“Born Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr., the mononymous comedian became a household name in 1980 with ‘An Uncensored Evening,’ the first standup comedy special to ever air on Showtime. Gallagher would go on to create 12 more hourlong specials for the network, as well as several popular programs for HBO.”
13 hour-long specials? That’s a lot of watermelons.
I can’t remember a single thing about Gallagher except the sledge hammer routine. I do recall that he claimed to have performed more live gigs than anyone else in history. Some obituaries talk about his sharp wit and observational comedy, and that he was totally insulting to certain minorities. The linked obit says he was accused of racism and homophobia. I recall none of that. Just the watermelons.
Wasn’t there a Gallagher 2?
Yup. I think #1 actually sued #2 (actually called Gallagher Too) for infringement of his act as well as his look, and that was awkward because it was his own brother.
Fruit aside, he had the best comedy bit I’ve seen. Comparing ridiculous similarities and differences in spelling and pronunciation of English words. Comb, bomb, tomb, womb…for example. It was brilliant.
He was on a horrible 70’s Bobby Van-hosted show called “Make Me Laugh”, trying to make guest Frank Zappa laugh. He failed miserably. Zappa looked at him like a scientist would observe a single-celled amoeba under a microscope. He was clearly unamused by Gallagher’s act of smashing a watermelon with a sledgehammer.
Other than the watermelons, the thing I remember about Gallagher is him and Chevy Chase going after each other on the Tonight Show. I don’t know if there is any comedian that Chevy didn’t have a feud with. I’ll say this for Chevy though, he wasn’t afraid to make fun of other comedians. These comedians go after everyone else, but can be pretty thin-skinned when they are the target. Chevy wasn’t afraid to shake up that club and I have to at least give him credit for that.
I saw Gallagher just before he was famous in Detroit at a bodybuilding competition. There was a curtained-off area for performers. A buddy and I had some time to kill so we watched his performance. We were the only two there. He did the Sledge-O-Matic watermelon at the end. It was our own private show. I remember feeling sorry for him performing for only 2 teenagers. Don’t remember any of the racist or homophobic stuff but I do remember he was very funny.
I remember that I laughed a lot the first time I saw him, but that every time I happened to catch him after that, he seemed to be kind of a one-trick pony. I can’t imagine how Showtime milked 13 specials out of that, so I guess there had to have been much more to him than I remember.