Bob Einstein obit

Bob Einstein Dies: ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Actor Who Also Played Super Dave Osborne Was 76

He was not on the list.



Bob Einstein, a two-time Emmy winner who has recurred on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm since its launch and created the wacky Super Dave Osborne character, died today in Indian Wells, CA. He was 76 and recently had been diagnosed with cancer.


Best known to today’s viewers for playing the serious, often surly but always hilarious Marty Funkhouser on Curb, Einstein was a foil for its creator-star Larry David. He appeared in nearly two dozen episodes of the series dating from 2004 to the most recent season. HBO said he was scheduled to appear in the upcoming 10th season of Curb but was too ill.

Einstein’s younger brother, actor-director Albert Brooks, tweeted today, “R.I.P. My dear brother Bob Einstein. A great brother, father and husband. A brilliantly funny man. You will be missed forever.”

A comedian’s comedian, Einstein first made his name as a writer. His career dates to the 1960s, when he won his first Emmy as part of the writing team for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour that also included Steve Martin. Einstein, who also appeared on the show, went on to earn Emmy noms as a writer for The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour in 1972 and 1974 and two more for writing on Dick Van Dyke’s mid-’70s series Van Dyke and Company. Einstein won his other Emmy as a producer for the series, sharing the 1977 award for Outstanding Comedy Series. He also appeared on all three of those series, along with his Smothers Brothers colleague’s 1970 show, Pat Paulson’s Half a Comedy Hour, for which Eisntein also was a writer.


Martin also shared two of Einstein’s Emmy noms for writing on Sonny and Cher and Van Dyke.


Einstein’s other writing credits include The Ken Berry “Wow” Show, The Sonny Comedy Revue, The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, Joey & Dad and Lola! — also serving as a producer on the last two. As an actor, he also guested on Roseanne, Anger Management and Norm on and recurred as Larry on Arrested Development in the mid-2000s. Feature credits include Ocean’s Thirteen, Modern Romance and Another Nice Mess.


He was born Stewart Robert Einstein on November 20, 1942, in Los Angeles. Mother Thelma Leeds was an actress, and father Harry Einstein (aka Parkyakarkus) was a comic, writer and actor. When Milton Berle and other comics told jokes at his father’s 1958 funeral, the teenage Einstein decided he would never go into comedy.


Instead, he went to college and played basketball at Chapman University and then pursued a career in advertising. But when he did a TV performance on a local cable show for a friend, pretending to be the man who installed the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it caught the eye of Tom Smothers. After Smothers invited the 26-year old to the set, Einstein recalled how it transformed his life. “I go over and now I’m sitting and watching rehearsals and my mind is burning and all of sudden out of nowhere I want this, a bee has stung me in the back, and I want this.”


Einstein’s most memorable character on the Smothers Brothers show, Officer Judy, famously gave Liberace a speeding ticket for playing the piano too fast in a 1969 episode. “Tom Smothers made our life by giving us that,” Einstein said in 2017.


He executive produced, wrote and appeared as the bumbling Super Dave Osborne on numerous shows including the sketch comedy show Bizarre from 1979-85, on the self-titled Super Dave from 1987-91 on Showtime and most recently in 2009 on Super Dave’s SpikeTacular, all of which he produced with his longtime professional partner, Allan Blye. From falling off Toronto’s CN Tower to being crushed by a wrecking ball to being swept off the top of a bus while singing “King of the Road,” Super Dave failed on every pre-Jackass stunt.



Perhaps his greatest stunt, however, was having a case against him nearly make it to the U.S. Supreme Court. A Polish group objected to an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show in 1972, when Einstein posed as the president of a fake Polish Defamation League and told a series of offensive jokes. Four years later, the high court refused to hear the case, denying the request for an on-air rebuttal.



Einstein also was a guest on numerous late-night and comedy shows spanning a half-century, ranging from The Steve Allen Show and Late Night with David Letterman to Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Hollywood Squares. He also appeared on The Tonight Show with hosts Johnny Carson, Jey Leno and Conan O’Brien and was the first guest to appear twice on Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.



Along with Brooks, Einstein is survived by Roberta Einstein, his wife of over 40 years; daughter Erin Einstein Dale; son-in-law Andrew Dale; grandchildren Ethan and Zoe. He is also survived by his older brother, retired advertising executive Cliff Einstein.



Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes

1972 Get to Know Your Rabbit Police Officer

1972 Another Nice Mess Agent Nussbaum

1981 Modern Romance Sporting Goods Salesman

2000 The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave Super Dave Osborne

2002 Teddy Bears' Picnic Dom Molinari

2007 Ocean's Thirteen Robert "Bobby" Caldwell

2010 Shit Year Rick

2015 Strange Magic Stuff Voice


Television

Year Title Role Notes

1967–1969 The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour Officer Judy

1970 Pat Paulsen's Half a Comedy Hour Officer Judy / Bobby / The Rat / Gentle Bear / Moose / Indiana Joe

1972 The John Byner Comedy Hour Super Dave Osborne First appearance of the Super Dave Osborne character

1976 Van Dyke and Company Super Dave Osborne

1977 The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour Super Dave Osborne

1980– 1985 Bizarre Super Dave Osborne

1989 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Super Dave Osborne Episode: "Super Dave/Park Overall/Mark Schiff" (aired February 10, 1989)

1980 Late Night with David Letterman Super Dave Osborne Recurring guest

1987–1991 Super Dave Super Dave Osborne Also writer

1992 Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire Super Dave Osborne

1993 In Living Color Super Dave Osborne

1994–1995 WWE Monday Night RAW Super Dave Osborne

1995 Super Dave's Vegas Spectacular Super Dave Osborne

1997 Super Dave's All Stars Super Dave Osborne

1997 Roseanne Howard Morton Episode: "The Truth Be Told" (aired March 18, 1997)

1998–2004 Hollywood Squares Super Dave Osborne Recurring guest

1999 The Norm Show Al Episode: "Norm Pimps Wiener Dog" (aired September 29, 1999)

2002–2003 Crank Yankers Tony DeLoge/Bob Carlman Seasons 1 (episode 1, 6, 8, 10) through 2 (episodes 4, 8, 15, 18)

2003 The Man Show Super Dave Osborne Episode: "Jimmy Asks Women 'What Do You Weigh?'" (aired March 9, 2003)

2004–2017 Curb Your Enthusiasm Marty Funkhouser Season 4 ("The Weatherman") through Season 9 (final appearance)

2005–2006 Arrested Development Larry Middleman Season 3, Episode 3 ("Forget Me Now") (2005)

Season 3, Episode 4 ("Notapusy") (2005)

Season 3, Episode 5 ("Mr. F.") (2005)

Season 3, Episode 6 ("The Ocean Walker") (2005)

Season 3, Episode 9 ("S.O.B.s") (2006)

2008 Welcome to the Captain Mickey Tittle

2009 Super Dave's Spike-Tacular Super Dave Osborne Episode: "Mr. Big Meeting" (aired March 3, 2008)

2009 The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien Super Dave Osborne November 11, 2009

2009 TNA Impact! Super Dave Osborne / Host / Booker

2010–2012 The Life & Times of Tim Elephant Trainer / The Bookie 2 episodes

2013 Anger Management Hoffler Episode: "Charlie and Lacey Piss Off the Neighborhood" (aired April 18, 2013)

2013 Norm Macdonald Live Super Dave Osborne March 26, 2013

2012–2017 Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Himself 2 episodes