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There are so many reasons why a British version of Saturday Night Live is an awful idea, John Oliver told Seth Meyers this week. But the biggest reason SNL should stay on this side of the Atlantic, he says? SNL is like a cult.

“Saturday Night Live is such a unique group. It’s a cult,” Oliver claimed. “I’m trying not to say the word, but it’s a cult. And so I don’t know how you can impose that cult onto the U.K.”

Hang on a second — did Oliver forget who he was talking to? Meyers isn’t only a former cast member of SNL but its head writer for a spell as well. The Late Night host was curious about Oliver’s perspective as an outsider: What exactly was “cult-ish” about his old show?

For starters, Oliver pointed to the SNL ritual of staying up...

Dick Button, the two-time Olympic champion who revolutionized figure skating by completing the first triple jump in competition, then spun TV ratings gold with his pithy, Emmy-winning commentary, died Thursday. He was 95.

Button died in North Salem, New York, his daughter, actress Emily Button, told The Washington Post.

Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of his sport — as well as degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Law School — Button displayed a tart wit and passion that defined figure skating on network television for more than five decades, starting in 1960 on CBS with the Winter Olympics from what was then known as Squaw Valley, California.

Moving to ABC in 1962 — where he would remain for the next 40-plus years — Button presided over a new age in media and skating. With telegenic stars Peggy Fleming, Janet Lynn, Dorothy Hamill and Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner rising on the world stage during the 1960s and ’70s,...

Alan Sacks, a longtime television producer who co-created the popular 1970s sitcom “Welcome Back Kotter” and later had a long affiliation with The Disney Channel, died on Tuesday following a battle with lymphoma. He was 81.

In a statement provided to Deadline, Sacks’ talent agent Annette van Duren said his cancer “was treated for him to dance at our daughter’s June wedding and walk her down the aisle. After that, the chemotherapy stopped being effective. He started hospice last week. He died peacefully listening to Tibetan music for the final few days and nights at age 81.”

Born Dec. 9, 1942, Sacks was best known for helping to co-create “Welcome Back Kotter” with star Gabe Kaplan in 1975. The show ran from 1975 to 1979 and today is most remembered for launching John Travolta to stardom. During this period Sacks also worked on “Chico and the Man.”

Decades later he executive produced several Disney Channel projects,...

Alan Sacks, who teamed with stand-up comic and fellow Brooklynite Gabe Kaplan to create the popular 1970s ABC sitcom Welcome, Back, Kotter, has died. He was 81.

Sacks died Tuesday of complications from lymphoma in New York while on a visit there, his wife, talent agent Annette van Duren, told The Hollywood Reporter. He was first diagnosed 22 years ago but spent several years in remission before the cancer returned.

In the 1980s, after a project involving the iconic L.A. band The Runaways never got off the ground, Sacks took the footage and incorporated it into a plot about a director working on a tight deadline to finish a movie starring Runaways member Joan Jett.

The resulting film, Du-Beat-e-o (1984), which he also helmed, was set against the background of the hardcore L.A. punk scene and featured Ray Sharkey and Derf Scratch of the punk band Fear.

He also wrote and...

Alan Sacks, known for co-creating Welcome Back, Kotter and producing several Disney Channel projects, has died. He was 81.

The producer’s wife, talent agent Annette van Duren, tells Deadline that Sacks died Tuesday morning in New York City after his mantle cell lymphoma took an “aggressive” turn in recent weeks.

“It was treated for him to dance at our daughter’s June wedding and walk her down the aisle,” she said. “After that, the chemotherapy stopped being effective. He started hospice last week. He died peacefully listening to Tibetan music for the final few days and nights at age 81.”

Actor Robert Rusler, who starred alongside Josh Brolin in the 1986 Sacks-written skateboarding romance Thrashin’, remembered the “writer, producer, teacher and connector of people” in a statement on Instagram.

Listing some of his standout credits, Rusler noted, “Where I got to know him from was working with him on the movie #Thrashin.

Film and TV writer-producer Alan Sacks, who had an eclectic career that included co-creating the popular 1970s series “Welcome Back, Kotter” and working on projects set in the 1980s L.A. punk scene, died of complications from lymphoma on Tuesday in New York. He was 81.

Sacks was born in Brooklyn and started his career in the research department of ABC Television. After moving to Los Angeles, he continued working at ABC as a program executive. Along with Gabe Kaplan and Peter Meyerson, he helped develop and co-create “Welcome Back, Kotter,” basing the sitcom on his high school friends in Brooklyn and on Kaplan’s stand-up routine.

He also worked on “Chico and the Man,” created by “Welcome Back, Kotter” executive producer James Komack.

In 1991, Sacks created and produced a Saturday morning children’s show, “Riders in the Sky,” for CBS, which replaced the “Pee-Wee Herman Show.”

During the 1970s and ’80s,...

High school sitcoms have always been a mixed bag, largely because the issues kids are dealing with at that age beg for a more nuanced take than the half-hour format can provide. Godawful shows like "Saved by the Bell," "Head of the Class" and "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper" are the low standard a high school sitcom has to clear nowadays, so we need to count our blessings when something as wonderful as Mike O'Brien's "A.P. Bio" and the currently airing Brian Jordan Alvarez's "English Teacher" arrives.

Before those two sitcoms, the bar was set reasonably high by Gabe Kaplan's "Welcome Back, Kotter." Based in part on Kaplan's sitcom act, the comedian stars as Gabe Kotter, a former underachiever who returns to his old Bensonhurst Brooklyn neighborhood to teach at the high school that used to seem like a prison to him. He's now in charge of a new batch of knuckleheads,...

Legend has it that the only way for a kid in the ‘70s to catch some nudity on TV was to pray for a brief glimpse on a scrambled pay-per-view channel. But for sharp-eyed viewers, full-on nekkid ladies were hiding right in plain sight on network television — during Family Hour, no less.

What sitcom dared to defy the network’s standards and practices department with a brazen display of bare skin? It was none other Welcome Back, Kotter in its pilot episode, as reported by Looper. The installment, cleverly named “Welcome Back,” was actually the third to make air in September of 1975. Gabe Kaplan plays his alter-ego Gabe Kotter, a former Sweathog made good who returns to his old high school to help education-challenged kids. He quits in frustration when he can’t get through to the new generation of Sweathogs, but they break into his apartment (!) and convince him to stick around.

Burbank, CA – “Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back!” For the first time ever, all episodes from the classic TV series are brought together in one set with the release of Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete Series on DVD on June 11th, available for purchase online and in-store at major retailers. Get ready to binge on all 95 episodes, and go down memory lane as our favorite high school teacher, Gabe Kotter, returns to his childhood inner-city high school to teach a new generation of trouble-making kids.

Welcome Back, Kotter premiered in 1975 and aired for four seasons. The series was nominated for four Emmy Awards®, including Outstanding Comedy Series in 1976. The original cast includes a young John Travolta playing Vinnie Barbarino in his first principal TV role. The series also stars Gabe Kaplan as Gabe Kotter, Marcia Strassman as Julie Kotter, John Sylvester White as Mr. Woodman, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Washington, Robert Hegyes as Epstein,...

The cast of Welcome Back, Kotter was unforgettable, each member bringing something unique to the table in this classic sitcom. John Travolta's breakout role as Vinnie Barbarino catapulted him to stardom, leading to iconic movie roles and a legendary career. Despite its controversial elements, Welcome Back, Kotter remains a timeless time capsule of the 1970s, impacting popular culture immensely.

Welcome Back, Kotter is best remembered as one of the defining sitcoms of the 1970s, but what has its cast been doing since the show went off the air? Airing for four seasons from 1975 to 1979, the comedy series captured the zeitgeist of that complicated era and transcended its genre by actually having something to say about the state of inner-city schools at the time. Hilarious and poignant in equal measure, the series was relatively short-lived by sitcom standards, but it had a massive impact on popular culture. Its success was...

Who’d have thought they’d see ya? Certainly not John Travolta, who had a reunion with castmate Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs on the red carpet at the TCM Film Festival.

The two were part of sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, which ran on ABC from Sept. 1975 to May, 1979. Gabe Kaplan starred as a high school teacher in a charge of a remedial education class nicknamed the “Sweathogs.” The group included Travolta and Hilton-Jacobs.

Watch the happy moment below.

John Travolta's iconic performance in Welcome Back, Kotter made him a pop culture icon and launched his path to film stardom. Despite the success of the show, its decline was inevitable due to the aging cast and the departure of key actors like Travolta. The final season of the show saw major changes, including the absence of Gabe Kaplan and John Travolta, leading to a disheveled conclusion.

When the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter debuted on ABC in 1975, the show was intended to be a starring vehicle for Gabe Kaplan, who plays Gabe Kotter, a flippant but well-meaning teacher who returns to his Brooklyn alma mater, James Buchanan High, to teach a group of unruly remedial students known as the Sweathogs. However, the ensuing popularity of Welcome Back, Kotter is most attributable to the incomparable presence of John Travolta, whose dynamic performance as Vinnie Barbarino, the resident heartthrob and unofficial leader of the Sweathogs,...

John Travolta was 21 years old in 1975, and he had no idea how much his life was about to change. He’d just been cast in an ABC sitcom, playing a Brooklyn high school student who was, almost literally, too cool for school. Though Welcome Back, Kotter was designed as a vehicle for comedian Gabe Kaplan, it was Travolta’s Vinnie Barbarino who stole the show. He became an overnight sensation, with his face landing on magazine covers and lunchboxes everywhere, and on his summer breaks from Kotter, he starred in two of the decade’s biggest movies, Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Caught up in a whirlwind of success, Travolta once told us that he doesn’t even remember filming many of the Kotter episodes that made him a star. (Click on the media bar below to hear John Travolta) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/John_Travolta_Welcome_Back...

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania is bookended by two montages of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) wandering through San Francisco to John Sebastian's Welcome Back. You might recognise John as the lead singer of The Lovin' Spoonful, and the song as the theme for late Seventies sitcom 'Welcome Back Kotter'. The show was originally going to be called 'Kotter', but they changed the name to reflect the theme song, which though it was commissioned for the series ended up changing its name because there weren't any good rhymes for the name of the character.

"Why...", you might ask, "not change the name of the character?". Teacher Gabe Kotter was played by stand-up comedian Gabe Kaplan so there was already precedent. "Why...", I hear you continue, "are you bringing this up?" Mostly because it's an example of the compromises of one set of creative decisions and commitments...

Budd Friedman, comedy club pioneer and founder of the original Improv comedy club, has died. He was 90. Friedman died Saturday of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, Alix, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Friedman founded the original Improv in New York City in 1963, giving early career breaks to comedians and acting superstars like Jay Leno, Bette Midler, Richard Pryor and more.

He opened his second location in Hollywood in 1975, just three years after Johnny Carson moved “The Tonight Show” from New York to Los Angeles, marking the brand’s first expansion. Friedman and his partner, Mark Lonow, would go on to open 22 Improvs across 12 states before selling the company in February 2018 to Levity Entertainment Group.

His comedy clubs also helped provide a platform for superstars like Adam Sandler, Richard Lewis, Dick Cavett, David Steinberg, Steve Landesberg, David Brenner, Lily Tomlin, Freddie Prinze, Gabe Kaplan, Chris Rock,...

Budd Friedman, the comedy club pioneer who founded the original Improv in New York in 1963 and gave early career breaks to the likes of Jay Leno, Robert Klein, Bette Midler, Richard Pryor and Andy Kaufman, has died. He was 90.

Friedman died Saturday of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, Alix, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Three years after Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show departed Manhattan for Burbank, Friedman opened a Hollywood outpost of the Improv on Melrose Avenue in 1975 in his first expansion of the brand.

There were 22 Improvs across 12 states in February 2018 when Friedman and partner Mark Lonow sold the company to Levity Entertainment Group, whose investors included Irving Azoff.

At his flagship New York hotspot, located at West 44th Street and Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, Friedman also employed Rodney Dangerfield as an Mc, Elayne Boosler...

Streaming service PokerGO is pushing its chips to the middle of the table and reviving former Gsn series “High Stakes Poker.” Hosts Aj Benza and Gabe Kaplan are back for what will be Season 8, as is the show’s original producer Mori Eskandani.

“High Stakes Poker,” which ran for 98 episodes across seven seasons on cable channel Gsn (Game Show Network), last aired an original episode in 2011. PokerGO gets that whole library too, which included a 14-and-a-half-month hiatus between Season 4 and Season 5.

The Season 8 premiere, which drops on Wednesday, Dec. 16, will seat poker star Tom Dwan (pictured above), former Major League Baseball pitcher Michael Schwimer, Jean-Robert Bellande, Bryn Kenney, Rick Salomon and Nick Petrangelo for the high-stakes cash game.

Later in the season, all-timer Phil Ivey — who owns 10 World Series of Poker bracelets — will return to the series to play some cards.

“High Stakes Poker” Season 8 was filmed at the PokerGO...

“YouTube at 15” is our package of stories to celebrate the streaming site’s anniversary. It’s hard to imagine, but there really was a time before makeup tutorials, conspiracy explainers, on-demand music videos — really, viral videos at large. Since it’s become such a ubiquitous part of culture, we set out to look at how it’s changed our world. To kick things off, contributing editor Rob Sheffield investigated its surprising origins.

Everybody knows the story of Nipplegate. Janet Jackson. Justin Timberlake. The 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. A wardrobe malfunction.

In the mid-1970s, ABC introduced a pair of unique comedies that tried to shake things up a little bit. One was the Hal Linden cop sitcom Barney Miller, while the other was stand-up comedian Gabe Kaplan’s high school-set Welcome Back, Kotter. The premise of the latter (which introduced John Travolta to the world) had Gabe playing Gabe Kotter, a teacher with a sense of humor who takes a job at his alma mater, James Buchanan High School, located in Brooklyn, New York. He’s given a classroom of juvenile delinquents known as the Sweathogs, and assigned by school assistant principal Michael Woodman to keep them “contained” until they either drop out or somehow manage to graduate. But, instead, Kotter, who was one of the original Sweathogs in his youth, tries to connect with them to make them better people in the process. It sounds more like a serious drama (going way back,...

Welcome Back, Kotter indeed. Recently, it was announced the '70s TV show is coming to Antenna TV.The classic ABC sitcom starred Gabe Kaplan as Gabe Kotter, a teacher who returns to his high school to teach a class of slackers known as the "Sweathogs." The cast also included John Travolta, Marcia Strassman, John Sylvester White, Ron Palillo, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and Robert Hegyes. The show ran for four seasons before ending in 1979.Read More…...

A Night at the Roxbury. President George W. Bush. The Spartan Cheerleaders. Will Ferrell spent seven years creating memorable characters and sketches on Saturday Night Live from 1996-2002, so when asked to name a favorite sketch on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, he just couldn't. "That's too hard," he told host Andy Cohen. However, he could name one of his least favorite sketches, which in a way is also one of his favorites. "I had many, many sketches that died, which I kind of perversely loved," Ferrell, who stars in The House alongside Amy Poehler, said. "I'll say my least was one where I dressed up as Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back, Kotter, and I worked in an...

The obstacle course of red, white and blue tires is the same, but the dunk tank is a bit more extreme as ABC wages a new Battle of the Network Stars starting Thursday, June 29 at 9/8c.

RelatedBattle of the Network Stars Cast Announced: The 10 Celebs We’re Most Psyched to See Throw Down

For the unfortunately uninitiated of you, gather ’round as I spin a yarn about the original intra-network “field day” competition that aired on ABC during the 1970s and ’80s, pitting the Alphabet network against CBS and NBC and… well, that was it, kids. PBS and the...

Summer TV has always been about more than just comedy or drama. Reality and big events rule during the warm months, when audiences often demand more light fare.

Read More: Summer TV Preview: 20 New and Returning Dramas That You Need to Watch

IndieWire’s Summer Preview lists tackled the best upcoming comedies and dramas this week, but there is still room left to recognize a bunch of other shows that didn’t fall neatly into either of those categories.

Here’s a finely curated list of live TV specials, unscripted series and documentaries that we haven’t singled out yet. Like our other Summer Preview roundups, they range from broadcast to cable to streaming.

Read More: Summer TV Preview: 20 New and Returning Comedies Worth Watching

To help plan your TV watching plans for the next three months, we’ve also included the network/service where these will premiere, in addition to their scheduled release dates.

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. Fans of NBC's Parenthood can catch Monica Potter in a new home renovation series. The Welcome Back Potter TV show premieres on Hgtv, Tuesday, October 11, 2016 at 11:00pm with two half-hour episodes. Prior to Parenthood, Potter was also in the Trust Me TV series. The advertising drama was cancelled in 2009, after one season on TNT.In her new Hgtv series, Potter returns to her childhood home in Cleveland, to renovate the property with her mother Nancy and sisters Jessica, Brigette, and Kerry. For our younger readers, we'll point out that the show's title is a play on Gabe Kaplan's Welcome Back, Kotter sitcom, which ran for four seasons on ABC, before being cancelled in 1979. The series launched John Travolta's career.Read More…...

Emanating from their studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, The History of Bad Ideas sees hosts Jason, Jeff and Blake talk about all things geeky on their podcast. Whether it’s rumors of the latest comic book movies, debating who really is the worst villain of all time, discussing the latest comic issues or just wondering about life in general, you are sure to have a fun time with them! In theory.

If you haven’t listened to the show before (why not?) you can check out previous episodes of The History of Bad Ideas podcast on iTunes and look out for new episodes here on Nerdly each and every week…

Episode 91: Gabe Kaplan, The Hi De Hi De Ho Man!

The Hobi Gang welcomes Number 1 fan Doug back into the studio! The guys talk the Supergirl pilot, Heroes Reborn and the disapointment of Blindspot. Blake confuses his Herbs, Jason confuses his Kaplans,...

Marcia Strassman, who played Gabe Kaplan's wife, Julie, on the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, has died. She was 66.

Strassman died at her Sherman Oaks, California, home on Friday after battling breast cancer for seven years, her sister, Julie Strassman, said Sunday.

"They gave her 2½ years to live, but she lasted much longer," she said. "She was very courageous."

Strassman had numerous roles on television and in film during her five-decade career. She played nurse Margie Cutler on the first season of M.A.S.H. before her breakout role on Kotter.

The show was about a teacher returning...

Marcia Strassman, who played Gabe Kaplan's wife, Julie, on the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, has died. She was 66. Strassman died at her Sherman Oaks, California, home on Friday after battling breast cancer for seven years, her sister, Julie Strassman, said Sunday. "They gave her 2½ years to live, but she lasted much longer," she said. "She was very courageous." Strassman had numerous roles on television and in film during her five-decade career. She played nurse Margie Cutler on the first season of M.A.S.H. before her breakout role on Kotter. The show was about a teacher returning...

The actress passed away on Saturday after a seven-year battle with cancer.

Marcia Strassman, perhaps best known for her lead roles in Welcome Back Kotter and Honey I Shrunk the Kids, passed away on Saturday, Oct. 25, in her Sherman Oaks, Calif. home. She was 66.

"She was the funniest, smartest person I ever met," the actress' sister Julie Strassman told Deadline. "And talented. She knew everything. Now I won’t be able to call her and ask her questions."

Photos: SNL Stars We've Lost

Curb Your Enthusiasm director Bob Weide was one of the first to break the news of his friend's death, tweeting: "So sad that a sweet friend, kind person & wonderful actress Marcia Strassman lost her brave battle with cancer today."

So sad that a sweet friend, kind person & wonderful actress Marcia Strassman lost her brave battle with cancer today. pic.twitter.com/4gQ4MEvEal

— Bob Weide (@BobWeide) October 26, 2014

"She had more friends than anyone in the...

Marcia Strassman, a star of the TV series 70s Welcome Back, Kotter and the film Honey I Shrunk the Kids, died of breast cancer at the age of 66 on Oct. 25.

Marcia Strassman Dead At 66

Strassman battled breast cancer for seven years up to her death. She is survived by Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Collector, her daughter, her sister Julie Strassman, and her brother Steven Strassman.

“She was the funniest, smartest person I ever met – and talented. She knew everything. Now I won’t be able to call her and ask her questions,” said Julie Strassman.

Strassman first got her big break on television in 1975 when she won a starring role on the hit show Welcome Back, Kotter opposite Gabe Kaplan and John Travolta.

No stranger to television, Strassman was a frequent guest star on shows throughout the 80s. In 1989, she starred as Diane Szalinski – the mother – in Honey I Shrunk the Kids opposite Rick Moranis.

Actress Marcia Strassman, who gained fame as Julie Kotter in ABC’s “Welcome Back, Kotter,” has died. The show centered around her TV husband (Gabe Kaplan), who returned to his Brooklyn school to teach a classroom full of misfits that included future film star John Travolta. Ms. Strassman died on Friday. She was 66 years old.Ms. Strassman’s death was announced by producer and friend Bob Weide on Twitter::So sad that a sweet friend, kind person & wonderful actress Marcia Strassman lost her brave battle with cancer today. pic.twitter.com/4gQ4MEvEal— Bob Weide (@BobWeide) October 26, 2014 A veteran star of stage and screen, […]...

Marcia Strassman -- perhaps best known for playing the mom from the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" movies -- died Saturday after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 66. She got her first big recurring role on "M*A*S*H" playing Nurse Cutler ... but struck it big playing the part of Julie Kotter, Gabe Kaplan's wife on "Welcome Back, Kotter." "Curb Your Enthusiasm" director Bob Weide, a long-time friend of Strassman's, was...

Actress Marcia Strassman, a former star of TV's “Welcome Back, Kotter,” has died at the age of 66 after a seven-year battle with breast cancer, TheWrap has confirmed. Her death was noted in tweets this weekend by singer and actress Cher and director Bob Weide. Strassman was best known for her role in “Kotter,” in which she played the wife of Gabe Kaplan's character, but she also starred in the hit 1989 film “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and its 1992 sequel, “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid.” See photos: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2014 The ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’ cast reunites at the 9th Annual TV.

Actress Marcia Strassman has passed away after a long battle with breast cancer, according to Deadline. She was 66. Her sister, Julie Strassman, confirmed the news to the publication Sunday afternoon. "She was the funniest, smartest person I ever met, and talented," she shared. "She knew everything. Now I won't be able to call her and ask her questions." When she was 18, Marcia left her hometown in New Jersey to travel west to Los Angeles in hopes of turning her dreams into a reality. In 1975, she received her breakout role in the TV hit, Welcome Back Kotter, where she played Gabe Kaplan's wife. Soon after, the actress received a steady amount of roles in projects such as...

Marcia Strassman, whose TV credits included M*A*S*H and Welcome Back, Kotter, died on Saturday after a seven-year fight with breast cancer, our sister site Deadline reports. She was 66.

Strassman’s professional acting career began in 1964 with appearances on The Patty Duke Show, before playing Nurse Margie Cutler in several episodes of TV’s M*A*S*H adaptation.

On ABC’s Welcome Back, Kotter, which ran from September 1975 to June 1979, she costarred as Julie Kotter, wife to Gabe Kaplan’s titular Brooklyn school teacher.

Strassman’s most recent TV credits include a 2004 stint on Third Watch, TV...

Things are always heating up on TNT’s Dallas, but with Elena sleeping with John Ross to get her hands on the letter that details J.R.’s plan for the Ewings to frame Cliff for his murder, they’re about to reach a boil. One man who always keeps his cool is Patrick Duffy (Bobby), which he proves taking our Pop Culture Personality Test. Watch the video and read the transcript below. Dallas airs Mondays at 9 p.m. Et on TNT.

EW: Who was your first celebrity crush?

Duffy: Lynda Carter. I did a talk show with my wife,...

"People over here are going, 'What the hell's he doing now?'" Robin Williams says, halfway through his career-making 1982 stand-up special. Then he unleashes a demonic laugh and gives an order. "Catch up!" That was Robin Williams at his best — a wild-eyed one-man comic rampage, riffing at warp speed about sex and drugs and politics, faster than other human brains could follow. The world spent years trying to catch up to Williams — his motormouth energy seemed inexhaustible. He became such a beloved figure, twinkling and grinning in so many feel-good family flicks,...

Comedian David Brenner died today at his home in New York, NY. He was 78. A favorite of Tonight Show host, Johnny Carson, Brenner made over 150 appearances as a guest and substitute host on the NBC latenight show, starting in the ’70s. A contemporary of such stand-up legends as Andy Kaufman, Freddie Prinze and Gabe Kaplan, Brenner made a name for his observational comedic styling accentuated by his toothy grin, wavy hair and lanky demeanor. Brenner was born on Feb. 4, 1936 in Philadelphia, the son of a vaudeville singer and comedian who went under the stage name “Lou Murphy”. Brenner served two years in the Army and after majoring in mass communications at Temple University, he went on to write, direct and produce socially-conscious TV documentaries as the head of the doc department at Westinghouse Broadcasting and Multimedia Broadcasting. Cutting his teeth on the stand-up circuit in New York, in the late ’60s,...

There's great news for Dean Martin fans and lovers of classic comedy. Star Vista Entertainment/Time Life have released the entire broadcast collection of Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. These shows were "must-sees" in their original telecasts in the 1970s, as an astonishing array of Hollywood and political legends came together on stage to roast the man or woman being "honored". Taking on the format of a Friar's Roast (without the obscenities), the shows became extraordinarily popular as off-shoots of Dean Martin's long-running variety hour on NBC. Each roast was held before a large live audience in Las Vegas and no "honoree" emerged unscathed. The packaging warns that in today's politically correct society, much of the racially-charged humor might seem shocking but keep in mind, this was the norm in the day with comedians, both black and white, taking good-natured pot-shots at each other. Additionally, people who were arch political...

John Hodgman, whose end-of-days comedy special John Hodgman: Ragnarok is currently streaming on Netflix, hadn’t yet seen Man of Steel when he visited EW to take our Pop Culture Personality Test, so he couldn’t weigh in on Superman’s mass-casualty battle with General Zod (Boardwalk Empire’s Michael Shannon) for Earth, or the ending that had everyone talking. “I know what it is: Superman flies around the Earth and reverses its orbit such that time goes backwards and Zod takes a job in the alcohol enforcement division of the IRS and starts busting bootleggers in Atlantic City during Prohibition.

If you've been the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story, then chances are you've made your mark in pop culture. And that's exactly what Ron Palillo dished to E! about in 2000 when Welcome Back Kotter scored its own Ths episode. Palillo, who played the memorably nasal Horschak on the 1970s sitcom alongside Gabe Kaplan and John Travolta, died at 63 of a heart attack in his sleep. "The thing that's really odd about the show is that it's 25 years old now and we still keep in touch…on a pretty regular basis," Palillo said of himself and his fellow former Sweathogs. He went on to other roles, but Kotter always stayed with him, "for...

Actor Ron Palillo has passed away suddenly at the age of 63. He died at his Florida home early this morning, according to his friend Stacy Sacco. Jacqueline Stander, an agent for Palillo, told NBC that the actor had a heart attack and passed away in his sleep.

He was best known for playing "Sweathog" Arnold Dingfelder Horshak on the hit TV series Welcome Back, Kotter. The show aired from 1975-79 on ABC and featured a young John Travolta as well as Gabe Kaplan, Marcia Strassman, John Sylvester White, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, Melonie Haller, and Stephen Shortridge.

Patillo had other supporting TV roles over the years and provided voices in various animated TV series like Laverne and Shirley in the Army and Darkwing Duck. He also had starring roles in musical productions like Amadeus, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? and Guys and Dolls.

Ron Palillo—best known for playing the snickering, attention-starved Sweathog Arnold Horshack on Welcome Back, Kotter—has died following a heart attack. He was 63. As Horshack, Palillo turned being irritating into a comic artform, constantly petitioning Gabe Kaplan's teacher character with his signature "Ooooh! Ooooh!" (a parody of Joe E. Ross's exclamations from Car 54, Where Are You?, though arguably made more famous by Palillo). While Epstein—played by Robert Hegyes, who died in January—provided a touch of Marx Bros.-inspired zaniness to the goings-on at James Buchanan High, it was Horshack who was more explicitly ...

Arnold Horshack, you will be missed. Ron Palillo, who was best known for playing the loveable class clown opposite a young John Travolta's Vinny Barbarino in the classic '70s ABC sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter, has died. He was 63. Palillo's agent, Jacqueline Stander, told NBC News that the actor had a heart attack and passed away in his sleep at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Palillo's goofy Arnold Dingfelder Horshack was a central member of the Sweathogs, a group of high school cutups taught by wisecracking teacher Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) at the fictional James Buchanan High in Brooklyn, N.Y. With his high-pitched squeal for a laugh, thick Brooklyn accent and child-like demeanor, the...

Ron Palillo, who played Arnold Horshack on the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, passed away this morning from an apparent heart attack at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. He was 63 years old.

Palillo played goofball Horshack on the ABC series from 1975 to 1979 alongside Gabe Kaplan and a young John Travolta. Horshack's trademark was raising his hand excitedly in class and saying, "Ooh ooh ooooh!" when he thought he knew the answer to one of Mr. Kotter's...  More >>...

Ron Palillo, best known for his role as Arnold Horshack on the 1970s TV sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter," has died, the Palm Beach Post reports. He was 63. He died at 4:30 a.m. at his Palm Beach Gardens home, a friend, Stacy Sacco, told the paper. Palillo had been teaching at the G-Star Academy, a Florida charter school. He previously taught at his alma mater, the University of Connecticut, according to Corporate Artists, which employed him for speaking gigs.

Palillo played the Palillo played the goofy Horshack from 1975 to 1979 on "Kotter," which starred Gabe Kaplan as a hip but beleaguered teacher who presided over a classroom that also included a young John Travolta.

Ron Palillo of "Welcome Back, Kotter" fame has died at 63.

According to TMZ, Palillo passed away after suffering a heart attack at his Palm Beach home Tuesday morning. Palillo was found by his partner of 41 years, retired actor Joseph Gramm, before being transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Palillo was "upbeat, fun, a great friend who loved theater, loved the fans and had a great sense of humor," the actor's agent, Scott Stander, told CNN.

Sources tell TMZ that the '70s TV star, who played Arnold Horshack on the popular sitcom, which starred John Travolta and Gabe Kaplan, was in good health and his death was unexpected.

Click over to TMZ for more details.

Ron Palillo, who played Horschack on Welcome Back, Kotter, has died. He was 63. Welcome Back Kotter ran from 1975-1979 on ABC. Palillo’s role as one of the high school gang known as the Sweathogs was as the goofball. The series starred Gabe Kaplan as Brooklyn teacher Gabe Kotter. John Travolta, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and Robert Hegyes, who passed away earlier this year, played the other Sweathogs. After Kotter ended. Palillo performed on Broadway and did artwork for children’s books. The past few years, Palillo taught freshman drama at the G-Star School for the Arts for Motion Pictures and Broadcasting in Palm Beach, Fla.

Ron Palillo, whose nasally delivery made him one of the most memorable Sweathogs on the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, died last night in Palm Beach, Fla., suffering a heart attack in his sleep. He was 63.

Beginning in 1975, Palillo was one of the oddball students who tested Mr. Kotter for four seasons on the popular ABC show that also featured Gabe Kaplan and a young John Travolta. His character Arnold Dingfelder Horshack was always the first to raise his hand in class — “Ooo-ooo-oooooh!!” — and his wheezing staccato laugh was a punch line in itself.

In the 1980s, Palillo guested on several popular programs,...

Ron Palillo, who played oddball student Arnold Horshack in the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, died Tuesday morning at his home near Palm Beach, Fla., The Palm Beach Post reports. The newspaper cites confirmation from a friend of the actor, who was 63. Palillo was best known for his role as catchphrase-generating high school class clown Horshack -- one of the Sweathogs -- in Welcome Back, Kotter, which ran on ABC from 1975-79 and also starred John Travolta and Gabe Kaplan. His other TV credits include guest appearances on The Love Boat, Cagney & Lacey and The A-Team, as well

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Ron Palillo -- who was best known for playing the loud-mouthed high school student Arnold Horshack on the 1970s TV series Welcome Back, Kotter, has died at age 63.

Several sources reported that the actor passed away Tuesday morning at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl.

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Palillo had taught classes at the West Palm Beach charter school G-Star Academy as recently as 2009, according to the school's founder and CEO, Greg Hauptner. Prior to that, the actor lectured in colleges and high schools across the country. 

Welcome Back, Kotter starred Gabe Kaplan as a compassionate high school teacher who returned to his inner city neighborhood to teach a new generation of troubled kids -- one of whom was portrayed by John Travolta. ...