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By Martin Chaddock
He
began his career at open mics and made his rounds through
the comedy club circuit and was a hit. The world was
introduced to him on the Rodney Dangerfield special "Nothing Goes Right" in
1988.
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His style was set very
edgy and lasted about 7 minutes. His appearance was that
of a disgruntled salesman. He had jokes like, if you put
cream on your hand to make your dick bigger, why wouldn't
hand get bigger? He took his wife to a marital counselor, "he
fucked her." I was in awe of his performance but after
awhile i forgot about him. Then in 2000 when I was living
in Hollywood, and i was home on a saturday night and there
was a comedy special on cable and there he was, it came
back to me like a bolt of lightning and i once again was
captivated by his performance.
Now that he was back inback
on my mind, i would here him on Howard Stern and it only
got better. He was a fucking genius. His personal like
was amazing, the way i understood it, is that he left his
first wife to marry his daughters best friend.So sad in
many ways but also very entertaining. I always enjoyed
listening to him on Howard, and then I bought some CD's
and would listen to them on my way to work while I was
stuck in the gritty L.A. traffic and I became a huge fan. |
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His
special that I saw in 2000 was filmed in 1999 after he
suffered a heart attack and his experiences as a heart
patient was brilliantly incorporated into his act. He
talks about how there is no paper work when you go to
the emergency room if you think you are having a heart
attack and how he wanted his wife to drive him to the
emergency room because if she called 911 she would have
to clean the house before the paramedics arrived. Then
he talks about how the stress test is designed to give
you a heart attack on its own. Then he talks about the
angiogram how they have to shave your crotch prior to
the procedure and make fun of your dick.
In June of 2000 he was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma
and began chemotherapy treatments and went into remission.
All of his medical experiences were a major part of his act.
In the fall of 2008 I was in Albertson's food shopping with
my ex and I was in the produce section squeezing cantaloupes
and all of a sudden he was right in front of me and he looked
at me like he knew me and I looked at him because I knew
who he was and he gave me the nod! The ultimate symbol of
acknowledgment without the actual acknowledgement. It was
awesome. About a week later, I am coming out of Albertsons
and he was coming and again, we had that same experience.
Two weeks later I was working at a venue that he was performing
at and when he arrived he looked at me and goes, okay, this
is weird, how the hell do I know you? I'm the guy from Albertson's
I said and he smiled. We went inside the venue and we talked
for a few minutes and he finally said to me, look, I might
need your help, I have a cousin that I think is trying to
fuck my daughter. If I give you a signal that means just
come over to the table they will be at. I laughed so hard,
but he was serious.Then we went outside and asked me how
his voice sounded? I said it sounded very sophisticated and
he looked at me and laughed and said, especially when I say
the "C" word. His warm up comic was on stage and he said
Martin, how would you like to introduce me? I was in awe.
When we walked backstage, the comic that was on wrapped up
his set and introduced him and I didn;t have my moment but
he asked me and for that I will never forget. He put on a
brilliant show, his cousin never showed up, and in the end
it was a great night.
Not too long after he was arrested at his house in Calabasas
for a confrontation with his wife and charges were later
dropped. In 2010 he announced on Howard Stern he had developed
Cirrhosis of the liver from a blood transfusion years earlier
and that his wife left him and filed for divorce. He wound
up moving back with his parents at 60 years old. On August
26 2010 he was a passenger in a car that his 19 year old
daughter was driving and she swerved to avoid a car and the
car they were driving flipped injuring him and his daughter.
His young son was in the car but not injured. On September
3, 2010 he died of his injuries as a result of the accident
and all I could think about is how much that his untimely
death would have been a huge part of his act. RIP Robert
Schimmel 1/16/1950 to 9/3/2010.
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Long Island born Martin Chaddock has been writing and performing
stand up comedy for over 16 years. He has performed in venues
from New York to Los Angeles and produced several successful
comedy & music events. He was most recently directed by actor
Frank Vincent in a comedy short that was based on Mr. Vincent’s
character “Billy Batts” from the Academy Award winning
film “Goodfellas”. He resides in New York City
where he performs on a regular basis.
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