Comedy

Simon, who died Sunday, spoke to Fresh Air in 1996 about finding balance between his desire for leisure time and his need to write: "They were at odds," he says. "I'm my own odd couple."

In our 2005 interview with Jerry Lewis he talks about how he got started in show biz, his partnership with Dean Martin, and his film career.

Rickles, who died yesterday, mined racial, ethnic and religious stereotypes for laughs. "I crossed the line when nobody else could do it," he once said. Originally broadcast in 2008, 1998 and 2007.

We remember the comedian Richard Pryor, who died on Saturday. This interview originally aired on May 22, 1995.

Crimmins, who died last week, mentored Bobcat Goldthwait when they were up-and-coming comics in the '80s. The two men spoke to Fresh Air in 2015 about their documentary Call Me Lucky.

The comedian died Thursday at the age of 81. Rivers talked with Fresh Air is 1991, 2010 and 2012 about how her comedy evolved -- and why she didn't care what others thought of her.

Brenner appeared on The Tonight Show more than 150 times, often as the substitute host. The comic died Saturday at 78. He spoke to Fresh Air in 1990.

Comedian Phyllis Diller died Monday at the age of 95. In a 1986 interview with Fresh Air, Diller explains her routine when starting out, before she developed her persona as a crazed housewife.

Peter Bergman, one of the founding members of the four-man surrealist comedy troupe The Firesign Theatre, died Friday of complications from leukemia. He was 72. Fresh Air remembers Bergman with excerpts from a 1993 interview.

The beloved actor from Airplane! and the Naked Gun franchise died Sunday. Fresh Air remembers Nielsen with highlights from a 1993 interview, in which he discussed his transition from dramatic roles in The Poseidon Adventure and Forbidden Planet to starring in spoofs and parodies.