Joe Fleishaker obit

Joe Fleishaker, 500-Pound Star of Troma Movies, Dies at 62

The actor appeared in three 'Toxic Avenger' movies and in 'Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.' for the legendary low-budget film company. 

He was not on the list.

Joe Fleishaker, the 500-pound actor who was enormously popular with Troma fans thanks to his performances in several farcical horror movies churned out by the ultra-low-budget company, has died. He was 62.

Fleishaker, billed as “Troma’s biggest action star” by company co-founder Lloyd Kaufman, died Monday at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, his brother, Haskel, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Fleishaker suffered from morbid obesity and congestive heart failure and likely died of a heart attack, he said.

The actor also had a recurring walk-on role in the 1980s on David Letterman’s Late Night show at NBC, sometimes playing the comic’s father or son.

A native of Brooklyn who grew up the neighborhood of Borough Park, Fleishaker appeared very briefly in Woody Allen’s Radio Days (1987). In Troma’s War (1988), he started out as an extra before Kaufman liked what he saw and cast him as a “specially trained terrorist.”

Fleishaker then played an Apocalypse Inc. executive in the comic Troma “superhero” films The Toxic Avenger Part II and The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, both released in 1989.

Fleishaker followed up with Troma’s Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1991), The Troma System (1993), Tromeo and Juliet (1996), Terror Firmer (1999), Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000) — where he played Lardass, the sidekick of The Toxic Avenger (David Mattey) — and Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006).

Fleishaker also appeared as Troma co-founder Michael Herz in several videos and film shorts made by the company, including 2004’s Tales From the Crapper. And he appeared as himself in the 2001 documentary Farts of Darkness.

“The Troma Team and I are saddened by the news that Joe Fleishaker has passed away,” Kaufman wrote on Facebook. “He was a great actor and a great friend. Toxie weeps. RIP Joe, Troma will never be the same without you.”

Fleishaker’s final two credits were I Spill Your Guts (2012) and Trashtastic (2013), with Kaufman in the cast as well.

In 2012, he was admitted to a hospital and eventually managed to lose 160 pounds.

Fleishaker, who never married and had no children, is also survived by another brother, Simon.

Once asked in an interview about “the more important messages ever to be woven into a Troma movie,” Fleishaker replied: “I believe that the only message is that if we don’t take ourselves or our entertainment too seriously, we will discover that we are capable of enjoying ourselves without really trying.

“It doesn’t cost a million dollars to make someone laugh, and you don’t have to be famous to have talent.”

Filmography

Mr. Melvin (2025) as Apocalypse Inc. Executive (Posthumous release)

Lloyd-K (2022) (Posthumous release)

2 Girls, 1 Duck (2019) as Himself (Posthumous release)

Return to Return to Nuke 'Em High AKA Volume 2 (2017) as Lauren 6 months later (Posthumous release)

Sharknado 3 (2015) as movie patron who was decapitated by shark

Trashtastic (2013) as Joe

I Spill Your Guts (2012) as Dave the Landlord

Troma Digital Studios: A Lesson in BrownRay (2010) as Michael Herz

Poultry in Motion: Truth is Stranger Than Chicken (2008) as Himself

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006) as Jared (credited as Mega Herz)

Make Your Own Damn Movie! (2005) as Himself

Tales from the Crapper (2004) as Michael Herz/500 Pound Candygramm

UnConventional (2004) as Himself

Parts of the Family (2003) as Fat Guy Watching Television (uncredited)

Zombiegeddon (2003) as Caller #1 (voice only)

Apocalypse Soon: The Making of 'Citizen Toxie' (2002) as Himself

Captain Bill and the Rockin' Buccaneers (2001) as Mr. McDoohan

Farts of Darkness: The Making of Terror Firmer (2001) as Himself

Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000) as Chester/Lardass

Terror Firmer (1999) as Jacob Gelman

Tromeo and Juliet (1996) as 1-900-HOT-HUNK

The Troma System (1993) as Himself

Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1991) as Josephs

The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989) as Apocalypse Inc. Executive

The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989) as Apocalypse Inc. Executive

Troma's War (1988) as Specially Trained Terrorist

TV shows

Troma's Edge TV (2000) as Michael Herz/Lord Fartacus

Late Night/Late Show with David Letterman - Himself/Various characters

The Tromaville Café (1997) as Michael Herz/God

Up All Night (1994) as Troma Actor Whose Arm Is Ripped Off

Beyond Vaudeville (1989-1992) as Himself - Guest