So I got my copy of the movie What Did You Do In The War, Daddy?, which was good though time has dulled some of the jokes a ten year old found so funny. But I was thinking about one of the actors in the movie – comedian Dick Shawn, who has been in some of my favorite movies – and had a “whatever happened to” moment. This is what I found online:

“Once in a while, it seems that fate takes pity on a comedian, and the phrase “he died laughing” springs to mind.
DICK SHAWN died on April 17, 1987 A charismatic entertainer, Shawn was (along with Jonathan Winters) picked to be one of the big stars in comedy when he hit his stride in the 50’s. It was all a matter of finding a way to harness his talent for zany characters and weirdly hip free-form. For average viewers, he only succeed twice in the next thirty years: as the horrifyingly zany Hitler in “The Producers” and a distraught hippie in “Mad Mad Mad Mad World.”

Although he didn’t make many film or TV appearances over the years, Shawn did tour often over the years and periodically performed a one-man show that mixed songs, sketches and even pantomime. He was performing at the University of California at San Diego one night. He was telling a gag about nuclear war. He was his manic self as he began to imagine the holocaust. Nobody would survive, he explained, except the audience in the little sheltered theater! Then he shouted, ‘And I would be your leader!’ He fell forward, flat on his face. He lay there while the audience laughed.” Turned out he had a massive heart attack.

With this article was a piece about another comedian who passed away onstage:

“PARKYAKARKUS died on November 24, 1958. An ethnic comedian on radio (“The Eddie Cantor Show”) he is now best known as the father of Albert Brooks (nee Albert Einstein) and “Super Dave” Osborne (nee David Einstein).

In 1958 “Parky” appeared on the dais at a Friars roast for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. He was rolling along, joking about the Friars club: “…But in spite of all this kidding we have managed to put together a pretty good club made up of the very cream of show business people…outstanding doctors, many famous lawyers, several fine judges, and quite a few defendants…If one should be interested in nature, we have a splendid bird-watching group. No matter what time you come into our club, you’ll always see two or three of our members standing around looking for pigeons…. So Desi, we sincerely hope that you’ll be using the facilities of our club very often. And Lucy, while ladies nights at the Friars are traditionally Thursdays and Saturdays, we love you so you can come any time. Thank you very much.”

“Parky” received lavish applause.They were still applauding when Parkyakarkus slumped against Milton Berle and then leaned forward. Berle shouted, “Is there a doctor in the house?” The audience laughed — until a few doctors rushed to the dais. But for Parkyakarkus, the end of life was pure laughteer, and he went out hearing the pure joy of an audience’s response.”

See? Sometimes things work out.