Bill Minkin(1941-2026)
- Actor
William "Bill" Minkin was an American comedian, actor, recording artist and FM radio pioneer. Although best known as Albert Brook's Assistant in Taxi Driver (1976) and "Clarence McCabe" in The King of Comedy (1982), Minkin spent decades as the Host of the ground-breaking, nationally syndicated rock concert series, "The King Biscuit Flower Hour" (from 1972-1994). In 1967, while an Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College, Bill Minkin blazed onto the scene with "The Hardly Worthit Players", an improvisational sketch comedy group, with partners Steve Baron and Dennis Wholey. A live comedy album included the hit single "Senator Bobby's 'Wild Thing'". On side one, Minkin uses the alias "Senator Bobby", in his impression of Democratic US Senator Robert Kennedy singing "Wild Thing". That single reached #15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart of 1967. This led to appearances on The Hollywood Palace (1964), The Mike Douglas Show (1961) and "Dick Clark's What's Happening". It was during this period, that he befriended rock icons The Who, while performing at the legendary "Murray The 'K' Easter Show", appearing after Cream and before The Who. After appearances in Martin Scorsese's Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967) and Mean Streets (1973), the now legendary comedian found himself delivering the only funny line in "Taxi Driver" to Albert Brooks. But Minkin fans will always remember him as the bombastic "Clarence McCabe" in cult classic "The King Of Comedy". In the decades since "The King Biscuit Flower Hour", Minkin has performed as a voice over artist for commercials and the Jak's Playstation video games series.
