Gene Perret, who began a decades-long comedy writing career contributing jokes to stand-ups Slappy White and Phyllis Diller before joining the Emmy-winning writing staff of The Carol Burnett Show, launching a 28-year tenure with Bob Hope and serving as a producer on Three’s Company and Welcome Back, Kotter, died Nov. 15 of liver failure at his home in Westlake Village, CA. He was 85.
According to family, Perret began writing comedy as a hobby while working as an electrical engineer for General Electric in Philadelphia during the mid-1950s. After contributing some one-liners to local comic White, he was introduced by a friend to Diller, who hired him for her 1968 sitcom The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show and encouraged Perret to pursue comedy writing full time. In 1969 he moved his family to California and within a year was writing for variety show The Jim Nabors Hour.
In 1971 and ’72, Perret wrote for Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In before contributing to episodes of The New Bill Cosby Show, The Helen Reddy Show, Love, American Style, All in the Family and What’s Happening.
He joined the popular CBS variety series The Carol Burnett Show in 1973, remaining until the end of the show’s run in 1978. Nominated for six Emmy Awards during his Burnett run, he won in 1974, 1975 and 1978.
After Burnett, he wrote and produced multiple episodes for hit sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter and Three’s Company, and in 1980 reunited with Burnett’s Tim Conway on the short-lived The Tim Conway Show.
Perret’s longest-lasting professional collaboration was with Hope, serving on the comedian’s writing staff for 28 years and working on dozens of Hope’s TV specials beginning with 1984’s Bob Hope’s Uso Christmas in Beirut.
In addition to his television work, Perret wrote numerous magazine articles and more than 40 books, including Comedy Writing Step by Step and The Comedy Writing Workbook.
Perret is survived by his wife of 64 years, Joanne, four children, six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
According to family, Perret began writing comedy as a hobby while working as an electrical engineer for General Electric in Philadelphia during the mid-1950s. After contributing some one-liners to local comic White, he was introduced by a friend to Diller, who hired him for her 1968 sitcom The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show and encouraged Perret to pursue comedy writing full time. In 1969 he moved his family to California and within a year was writing for variety show The Jim Nabors Hour.
In 1971 and ’72, Perret wrote for Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In before contributing to episodes of The New Bill Cosby Show, The Helen Reddy Show, Love, American Style, All in the Family and What’s Happening.
He joined the popular CBS variety series The Carol Burnett Show in 1973, remaining until the end of the show’s run in 1978. Nominated for six Emmy Awards during his Burnett run, he won in 1974, 1975 and 1978.
After Burnett, he wrote and produced multiple episodes for hit sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter and Three’s Company, and in 1980 reunited with Burnett’s Tim Conway on the short-lived The Tim Conway Show.
Perret’s longest-lasting professional collaboration was with Hope, serving on the comedian’s writing staff for 28 years and working on dozens of Hope’s TV specials beginning with 1984’s Bob Hope’s Uso Christmas in Beirut.
In addition to his television work, Perret wrote numerous magazine articles and more than 40 books, including Comedy Writing Step by Step and The Comedy Writing Workbook.
Perret is survived by his wife of 64 years, Joanne, four children, six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
- 11/23/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Gene Perret, the masterful comedy writer and producer who collected three Emmy Awards for his work on The Carol Burnett Show and penned jokes for Bob Hope for nearly three decades, has died. He was 85.
Perret died Nov. 15 of liver failure at his home in Westlake Village, his daughter Linda Perret told The Hollywood Reporter.
During his 50-year career, the South Philadelphia native also wrote for two Tim Conway-starring shows as well as for Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, All in the Family, Welcome Back, Kotter, Three’s Company, Cpo Sharkey, Gimme a Break!, Love, American Style and What’s Happening!!
An analytical expert when it came to comedy, Perret joined Burnett in 1973 and served as a staff writer on her legendary CBS variety program for its final five seasons. He received his Emmys in 1974, ’75 and ’78 and was nominated three other times.
Perret collaborated with Hope for 28 years,...
Perret died Nov. 15 of liver failure at his home in Westlake Village, his daughter Linda Perret told The Hollywood Reporter.
During his 50-year career, the South Philadelphia native also wrote for two Tim Conway-starring shows as well as for Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, All in the Family, Welcome Back, Kotter, Three’s Company, Cpo Sharkey, Gimme a Break!, Love, American Style and What’s Happening!!
An analytical expert when it came to comedy, Perret joined Burnett in 1973 and served as a staff writer on her legendary CBS variety program for its final five seasons. He received his Emmys in 1974, ’75 and ’78 and was nominated three other times.
Perret collaborated with Hope for 28 years,...
- 11/23/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sanford and Son, the first mainstream, primetime sitcom in television history with an almost-all Black cast, debuted on NBC on Jan. 14, 1972. Created by Norman Lear, and starring legendary “blue” comedian Redd Foxx as an African American bigot, it was seen as a direct answer to CBS’ All in the Family. But the Bunker family series was a social satire which took its laughs seriously. The Sanfords presented pure comedy, any lessons it taught were intentionally coincidental. The most controversial part of the show, when it first aired, was its lead actor.
Foxx was already an underground comedy legend when Cleavon Little, best known for his role as Sheriff Bart in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, suggested him for the lead in the mid-season replacement. Little wasn’t available, but worked with Foxx on Ossie Davis’s 1970 neo-noir film Cotton Comes to Harlem. Before Foxx played the junk dealer stuck with the bale of genuine Mississippi cotton,...
Foxx was already an underground comedy legend when Cleavon Little, best known for his role as Sheriff Bart in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, suggested him for the lead in the mid-season replacement. Little wasn’t available, but worked with Foxx on Ossie Davis’s 1970 neo-noir film Cotton Comes to Harlem. Before Foxx played the junk dealer stuck with the bale of genuine Mississippi cotton,...
- 1/14/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
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