Jonathan Winters, 1925–2013

The comic who thrived on improvisation

Fearless comedic improviser Jonathan Winters could conjure up hilarious routines off the cuff, often by calling on a range of wacky characters, from sharp-tongued grandma Maude Frickert to no-nonsense football coach Piggy Bladder. Jack Paar, who gave Winters his big break on his 1950s chat show, once said, “If you ask me who are the funniest 25 people I know, I would say, ‘Here they are: Jonathan Winters.’”

Born in Dayton, Ohio, Winters was a lonely child who spent hours in his room talking to himself and creating a “repertory of sound effects,” said The New York Times. After serving as a Marine gunner on an aircraft carrier in World War II, he won a talent contest in 1949, which led to a job as a morning disc jockey on an Ohio radio station. “He made up for his inability to attract guests by inventing them,” pretending for example to be an Englishman whose blimp had crashed in Dayton. In 1953 he headed for New York, and was soon making regular appearances on shows hosted by Paar and Steve Allen. By 1956 he was showing off his “gallery of characters” on his own NBC variety show.

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