Low comedy is a type of comedy characterized by "horseplay", slapstick or farce. Examples include somebody throwing a custard pie in another's face. This definition has also expanded to include lewd types of comedy that rely on physical jokes, for example, the wedgie.

History[link]

This type of comedy has been a fixture ever since Greek plays. Low comedy was first denoted as comedy for the commoners because it was most often practiced by street performers. Over time as low comedy began to include lewd jokes and more physical comedy, more mainstream performers began to practice this type of comedy: stand-up comedians, musicals, etc. This type of comedy also was employed in most children's cartoons.

Low comedy today[link]

Today low comedy can be seen in almost any production. Sitcoms often base most of their plot on this type of comedy. Modern adaptations of Shakespeare's plays also use low comedy to convey a different understanding of the play.

See also[link]

• Buffoon. A word for people who act (voluntarily or not) funny.
• Three Stooges, three comedic performers who used primarily slapstick humor.

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David Nicholas O'Doherty (born 18 December 1975 in Dublin, Ireland)^[1] is a Perrier Award winning Irish stand-up comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright. His stand-up has won two awards at the Edinburgh Fringe, Best Newcomer first of all and the if.comedy award in 2008 for his show Let's Comedy.^[2] He has been nominated twice more for his work at the festival. O'Doherty has also written a children's book, composed two plays and released two comedy CDs, the first of which Giggle Me Timbers (Jokes Ahoy) was recorded at his home in front of 35 people. O'Doherty's second more recent CD release called Let's David O'Doherty was recorded in Whelans of Dublin and released in December 2009. His television series The Modest Adventures of David O'Doherty was broadcast on RTÉ Television in 2007. In 2006 he claimed that it took him "about three years to get a decent hour together and seven years to achieve this level of fame where (he is) the number three ranked person called David O'Doherty on Google".^[3]

Style[link]

O'Doherty is well known for combining his comedic performance with tunes played on his miniature electronic keyboard. O'Doherty describes his own style of comedy in his song "FAQ for the DOD" as "very low energy musical whimsy" - or "VLEMWy," for short. This is an accurate summary as he delivers both his sung and spoken jokes with an extremely dry sarcasm. Most of his songs focus on unusual topics such as angry mathematicians, finding love (Orange) and advice on how to dislodge a badger from one's leg.^[4]

Comedic career[link]

O'Doherty worked in telemarketing and temping before he made his first stage appearance at Dublin's Comedy Cellar in 1998.^[5] His first full show was The Story of the Boy Who Saved Comedy which received a nomination for Perrier Best Newcomer when it was performed at Edinburgh Fringe. In 2006, he was nominated for an if.comedy award for his Edinburgh show, David O'Doherty Is My Name. O'Doherty has performed at festivals across the world in locations that include Melbourne, Montreal, New York and Wellington. He has toured Ireland with Tommy Tiernan, the United Kingdom with Rich Hall and the United States with Demetri Martin.^[6] His CD, Giggle Me Timbers (Jokes Ahoy!), was released on 21 December 2006 on Trust Me I'm A Thief Records ^[7] He performs an annual show at UCD's Freshers Week.^[8]

In August 2008, O'Doherty won the If.comedy award at the Edinburgh Fringe for his show Let's Comedy, which featured "a relationship in text messages, tunes played on a 3ft keyboard, and a badger attack".^[9] He was presented with the 2008 Intelligent Finance Comedy Award^[10] and a cheque for £8,000 (€10,000)^[11] by the previous winner Brendon Burns and the Australian author and television presenter Clive James. After his win O'Doherty returned to Ireland to perform at Electric Picnic 2008 and an October show at Vicar Street.^[12] In October and November 2008, O'Doherty toured Canada as part of the Just For Laughs Comedy Tour.^[13]

In May 2010, O'Doherty supported Flight of the Conchords for their sold out shows in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin.

Edinburgh Fringe shows[link]

Awards and nominations for stand-up comedy[link]

O'Doherty has been decorated with numerous awards for his achievements in comedy. In 1999, he won the Channel 4 So You Think You're Funny Comedy Competition at the Edinburgh Fringe and was also a finalist in the BBC New Comedy Awards in the same year.^[14] He has received the accolade of Hot Press Irish Comedian of the Year 2003.^{[citation needed]} O'Doherty's other achievements at the Edinburgh Fringe include two nominations (2000, 2006) and a win (2008). In 2000, he was nominated for Perrier Best Newcomer Award for his show, David O'Doherty: The Boy Who Saved Comedy^{[citation needed]} followed in 2006 by a nomination for The if.comeddie award for his show, David O'Doherty is My Name^{[citation needed]} He eventually won the if.comedy Award (formerly the Perrier Award) in 2008 for Let's Comedy.^[15] He was also nominated for the Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2006.^[16]

Television career[link]

In May 2007, O'Doherty's first TV series, The Modest Adventures of David O'Doherty, began airing on RTÉ Two. The six-part series was directed by John Carney, following the completion of his Academy Award-winning film Once.^[17] The premise of each episode was to have the comedian attempt to achieve a goal which he set for himself. The show features O'Doherty, his neighbour Bryan, and his friend Maeve Higgins. A running gag in the show is a reference to road racing cyclist Stephen Roche.

O'Doherty appeared on Comedy Live Presents: Russell Brand and Friends shown on Channel 4 on 25 January 2008.

On 18 November 2010, O'Doherty presented episode 5 of the 24th series of BBC2 music quiz Never Mind The Buzzcocks. He also wrote and presented the end-of-series compilation. O'Doherty had previously appeared on the show three times as a panellist.

In January 2011 he also hosted the 'Best of Series 24" Never Mind The Buzzcocks.^[19]

Radio appearances[link]

O'Doherty appeared on The Jon Richardson Show on BBC 6 Music on 23 November 2008 and on 8 November 2009.

Literary career[link]

O'Doherty has written widely for newspapers and magazines and also has two plays, two books and a radio series to his name. His debut book was a children's book entitled Ronan Long Gets It Wrong, written in 2001. It was illustrated by David Roberts and published by Mammoth Storybooks.^[20] His first play is entitled Saddled and was written with Bryan Quinn. It was claimed as "the world's first theatrical production to feature live repair of audience members' bicycles". In 2008, he and fellow Irish comedian Maeve Higgins performed "I Can't Sleep", a play recommended for children aged 5–8. This was O'Doherty's first play for children. The play, which involved the audience entering the theatre to find both performers asleep in separate beds, was performed in both Dublin and Edinburgh.^[21] He has also written a series for RTÉ Radio about bee detectives with his brother Mark, entitled The Bees of Manulla. O'Doherty recently released a book detailing 100 false facts about pandas called '100 Facts About Pandas' which is 100 false facts about pandas. He followed this up with '100 facts about Sharks' which is 100 false facts about sharks.

Filmography[link]

In 2008, O'Doherty starred alongside comedian Dylan Moran, Keith Allen and Neil Jordan in A Film With Me In It, a cinematic release written by and starring his brother Mark Doherty.^[22]

Discography[link]

O'Doherty also recorded a live album in Whelan's ^[23] which was released on CD through Comedyshop.ie and Road Records in December 2009. It's called Let's David O'Doherty ^[24]

Year	Title	Peak chart position
2007	"Orange"	#30
2009	[1] Let's David O'Doherty CD

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: David O'Doherty

• Official site
• David O'Doherty on Myspace
• David O'Doherty at the Internet Movie Database
• Modest Adventures at RTÉ
• RTÉ press release

Chortle reviews

1. David O'Doherty The Boy Who Saved Comedy
2. David O'Doherty: Small Things
3. David O'Doherty Creates Something New Under The Sun
4. David O'Doherty in World Champion Of Some Things
5. David O'Doherty: Grown Up
6. David O'Doherty Is My Name

William Melvin "Bill" Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material largely consisted of general discussions about society, religion, politics, philosophy, and personal issues. Hicks' material was often controversial and steeped in dark comedy. In both his stand-up performances and during interviews, he often criticized consumerism, superficiality, mediocrity, and banality within the media and popular culture, describing them as oppressive tools of the ruling class, meant to "keep people stupid and apathetic".^[1]

Hicks was 16 years old when he started performing stand-up comedy at the Comedy Workshop in Houston, Texas, in 1978. During the 1980s he toured the United States extensively and performed a number of high profile television appearances. It was in the UK, however, where Hicks first amassed a significant fan base, packing large venues with his 1991 tour.^[2] Hicks died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 at the age of 32. In the years after his death, his work and legacy achieved acclaim in creative circles. In 2007 he was voted the fourth-greatest stand-up comic on the UK's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups on Channel 4, and appeared again in the updated 2010 list as the fourth-greatest comic.^[3]

Early life[link]

Born in Valdosta, Georgia, Bill Hicks was the son of Jim and Mary (Reese) Hicks and had two elder siblings: sister Lynn and brother Steve. The family lived in Florida, Alabama, and New Jersey, before settling in Houston, Texas when Hicks was seven. He was raised in the Southern Baptist faith, where he first began performing as a comedian for other children at Sunday School.^[4]

Hicks was drawn to comedy at an early age, emulating Woody Allen and Richard Pryor, and writing routines with his friend Dwight Slade. Worried about his behavior, his parents took him to a psychoanalyst at age 17 but, according to Hicks, after one session the psychoanalyst informed him that "...it's them, not you."^[4]

His mother described Hicks's early interest in comedy on The Late Show with David Letterman on January 30, 2009:

He always said up until the time he got interested in comedy that he was going to Texas A&M to be a vet. He loved animals and that's what he wanted to do. And then he got interested in watching Johnny Carson and he read books about Woody Allen, so he got interested in that. He said that he saw Johnny Carson on TV and he thought, "You mean you can make a living doing that?" So he decided that's what he would do.^[5]

Career[link]

Beginnings[link]

Hicks graduated from Stratford High School in Houston and began touring in the early 1980s. After a few years of performing the same material, he felt that his act wasn't progressing. He wanted to push the boundaries of creativity as his idols Jimi Hendrix and Richard Pryor had done. At 21 years old, Hicks had never consumed alcohol, smoked cigarettes, or tried drugs. He began to experiment to see if intoxication was indeed the key to crossing the line.^[6]

Once Hicks gained some underground success in night clubs and universities, he quit drinking, realizing that it wasn't alcohol that made a great comic, but his ability to express a truth, even if it was an unpopular one.^[6] However, Hicks continued to smoke cigarettes. His nicotine addiction, love of smoking, and occasional attempts to quit became a recurring theme in his act throughout his later years.

California and New York[link]

In January 1986, Hicks found himself broke, having spent all his money on a variety of substances.^[7] His career soon received another upturn, though, as he appeared on Rodney Dangerfield's Young Comedians Special, in 1987. The same year, he moved to New York City, and, for the next 5 years, performed about 300 times a year.^{[citation needed]} On the album Relentless, he jokes that he quit using drugs because "once you've been taken aboard a UFO, it's kind of hard to top that", although in his performances, he continued to extol the virtues of LSD, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms.^[8] He fell back to chain-smoking,^[9] a theme that would figure heavily in his performances from then on.

In 1988, Hicks signed on with his first professional business manager, Jack Mondrus.^{[citation needed]} Throughout 1989, Mondrus worked to convince many clubs to book Hicks, promising that the wild drug- and alcohol-induced behavior was behind him. Among the club managers hiring the newly sober Hicks was Colleen McGarr, who would become his girlfriend and fiancée in later years.^{[citation needed]}

Hicks quit drinking in 1988, as stated in his 1990 album Dangerous on the first track, entitled "Modern Bummer".

In 1989 he released his first video, Sane Man.^[10] It was reissued in 2006.

Early fame[link]

In 1990, Hicks released his first album, Dangerous, performed on the HBO special One Night Stand, and performed at Montreal's Just for Laughs festival.^[11] He was also part of a group of American stand-up comedians performing in London's West End in November. Hicks was a huge hit in the UK and Ireland and continued touring there throughout 1991. That year, he returned to Just for Laughs and filmed his second video, Relentless.

Hicks made a brief detour into musical recording with the Marble Head Johnson album in 1992. During the same year he toured the UK, where he recorded the Revelations video.^[12] for Channel 4 He closed the show with his soon-to become-famous philosophy regarding life, "It's Just a Ride". Also in that tour he recorded the stand-up performance released in its entirety on a double CD titled Salvation. Hicks was voted "Hot Standup Comic" by Rolling Stone magazine in 1993. He moved to Los Angeles in 1992.^{[citation needed]}

Hicks and Tool[link]

The progressive metal band Tool invited Hicks to open a number of concerts in its 1992 Lollapalooza appearances, where Hicks once famously asked the audience to look for a contact lens he had lost. Thousands of people complied.^[13]

Members of Tool felt that they and Hicks "were resonating similar concepts".^[14] Intending to raise awareness about Hicks's material and ideas, Tool dedicated their triple-platinum^[15] album Ænima (1996) to Hicks. Both the lenticular casing of the Ænima album packaging as well as the chorus of the title track "Ænema" make reference to a sketch from Hicks' Arizona Bay album, in which he contemplates the idea of Los Angeles falling into the Pacific Ocean. Ænima's final track, "Third Eye" contains samples from Hicks' Dangerous and Relentless albums.^[14][16]

An alternate version of the Ænima artwork shows a painting of Bill Hicks, calling him "Another Dead Hero," and mentions of Hicks are found both in the liner notes and on the record.

Controversy[link]

Censorship and aftermath[link]

Hicks constantly faced problems with censorship. In 1984, Hicks was invited to appear on Late Night with David Letterman for the first time. He had a joke that he used frequently in comedy clubs about how he caused a serious accident that left a classmate using a wheelchair. NBC had a policy that no handicapped jokes could be aired on the show, making his stand-up routine difficult to perform without mentioning words such as "wheelchair".^[17]

On October 1, 1993, Hicks was scheduled to appear on Late Show with David Letterman, his 12th appearance on a Letterman late-night show, but his entire performance was removed from the broadcast—then the only occasion where a comedian's entire routine was cut after taping.^[18] Hicks' stand-up routine was removed from the show allegedly because Letterman and his producer were nervous about a religious joke ("if Jesus came back he might not want to see so many crosses"). Hicks said he believed it was due to a pro-life commercial aired during a commercial break.^[19] Both the show's producers and CBS denied responsibility. Hicks expressed his feelings of betrayal in a letter to John Lahr of The New Yorker.^[11][18] Although Letterman later expressed regret at the way Hicks had been handled, Hicks did not appear on the show again.^[18]

Hicks' mother, Mary, appeared on the January 30, 2009 episode of Late Show. Letterman played the routine in its entirety. Letterman took full responsibility for the original censorship and apologized to Mrs. Hicks. Letterman also declared he did not know what he was thinking when he pulled the routine from the original show in 1993, saying, "It says more about me as a guy than it says about Bill because there was absolutely nothing wrong with that."^[20][21]

Denis Leary[link]

For many years, Hicks was friends with fellow comedian Denis Leary. But in 1993 Hicks was angered by Leary's album No Cure for Cancer, which featured lines and subject matter similar to Hicks' routine.^[22] According to American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story by Cynthia True, upon hearing the album "Bill was furious. All these years, aside from the occasional jibe, he had pretty much shrugged off Leary's lifting. Comedians borrowed, stole stuff, and even bought bits from one another. Milton Berle and Robin Williams were famous for it. This was different. Leary had practically line for line taken huge chunks of Bill's act and recorded it."^[23]

The friendship ended abruptly as a result.^[24]

At least three stand-up comedians have gone on the record stating they believe Leary stole Hicks's material as well as his persona and attitude.^[25][26][27] In an interview, when Hicks was asked why he had quit smoking, he answered, "I just wanted to see if Denis would, too."^[28]

In another interview, Hicks said, "I have a scoop for you. I stole his [Leary's] act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and, to really throw people off, I did it before he did."^[29]

The controversy surrounding plagiarism is also mentioned in American Scream:

Leary was in Montreal hosting the "Nasty Show" at Club Soda, and Colleen [McGarr?] was coordinating the talent so she stood backstage and overheard Leary doing material incredibly similar to old Hicks riffs, including his perennial Jim Fixx joke: ("Keith Richards outlived Jim Fixx, the runner and health nut. The plot thickens."). When Leary came offstage, Colleen, more stunned than angry, said, "Hey, you know that's Bill Hicks' material! Do you know that's his material?" Leary stood there, stared at her without saying a word, and briskly left the dressing room.^[23]

During a 2003 Comedy Central roast of Denis Leary, comedian Lenny Clarke, a friend of Leary's, said there was a carton of cigarettes backstage from Bill Hicks with the message, "Wish I had gotten these to you sooner." This joke was cut from the final broadcast.^[30]

In a 2008 interview, Leary said, "It wouldn't have been an issue, I think, if Bill had lived. It's just that people look at a tragedy and they look at that circumstance and they go, oh, this must be how we can explain this."^[31]

Comic style[link]

Hicks' style was a play on his audience's emotions. He expressed anger, disgust, and apathy while addressing the audience in a casual and personal manner, which he likened to merely conversing with his friends. His material was less focused on the everyday banalities of life and placed greater emphasis on philosophical themes of existence. He would invite his audiences to challenge authority and the existential nature of "accepted truth." One such message, which he often used in his shows, was delivered in the style of a news report (in order to draw attention to the negative slant news organizations give to any story about drugs):

Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration—that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we're the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather.^[32]

Another of Hicks' most famous quotes was delivered during a gig in Chicago in 1989 (later released as the bootleg I'm Sorry, Folks). After a heckler repeatedly shouted "Free Bird", Hicks screamed that "Hitler had the right idea, he was just an underachiever!" Hicks followed this remark with a misanthropic tirade calling for unbiased genocide against the whole of humanity.^[33]

Much of Hicks' routine involved direct attacks on mainstream society, religion, politics, and consumerism. Asked in a BBC interview why he cannot do a routine that appeals "to everyone", he said that such an act was impossible. He responded by repeating a comment that an audience member once made to him, "We don't come to comedy to think!", to which he replied, "Gee! Where do you go to think? I'll meet you there!" In the same interview, he also said: "My way is half-way between: this is a night-club, and these are adults."^[34]

Hicks often discussed conspiracy theories in his performances, most notably the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He mocked the Warren Report and the official version of Lee Harvey Oswald as a "lone nut assassin." He also questioned the guilt of David Koresh and the Branch Davidian compound during the Waco Siege. Hicks would end some of his shows, especially those being recorded in front of larger audiences as albums, with a mock "assassination" of himself on stage, making gunshot sound effects into the microphone while falling to the ground.

Cancer diagnosis and death[link]

Hicks wrote, "On June 16, 1993 I was diagnosed with having 'liver cancer that had spread from the pancreas.'"^[35] He started receiving weekly chemotherapy, while still touring and also recording his album, Arizona Bay, with Kevin Booth. He was also working with comedian Fallon Woodland on a pilot episode of a new talk show, titled Counts of the Netherworld for Channel 4 at the time of his death. The budget and concept had been approved, and a pilot was filmed. The Counts of the Netherworld pilot was shown at the various Tenth Anniversary Tribute Night events around the world on February 26, 2004.

After being diagnosed with cancer, Hicks would often joke that any given performance would be his last. The public, however, was unaware of Hicks's condition. Only a few close friends and family members knew of his disease. Hicks performed the final show of his career at Caroline's in New York on January 6, 1994. He moved back to his parents' house in Little Rock, Arkansas, shortly thereafter. He called his friends to say goodbye, before he stopped speaking on February 14.^[36]

He spent time with his parents, playing them the music he loved and showing them documentaries about his interests. He died of side effects of his cancer treatment in the presence of his parents at 11:20pm on February 26, 1994. He was 32 years old.^{[37][not in citation given]}

Hicks was buried in the family plot in Leakesville, Mississippi.

On February 7, 1994, Hicks authored a verse on his perspective, wishes, and thanks of his life, to be released after his death as his "last word",^[35] ending with the words: "I left in love, in laughter, and in truth and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit."

Legacy[link]

Arizona Bay and Rant in E-Minor were released posthumously in 1997 on the Voices imprint of the Rykodisc label. Dangerous and Relentless were also re-released by Rykodisc on the same date.

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, fellow comedians and comedy insiders voted Hicks #13 on their list of "The Top 20 Greatest Comedy Acts Ever". Likewise, in "Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time" (2004), Hicks was ranked at #19. In March 2007, Channel 4 ran a poll, "The Top 100 Stand-Up Comedians of All Time", in which Hicks was voted #6. Channel 4 renewed this list in April 2010, which saw Hicks move up 2 places to #4.^[3]

Devotees of Hicks have incorporated his words, image, and attitude into their own creations. By means of audio sampling, fragments of Hicks' rants, diatribes, social criticisms, and philosophies have found their way into many musical works, such as the live version of Super Furry Animals' "Man Don't Give A Fuck". His influence on the band Tool is well-documented; he "appears" on the Fila Brazillia album Maim That Tune (1996) and on SPA's self titled album SPA (1997), which are both dedicated to Hicks; the British band Radiohead's second album The Bends (1995) is also dedicated to his memory.^{[citation needed]} Singer/songwriter Tom Waits listed Rant in E-Minor as one of his 20 most cherished albums of all time.^[38]

Contemporary comedians David Cross and Russell Brand have stated that they were inspired by Hicks.^[39][40]

The British actor Chas Early portrayed Hicks in the one-man stage show Bill Hicks: Slight Return, which premiered in 2004. The show was co-written by Chas Early and Richard Hurst, and imagined Hicks' view of the world 10 years after his death.

On February 25, 2004, British MP Stephen Pound tabled an early day motion titled "Anniversary of the Death of Bill Hicks" (EDM 678 of the 2003-04 session), the text of which reads:

That this House notes with sadness the 10th anniversary of the death of Bill Hicks, on 26th February 1994, at the age of 33 [sic]; recalls his assertion that his words would be a bullet in the heart of consumerism, capitalism and the American Dream; and mourns the passing of one of the few people who may be mentioned as being worth [sic] of inclusion with Lenny Bruce in any list of unflinching and painfully honest political philosophers.^[41]

Hicks appeared in a flashback scene in writer Garth Ennis' Vertigo comic-book series Preacher, in the story "Underworld" in issue #31 (Nov. 1997).^[42][43]

Film and documentary[link]

A documentary entitled American: The Bill Hicks Story, based on interviews with his family and friends, premiered on March 12, 2010, at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.^[44]

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bill Hicks

• Official website
• Sacred Cow Productions
• Bill Hicks Quotes
• Bill Hicks at the Internet Movie Database
• The subversive legacy of comic Bill Hicks, Salon.com
• Bill Hicks is Dead: Tribute and Biography, with related videos.

Further reading[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

Frankie Avalon
Avalon in 1976.
Born	Francis Thomas Avallone (1939-09-18) September 18, 1939 (age 72)[1] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Occupation	Singer, actor
Years active	1951–present
Spouse	Kathryn Diebel (m. 1963) «start: (1963)»"Marriage: Kathryn Diebel to Frankie Avalon" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Frankie_Avalon)

Frankie Avalon (born September 18, 1939)^[1] is an American actor, singer, playwright, and former teen idol.

Career[link]

By the time he was 12, Avalon was on U.S. television playing his trumpet. As a teenager he played with Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints. In 1959, "Venus" (5 weeks #1) and "Why" went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. "Why" was the last #1 of the 1950s. Avalon had 31 charted U.S. Billboard singles from 1958 to late 1962, including "Just Ask Your Heart" (U.S. #7), "I'll Wait For You" (U.S. #15), "Bobby Sox to Stockings" (U.S. #8), and "A Boy Without a Girl" (U.S. #10). Most of his hits were written and/or produced by Bob Marcucci, head of Chancellor Records.

Teamed frequently with Annette Funicello, Avalon starred in a number of popular "beach" comedy movies during the 1960s. The wholesome and romantic coupling of "Frankie and Annette" in summer movies such as Beach Party and Beach Blanket Bingo became iconic figures in American films during that era.

Avalon also had straight dramatic parts in the John Wayne historical western film The Alamo, as well as the science-fiction story Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) with Barbara Eden.^[2]

Materializing as a character called Teen Angel, his performance of "Beauty School Dropout" in the hit 1978 film of the musical Grease introduced Avalon to a new generation of viewers.

Avalon appeared in nearly two dozen TV episodes, including ABC's The Bing Crosby Show and The Patty Duke Show, appearing often as himself. Later, he became a national television spokesperson for Sonic Drive-In.In 1965 he appeared in the Combat! episode "Brother, Brother" as a childhood friend of Pfc.Kirby, played by Jack Hogan.

The 1980 film The Idolmaker, written by Ed Di Lorenzo and directed by Taylor Hackford, was a thinly-disguised biography of Avalon ("Tommy Dee" in the film) as well as 1950s teenage star Fabian (called "Caesare" in the film), along with songwriter/producer Bob Marcucci (called "Vinnie Vacarri"). In the movie, Dee clashes with the record producer and younger singer Caesare, who he feels threatens his career. Eventually, Dee and Caesare quit the label, but their record careers collapse just as the British Invasion begins. The real Fabian threatened a lawsuit, despite the filmmakers' insistence that the film presented only fictional characters (though Marcucci was a paid consultant). Avalon denied most of the movie's events.

Avalon married Kathryn Diebel on January 19, 1963. She was a former beauty pageant winner, and Avalon met her while playing cards at a friend's house. He told his friend that Kay was the girl he was going to marry. His agent warned Avalon that marriage would spoil his teen idol mystique. Still together, they have eight children - Frankie Jr., Tony, Dina, Laura, Joseph, Nicolas, Kathryn and Carla. They have 10 grandchildren. Frankie Jr. is a drummer and Tony, the second oldest son, plays guitar and teaches at the Rock Nation School. Both sons play on tour with their father.

In 1987 Avalon and Annette Funicello returned to movies with Back to the Beach. In 1989 they also appeared as themselves in cameo roles out jogging the streets in Troop Beverly Hills. Not long afterwards, Funicello was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and retired.

Afterwards, Avalon turned to marketing and created Frankie Avalon Products, a line of health and cosmetic aids. Avalon promotes his products on the Home Shopping Network with host Bob Circosta.

He made a cameo appearance as himself with Robert DeNiro in the 1995 film, Casino.

In recent years, Avalon has starred in stage productions of Grease in the role of Teen Angel and Tony n' Tina's Wedding as a caricature of himself. Additionally, in 2007, he performed "Beauty School Dropout" with the four remaining female contenders (Kathleen Monteleone, Allie Schulz, Ashley Spencer, and winner Laura Osnes) for the role of Sandy on the NBC television reality show Grease: You're the One that I Want!

On April 8, 2009, he performed on American Idol.

Chart hits: 1958-1960[link]

• "Trumpet Sorrento" (1954 instrumental, X label)
• "De De Dinah" (Chancellor 1011) #7 1958
• "You Excite Me" (Chancellor 1016) #49 1958
• "Gingerbread" (Chancellor 1021) #9 1958; #30 UK
• "I'll Wait For You" (Chancellor 1026 #15 (B-side "What Little Girl" reached #79) 1958
• "Venus" (Chancellor 1031) #1 1959; #16 UK
• "Bobby Sox to Stockings" (Chancellor 1036) #8 (B-side "A Boy Without A Girl" reached #10) 1959
• "Just Ask Your Heart" (Chancellor 1040) #7 (B-side "Two Fools" reached #54) 1959
• "Why" (Chancellor 1045) #1 (B-side "Swingin' On A Rainbow" reached #39); 20 UK 1959
• "Don't Throw Away All Those Teardrops" (Chancellor 1048) #22; #37 UK 1960
• "Where Are You" (Chancellor 1052) #32 (B-side "Tuxedo Junction" reached #82) 1960
• "Togetherness" (Chancellor 1056) #26 (B-side "Don't Let Love Pass Me By" reached #85) 1960
• "A Perfect Love" (Chancellor 1065) #47 (B-side "The Puppet Song" reached #56) 1960^[3]

In 1999, Frankie Avalon released a double compilation of various artists labeled Frankie Avalon's Good Guys.^[4]

Legacy[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2011)

He was mentioned in the System of a Down song "Old School Hollywood". The song supposedly is about Daron Malakian's experience in a celebrity baseball game, where he and Avalon were both ignored.^{[citation needed]}

Avalon is also mentioned in "It Takes Two", a song from the hit musical Hairspray, sung by the character Link Larkin, and in a song by the Wu Tang Clan called "The City" which refers to his experiences of being a big part of the beach party film genre ("Ride the wave like Frankie Avalon").

One of numerous obscure cultural references present in Midway's video game Mortal Kombat 3 was a lo-res image of Frankie Avalon's face that would dart up in the lower right-hand corner of the screen when Goro killed his opponent by knocking him into the spike pit on the Bridge level.

His song "Venus" was featured in Cranium Command (1989–2005), an attraction at Epcot's Wonders of Life Pavilion (now closed) at Walt Disney World. In the attraction, a 12-year-old boy named Bobby (Scott Curtis), tries to survive the pressures of life and falls in love with a beautiful girl named Annie (Natalie Gregory) at school.

He and his song "Venus" are mentioned in Wendy Wasserstein's 2005 play Third. The main character, English professor Laurie Jameson, watches a PBS reunion show featuring Avalon singing the song, and sings a line of it to her daughter. In stage productions of the show, part of the song is played and a portion of the supposed PBS special is screened as part of the scenery.

He is also mentioned in Adam Sandler's 2008 comedy, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, for his haircut, which the Zohan (Sandler's character) thinks is the latest hairdo.

He is also numerously referenced in the 1994 film, The Stöned Age, in which he makes an ending scene cameo appearance.

His song "Venus" additionally appeared in season 4 of the TV series Dexter in which John Lithgow's character, Arthur Mitchell, plays it to remember his deceased sister.

Filmography[link]

• Jamboree (1957)
• Alakazam the Great (1960) (voice in English dub)
• Guns of the Timberland (1960)
• The Alamo (1960)
• Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)
• Sail a Crooked Ship (1961)
• Panic in Year Zero! (1962)
• Operation Bikini (1963)
• The Castilian (1963)
• The Eleventh Hour as Larry Thatcher in episode entitled "A Tumble from a High White House" (1963)
• Drums of Africa (1963)
• Beach Party (1963)
• Muscle Beach Party (1964)
• Bikini Beach (1964)
• Pajama Party (1964)
• Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
• I'll Take Sweden (1965)
• Ski Party (1965)
• How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)
• Sergeant Dead Head (1965)
• Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965)
• Fireball 500 (1966)
• The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
• Skidoo (1968)
• The Haunted House of Horror (1969)
• The Take (1974)
• Grease (1978)
• Blood Song (1982)
• Back to the Beach (1987)
• Troop Beverly Hills (1989)
• Twist (1992) (documentary)
• The Stoned Age (1994)
• Casino (1995)
• Charlie Gracie Fabulous (2007) (documentary)
• The Wages of Spin (2007) (documentary)
• Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007) (documentary)
• Ikki Goes Hawaiian (2016) - (voice in English dub)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Frankie Avalon Official Website
• Frankie Avalon at the Internet Movie Database
• Frankie Avalon at AllRovi
• Frankie Avalon images, from Google image search
• Frankie Avalon at AllMusic.com
• Film Reference bio

Ris Low (Chinese: 刘依敏) was crowned Miss Singapore World 2009 on 31 July 2009.^[1] She stepped down on 29 September 2009 after her previous credit fraud case was revealed.^[2][3] She is currently taking up a diploma in Health Science, Hospitality and a diploma in Nursing at the Management Development Institute of Singapore.^[4]

Low was ranked as one of the 25 most influential people or groups in Asia in 2009 by a division of the United States news network CNN.^[5] She was also being appointed as a condom ambassador, to raise awareness about safe sex.^[6]

Miss Singapore World[link]

Crowning[link]

Low participated in Miss Singapore World 2009 and was crowned Miss Singapore World on 31 July 2009. In addition to winning the crown, she was also named the following: Miss Community Ambassadress 2009, Miss Lumiere Ambassadress 2009, Miss Best Dressed 2009, Miss Dazzling Eyes 2009, Miss Photogenic 2009, Miss Crowning Glory 2009, and Miss Best in Catwalk 2009.^[7]

Low has been criticized for her English-language skills. The organiser of the Singapore franchise of the Miss World beauty pageant, ERM World Marketing, defended Low's winning of the crown. A representative said that Low had performed excellently throughout the competition and won eight special awards. The representative also claimed that a one-off fashion interview had misled the public into believing she spoke English poorly. During the final competition, "[Low] spoke perfectly good English, had a good answer, and performed very well to impress the eleven judges that she was good enough to win."^[3]

Credit fraud[link]

On 25 September 2009, it was revealed that she had been convicted of credit card fraud in May 2009, and was sentenced to two years' probation. She faced five charges of misappropriation, cheating using illegally obtained credit cards, and impersonating their users' identities prior to winning the title of Miss Singapore World 2009.^[8] Low claimed she was unaware of the fact that she needed to declare the offense, and only declared it two months after the pageant when she was required to sign a contract. Legal issues may be involved if Low needs to travel, and she may have her title revoked. ERM World Marketing declined to comment on the issue, although an employee was quoted to have said "Singaporeans did not pay for (Ris Low)" when asked if Ris would keep her crown.^[9]

Stepping down[link]

After initially resisting calls to give up her crown, Low voluntarily stepped down on 29 September 2009. She felt that it would be better for everyone and that giving up the crown was the best choice she could make. ERM said it would interview a new representative to represent Singapore at Miss World 2009,^[2] and appointed the runner-up Pilar Arlando.

Career outside of pageant[link]

Business Venture[link]

In December 2009, the 19-year-old began looking for sponsors for brand new three-in-one beauty pageant for Singapore. She had started to send out email messages to potential sponsors, such as malls and event organisers, spelling out details for the proposed event in the middle of 2010. The selling point, she wrote, is that three winners will be crowned at the same event – Miss Singapore, Mr Singapore and Mrs Singapore.^[10]

Radio DJ[link]

From the 29 to 31 March 2010, local radio station 987FM announced that they would put Low as a DJ on the Shan and Rozz show. There was a big outcry, both towards the radio station's decision as well as Low's poor English during the show. In the end, the station announced that it was an April Fools' Day joke publicising Burger King's new burger, the Angry Whopper.^[11]

Personal life[link]

Bipolar disorder[link]

On 26 September 2009, Ris Low revealed to The Straits Times in a phone interview that she has bipolar disorder.^[9] In a subsequent interview published by The Sunday Times, she revealed that she got her bipolar disorder officially diagnosed after heeding a suggestion by her lawyer to get a medical check up in the hopes of distancing herself from her wrong doings. She said it requires medication and psychiatric visits. She revealed that she has had the urge to steal since young and stole Pokemon cards once in Primary One. The act provided her with a sense of achievement: "that you've done something and you got away with it." Her mother detected the problem when she noticed the growing collection of toys and taught her to count to ten and walk away when faced with the urge.^[12]

Molestation incident[link]

On 17 March 2010, Low claimed that a stranger pulled down her tube top and groped her breast.^[13] Although she has since filed a police report, the incident was met with skepticism by netizens, and many believed it was a publicity stunt.^[14]

References[link]