R.I.P. Dom DeLuise and Bea Arthur

It's been a rough few days for comedy. Last week, Bea Arthur passed away and now I find out that Dom DeLuise died today.

I am a huge, closeted Golden Girls fan, so it hit me kind of hard when I heard she passed away last week. I was randomly flipping through channels a few months back and landed on what turned out to be the Golden Girls series finale. Dammitall if that wasn't some touching television. I remember watching GG when I was a kid with my parents and liking it back then, which speaks volumes to the performances of the four leads. I was 2 when the show started and 9 when it went off the air and I was pretty bummed out when it ended. A 9 year old missed a group of senior citizens on TV. An impressive feat to say the least (though I also liked watching Matlock and Murder She Wrote reruns on USA, so maybe I have a predilection for the elderly).

Plus, did you see her on Pam Anderson's Comedy Central Roast a few years back? She MURDERED it. I had no idea how funny she was.

And of course, as Kickin' It Old School readers will remember, I am a HUGE fan of Cannonball Run 1 and 2, so today's news that Dom DeLuise died hit me in the gut. His Victor/Captain Chaos was a huge part of what made those movies super enjoyable. He was just such a lovable dude, you couldn't help but want to hang out with him.

He's also, of course, in some of the funniest and coolest movies of all time. Blazing Saddles, Smokey and the Bandit II, The Muppet Movie, History of the World Part 1, An American Tail, Spaceballs and on and on. Looking at his IMDb page is like a list of movies I will be adding to my Netflix Queue (The Skateboard Kid and Loose Cannons among others).

Rest in peace Bea and Dom, our loss is comedy heaven's gain.