Saturday, October 27, 2012

R.I.P. Alan Kirschenbaum

So sorry to hear of the death of comedy writer Alan Kirschenbaum.  He was only 51.  Alan co-created YES, DEAR and was involved in any number of series.  I worked with him briefly on STARK RAVING MAD.  And we punched up a lot of pilots together.  Well... he did.  I sat back and laughed.   Alan was a wonderful guy.   He had a great wit and a gentle soul.   And was sooo much fun to be in a room with. 

The cause of death is still unclear.  My heart goes out to his family and friends.  One of the main reasons I wanted to be a TV comedy writer was so I could surround myself with people like Alan Kirshenbaum.  He will be greatly missed. 
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8 comments :

  1. Unknown10/27/2012 4:38 PM

    Sorry for the loss of your friend. I followed him on Twitter, and he made me laugh.

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  2. Tom Quigley10/27/2012 6:56 PM

    Had the good fortune to meet Alan when he was one of the producers on a short-lived series called LIFE... AND STUFF starring Rick Reynolds and Pam Dawber, following his stint working on COACH. Had no idea he was so young! How sad -- so sorry to hear this news, Ken.

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  3. chalmers10/27/2012 10:06 PM

    Condolences to the Kirschenbaum family and to friends like you, Ken.

    Maybe it only resonated with Jersey folks like me who had weekend house shares in towns like Belmar, but I still remember his early-90s series, "Down the Shore."

    The premise was that six single New Yorkers, three men and three women, shared a Jersey Shore rental. At least at the beginning, each episode covered one weekend's escapades.

    They threw in enough local references for people like me, and used Southside Johnny's "I Don't Wanna Go Home" as the theme.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQuk-WjNbtE

    Though it never got a complete foothold creatively or on the Fox schedule, you could see that there were some good people on both sides of the camera.

    Most of the actors are still here and there on TV. Seeing Anna Gunn on "Breaking Bad" or Tom McGowan (Kenny) on "Frasier" always reminds me of the show.

    I always wondered how the people involved with the show felt when a year or so later, "Friends" became a megahit using the same formula. Then, more recently, when Jersey Shore "culture" became so big nationally.

    I had no idea until reading the news today that he is Freddie Roman's son.

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  4. Unknown10/28/2012 1:13 AM

    Judd Apatow retweeted this

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-rosenthal/alan-kirschenbaum-death_b_2031841.html

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  5. Mac10/28/2012 5:44 AM

    Sorry to hear that. 51 is way too young.

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  6. VincentS10/28/2012 6:58 AM

    Good/great writers - especially comedy writers - are so prescious and, in my view, underappreciated. So sorry to hear of his loss.

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  7. Derryl Murphy10/30/2012 6:40 PM

    There was a caricature of him with an RIP note at the end of tonight's Raising Hope.

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  8. Bill12/10/2012 10:07 PM

    My god. I read this when it was posted and thought nothing of it. Then I heard from a college friend that our good friend Vicki's husband had died. I just put the two together that it was the same person. I never met Alan, but his wife is one of the dearest people I know. so sad to hear.

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