Comedian Rip Taylor Dies at 84

Outrageous comedian Rip Taylor, known for his as “The Crying Comedian” and “The King of Camp and Confetti” personalities, died yesterday in Beverly Hills, publicist Harlan Boll confirmed. He was 84. Taylor was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California in the intensive care unit after suffering a seizure three days ago.

Remembered for his over-the-top personality, Taylor began his stand-up routine in the Army before eventually making over 2,000 television appears on a host of series including “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “American Bandstand,” “Late Night with David Letterman,” “The Tonight Show,” “The Jackie Gleason Show” and more. Taylor also appeared as a panelist on “Hollywood Squares,” “The Match Game,” “The Gong Show” and other TV series. He lent his voice to the “Scooby Doo” and “DuckTales” franchises, among other cartoons. And he was a regular on what is known as the biggest fiasco in TV history, ABC’s “The Brady Bunch Hour,” as next-door-neighbor Jack Merrill.
 
Taylor also played himself in “Wayne’s World 2” and the “Jackass” movies, appeared on stage in “Sugar Babies” and “Oliver!” and performed an autobiographical one-man play, “It Ain’t All Confetti.”

Taylor was survived by his longtime partner, Robert Fortney.