Louie Anderson, Genial Stand-Up Comic, Actor and TV Host, Dies at 68
Mr. Anderson made his national television debut on “The Tonight Show” with Mr. Carson in 1984, and, as comedians say, he killed. The routine was heavy on jokes about his own weight (which at times in his life topped 300 pounds), and he had the audience roaring from his opening deadpan line: “I can’t stay long. I’m in between meals.”
Afterward, Mr. Carson brought him out for a second bow, a rarity for comics and especially for ones making their debut. Later, Mr. Carson paid him another high compliment.
“He came by my dressing room on the way to his, stuck his head in and said, ‘Great shot, Louie,’” Mr. Anderson told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2002. “Because comics call that a ‘shot’ on ‘The Tonight Show.’ And that was huge for me.”
He went from being paid $500 a week for his stand-up work to making twice that for one night, he said. And film and television work started coming his way, including small roles in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1986) and “Coming to America” (1988). In 1987 Showtime broadcast a comedy special that captured him in performance at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
