Updated 04-May-2020.
Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about NIPSEY RUSSELL!
“Professional game show panelist” is a tiny and eclectic subgenre of celebrity. The field is populated by second-tier comedians, TV character actors, and other Hollywood also-rans who were rescued from invisibility by virtue of the fact that they could play a game. Nobody embodies this niche of pop culture better than Nipsey Russell, a reasonably successful nightclub comedian who made his name guest-starring on a variety of game shows in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. Russell was a regular on the lie-detection show To Tell The Truth and also popped up from time to time on another Goodson-Todman show, Match Game. And because his comic roots gave him a talent for wordplay, the producers of Pyramid frequently pulled Nipsey’s number from their Rolodex. At some point in any worthwhile Russell guest spot, the host would proclaim Russell the “poet laureate of television” and ask the comedian to recite a silly, borderline-naughty poem. He always had one at the ready. “The kids are saying, ‘Make love, not war,’” a typical Russell rhyme began, “and I’m beginning to think they’re right. For war costs millions of dollars a day, and love just a few bucks a night!”
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: comedian, poet, and dancer best known for appearances on game shows . his appearances distinguished by short, humorous poems he recited during the broadcast . he had one of the leading roles in the film version of friends said he was 80, and that was the age reported in his obituaries . that implies a birth year of 1924 or 1925; the new york Times obbituary gives his birthdate as he made many “party albums” which were compilations of his stand-up routines . one was an old routine that Moreland and Carter had performed in vaudeville . another variation of the “interruption routine Russell became a co-host of ABC’s Les Crane Show in 1965 . from 1973 through 1976 he appeared regularly on the Dean Martin Show and The Dean Martin Comedy World . Russell also appeared frequently in Las Vegas, including he performed at Kutsher’s Country Club in Monticello, NY on January 1, 1977 . another ABC show, Rhyme and Reason, had poetry as a premise . he also served as panel Russell hosted two revivals of Jack Barry and Dan Enright’s Juvenile Jury for BET from 1983 to 1984 . in 1985 he hosted the short-lived 1985 NBC game show Your Number’s Up Russell appeared in the 1978 musical The Wiz as the Tin Man . he also appeared on the big screen in 1994’s adaptation of car 54, where are you? . Russell died in 2005 at age 87 in new york cremated and his ashes scattered in the Atlantic Ocean.