Help us choose and improve next week's Connection Finder profiles: Comedians [closed]

Question

Bob Saget, famous for hosting "America's Funniest Home Videos" and for the role of Danny Tanner in "Full House", passed away earlier this week. We're featuring him next week in the Connection Finder along with other comedians.

Here's who we're getting started on:

• Bob Hope
• George Carlin (needs connected)
• Anne Meara (needs connected)

Can you help with these profiles, or expand their families? Adding relatives in any direction helps with connections. Every missing relative you add will make our connections to them closer.

Who else should we feature? Do they need a profile?

All profiles we feature need a good biography and a connection to the big tree. We also want each one to have an image, and the image needs to have proper source attribution explaining why it's in the public domain or why we have the right to display it.

We can't feature everyone mentioned (we only have room for eleven per week), but if we don't feature a profile you work on, we may use it sometime in the future. And, of course, all contributions help improve our shared tree.

We'll make a final decision on which ones to feature early next week.

Please reply here with what you're working on so that we don't duplicate our efforts. Thank you!

To help us plan future themes, see the 2022 Example Profile Plans post here.

Answer 1

John Cleese (connected)

Joan Rivers (not connected)

Minnie Pearl (connected)

Totie Fields (profile created; no connection

Andy Kaufman (no profile yet)

Comments

Phyllis Diller - has pic, has bio, is Connected.

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Whoopi Goldberg - Living - has pic, is Connected, basic bio.

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I can't tell if Bradley-14831 is living Notable Marla Gibbs, but if it is, she'd be good to include if she's Connected.

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Thanks, Natalie and Melanie.

Melanie, yes, that is Marla, but she isn't connected.

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Oh, well, too late for this week now anyway.

Maybe as a Living Notable her profile could be opened for collaboration and we could get her Connected for a future feature.

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Has this ship sailed? I think I can connect Totie Fields through her husband, also an entertainer.

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I think Abby's already finalised the list.  (At least she's posted on a number of profiles that they've been selected.)

BUT, go ahead and Connect away.  There's always another theme to come (Women's day/week/month).

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I think I have a break in the chain and will need to find a different path.

Answer 2

Bob Hope - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hope-152 - connected

Flip Wilson - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wilson-80165 - has a profile but not connected

Pat Paulsen - does not seem to have a profile though

Comments

P.S. My personal favorite is Tom Lehrer, who hasn't done anything in long time but is still alive and probably unprofiled.  He was absolutely hysterical.

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I created a tree for Lehrer on another site a couple years back- I'd be delighted to move it over to WT & see if he can be connected. Might have to work on that in a little bit

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Love Tom Lehrer! Dr. Demento used to play his music.

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I've set up a profile for Tom & his parents. Going to add some other relatives soon & get the Notables Project set up as manager so they can make the profile visible. However, I'm not the best at bio writing, nor do I think I'll have much time for it in the next few days. If either of you, or anyone else, would be interested in typing up a biography more substantial than the one line of overview I put on there, please do!

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Oh, & though Tom's not visible yet (he's at Lehrer-264), his father's profile can be found here if anyone comes along who wants to work on tree improvement & expansion.

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Yes please

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Thanks, Thomas and Roger.

Answer 3

Victoria Wood - English - has pic, is Connected, bio could do with some expansion.

Comments

Thanks, Melanie.

Answer 4

First person who came to mind is Lenny Bruce. He is connected & has photo & biography, though the bio could be expanded a little.

Another suggestion would be Graham Chapman, whose 81st birthday would have been this past Saturday. His profile looks ready to go!

Oh, & after he died in October, I set up a simple tree for Mort Sahl. He could do with a larger biography, & still needs to be connected, though I'm not sure I'll have time to work on that just now, so if anyone else is so inclined...

I'll probably have more ideas later.

Comments

I know who needs to be on our list- Victor Borge! Has photo, biography, & is connected!

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I'll add my vote for Graham Chapman, along with any other members of the Monty Python crew who have connected profiles.

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Thanks, Thomas.

Answer 5

Bill Hicks (for my cousin Mike) William Melvin Hicks (16 December 1961 - 26 February 1994)

I second Andy Kaufman, Anne Meara, Lenny Bruce and George Carlin!!!

Comments

Thanks, Lisa.

Answer 6

I can't believe this guy isn't in the mix Charlie Chaplin, connected, 

and another Norman Wisdom not connected does not even have Parents! 

George Formby (Probably the most famous Ukulele Player) connected bio could do with some work.

Eric Morecambe connected and Ernie Wise connected bio could do with improvement and a picture.

Three Stooges Moe not connected, Larry not connected, Shemp not connected needs picture, Curly not connected.

Laurel connected could do with some work marriages with no locations. and Hardy

There is so many! The Carry on Stars ? 

 Benny Hill connected and Benny's favourite comedian ;Jack Benny

Comments

I looked at the Carry On stars, but they were actors, not comedians, even though they acted in comedic movies.  (Maybe we could nominate that as a future theme!)

Stan Laurel still sports the "I was an EPOW feature" image.  Hardy was featured in July last year.

You could post to the Stooges profiles that you've nominated them for inclusion, and see if anyone can get them Connected before Monday.

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Good point with the Comedy ACTORS, I think a lot of British Comedy Actors started out in Vaudeville so it was a natural progression. I've added Norman's Mother got a sticking point though with her date of Birth   

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I saw you'd added his Mum!  (I used to love watching Norman.  I guess that dates me. )

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Some Comedy is timeless - One of my favourites as a Child was George Formby. Found out years later My Grandfather knew him! Not sure how well but he helped him move to Lytham St Annes (My Granddad was a Farmer not a removal man lol)

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Norman's mother lived with, and eventually married (in 1954), Sydney J Poulton (of the 1939 Register).  If we can't find more info on her line leading to a Connection, maybe we could use Sydney?  (I cannot find anything definite on his (Norman's) dad, as there are just too many men named "Frederick Wisdom" of the right age -- including a very tempting one named Frederick Norman Wisdom.)

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The Father I was looking at (I'll need to check) was still alive even though she claimed to be a Widow in 1939. I was reading that Norman didn't have a very nice childhood so maybe they had 'Separated'

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Yeah, that "widowhood" wasn't — which is why she and Poulton didn't marry until 1954.  (She was claiming to be "married" to him when Norman was 15 or so.  He — Poulton — was supposedly quite wealthy, although that might have been relative to Norman's extreme poverty at the time.  (He was sleeping rough and stealing to eat.))

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Just had to amend Familysearch the Frederick I was looking at was attached to one born Preston, Lancashire though it clearly states Paddington on all Census Returns. Frederick Wisdom I will now look at your suggestion. 

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sorry I missed this when I added my comment about Norman Wisdom, couldn't believe he wasn't connected, great lists you have there Heather guess that dates us all :D

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Now connected Norman Wisdom through his Grandmother's Step Child John Hogg Or his Step Uncle or Mothers Step Brother bit of a round about route but kept coming to dead ends, Census from 1851 then next good hit in 1881. Twenty year gap is to big for me  I will keep looking for other links   

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Yay!!   

(Roundabout or not, a Connection is still a Connection.  Tightening it up can be done over time.)

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Thanks, Melanie and Heather.

Answer 7

Has anyone suggested John Clarke yet? He is connected and there is a picture, but he needs a biography. 

Comments

Thanks, Gillian.

Answer 8

Robin Williams Williams-6476

Also, I've just discovered, a distant cousins of mine (Thank you relationship finder)

Comments

I came here to post Robin.

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Thanks, Matthew.

Answer 9

From Sweden: Gösta Ekman, ready to go.

Comments

Thanks, Eva.

Answer 10

I am a 4th cousin of Bob Hope and in the past few months have been developing his family tree backwards in order to connect it to my - currently undeveloped! - tree.

I've updated and improved biographies for Bob Hope's paternal Grandfather James Alfred English Hope (1843-1943) and, crucially, James's mother Mary (Hopes) Hunt (1825-1897) through whom the Hope surname was passed on. Until my research confirmed her identity there was some uncertainty about who she was because in her younger life she preferred variants of Elizabeth to her birth name, Mary. I have also added profiles for her father George Stephen Hopes (1797-1855), her mother Anne (Hendy) Hopes (1800-1832) and her father's second wife Keziah (Hendy) Hopes (1815-1874). Doing these has identified many siblings across the generations, each of whose profiles could do with developing.

I believe I can also take the tree back three more generations in the eighteenth century and will add the profiles as soon as I can.

UPDATE 18 January, I've now added the next generation back, and profiles for their 12 children, This is where my tree connects with Bob Hope's.

Comments

Thanks, Steve.

Answer 11

Sir Norman Wisdom OBE (not connected) could do with a little love for all the laughs he gave us 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Wisdom

Comments

We're already discussing Norman beneath Heather's answer.  Come and join us!

(edited to extend comment)

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Thanks Melanie I'd missed that discussion doh!! 

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It just shows that "great minds think alike".  

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Thanks, Claire.

Answer 12

May I suggest John Clarke, a really funny Antipodean satirist. He is connected. I didn’t see that Gillian had already suggested him, sorry.

Comments

I always think of Footrot Flats when I see this guy.

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I didn’t see that Gillian had already suggested him, sorry.

edited 3 hours ago by Fiona McMichael

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The more the merrier, as the saying goes.  It just shows more than one person thinks he is worthy of inclusion! 

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All good! He deserves two nominations :-) Needs a bit of work on his bio if anyone is inspired. Otherwise he's on our radar now!

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Thanks, Fiona.

If any of you ladies want to expand his bio some, I'd sure appreciate it!

Answer 13

I'd be amiss not suggesting Australian father and / or son, George 'Onkus' Wallace (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wallace-19391) and George Wallace Junior (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wallace-19392). Couldn't stop laughing. Yet to be connected.

Comments

Now connected. Will display tomorrow.

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Thanks, Kenneth.

Answer 14

Bruce Forsythe - UK Comedian - Profile IS connected

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Johnson-60522..

Comments

Thanks, Robynne.

Answer 15

 - I wish to propose Graham Cyril Kennedy AO - an Aussie , leading into Australia Day , 26th January - - -

Graham was born in 1934, the son of Cyril William "Syd" and Mary Austen "Molly" (nee Scott) Kennedy. He grew up in Balaclava (officially known as East St. Kilda). His childhood was spent at 32 Nelson Street, where the City of Port Phillip has honoured his memory with a plaque.

 - Has photo - cheers.

Comments

Thanks John! Great nomination :-)

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Thanks, John.

Answer 16

If you're going to have Bob Saget, then you must list Don Rickles They were friends.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rickles-14

Comments

Thanks, Judi.

Answer 17

Barry Humphries - Australian Living Notable.  Has pic, has bio, is Connected (should show as such after the next system update).

Comments

Excellent, thanks Melanie!

Answer 18

For a non-anglophone comedian, how about Louis de Funès ?

Answer 19

Probably the best living “stand up” in the world, Sir William (Billy) Connolly CBE, (Connolly-1209) who has a biography that needs a huge amount of work!

Answer 20

How about  Gilda Radner?