Michael O’Donoghue was a master of dark comedy – we’re talking black comedy – irreverent as comparing an NBC exec to Hitler on an SNL sketch. And he went dark on all kinds of hot button topics: corporate America, politics, sex, relationships, family. He helped found National Lampoon Magazine with other writers, then went on to be the controversial head writer from SNL – where he was eventually fired for going way over the edge with his sketches. He also wrote plays, graphic novels and short stories. No, following the rules was not his forte – which is how he became famous.
Also passing on this day in history: rapper Heavy D [real name Dwight Errington Myers], the Jamaican-American rap artist famed for his size, died at 44 in 2011 died of pulmonary embolism in 2011. Famed American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell (Saturday Evening Post covers), died at 84 in 1978.
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