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The Brief And Incredibly Tragic Life Of Phil Hartman

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You might remember Phil Hartman from SNL, The Simpsons, or NewsRadio. But his life was beset with heartbreak, and it ended with an unspeakable tragedy. Here's a look at the all-too-brief and incredibly tragic life of Phil Hartman.

Phil Hartman's first gig in show business didn't have anything to do with acting and comedy. Hartman got his start in the music industry in the 1970s with success as a graphic designer specializing in rock 'n' roll. He created more than 40 album covers, including cover art for the 1979 Poco record Legend.

But Hartman would get very lonely in the isolating job of drawing all day, and he'd entertain himself by doing different funny voices, which led him to join the Groundlings comedy troupe in 1975. He told Jam! Showbiz,

"I had to find an outlet."

It was there where he met fellow performer Paul Reubens, who created a high-voiced, man-child character named Pee-Wee Herman. Hartman helped Reubens write a stage show featuring the character, which in turn led to a deal to write a big-screen Pee-Wee movie.

They wrote Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, which begat the Saturday morning show, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, where Hartman frequently appeared as his salty sailor character Kap'n Karl.

Then Hartman and Reubens cut off contact. Hartman said in 1996:

"I still don't speak to Paul Reubens. We just had a falling out and never put it back together."

Reubens is similarly vague on what happened, telling Westworld in 2016:

"We worked together on a lot of stuff, along with a coffee group of some of the other Groundlings: Phil, me, John Paragon...three men and three women. We were going to go out and rule the world. That didn't work out very good. I think about Phil all the time."

Watch the video for more about The Brief And Incredibly Tragic Life Of Phil Hartman.

#PhilHartman #SNL #Comedy

Comic beginnings | 0:00
NBC contracts | 1:32
Hollywood | 2:24
Troubled marriage | 3:08
Omdahl's substance abuse | 3:52
Tragic death | 4:34
Legacy | 5:16

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