LOS ANGELES (AP) – Rip Taylor, the mustached comedian with a fondness for confetti-throwing who became a television game show mainstay in the 1970s, has died. He was 84.
Publicist Harlan Boll said Taylor died Sunday in Beverly Hills.
An army veteran who served in the Korean War, Taylor’s showbiz ascent started with spots on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” where he was known as the “crying comedian.” He’d go on to make over 2,000 guest appearances on shows like “Hollywood Squares” and “The Gong Show” and host the beauty pageant spoof “The $1.98 Beauty Show.”
He 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 is survived by his longtime partner Robert Fortney
