September 1-7 | The WWCAs

This Day in Comedy History

September 1 - 7

September 1

1884 - Swedish silent film comedy actor Sigurd Wallén is born in Husbykvarn, Tierp, Sweden. He had roles in such films as Her Little Majesty (1925), The Million Dollars (1926), The Red Day (1932), His Life's Match (1932), The Storholmen Brothers (1932), Love and Deficit (1932), Servant's Entrance (1932), Black Roses (1932), The Count of the Old Town (1935) and Swedenhielms (1935).

1922 - Dramatic Hollywood star who would find a new generation of fans starring as Herman’s vampire wife Lily on the CBS sitcom The Munsters, Yvonne DeCarlo is born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

1922 - Italian actor and director Vittorio Gassmann is born in Genoa. He starred in such comedies as Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958), Il Sorpasso (1962), We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974), For Love and Gold (1966), Scent of a Woman (1974), The Great War (1959), The Monsters (1963), Tempest (1982), Viva Italia! (1977) and La Tarrazza (1980), and is remembered as one of the most important figures of Italian cinema.

1928 - George Maharis is born in Astoria, Queens, NYC. A dramatic actor best remembered for starring in the adventure series Route 66, his relation to comedy is tangential - but it’s there. In Arrested Development’s season four premiere, Flight of the Phoenix, when George Michael grows tired of being connected to the pop singer of the same name who was famously arrested for soliciting gay sex in a public men’s restroom, he first considers then rejects the new moniker “Boy George” - as that's another singer with the same possible connection - before accidentally adopting the name “George Maharis”... Only the most ardent Hollywoodphile would know the relevant piece of obscure trivia: that Maharis was the name of yet another George who'd been arrested for a sex crime of that ilk, after facing charges in 1974 for having sex in a men’s public restroom with hairstylist Perfecto Telles. The name of cousin Maeby’s boyfriend in that very same season of AD? Perfecto Telles. Well done, Arrested Development. Well done.

1939 - George Cukor’s comedy The Women, starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell, opens in theatres.

1939 – Beloved comedian and actress Lily Tomlin is born in Detroit, Michigan.

1943 - Actor Don Stroud is born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Among his hundreds of credits are such films as Coogan's Bluff (1968), Armed and Dangerous (1986) and Wild America (1997), as well as many TV guest appearances.

1944 - Based on the Broadway hit of the same name, the black comedy Arsenic and Old Lace, with Cary Grant starring, has its premiere in New York.

1948 - Production begins on the British “Ealing Comedy” Kind Hearts and Coronets, starring Alec Guinness in nine different roles, which is today considered one of England’s all time classic comedy films.

1963 - Singer Grant-Lee Phillips is born in Stockton, CA. He played the town troubadour in Gilmore Girls.

1967 – English actor and comedian Steve Pemberton, best known for his work on Psychoville and as a member of The League of Gentlemen, is born in Blackburn, Lancashire. Other TV credits include Inside No. 9, Benidorm and Shameless (UK).

1970 - Hwang Jung-min is born in Masan, South Korea. He starred in such comedies as Veteran (2015), Dancing Queen (2012) and Battlefield Heroes (2011), and is the third actor named to the prestigious "100 Million Viewer Club" in Chungmuro.

1971 - Ricardo Antonio Chavira is born in Austin, Texas. The actor is best known for playing Carlos Solis in the comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives (2004–2012).

1971 - Actor Maury Sterling is born in Mill Valley, CA. He played Rafferty in Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Lester Tremor in Smokin' Aces.

1973 - Actress known for films including Dirty Work, Harvard Man and Men With Brooms, Polly Shannon is born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

1975 - British-Canadian actor Scott Speedman is born in Hammersmith, London, UK. Comedy film credits include Barney’s Version, Barefoot, Weirdsville and Best Sellers.

1982 - Star of the CBS sitcom Life in Pieces, Zoe Lister-Jones is born in Brooklyn, New York. She has also acted in other sitcoms, including Delocated, Whitney, and New Girl.

1996 - Turkish-born actor Andrew Hughes (AKA Andoryû Hyûzu) passes away in France at age 88. His most notable role was that of Adolf Hitler in the cult classic Japanese comedy Crazy Adventure (1965).

1996 - Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman - better known simply as “Zendaya” - is born in Oakland, CA. She played Rocky Blue on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up (2010–2013).

2002 - Actors Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. marry in Mexico.

2006 - In an effort to protect the Chinese animation industry, China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television places a ban on all cartoons from other nations between the hours of 5 and 8 PM.

2009 - WTF with Marc Maron makes its debut as a twice-a-week podcast. He would end up recording more than 1,000 more episodes in the next 10+ years.

2009 - Australian comic-musician Kevin Bloody Wilson’s album Excess All Areas is released.

2015 - American actor known for his affiliation to Walt Disney Studios (That Darn Cat!, Blackbeard’s Ghost, The Million Dollar Duck and the Herbie the Love Bug series), Dean Jones passes away from Parkinson’s at age 84.

September 2

1929 - Actor from Oh, What A Lovely War!, The Return Of The Pink Panther, Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be, and The Beatles films A Hard Day’s Night, Help! and Magical Mystery Tour, Victor Spinetti is born in Cwm, Ebbw Vale, Wales… That just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

1948 - Four time Super Bowl champion quarterback who has also acted and made cameo appearances in numerous sitcoms and films (including Failure to Launch), Terry Bradshaw is born in Shreveport, Louisiana.

1955 - Actress Linda Purl, known for playing Fonzie’s girlfriend Ashley in the sitcom Happy Days, and Pam Beesly's mother Helene in The Office (US), is born in Greenwich, Connecticut.

1964 - After his acting debut on the Canadian sitcom Hangin’ In, but before films like Speed and The Matrix and John Wick series, he was known for comedies like Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Parenthood, I Love You To Death, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Much Ado About Nothing and Freaked. Canadian stage and screen actor Keanu Reeves is born in Beirut, Lebanon.

1966 - Mexican-American actress from Fools Rush In, Wild Wild West, Dogma, Sausage Party, The Hitman's Bodyguard, Like a Boss and the Grown Ups films, as well as the series 30 Rock, and Executive Producer and Emmy-nominated guest star of the series Ugly Betty, Salma Hayek is born in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico.

1968 - Kellie on The Drew Carey Show, Cynthia Watros is born in Lake Orion, Michigan.

1971 - Veteran comedian and sometime troublemaker Katt Williams is born Micah Sierra Williams in Cincinnati, Ohio. He’s best known as a cast member on MTV’s Wild n’ Out and the sitcom My Wife and Kids, and for playing Money Mike in the movie Friday After Next and Lord Have Mercy in Norbit. He is an Emmy Award winner for his guest performance on the series Atlanta.

1972 - The Odd Couple (Jack Klugman and Tony Randall) cheer up on the cover of TV Guide.

1972 - Mike Lombardi (Rescue Me) is born.

1974 - The British sitcom Rising Damp premieres on ITV.

1975 - Didi Miller in Devious Maids, Tiffany Hines is born.

1979 - Marsha Warfield wins the San Francisco International Comedy Competition. Juggler Michael Davis took second place, Dana Carvey finished third, Michael Winslow (the sound effects guy from Police Academy) got fourth, and fifth went to A. Whitney Brown, best known for his “The Big Picture” segments on SNL’s Weekend Update. Warfield was the first African-American comic to win the competition, and to this date, is still the only female.

1979 - Actor, comedian and impressionist Jonathan Kite is born in Skokie, Illinois. He is best known for playing Oleg Golishevsky in the sitcom 2 Broke Girls.

1985 - American actress Allison Miller - Carrie on the NBC series Go On - is born in Rome, Italy.

1986 - Canadian groupie Cathy Smith is sentenced to three years for involuntary manslaughter in connection with the drug overdose death of comedian John Belushi in 1982, after admitting in a National Enquirer interview to having injected him with multiple speedballs.

1994 - Two days after his 62nd birthday, versatile English comedian and musician Roy Castle passes away just after five in the morning in his home in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, of lung cancer. The star of stage, TV and film is best remembered for his many years hosting the children’s series Record Breakers. He is also the namesake of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, a new centre which he helped raise £12 million to build, equip and run, and which he continued fundraising for until his death.

1997 - The Howard Stern Show comes to Canada as it is broadcast by CHOM in Montreal and CILQ in Toronto for the first time. Stern's comments about French people being “pussy-assed jackoffs,” “scumbags” and “cowards” would soon cause a rift with listeners. Following complaints and citations by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the show would be cancelled in Montreal in 1998 and in Toronto in 2001.

1999 - The film debut for both director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman, the fantasy comedy Being John Malkovich has its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The cast included John Cusack, Catherine Keener, Cameron Diaz and Malkovich himself.

2002 - Popular Whose Line Is It Anyway? (US) cast member Wayne Brady gets his own daytime talk show on ABC. The Wayne Brady Show had started in 2001 as a variety show, but was retooled after it failed to catch on, and was an immediate success in its new slot, winning five Emmy Awards and lasting until 2004.

2003 - Meanwhile, back in Venice, the legal romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty premieres at the Venice Film Festival. It stars George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer and Billy Bob Thornton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE8jX6rP4L0

2005 - Actor best known for starring as Gilligan on Gilligan’s Island and as Maynard G. Krebs on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Bob Denver passes away at 70.

September 3

1932 - Best known for her roles in Private Benjamin, The Sting, The Cheap Detective, Murder By Death, and Clue, actress Eileen Brennan is born in Los Angeles.

1969 – American comedian, political commentator and actor John Fugelsang is born in Long Island, New York City.

1976 - The film Car Wash hits theatres featuring an eclectic collection of stand-ups and comic actors in its cast including Franklin Ajaye, Richard Pryor, Irwin Corey, Ivan Dixon, George Carlin, Antonio Fargas and Garret Morris. Also featured: The Pointer Sisters!

1983 - After nine seasons of All in the Family, and four of Archie Bunker’s Place, TV Guide offers a tribute to one of television’s most important and favourite characters.

1991 - Director Frank Capra dies at his home in California at the age of 94.

1998 - Twenty years from her film debut in Halloween - and with Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later playing in theatres - Jamie Lee Curtis, who had starred in such comedy hits as Trading Places (1983), A Fish Called Wanda (1986) and True Lies (1994), receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. With her were her mother Janet Leigh, husband Christopher Guest, and daughter Annie.

2005 - Comedian Kevin Nealon and actor Susan Yeagley marry in Bellagio, Italy.

2010 - American “comedian’s comedian” who loved working blue, Robert Schimmel passes away after being seriously injured in a car crash eight days earlier, in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 60.

2015 – Judy Carne, the English comedian and actress best remembered for her “Sock It To Me!” work on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, passes away from pneumonia in hospital in her home town of Northampton.

2020 - Brazilian stand-up Afonso Padilha has his special Classless released on Netflix. You'll have to watch the whole thing to judge if the title is ironic or not.

September 4

1928 - The first, and best, Darrin Stephens on the sitcom Bewitched, actor Dick York is born in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

1931 - Mitzi Gaynor is born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago. Notable film roles include There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), The Birds and the Bees (1956), Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953) and We’re Not Married! (1952).

1941 - He played Minnesota State’s fussy and cheap athletic director Howard Burleigh in the sitcom Coach - Kenneth Kimmins is born.

1944 - She portrayed Eunice Tate-Leitner, the snobbish daughter of Chester and Jessica Tate in the television comedy series Soap - Jessica Salt is born in Los Angeles.

1951 - Stage, film and TV actor Judith Ivey is born in El Paso, Texas. The winner of two Tony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Play, for her performances in Steaming (1981) and Hurlyburly (1984), she was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for the Hallmark comedy What the Deaf Man Heard (1997).

1953 - Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington on the ABC series Welcome Back Kotter, actor Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs is born in New York City. Movie credits include Claudine (1974), Cooley High (1975) and Paramedics (1988).

1957 - While initially a dancer and choreographer (for Whitney Houston’s tours), as an actress she is best known as Catherine Duke from NBC’s NewsRadio (1995-1998), as well as from such films as There’s Something About Mary (1998), CB4 (1993), Greedy (1994) and House Party 3 (1994), Khandi Alexander is born in Jacksonville, Florida.

1960 - Stand-up and actor perhaps best known for In Living Color, who also had his own shows My Wife and Kids and Damon, Damon Wayons is born in New York City.

1961 - The Carol Burnett and Richard Hayes Show makes its debut on CBS Radio.

1964 - One of the most syndicated sitcoms of all time, Gilligan’s Island premieres on CBS.

1966 - The first Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon kicks off at the Americana Hotel in New York. The event would bring in just over $1 million dollars in pledges, and would eventually raise more than 2.5 billion for Muscular Dystrophy research with Lewis as the host.

1970 - Ione Skye is born in Hampstead, London, UK. She rose to prominence for her starring role in Cameron Crowe's Say Anything... (1989). Other notable roles include Wayne's World (1992), Fever Pitch (2005), and a recurring role on the series Arrested Development.

1977 - After performing a Proctor and Bergman show at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, comedians Philip Proctor and Peter Bergman of Los Angeles’ famed surreal sketch comedy troupe Firesign Theatre ate at the Golden Dragon restaurant. Unfortunately, “Golden Dragon Massacre” happened while they were dining. When members of the Joe Boys Chinese youth gang entered and began shooting, attempting to kill leaders of the rival Wah Ching Chinatown gang, five people were killed and 11 others injured (none of them gang members), the two dove for cover, but after realizing the gunmen had emptied their weapons, Bergman, an Army veteran, rose in time to see their faces as they fled. His later testimony helped ensure their convictions at trial. Unfortunately the experience rattled the duo, and they gave up their road performances to instead focus on their next studio album, 1978’s Give Us a Break.

1978 - Actor best known for his Best Supporting Actor BAFTA nominated role in American Beauty (1999), Wes Bentley is born in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

1979 - Max Greenfield is born in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He is best known for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated starring role as Schmidt in the Fox sitcom New Girl, as well as for the WB sitcom Modern Men. He has also had recurring roles in Ugly Betty and The Neighborhood, and has voiced Roger in the Ice Age movie franchise, as well as numerous characters in the shows Bob's Burgers, Robot Chicken and BoJack Horseman.

1982 – Stand-up comedian Whitney Cummings is born in Washington, DC. She starred in her own sitcom, Whitney, and also co-created the series 2 Broke Girls.

1984 – Kyle Mooney (Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Kimmel Live) is born in San Diego, CA.

1993 - When he wasn’t pointing out “Ze plane! Ze plane!” on Fantasy Island, he found time to do a lot of comedies, like: The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight (1971), The One and Only Milton Miller (1978), Forbidden Zone (1980), Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), The Telephone (1988) and Two Moon Junction (1988). French-American actor Hervé Villechaize, after years of suffering from chronic pain due to having oversized internal organs, took his own life by gunshot at his North Hollywood home. He was 50 years old.

1995 - He played Christine’s son Ritchie in the Julie Louis-Dreyfus sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine - Trevor Gagnon is born.

1996 - Headed up by Joe Bodolai, the CRTC grants the license for a cable comedy channel to the BBS/CTV group calling itself “The Comedy Network”.

1999 - The South Korean sketch comedy series Gag Concert premieres on KBS 2. It would last until June, 2020, making it the country’s longest running comedy series.

2006 - “The Crocodile Hunter,” Steve Irwin, star of The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002) and various nature/reality TV shows, is tragically killed after being pierced in the chest by a stingray’s barb while filming a wildlife documentary in the Great Barrier Reef. He was just 44 years old.

2011 - Butter, a film about the Iowa State Fair butter sculpture contest, focusing on its disparate competitors, and a satire of the 2008 Democratic Primaries, premieres at Telluride a month ahead of its wide release. Despite starring Yara Shahidi, Jennifer Garner, Ty Burrell, Olivia Wilde, Rob Corddry, Ashley Greene, Alicia Silverstone, and Hugh Jackman, it would get lackluster reviews and go on to bomb at the box office.

2013 - Comic actress Jane Lynch gets a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

2014 - Trailblazing comedian Joan Rivers dies of complications from a minor throat procedure in New York. She was 81.

2018 – American actor and comedian Bill Daily passes away aged 91. Daily is fondly remembered for his supporting work in the hit sitcoms I Dream of Jeannie and The Bob Newhart Show.

2020 - Not to be confused with the almost horrible 1995 Sinbad/Phil Hartman flick Houseguest, the absolutely horrible Pauly Shore movie Guest House is released.

September 5

1916 - Half of the iconic Canadian duo Wayne and Shuster, Frank Shuster is born in Toronto.

1921 - On this date in 1921, silent film comedy star Fatty Arbuckle, who had suffered burns to both buttocks while working on a movie, took a break from filmmaking and had a party with friends at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Aspiring actress Virginia Rappe became seriously ill and died days later, with some making spurious claims that Arbuckle had raped and murdered her. He was eventually cleared after three trials, but his career never recovered.

1929 - Standup and TV comedy superstar - not to mention a WWCA Hall of Famer - Bob Newhart is born in Oak Park, Illinois.

1938 - Lucille Soong, best known for playing Grandma Huang in the sitcom Fresh Off the Boat (2015–2020), is born in Beijing, China.

1939 - Actor William Devane is born in Albany, New York. Notable film credits include Family Plot (1976), Lady Liberty (1971), Poor White Trash (2000), Payback (1999), and Space Cowboys (2000).

1939 - After becoming the youngest, shortest-tenured and only non-British-or-Irish James Bond ever, he appeared in such comedies as The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), Universal Soldier (1971), Never Too Young to Die (1986) and Twin Sitters (1994). George Lazenby is born in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia.

1940 - Internationally known sex symbol aslo known for the comedies Bedazzled, The Magic Christian, Fuzz, Legally Blonde, Mother, Jugs and Speed, and a Golden Globe winner for The Three Musketeers, Raquel Welch is born in Chicago.

1946 - Director and comedian Dennis Dugan is born in Wheaton, Illinois. He is best known for his collaborations with Adam Sandler, who he has directed in the films Happy Gilmore (1996), Big Daddy (1999), I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007), You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), Grown Ups (2010) and Grown Ups 2 (2013), Just Go with It (2011) and Jack and Jill (2011). Dugan is a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director winner, and four time nominee.

1949 - In looking back on "Comedy's Greatest Era", Life Magazine features Ben Turpin on the cover.

1950 - Creator of the comic strip Cathy, which ran for 34 years, Cathy Guisewite is born in Cayton, Ohio… So Happy Birthday, Cathy! We hope you finally get that perfect swimsuit you’ve been looking for :)

1951 - Actor from Beetlejuice, Mr. Mom, Night Shift, The Paper, Johnny Dangerously and a Golden Globe winner for Birdman, Michael Keaton is born in Kennedy Township, Pennsylvania.

1967 – The sitcom Good Morning World premieres on CBS. It would run for one season.

1970 - The most famous couple in the world, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton ask Lucille Ball for marriage advice. The cover of TV Guide captures the moment.

1973 - American actor Rósa Arianna McGowan - better known by her screen name, Rose McGowan - is born in Florence, Italy. Her film debut came in Encino Man (1992). Since then she has starred in such comedies as The Doom Generation (1995), Going All the Way (1997) and Jawbreaker (1999).

1976 - Having produced pilots for ABC in both 1974 and 1975 to no avail, Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show finally becomes a series, debuting on this date on Britain’s ITV.

1983 - Alan Thicke’s new syndicated US talk show Thicke of the Night makes its debut.

1986 - He played one of Harry Anderson’s sons in the sitcom Dave’s World - actor Andrew Ducote is born.

1991 - In his first public appearance in two months in the wake of the media tidal wave after his arrest for masturbating in a Florida porno theater, and following the vague introduction “Ladies and Gentlemen, MTV is proud to introduce someone who has been a friend for a long time”, Paul Reubens, as Pee-Wee Herman, takes the stage to a standing ovation to open the MTV Movie Awards. His opening line: “Heard any good jokes lately?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCxEAJGdIrs

1991 - Actor John Travolta and model Kelly Preston are married in Paris.

2006 - At the end of her first newscast as anchor of the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric shows photos of actor couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ baby. They had eluded paparazzi for months.

2008 - Kids In The Hall perform a surprise 25th anniversary show at the Rivoli in Toronto.

2017 - Marc Maron’s sixth special, Too Real is released on Netflix.

September 6

1935 - The Will Rogers movie Steamboat Round the Bend is released in theatres, the first film released after the beloved star’s death from a plane crash in Alaska the previous month.

1936 - The Carole Lombard/William Poweel screwball comedy about a socialite who hires a homeless man as her butler, My Man Godfrey opens in theatres.

1937 - In Lowell, Indiana, stand-up comedian Jo Anne Worley is born. She’s also known for her work on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.

1944 - Emmy winning actress known for TV’s Love, Sidney, Pushing Daisies and Mike and Molly, and films including Liar, Liar, Citizen Ruth and Reality Bites, Swoosie Kurtz is born in Omaha, Nebraska.

1947 - An original member of the “Not Ready For Primetime Players” who would remain at Saturday Night Live for its first five seasons, the go on to co-star in the series Kate & Allie and 3rd Rock from the Sun, Jane Curtin is born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1954 - Character actor James Martin Kelly (Magic Mike, Rock of Ages, Ride Along 2, Rules Don’t Apply, Big Trouble, The Hangover, The War with Grandpa) is born in Brooklyn, New York City.

1958 - “You might be a redneck….” stand-up and member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, as well as star of his own sitcom, Jeff Foxworthy is born in Atlanta, Georgia.

1958 - “Man of 10,000 Sound Effects,” stand-up comedian and a star of all seven Police Academy movies, Michael Winslow is born in Spokane, Washington.

1963 - Betsy Russell, whose movie credits include Tomboy, Private School and Cheerleader Camp, is born in San Diego, CA.

1964 - A three-time Emmy nominee as a choreographer on In Living Color, whose acting credits include Do the Right Thing, White Men Can’t Jump, Pineapple Express and The Flight Attendant, Rosie Perez is born in Brooklyn.

1966 – Two sitcoms premiere on ABC: Phyllis Diller stars in The Pruitts of Southampton, and the western comedy Rounders stars Ron Hayes and Patrick Wayne (John Wayne’s son). Neither show would last beyond one season.

1966 – The US sitcom Love on a Rooftop premieres.

1967 – Two sitcoms debut on American TV. The Second Hundred Years premieres on ABC. Meanwhile, CBS premieres their new show He & She. Both would last one season.

1970 - MADtv cast member Daniele Gaither is born in St. Paul, Minnesota.

1972 - Justina Machado, best known as Penelope on the Netflix sitcom One Day at a Time and Darci in CW’s dramedy Jane the Virgin, is born in Chicago.

1985 - Best known for playing Susan in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019) and Jess in HBO’s Crashing (2017–2019), comedian and actor Lauren Lapkus is born in Evanston, Illinois.

1989 - While introducing Cher on the sixth annual MTV Awards, Andrew Dice Clay makes remarks about overweight women and sex and tells a couple of his infamous "nursery rhyme" jokes. MTV would apologize to viewers after the show… but really, what did they expect X-rated comedian Andrew Dice Clay to say when they booked X-rated comedian Andrew Dice Clay?

1990 - Actor Charlie Sheen left a rehabilitation center in Santa Monica, California, after nearly a month of treatment for alcohol abuse. And as we all know, he’s been very, very clean and sober since then.

2004 - Recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo, the British stand-up show Live At The Apollo debuts on BBC One. The special guest for the inaugural episode is Joan Rivers.

2008 - Canada’s Walk of Fame inductees include Frances Bay and the Kids In The Hall.

2015 - Comedian and actor T.J. Miller marries actor-slash-artist Kate Gorney at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

2018 - The world’s top box office draw for five consecutive years in the late 1970’s and early 80’s, known for the films Smokey and the Bandit, The Longest Yard, Semi-Tough, The Cannonball Run and Stroker Ace, and an Emmy and Golden Globe winner for the TV series Evening Shade, Burt Reynolds dies of a heart attack aged 82.

September 7

Anchor 1

1936 - Canadian actor Bruce Gray is born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Comedy fans will remember him best for playing the father of the groom in My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002).

1950 - Happy Birthday, Marge Simpson! On this date in 1950, actress Julie Kavner was born in Los Angeles. She won an Emmy in 1992 for voicing The Simpsons’ matriarch, but her first Emmy came in 1978 for playing Valerie Harper’s sister in Rhoda.

1954 - Retired police detective Henry Spencer on USA Network’s comedy-drama series Psych and Roger Dorn in the Major League trilogy, Corbin Bernsen is born in North Hollywood, CA.

1963 - Before playing Ian McShane’s henchman Dan Dority in Deadwood, he was Warren in There's Something About Mary (1998). Versatile actor W. Earl Brown is born in Golden Pond, Kentucky.

1966 - Just after finishing his set on a Friar’s Club roast, as the audience was applauding, vaudeville comedian Al Kelly collapsed dead in his chair. He was the second comedian to die right after performing on a Friar’s Club roast.

1967 – The Flying Nun, starring Sally Field as a… well, as a flying nun… premieres on ABC. 81 more episodes would follow until the show reached its end in 1970.

1967 - A Saturday Night Live cast member for five seasons, and known for the films Ghostbusters and Coming 2 America, comic actress and stand-up Leslie Jones is born in Memphis, Tennessee.

1968 - The cast of Family Affair wait out the rain on the cover of TV Guide.

1969 - She played firefighter Laura Miles in the series Rescue Me. Diane Farr is born in Manhattan, New York City.

1970 – American actor Tom Everett Scott - whose credits include such films as That Thing You Do!, Dead Man On Campus, The Love Letter, An American Werewolf in Paris, Because I Said So, Danger One and La La Land - is born in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

1970 - While Bob And Carol And Ted And Alice and M*A*S*H were in the rear-view, and now he was coming off two consecutive bombs (Getting Straight and Move), Elliot Gould arrives on Time. At least it was a chance to use his new headshot.

1973 - Shannon Elizabeth is born Shannon Elizabeth Fadal in Houston, Texas. Credits include American Pie, Scary Movie, Love Actually and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

1978 - Devon Sawa, who has had roles in films including Little Giants, Casper, Now and Then, Wild America and Idle Hands, is born in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

1980 - At the 32nd Emmy Awards from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Taxi wins for Outstanding Comedy Series for the second year in a row, Richard Mulligan and Cathryn Damon take Lead Actor and Actress for the sitcom Soap, and the Supporting Actor and Actress awards go to Harry Morgan and Loretta Swit for M*A*S*H. Incidentally, none of these winners were there to receive their award, as an actors’ strike kept 51 of the 52 at home.

1984 - The Steve Martin/Lily Tomlin person-transfered-into-another-body flick All Of Me premieres at The Toronto International Film Festival.

1987 - Credits include Pretty Persuasion (2005), Down in the Valley (2005), Running with Scissors (2006) and Whatever Works (2009). Evan Rachel Wood is born in Raleigh, North Carolina.

1988 - Steven Wright’s The Appointments of Dennis Jennings premieres at The Boston Film Festival. Starring Wright, Rowan Atkinson and Laurie Metcalf, with a cast including David Hyde Pierce, Dana Ivey, Mike Starr and others, it would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

1991 - A sequel to the popular original, The New WKRP In Cincinnati debuts. Gordon Jump (Arthur Carlson), Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek) and Richard Sanders (Les Nessman) would all reprise their old roles, there would be guest shots from other original series stars, and Mykelti Williamson, Tawny Kitaen, Michael Des Barres, Kathleen Garrett and French Stewart would add new blood to the series that would run two seasons.

1997 - The sitcom Alright Already premieres on The WB Network. Created by and starring comedian Carol Leifer, with co-star Amy Yasbeck, the show about an optometrist and her best friend would not be renewed for a second season.

1998 - The movie There's Something About Mary, starring Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller and Chris Elliott, hits number one at the box office, eight weeks after its release. It's believed to be the first film to rise to the top so long after it opened.

2006 - The Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival and spares no expense on transportation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE6sB2qMYJc

2015 - Stephen Colbert makes the cover of Time.

This Day in Comedy History

September 1 - 7

September 1

September 2

September 3

September 4

September 5

September 6

September 7

Mailing List