Saturday, July 4, 2026

Comic David Brenner Dies: “He’s Now Making the Devil Laugh” Tweets Joan Rivers

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David Brenner–he died today at 78 from what’s being reported as an aggressive cancer. His best pal was Joan Rivers. She tweeted:

Brenner was the coolest and the funniest. He was a huge star in the 60s and 70s. In the 80s he had a short lived syndicated talk show featuring Billy Preston as the band leader. The show filmed in New York; I went to it several times. It was almost too good a talk show, and it couldn’t survive. RIP David, you were one of the very very best.

David Brenner’s debut on Johnny Carson:

with Joan Rivers on the Tonight show:

with Billy Preston and Aretha Franklin on his talk show:

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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