Gene Perret, the masterful comedy author and producer who collected three Emmy Awards for his work on The Carol Burnett Show and penned jokes for Bob Hope for practically three a long time, has died. He was 85.
Perret died Nov. 15 of liver failure at his dwelling in Westlake Village, his daughter Linda Perret advised The Hollywood Reporter.
During his 50-year profession, the South Philadelphia native additionally wrote for 2 Tim Conway-starring exhibits in addition to for Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, All within the Family, Welcome Back, Kotter, Three’s Company, CPO Sharkey, Gimme a Break!, Love, American Style and What’s Happening!!
An analytical skilled when it got here to comedy, Perret joined Burnett in 1973 and served as a employees author on her legendary CBS selection program for its ultimate 5 seasons. He acquired his Emmys in 1974, ’75 and ’78 and was nominated three different instances.
Perret collaborated with Hope for 28 years, writing for his TV specials and USO Christmas excursions. He accompanied the famed comic on most of the journeys he made world wide to entertain the troops earlier than Hope retired within the Nineteen Nineties.
Born on April 3, 1937, Eugene Richard Perret went to work for General Electric in 1956 and received laughs throughout a roast of his boss at a celebration. He despatched jokes to Slappy White and Phyllis Diller, who employed him and inspired him to jot down full-time.
“If you saw the kind of engineer I was, you’d know that going into comedy was a natural progression,” he mentioned.
Perret give up engineering in 1969 and moved along with his household to Los Angeles, the place he landed writing jobs on The Jim Nabors Hour, The Tim Conway Show and Laugh-In.
Later, he wrote for specials starring John Ritter and Helen Reddy and produced episodes of Kotter, Three’s Company and the 1980-81 Conway present.
Perret additionally authored greater than three dozen books, together with the influential Comedy Writing Step by Step and The Comedy Writing Workbook, and hosted workshops for younger writers and comedians.
A mentor to many, he was honored by the South Philadelphia Walk of Fame in 2013.
Survivors embrace his spouse of 64 years, Joanne (she and Perret first met in kindergarten, have been in the identical class via eighth grade and have been reintroduced by a former classmate after attending separate excessive colleges); youngsters Joe, Terry, Carole and Linda, his co-author on a number of books; six grandchildren; and 7 great-grandchildren.
Donations in his reminiscence might be made to The Brothers of the Christian Schools or the USO.
He referred to as comedy writers “incurable rewriters” in a 2018 interview.
“As soon as they hear a line, they begin to ‘improve’ it,” he famous. “The feeling is that the joke should be as effective as possible, and all lines can be improved. The original may be the funniest version, but we always try to make it funnier. If we succeed, it is funnier; if we don’t, it’s still a pretty good line.”
