Remembering... Flip Wilson

Way way back in the day - when the only black folks regularly on TV were Diahann Carroll's Julia, Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura, and Sammy Davis, Jr. on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In - there was also Flip Wilson, whose weekly variety show The Flip Wilson Show debuted in 1970; among the writing staff for the ground-breaking show was George Carlin, whose counter-cultural proclivities were then only just developing. Here we see Wilson in character as Geraldine, making the normally unflappable Muhammed Ali look more than a little nervous...

When Flip Wilson died on this day in 1998 the outpouring of grief surprised most observers; Wilson had been all but out of show business for the last two decades of his life by that time. However, those who knew him when were quick to eulogize their friend as a gentle soul whose great joy in life was entertaining people...
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