David Brenner
David Norris Brenner (February 4, 1936 – March 15, 2014) was an American stand-up comedian, actor and author. The most frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the 1970s and 1980s, Brenner "was a pioneer of observational comedy."[3] His friend, comedian Richard Lewis, described Brenner as "the king of hip, observational comedy."[4]
For the film editor, see David Brenner (film editor). For the biophysicist, see David J. Brenner.David Brenner
David Norris Brenner
February 4, 1936
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Stand-up, television
1969–2013
Charisse Brody[2]
Tai Babilonia (2002 – 2009)
Early life[edit]
Brenner was born to Jewish parents in 1936[5] and raised in South and West Philadelphia.[1] His father, Louis, was a vaudeville comedian, singer and dancer, performing under the stage name of Lou Murphy, who gave up his career and a film contract to please Brenner's grandfather, a rabbi, who objected to his working on the Sabbath.[1] Once David became successful, he regularly sent his parents on cruises, and both of Brenner's parents would eventually die at advanced ages while on cruises aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2, approximately two years apart.[6]
After high school, Brenner spent two years in the U.S. Army, serving in the 101st Airborne and as a cryptographer of the 595th Signal Corps in Böblingen, Germany. After being discharged, he attended Temple University, where he majored in mass communication and graduated with honors.[1]
Personal life[edit]
Brenner had three children: Cole, Slade, and Wyatt.[21] He and the mother of Cole, his first son, fought a custody battle for several years. Brenner finally won child custody in 1992. Because family courts would have regarded him as an absentee father if he were away from home more than 50 nights a year, Brenner substantially reduced the number of appearances in his stand-up comedy work, including performances on the Tonight Show, in order to secure and maintain custody of his son.[1][15] Brenner married Elizabeth Slater of New York, the mother of his sons Slade and Wyatt, in the closing minutes of his David Brenner: Back with a Vengeance! HBO Special recorded in Las Vegas, on February 19, 2000. They divorced a little over a year later with Brenner claiming their first year of marriage was "the best year I had in my whole life ... I was the happiest man in the world" but then she grew "into this new person" and he didn't fit into her new lifestyle.[22] They fought two custody battles, both of which Brenner won. Brenner was engaged to Tai Babilonia in 2005, but they never married.[1][15] For a while in the 2000s, Brenner lived in Las Vegas.[14]