Stanley Myron Handelman (November 21, 1929 – August 5, 2007) was an American

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehear ...

who, during a ten-year period between 1965 and 1975, appeared on numerous television

variety shows Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compè ...

Early years

The

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

-born Handelman was a late 1960s fixture on programs such as ''

The Merv Griffin Show ''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series had runs on two different networks on NBC (1962–1963) and CBS (1969–1972) but is most known for its run on first-run syndication from 1965 to 1 ...

'', '' Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers'', '' The Barbara McNair Show'', ''

The Flip Wilson Show ''The Flip Wilson Show'' is an hour-long variety show that originally aired in the US on NBC from September 17, 1970, to June 27, 1974. The show starred American comedian Flip Wilson; the program was one of the first American television programs ...

'', ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

'' and ''

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...

'', and films such as '' Harvey Middleman, Fireman'' (1965) and ''

Linda Lovelace for President ''Linda Lovelace for President'' (initially titled ''Hot Neon'' in the UK) is a 1975 American pornographic comedy film directed by Claudio Guzmán and starring Linda Lovelace, who achieved notoriety as the central character in the most profitable ...

'' (1975). His stooped, resigned appearance and surreal sense of humor ("I just got up from a sick bed. I don't know what's wrong with it—it just lies there") made him a highly-recognizable celebrity on the

talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...

circuit and resulted in about ten appearances on ''Johnny Carson''. After the demise of the TV variety shows, he accepted a handful of acting roles and subsequently taught the art of stand-up comedy in Los Angeles. According to the Third Amendment and Complete Restatement of the

Rodney Dangerfield Jack Roy (born Jacob Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004), better known by the stage name Rodney Dangerfield, was an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-liner humor, ...

Trust, there were two bequests regarding Handelman. The first was to distribute to Handelman upon Dangerfield's death the sum of $10,000 in cash (page six, 4.3 (f).) The second was to distribute during Handelman's lifetime the sum of $800 per month (page nine, 6.3 (a).)

Marriages

Handelman married four times, and had four sons and one daughter. They are Paul, Michael, Robert and Daniel, and his daughter,

Stefanie Wilder-Taylor Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is an American humorist. She worked for years as a writer and producer on game shows including ''Love Lounge'' (2005), ''The Dating Game'' (1997), and ''Blind Date'' (1999). In ''The New York Times'' in 2009, Jan Hoffman wro ...

Death

He died on August 5, 2007, in his

Panorama City, California Panorama City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. It has a generally young age range as well as the highest population density in the Valley. More than half of the neighborhood's population was b ...

home in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

. He was 77.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Handelman, Stanley Myron 1929 births 2007 deaths American stand-up comedians American male television actors Television personalities from Los Angeles 20th-century American Jews Male actors from Brooklyn People from Panorama City, Los Angeles Comedians from New York (state) 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians Comedians from Los Angeles 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American Jews Comedians from Brooklyn Jewish American comedians Jewish male comedians