounges. And their best material couldn’t be said on television, even late-night, so they needed to be seen live. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/6 "2023-12-31T22:42:02Z")
He seems to be one of those guys whose name became more of a punchline than any of his actual punchlines. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/7 "2023-12-31T22:49:08Z")
Yeah, at least in our generation. To me he was one of those names my parents referred to knowingly when I was a kid. Somebody who was fully established in (modest) fame even back then. Although he’s only a handful of years older than than they were. By the time I was an adult he seemed to me like Ed Sullivan. A name that called to mind ancient B&W TVs, men with hats, and Borscht Belt comedy. Not relevant to my world at all. I lived in Vegas from ~1985-1995. I have no recollection of him being a current performer there then. But the name was around, somehow. Like the OP I’d assumed he’d died a decade or more ago. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/8 "2023-12-31T22:53:53Z")
I’ve always had a real affection for those Borscht-belt comedians. I grew up watching them. You’d see them all the time on TV in the 1960s. They’d come down from the Catskills where they were appearing at Grossinger’s or someplace like that and do seven minutes on the old Merv Griffin Show, or Carson’s Tonight Show when it came from New York. Shecky lasted longer than most and had a lengthy career in Vegas. Sorry to see him go. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/9 "2023-12-31T23:52:30Z")
In my mind I think I conflate him with Buddy Hackett. Is that fair to say? They were both contemporary Borscht-belt comedians of a similar style, if I recall correctly. Anyway, 97 is a good run. RIP ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/10 "2024-01-01T00:18:37Z")
> [@solost](#): > > In my mind I think I conflate him with Buddy Hackett. Is that fair to say? They were best friends when they worked in Vegas together. There’s a hilarious story in Kliph Nisteroff’s _The Comedians_ about the night they got in an argument that nearly ended in gunplay because Buddy called Greene a “double Waldo” (whatever that is). The only reason Greene came to epitomize the stale old-timers was because of his funny, very Jewish sounding name. In reality, his act was rather cutting edge, over the top, and mostly spontaneous by the standards of the time. His off-stage persona was the same as the one seen on stage, much like Robin Williams. He was so obnoxiously irreverent in real life that Frank Sinatra had him beat up. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/11 "2024-01-01T00:33:08Z")
> [@solost](#): > > _In my mind I think I conflate him with Buddy Hackett. Is that fair to say?_ I’d have put Shecky a cut or two above Buddy Hackett. He’s one guy I never could stand. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/12 "2024-01-01T01:02:33Z")
I remember him from Glen Campbell’s _ **Goodtime** _ _ **Hour** _, singing “songs he sang as a kid.” Anybody remember him as PFC Braddock in _ **Combat!** _? He was there for comedy relief and usually wore non-regulation camouflage pants. He once had an episode of his own, opposite a colonel played by Keenan Wynn. > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxdqd5Lr0GA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxdqd5Lr0GA) RIP, PFC Braddock! PS: Recognize anybody else in this episode around the 6:30 mark? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/13 "2024-01-01T02:32:08Z")
A very young Tom Skerritt is in that episode too, along with Richard Bakalyan, whom I remember best from _ **The Untouchables** _. Interestingly, Shecky is a buck private in that episode, not a PFC (Private, First Class). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/14 "2024-01-01T03:52:55Z")
Probably got busted for the stuff he said to the colonel. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/15 "2024-01-01T04:02:41Z")
I think Eric Braeden (aka Hans Gudegast) is in that episode as one of the Germans who find Shecky lying in the middle of the road. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/16 "2024-01-01T13:08:38Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Like the OP I’d assumed he’d died a decade or more ago. When I first heard the news, I mentioned it to my gf. She thought I was joking, and guessed he’d be 115. Oddly enough he’s the only guy I ever heard of named Shecky. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/17 "2024-01-01T14:16:10Z")
Agree on both points. When I looked him up to refresh my memory I was surprised to find he was only 4 years older than my (late) Dad. I’d have guessed 20. Which would have made Shecky 113 right now. Wiki says his birth name was Fred Sheldon Greene. I could easily see Shecky as a childhood nickname or a made-up stage name. You’re right it’s distinctive. Male names / nicknames ending in Y had a bit of heyday back then. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/18 "2024-01-01T16:40:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > _Male names / nicknames ending in Y had a bit of heyday back then._ You’re right, and it even extended to the lesser forms of show biz, like local radio. When I got my first radio job, in 1971, they wanted me to use a diminutive of my own name that ended with “y.” It would “sound happy” I was told. Well, I hated that diminutive and had always instructed people to call me by my real name, so I politely refused to do it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/19 "2024-01-01T17:22:01Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > It would “sound happy” I was told. Yeah. Robert sternly intones the evening news. Bobby is the high-energy morning commute jock with the silly sidekick. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423/20 "2024-01-01T17:37:03Z")
Having picked him for the 2024 Life Pool, I’m grateful he gave me a chance to replace him on my list. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shecky-greene-has-died/995423.md?page=2)