Gallagher Dies: Watermelon-Smashing Comic Was 76
deadline.comGallagher, the prop comic famous for smashing watermelons onstage and drenching up-close crowd members, died today of organ failure at his Palm Springs home, a family member told NBC News.
He was 76. Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr. had been in ill health and suffered multiple heart attacks, his son-in-law told the outlet.
Thriving during the late ’80s/early-’90s Golden Era of stand-up comedy, Gallagher was a prop comic whose signature bit was deploying the “Sledge-O-Matic” — a sledgehammer-like wooden mallet he used to pulverize watermelons and other items.
Audience members in the front rows were given the option to wear see-through plastic wraps to avoid the gooey mess. Often sporting his trademark Tam o’Shanter lid and madcap grin, he appeared in dozens of TV specials from 1980-2000 — many for Showtime — and on talk/variety shows including many visits to the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
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