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PODCAST

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies

14th Street Studios | Michael Osborne

We explore the lives of notable people and asks what their stories can teach us about ourselves. It’s part obituary podcast, part biography, and part existential detective work.Think you know everything about some of modern history’s most recognizable figures? We’re Amit and Michael, two pop culture enthusiasts who upend your assumptions about the iconic and the famous. Because that’s where you find the “gravy” – the rich, flavorful sauce that brings out the best parts of the dish that is

history

All Episodes

69:13

What About Bob (Bob Dole)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2023/04/19

This person died 2021, age 98. He was a star athlete who lettered in football, basketball and track. He came home from the war in Europe in a body cast, mostly paralyzed, and spent 39 months under intense care. He was a key figure behind the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. He starred in commercials for Visa in 1997, Viagra in 1998, and for Pepsi in 2001. During the 1996 presidential election, he often lapsed into legislative lingo and referred to himself in the third person

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79:10

Proud Mary (Mary Tyler Moore)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2023/04/05

This person died in 2017 at age 80. At age 17, she was hired to appear in a series of commercials for Hotpoint appliances. In 1980 she won a Golden Globe, and she was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1984, She entered the Betty Ford Center for treatment. She was a key inspiration for forming the character of Liz Lemon – the television writer portrayed by Tina Fey on the sitcom “30 Rock.” Her 1970s self-titled TV show was a balm to widespread anxieties about women in the workforce. Her character

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72:45

Love and OJ Jokes (Norm Macdonald)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2023/03/22

This person died in 2021, age 61. His brother Neil once told a reporter that he almost joined the newspaper business as a young man, but that he had deliberately botched an interview. By 1984, he spent four months opening for the comedian Sam Kinison. His sense of humor sometimes got him in hot water. A 2018 article about him said “The dedicated fan will identify two patterns in his television work: It is invariably funny, and it is invariably canceled.” He became familiar to millions as the Weekend

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88:21

Rebel Rebel (David Bowie)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2023/03/08

This person died 2016, age 69. He suffered a blow in a teenage brawl that caused his left pupil to be permanently dilated. He experimented with startling transformations, often playing up an androgynous image. In the 1980s he had a Broadway run in the demanding title role of “The Elephant Man.” His son is a director best known for the 2009 film “Moon” starring Sam Rockwell. He was the Thin White Duke, Aladdin Sane, Major Tom, and Ziggy Stardust. Today’s dead celebrity is David Bowie. Famous & Gravy

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70:36

Inner Soprano (James Gandolfini)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2023/02/22

This person died in 2013. His father was an immigrant who held a number of jobs, including janitor, bricklayer and mason. His mother was a high school cafeteria chef. He attended Rutgers University, graduating with a degree in communications. He drove a delivery truck, managed nightclubs and tended bar in Manhattan before becoming interested in acting at age 25. Throughout the 90s he had an impressive list of character-acting credits, but he was largely unknown until David Chase cast him in the role

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70:02

Poetic Justice (Maya Angelou)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2023/02/08

This person died in 2014 at age 86. She was a Tony-nominated stage actress, and a calypso dancer for a period of time.. In 2011 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was a college professor and a ubiquitous presence on the lecture circuit, and also made several appearances on Sesame Street. Throughout her writing, she explored the concepts of personal identity and resilience through the multifaceted lens of race, sex, family, community and the collective past. In 1969 she published

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69:46

Game Changer (John Madden)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2023/01/25

This person died in 2021, age 85. He had an irrepressible way, and a distinctive voice. Fox snagged him in the mid-1990s to establish credibility. His Electronic Arts video game evolved into a cultural phenomenon. His influence, steeped in everyman sensibilities, made the NFL. more interesting, more relevant and more fun for over 40 years. Today’s dead celebrity is John Madden. Famous & Gravy is created and co-hosted by Amit Kapoor and Michael Osborne. This episode was produced by Jacob Weiss. For

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73:31

Viva Bojangles (Jerry Jeff Walker)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2023/01/11

This person died in 2020, age 78. He grew up in Oneonta, New York. He began his career in the 1960s, hitchhiking and busking around the country before establishing himself in Greenwich Village. Mainstream radio programmers didn’t play his music, perhaps because of his gruff, braying singing voice and his reputation for being intoxicated onstage. He became a mainstay of the Texas Outlaw movement that catapulted Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings to fame, years after his best known composition, Mr

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71:14

Eve's Dropper (Dick Clark)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/12/28

This person died 2012, age 82. He was among the most recognizable faces in the world. He built an entertainment empire, which expanded into game shows, awards shows, comedy specials, talk shows, children’s programming, reality programming, and movies. His signature show had remarkable longevity and became a cultural touchstone for the baby-boomer generation. He was the perpetually youthful-looking television host of American Bandstand and New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. Today’s dead celebrity is Dick

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68:09

Super Funkhouser (Bob Einstein)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/12/14

This person died in 2019, age 76. In 1958 when he was 14, his father died immediately after performing a roast for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. His dry delivery piqued the interest of Tom Smothers, who offered him a job on the “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” His younger brother is the renowned comedian and filmmaker Albert Brooks. His most famous character was a witless, deadpan parody of bravado-fueled stuntmen. He played Larry Middleman on “Arrested Development” and Marty Funkhouser on “Curb

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67:08

A Lovely Lady (Florence Henderson)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/11/30

This person died 2016, age 82. She starred in “Fanny” on Broadway in the mid-1950s, and did national tours of “Oklahoma!” and “The Sound of Music”. In 1966, she was one of the first women to guest host “The Tonight Show”. She was in Bobcat Goldthwait’s “Shakes the Clown”, in which she played an unnamed woman who has a one-night stand with the title character. She starred in an upbeat, globally syndicated TV comedy as Carol Brady, a woman with three daughters who marries a widower who has three sons

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63:24

Just a Friend (Biz Markie)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/11/16

This person died 2021 age 57. He appeared regularly on the Nickelodeon show “Yo Gabba Gabba!” He collaborated with artists such as the Beastie Boys and Will Smith, and appeared in the movie “Men in Black II,” in which he played an alien disguised as a postal worker who communicates via beatboxing. He was known as the “clown prince of hip-hop” for his playful style and joyous charm, and he had his first and only Top 10 hit with “Just a Friend.” Today’s dead celebrity is Marcel Theo Hall, better known

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70:36

Singing Mailman (John Prine)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/11/09

This person died in 2020, age 73. He was a relative unknown in 1970 when first Kris Kristofferson heard him play one night at a Chicago club. Roger Ebert, the film critic, wrote an early review of him with the headline “Singing Mailman Who Delivers a Powerful Message in a Few Words.” He won a Grammy for best new artist in 1972, and again in 2020 for Lifetime Achievement. He died of coronavirus. Today’s dead celebrity is John Prine. This episode originally published May 4, 2022. Famous & Gravy is

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67:26

Likable Villain (Alan Rickman)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/11/02

This person died in 2016, age 69. In an acting career of more than 40 years he played a panoply of characters. He had his early successes in stage works involving the Royal Shakespeare Company. Though he was never nominated for an Academy Award, he shrugged off the value of awards in general. He gained a worldwide audience in “Die Hard,” playing Hans Gruber, the devious, well-spoken terrorist who took over of the fictional Nakatomi Plaza. Today’s dead celebrity is Alan Rickman. Famous & Gravy is

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63:19

Zombie Mastermind (George Romero)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/10/30

This person died in 2017, age 77. One of his early commercial films was a segment for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. His first movie, made for $100k, was released when racial tensions were high in the United States. Of his creations, he said “they are multipurpose, you can’t really get angry at them, they have no hidden agendas, they are what they are. I sympathize with them.” He was a horror visionary who created the modern zombie genre with his 1968 cult film, “Night of the Living Dead,” Today’s

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64:04

October Error (Bill Buckner)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/10/19

This person died in 2019, age 69. His father died when he was a teenager, and his mother was a stenographer for the California Highway Patrol. During his two decades in the major leagues, he amassed 2,715 hits, won a batting title, and twice led the league in doubles. When he retired, he moved with his family to a ranch in Meridian, Idaho. His long, solid career was overshadowed by a crushing error that cost the Boston Red Sox Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets. Today’s dead

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63:52

Hot Stuff (Donna Summer)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/10/05

This person died in 2012, age 63. She grew up singing in church and decided in her teens to make music her career. In the late 1960s she joined the Munich company of the rock musical “Hair” and relocated to Germany. Her voice sailed over dance floors and leapt from radios from the mid-’70s well into the ’80s. Her music was a template for 1970s disco. Her hits include “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls”, and “She Works Hard for the Money”. Today’s dead celebrity is Donna Summer. Famous & Gravy is created and

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64:06

The Greatest (Muhammad Ali)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/09/21

This person died in 2016, age 74. He had an agile mind, a buoyant personality, and a brash self-confidence. He was politically and socially idiosyncratic. He was never taught to read properly; years later he confided that he had never read a book, including the ones on which he collaborated. He had Parkinson’s disease for more than 30 years. He was the most thrilling if not the best heavyweight ever, with a boxing style that fused speed, agility and power. Today’s dead celebrity is Muhammad

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61:32

Rain Man Judge (Judge Joseph Wapner)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/09/07

This person died in 2017, age 97. He graduated in 1937 from Hollywood High School, where he briefly dated the future film actress Lana Turner. The full measure of his celebrity was not realized until 1981. He let millions of viewers know that no matter how seemingly insignificant their legal disputes, they, too, were entitled to their day in court. He sat on the bench of the syndicated television show “The People’s Court.” Today’s dead celebrity is Judge Joseph Wapner. Famous & Gravy is created and

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73:13

Zen Comedian (Garry Shandling)

Famous and Gravy: Dead celebrity biographies ·

2022/08/24

This person died 2016, age 66. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Arizona. He began his comedy career as a writer and went on to become one of the most successful stand-up comics of the 1980s. He had frequently substituted for Johnny Carson as the “Tonight Show” host. His show was often cited as a groundbreaking precursor to shows like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “30 Rock.” He was best known for “The Larry Sanders Show,” a dark look at life behind the scenes of a late-night talk

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129 results

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