Flip Wilson

 Flip Wilson (December 8, 1933 – November 25, 1998)

In the early 1970s, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series, The Flip Wilson Show. The series earned Wilson a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards. During the 1960s, Wilson became a regular at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and was a favorite guest on The Tonight Show, Laugh-In, and The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1970, Wilson won a Grammy Award for his comedy album The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress. In 1970 Wilson's variety series, The Flip Wilson Show, debuted on NBC. He played host to many African-American entertainers, including The Jackson Five, and The Temptations and performed in comedy sketches. He greeted all his guests with the "Flip Wilson Handshake,": four hand slaps, two elbow bumps finishing with two hip-bumps. George Carlin was one of the show's writers, and Carlin also made frequent appearances on the show, as the two would expand Carlin's news-weather-sports satire. Wilson's characters included Reverend Leroy, materialistic pastor of the "Church of What’s Happening Now", and his most popular character, Geraldine Jones, who always referred to her boyfriend, "Killer", and whose line "The devil made me do it" became a national catchphrase. After The Flip Wilson Show ended its run, Wilson made guest appearances on numerous TV comedies and variety shows, such as Here's Lucy starring Lucille Ball and The Dean Martin Show among others. Ed Sullivan invited Wilson to perform several times on his popular Sunday night show, and Wilson later singled out Sullivan as providing his biggest career boost. Wilson acted in TV and theatrical movies including Uptown Saturday Night and The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh.

In 1976, he appeared as the Fox in a television musical adaptation of Pinocchio, starring Sandy Duncan in the title role and Danny Kaye as Mister Geppetto, with songs by Laugh-In composer Billy Barnes. Flip Wilson died of liver cancer at age 64 in 1998.