Gallagher, the comedian who left a trail of laughter, anger and shattered watermelons over a decadeslong career, has died at age 76.
Craig Marquardo, in a statement identifying himself as Gallagher's “longtime former manager,” said that he died Friday at his home in Palm Springs, California, after a brief illness. Gallagher had numerous heart attacks over the years, including one right before a scheduled show in Texas in 2012.
“Ladies and gentlemen! I did not come here tonight just to make you laugh. I came here to sell you something, and I want you to pay particular attention!" he would call out in his best rapid-fire impersonation of a late-night television pitchman. “The amazing Master Tool Corporation, a subsidiary of Fly-By-Night Industries, has entrusted who? Me! To show you! The handiest and the dandiest kitchen tool you’ve ever seen.
Gallagher was a Fort Bragg, North Carolina, native who started out in 1960 as road manager for the comedian/musician Jim Stafford and soon began performing himself, honing his act at the Comedy Store and other clubs. He was not the only funnyman in the family: His younger brother Ron became a comedian, received Leo's initial blessing and looked and acted enough like his better-known sibling that some audiences were unsure who they had come to see.
“I’m the problem?!" Gallagher said at one point."Do you think when I’m dead, gays will finally have an opportunity in America? Have I really been holding them down?”
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