Legendary stand-up comedian Shecky Greene — known for his rambling routines, several headlining runs in Las Vegas and constant presence on the late-night talk show scene — died at his home in Las Vegas on Sunday, his widow, Marie Musso Greene, confirmed to The Times. He was 97.
According to Musso Greene, the Vegas headliner died of natural causes.
“It was fun,” Greene’s wife of 41 years told the Las Vegas Review-Journal of what it was like being married to the comedian for all those years. “He always made humor out of whatever he could. He made you laugh and feel good. It was a happy time.”
Greene’s fast-talking narrative style of comedy was often featured on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “The Ed Sullivan Show” during their TV heyday in the ’60s and ’70s. Although he enjoyed mainstream success and was well-compensated for it, Greene was also known as a comedian’s comedian in certain sectors of the comedy world.
The free-form performer, some of whose routines have aged better than others, rose to fame as a comedian in the 1950s. Born Fred Sheldon Greenfield in Chicago in 1926, he served in the Navy during World War II, and enrolled in junior college but left when he was offered a two-week gig at the Prevue Lounge in New Orleans. (He stayed for six years, until it burned down.) After showcasing his stand-up across the Midwest, New Orleans and Miami, Greene landed his first Las Vegas show in 1954, opening for comedic singer and actor Dorothy Shay at the now-closed Last Frontier hotel and casino on the Vegas Strip.
