Gallagher, Comedian Known for Smashing Watermelons, Dies at 76

In the original context, the watermelon thing was a genius bit of mockery of late night TV commercials. By the time he got on HBO the whole act was something of a mockery of itself... but still with some joy, for a couple of years, before it got a little meaner and less funny.

RIP, dude. Thanks for all the laughs.

He was a staple of Showtime, not HBO. It was the early 80’s, Ron Popeil and his peers were still very much at it trying to change how people chopped, sliced and made julienne salad.

Rest in peace. Perhaps a twist of chance that he died during the watermelon renaissance of southern Ukraine, there have been watermelon emojis all over Twitter and other apps.

The watermelon smashing was quite memorable. I don't think I've ever seen anything else quite like it.

I used to catch his shows on Comedy Central in the 90s. I think they used to play his shows at 5 or 6 on Saturday mornings.

I just bought a DVD collection on eBay and plan to rip it and add it to my streaming server.

So sad his health was failing over the last decade.

There was a time in late "82 or early "83 where Gallagher briefly considered switching from watermelons to pumpkins. Imagine how different the world would have been.