Joey Bishop, Dead at 89

[۞Quaalude™۞]

Joey Bishop, 89 *Will live on here in this thread* ; comedian was last surviving member of Rat Pack
The comedian had two '60s TV shows and made more than a dozen films.
An adept ad-libber with a dry, underplayed sense of humor, Bishop achieved his greatest fame in the '60s. He was master of ceremonies for President Kennedy's inaugural gala and joined Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford for the Rat Pack's historic "Summit" meetings on stage at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.

Time magazine referred to Bishop as that swinging, fun-loving group's "top banana."

Jack Benny called him "one of the funniest men I've ever seen."

And Danny Thomas was so impressed with Bishop that he had a weekly situation comedy built around him, which Thomas' production company sold to NBC.

For four years -- from 1961 to 1965, first on NBC and then CBS -- Bishop starred in the "The Joey Bishop Show," whose character, Joey Barnes, was changed from a low-level public relations man living with his mother the first season to a married, late-night talk show host.

It was a fitting fictional occupation for the quick-witted Bishop, who had become nationally known in the late '50s for his regular late-night appearances on "The Jack Paar Show." (Paar once likened Bishop's dour demeanor to that of "an untipped waiter.")

Bishop frequently filled in as host for Paar and later for Carson. In 1967, ABC signed him to host his own 90-minute late-night talk-fest.

"The Joey Bishop Show," with Regis Philbin as Bishop's announcer-sidekick, ran for 2 1/2 years.

"It was the thrill of my life to be chosen by Joey as the announcer for his talk show," Philbin said Thursday in a statement to The Times.

"I learned a lot about the business of making people laugh. He was a master comedian and a great teacher, and I will never forget those days or him."

In November 1969, with "The Joey Bishop Show" third in the ratings behind Carson and Merv Griffin's new late-night talk show on CBS, ABC told Bishop it was canceling his show at the end of December.

A day later, Bishop shocked his Hollywood studio audience during his opening monologue by saying he and the network had decided to end the show. After praising his staff, he announced that he was going home to have dinner with his wife. Then he walked off the stage, leaving Philbin to preside over the remainder of that night's show.

"It didn't bother me a bit," Bishop said of his show's cancellation during a 1998 interview with The Times. "I don't consider success doing a show for 30 years; I'm sorry. To me, you're successful when you graduate from something. I did a series, I did a talk show, I did movies, I replaced Mickey Rooney [on Broadway] in 'Sugar Babies.' You understand?"

In his 2002 biography of Bishop, "Mouse in the Rat Pack: The Joey Bishop Story," New York Post TV columnist Michael Seth Starr painted a picture of a perfectionist who "clashed with his writers, producers, directors and co-stars" on his TV series, among other people during his career -- a man who could be charming one minute and prickly the next.

"He was very demanding, and I think a lot of that came from the fact he had to work his way up, playing clubs," Starr told The Times a few years ago. "He really went through the school of hard knocks."

Born Joseph Abraham Gottlieb in the Bronx on Feb. 3, 1918, Bishop was the youngest of five children of Jewish immigrant parents from Central Europe. When he was still an infant, his family moved to South Philadelphia, where his mechanic father opened a bicycle shop.

While growing up, Bishop learned to tap dance, do imitations and play the banjo and mandolin. At 18, he dropped out of high school to pursue a career in show business.

In time, he teamed up with two pals in a zany comedy act. They called themselves the Bishop Brothers.

Joey Bishop, the deadpan comedian who was ABC's answer to NBC's late-night talk show king Johnny Carson in the late 1960s and was the last surviving member of Frank Sinatra's legendary Rat Pack, has died. He was 89.

Bishop, who had been in failing health for some time, died Wednesday night at his home in Newport Beach, according to his longtime friend, publicist Warren Cowan.

RIP Joey QC

www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bishop19oct19,0,5303785.story?coll=la-home-center