Robert Schimmel

Infobox Comedian


name = Robert Schimmel
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birth_date = 1950
birth_place = Bronx, New York
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nationality = American
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website = http://www.robertschimmel.com/
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Robert "Bob" George Schimmel (born 1950) is an American stand-up comedian whose material is often X-rated and controversial. He is perhaps best known for his comedy albums and his appearances on HBO and "The Howard Stern Show". Schimmel's material almost always pertains to sex, whether he is discussing computers, his daughter, or animals.

Biography

Early life and career

Schimmel was born in the Bronx, New York, the son of Betty and Otto Schimmel, Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. [ [http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/991008/comic.shtml 'Just a regular guy' ] ] He was voted class clown during high school and was in the Air Force for one year during the Vietnam War. According to Schimmel, his career began when, at the urging of his sister, he performed at a comedy club's open-mic night. Bob looked to start his comedy career. A club owner in Los Angeles offered to make him a regular, but when Bob moved to L.A. he found that the club had burned down.

Undaunted, and with some help from Rodney Dangerfield, Bob began making a name for himself. He wrote material for "In Living Color" and for comedians such as Yakov Smirnoff.

Bob married his first wife, Vicki, in 1977, and they had four children together. They also had a son, Derek, who died of cancer at age 11. Schimmel is married to his second wife, Melissa, with whom he has two children.

Illness

In 1998, Schimmel suffered a heart attack, and in June 2000, was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. His treatments included chemotherapy and required long stays in the hospital. During one such session his daughter Jessica brought her boss, Melissa, to visit Bob, and the two began an unlikely May-December romance. Bob's cancer went into remission, he and Vicki divorced, and Bob married Melissa, who is only two years older than Jessica.

(Let it be noted that on the NPR program "Fresh Air", Bob said in his own words that he and Melissa were together when he was diagnosed, and he broke up with her, citing that he was too old for her. He moved back in with Vicki because he felt that if he only had six months to live, he wanted to spend it with his children. Bob promised Vicki he wouldn't call Melissa anymore. Bob missed her very much and couldn't hold out any longer. He called her the day before his last chemotherapy session. Melissa admitted she was seeing someone else and had consummated the relationship the very night before. He went to surprise her at her home and saw her kissing the man she was with. He tore out a page from a book she'd given him with a special message on it and put it under her windshield wiper. When her boyfriend went to the car to go get food, he came back up with the page and asked her what it meant. She said it meant they were no longer together, and soon after, she and Bob got back together.)

Recent work

Schimmel's willingness to frankly and humorously discuss the tragic events of his life in his act has set him apart from other comics. Before his illness, his act included a bit about how strange it might be if a person wore a wig on their pubic area. When he lost his body hair due to chemotherapy treatment, he discovered that there really is such a thing — these wigs, or merkins, have existed for hundreds of years. He updated the comedy bit accordingly.

Bob will incorporate any aspect of his personal life into his act, even the death of his son. In perhaps his most extreme bit, Bob joked about making obscene suggestions to a lady from the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Bob cites Lenny Bruce as his all-time comedy hero. Like Bruce, Bob's raunchy act has gotten him into trouble from time to time. Bob had not been asked to perform on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" from 1999 until a 2008 appearance, and he believed this was because of a particularly dirty sex joke he told during his last appearance.Fact|date=March 2008 However, his edgy style has made him a hit on "The Howard Stern Show".

In his stand-up act and a radio interview with Paul Harris, Bob talked about his November 8, 1999 appearance on The Hollywood Squares. The taping was reportedly stopped at least once when Bob ad-libbed jokes about Louie Anderson. (Family Feud, which Anderson hosted at the time, was taped in the same studio.)

Bob has released several comedy albums, including "Robert Schimmel Comes Clean"; "If You Buy This CD, I Can Get This Car"; "Unprotected"; and "Reserection".

Bob is number 76 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Standups of All Time.

Bob also wrote a book entitled "Cancer on $5 a Day* *(chemo not included): How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life".

Discography

* "Comes Clean", Warner Bros. Records, 1996.
* "If You Buy this CD, I Can Get this Car", Warner Bros. Records, 1998.
* "Unprotected", Warner Bros. Records, 1999.
* "Reserection", Warner Bros. Records, 2005.

References

External links

* [http://www.robertschimmel.com/ Robert Schimmel.com]
*imdb name|id=0771790|name=Robert Schimmel
* [http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/dacapo/book_detail.jsp?isbn=0738211583 Cancer on Five Dollars a Day* (*chemo not included) How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88109634 Radio Interview on Fresh Air] from WHYY with Terry Gross on 2008-03-12
* [http://www.oceanviewpress.com/id24.html Jessica Schimmel discusses her dad Robert Schimmel at OceanViewPress.com]