Joey Bishop, the 5th and last surviving member of the Rat Pack, died today, he was 89. Born in the Bronx, Joseph Abraham Gottlieb, was a comedian from the start. Unlike the other Rat Pack-ers, who were actors and singers first (true song and dance men) Bishop did stand up. He started doing vaudeville before he went off to war.
When he returned he went back to comedy, this time stand up in clubs, radio and that fledgling medium, television. Frank Sinatra caught his act and helped him get better gigs, including working with Sinatra.
Always the sombre "rat", his long face and quiet delivery eaned him a reputation for being the responsible one of the gang, the designated driver. He never matched his buddies for partying and girl chasing. In fact he was married to only one woman, Sylvia Ruzga, for nearly 60 years.
With the exception of a few movies in the fifties and early sixties, most notably, Ocean's Eleven, he was working the Vegas Clubs with the Rat Pack. TV offers surfaced starting in 1960 with many appearances on the tonight show hosted by comedy heavyweights Jack Parr and Steve Allen.
Soon after he starred in his own comedy show, The Joey Bishop Show, about a guy who stars in a late night talk show. When will they learn. Anyway it didn't last past a few seasons. Next was his own late night talk show, a real one, but it fizzled. Partly because Bishop was a comedian, not an interviewer, and partly because now he was up against the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson at the helm. A young up and comer, Regis Philbin, was his sidekick.
Ironically, Bishop would guest host the Tonight Show more than 150 times.
Sometimes he appeared to be the junior member of the Rat Pack, or mascot. In typical Joey Bishop fashion he's quoted as saying “But even the mascot gets to carry the ball, too,”
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