R.I.P. Robert Schimmel

Standup comic Robert Schimmel, a frequent guest on Howard Stern's radio show, has died after suffering serious injuries in a car accident. He was 60.

Schimmel's spokesman, Howard Bragman, says Schimmel died Friday evening in a Phoenix hospital.

Schimmel was a passenger Thursday in a car driven by his 19-year-old daughter Aliyah. Bragman says Aliyah Schimmel swerved to avoid another car and the vehicle she was driving rolled to the side of the freeway. Bragman says she is hospitalized in stable condition.

Robert Schimmel lived in Scottsdale. The 60-year-old comedian has been a frequent guest on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and on Howard Stern's radio show. His 2008 memoir, "Cancer on $5 a Day," chronicles his battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.


http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=11559455

 

That really sucks.

A co-worker was diagnosed with cancer a little more than a year ago. His book about cancer was a big inspiration to her. Around the time her chemo was wrapping up he played the Improv in town, and a bunch of us chipped in to send her and her husband to the show. She met him after the show and told him how much the book meant to her. She said he couldn't have been a nicer guy.

Terrible news. RIP.

 

Wow. Saw him at comedy clubs a few times. A filthy guy, but his smarts and compassion came out in his work. RIP.

 

Wow. I wonder how Stern is going to take this. He seemed like he was genuinely concerned for the guy the last time he was in studio.

 

Pretty sure Schimmel admitted he was dying and needed a new liver the last time he was on Stern's show. Apparently the drugs from the chemo induced cirrhosis.

Buddy of mine, who I saw Schimmel with in Pittsburgh in 2004, texted me and told me he died today. I thought for sure it would be liver failure. When I read it was a car accident, part of me really wanted to laugh...because his death reminds me of one of his jokes. Guy had a heart attack in the late 90s, then has a bout with non-hodgkins lymphoma, which then causes cirrhosis of the liver....so its only fitting that he die in a car crash.

No one had a quicker wit than Schimmel. He was on Stern two years ago and some asshole called in and said, "Hey Bob, hurry up and die so I can be there to comfort your hot daughter." Schimmel immediately shot back, "why do I need to be dead for you to do that?"

RIP to a truly fucked up and funny man.

 

Man, he fought through all those health problems and then gets killed in a car wreck. I guess you can only avoid the Grim Reaper so many times.

Sadly, we'll never get to hear his take on things again. Between material and delivery, he was one of the best.

 

I didn't follow him closely, but I always hate when a talented person dies like that.

And all my best to his daughter. I can't help but think she could be sick with guilt over this, warranted or not.

 

Yeah, if you had told me that Schimmel had died, car accident wouldn't even be in my top 10 guesses as to how he died.

 

RIP.

I heard him on Marc Maron's podcast once where he told the story of how/why he's marriage ended. I gained a ton of respect for him after that because if it had been me, someone would have wound up dead.

 

That ABC story makes it sound like the accident was two days ago. It was actually a week ago Thursday, August 26. He'd obviously been in serious condition since.

 

I think I remember him saying on Stern that he needed a kidney transplant. He's been through a lot.

RIP to a really funny guy.

 

Heard him a time or two on XM... always a must-listen.